About Fencing

Fencing

Fencing is a modern Olympic sport derived from the art of sword fighting. Fencing is one of only four sports to have been represented in every Olympic Games since 1896; the year of the first Modern Olympic Games. It is both a physical and a mental workout, in which fencers learn to hone their strategies against opponents of varying skill levels, and build up physical endurance, agility, and accuracy. It has been described as a physical "game of chess." It is a fun and challenging activity for people of all ages.

Fencing is one of the safest sports that you can compete in. The most common injuries in fencing reflect those of other sports – ligament sprains and muscle strains which account for the majority of injuries. Safety equipment such as masks and specially designed clothing is designed to prevent major injuries. A study of injuries occurring in the 2008 Olympics ranked fencing as having one of the lowest injury rates, making it one of the safest Olympic sports.

The Game:

The combat between partners is called a bout.
The main objective is to hit without being hit, on the valid target, while staying in a defined area (piste).
Hit the other fencer on the valid target to score a point.
Hit the other fencer more often than you have been hit yourself to win.

There are three disciplines in the one sport of fencing. The three weapons are; foil, epee and sabre. Each weapon has its own history, rules, and characteristics, which lead to their own techniques and methods. All three have an electrical scoring system for registering the hits and points.

Foil
Traditionally, the foil was the weapon duelists used for training. Due to its small target area and strict rules, if a student starts with foil, it is easier to learn the techniques and strategies of the sabre or epeé. A touch with a foil is scored with the point of the weapon, and the target, is the torso. Foil fencing is a balance of offensive and defensive strategies, and adheres to rules of priority. Priority rules determine which fencer’s manoeuvre has priority over their opponent’s in the case of both making a hit and triggering the scoring machine simultaneously. If the fencer with priority hits their opponent outside the target area (off-target), no point is awarded, even if the other fencer has hit them on-target. The action is then halted and the fencers resume the bout at the place on the strip where they halted.

Epeé
Epeé fencers must score with the point of the weapon against any part of the opponent’s body, hands and feet included, There are no priority rules in epeé fencing. The strategy is a patient and psychological waiting game to strike while avoiding being hit, as simultaneous touches result in both players gaining a point. The defense has the big advantage and the bouts tend to involve mental games while each fencer feints attacks to try to draw their opponent into an error.

Sabre
In sabre, fencers can score when any part of their blade hits the valid target area. While foil and epeé require thrusting the blade to score with the point, sabre fencers usually “cut” or “slash” with the blade against the opponent’s head, arms, or body above the waist. Like foil, sabre fencing also adheres to priority rules to determine which fencer scored a touch, but follows a more aggressive attack strategy than the foil. Simultaneous attacks are common, and neither fencer is awarded a point in that case, but unlike foil, in sabre fencing, an off-target hit for the fencer with priority is void, and doesn’t halt the action of the bout. Movement is rapid and bouts are short. You only have 170 milliseconds to get in that riposte! Sabre fencing is what children naturally emulate, clashing pretend sword blades against one another, imagining themselves to be pirates, knights, warrior princesses or Jedis.