Learning the Basics About Fencing

If you are reading this, something about the sport of fencing has piqued your curiosity. Maybe it was an epic fencing battle portrayed in a movie or play; maybe your child has expressed an interest in fencing; or maybe you fenced many years ago and the sport is beckoning you back.

Fencing, an Olympic sport, is the art of attack and defense using swords. Its ancestors include cavalrymen in 710 BC, armored fifteenth-century knights, and duelists in the 1500’s who symbolized “trial by battle.” Swordsmen practicing for duels modified their rapiers so that the points were flat. These practice weapons were the first tools used in the study of fencing as art.

Fencing, which appeared in the original Olympic games in Athens, Greece, is also one of only four sports to have appeared in each modern Olympics since 1896.

Fencing has evolved into three disciplines:  foil, sabre, and épée.  The foil teaches personal control.  It is the most common starter weapon.  The sabre evolved from the weapon of choice for cavalry troops, and is the only discipline in which the edge of the sword, in addition to the tip, can result in scores for the fencer.  Épée, a descendant of the dueling sword, is sometimes referred to as “freestyle fencing,” because it is not governed by the same conventions as foil and sabre.      

Besides understanding the names of the three fencing disciplines, there is lots of “fencing speak” to learn if you are new to the sport.  “Walking the strip,” for example, refers not to Las Vegas but to the electronically grounded surface on which fencers compete.  A beat is not something a policeman walks but rather one of three “attacks on the blade” that a fencer may make.  An engagement does not involve a diamond ring but rather contact of the fencers’ blades.  A pool is not a sparkling body of water but rather a grouping of six fencers at a tournament.

Why do fencers choose to fence?  In a sport where individualism (tempered by discipline) is valued, there are many possible answers.  Some recreational fencers simply enjoy the physical and mental challenges.  Competitive fencers thrive on the opportunity to compete.  Young people vying for athletic scholarships see an opportunity to compete for scholarships with a far less crowded field than some more common sports.  Others plan to parlay their fencing skills into the theatrical arena. 

Fencing is a sport in which women can compete on an equal playing field to men.  Youngsters who start the sport develop refined analytical and tactical skills rapidly (and learn some life lessons along the way). 

 Just as the fencer’s mask obscures some of their facial expressions, the choice to fence is sometimes inscrutable and mysterious.   

Famous Fencers:

Famous fencers such as Grace Kelly, actor Jerry O’Connell, Neil Diamond, Jimmy Buffett, and even Winston Churchill found something compelling in the sport.  Less public fencers, including the wheelchair fencers participating in Paralympic games, experience a rush of excitement each time they suit up in their protective garb and begin to fence.  Undoubtedly you will experience a “thrust” of excitement too when you become involved, as an observer or a participant.