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What is Fencing?
Fencing began as the historic art and sport of fighting with swords. Fencing
developed into a sport in the seventeenth century when gunpowder and firearms
replaced the sword as the basic weapon. Modern fencing has become a safe sport
due to the protective clothing and flexible blunted blades. It combines many
element of physical and mental control, developing fitness, technique,
co-ordination, tactical thinking, problem solving, distance appreciation and
reflexes. It is often described as a game of chess at high speed, employing
deception, traps, intimidation and a host of other tactical and psychological
aspects. The movements are so fast the touches are scored electrically. It's an
exciting and competitive sport, suitable for both men and women of all ages.
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The Bout
Competitors win a fencing bout (what an individual “game” is called) by being
the first to score 15 points (in direct elimination play) or 5 points (in
preliminary pool play) against their opponent, or by having a higher score than
their opponent when the time limit expires. Each time a fencer lands a valid
hit - a touch - on their opponent, they receive one point. The time limit for
direct elimination matches is nine minutes - three three-minute periods with a
one-minute break between each.
Fencers are penalized for crossing the lateral boundaries of the strip, while
retreating off the rear limit of their side results in a touch awarded to their
opponent.
Team matches feature three fencers squaring off against another team of three
in a "relay" format. Each team member fences every member of the opposing team
in sequence over 9 rounds until one team reaches 45 touches or has the higher
score when time expires in the final round.
Fencing at the Olympic Games will feature a single-elimination table format,
much like that used in Tennis. There will be no preliminary rounds, as the
initial seeding into the table will be determined by World Rankings.
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Fencing Today
Fencing Foil.
It is a lightweight weapon measuring approximately 3' from pommel to tip. On a
non-electric or 'steam' foil used for practice, the blade is blunt, fitted with
a rubber tip and flexible to prevent injury. An electric sword is similar, but
is fitted with a button on the tip known as a 'point'. Attacks are made only
with the point to specific target areas. This is the entire torso, including
the back down to waist level. Hits made to the arms, legs or mask are
off-target - hits to these stop the bout like a normal hit, but do not score.
Foil is a 'conventional' weapon and thus is governed by Right-Of-Way, which is
described in it's own section here. In addition to the basic equipment
described in the 'Fencing Today' section, all competitive fencing is electric;
foilists wear a metallic 'lame' jacket, which covers their target area, and use
an electric foil, which is fitted with a switch in the tip to detect hits. The
rest of the electrical equipment used is similar to the other weapons; more
information can be found here.
Fencing Epee
Epee, like foil, is a thrusting weapon - hits must be made with the tip, and
not the flat of the blade. However, the weapon has a larger guard to protect
the hand and arm, the whole body is target, and there are no rules of
Right-Of-Way - if you hit the other person and get a light, you get a point. To
prevent endless double lights, once you have been hit you have only 40-50ms to
hit back. Thus in epee, it is far more important to hit without being hit
(although double hits are an important part of the game, especially if you are
winning!). Some epeeists hold their weapon by the pommel for extra reach. Epee
is becoming increasingly popular nowadays. Some clubs teach epee to beginners
instead of foil, and it is increasingly common for for the epeeists to
outnumber the foilists at competitions! Epeeists, unlike foilists and sabreurs,
do not have to wear metallised lame jackets. More information on electric
fencing can be found here.
Fencing Sabre
Sabre, like foil, is a 'conventional' weapon with Right-Of-Way. However, sabre
is fundamentally different to foil and epee as hits can be made with 'cuts' as
well as thrusts, although many fencing techniques such as keeping and using
distance are applicable in all weapons. In sabre, the entire upper body from
the waist upwards, except for the hands, is target. This includes the arms,
chest, back, the mask including the bib and the wrist. In electric sabre, a
lame jacket that covers the body including the arms is worn. The mask and bib
are also made conductive (a wire connects the mask and jacket by crocodile
clips), and an overlay of lame material is worn over the wrist to make this
conductive. Any contact of the opponents blade to your jacket, mask or overlay
will count as a hit. There is no off-target in sabre; any hit made to any part
of the body except the target will have no effect, unlike in foil where it
counts as a hit, stopping the bout, although no point can be given for it. In
some ways, sabre is the youngest weapon, although historically cutting weapons
are as old or older than stabbing weapons. It was the last weapon to be
electrified, as it was only electrified in the last 20/30 years, and suffered
some serious problems with electrification. Firstly, sensors were used to make
sure that a certain force was used to hit, however this was later dropped as a
failure. Secondly, without the restrictions of non-electric fencing, it became
a sort of jousting match where fencers only attacked with a run or 'fleche' (a
leaping attack), and rarely tried to defend. But the rules were changed to make
it against the rules to cross your feet while going forwards. With these
changes, popularity of sabre has soared, even more so than epee, although it
still has some way to go to catch up! More information on electric fencing can
be found here.
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Right Of Way or the Rules of Priority
Right-Of-Way (also known as priority) determines who gets a hit in foil and
sabre if there is a light on for both fencers; double lights never result in
both fencers getting a point in these weapons. It should also be noted that
there is no differentiation in terms of right-of-way between an off-target hit
(only possible in foil) and an on-target hit; if you have ROW but hit
off-target then your opponent will not get the point. However you cannot
receive points for off-target hits you make. Right-of-way is a difficult
subject to explain in writing, don't worry - it's much, much simpler when you
see it happen! Consider an example. One fencer begins to straighten their arm
and 'lunge' at the opponent. Now, because they are extending their arm and
threatening the target, they are attacking. So the other fencer has to defend
against the attack. What they do is parry - move their sword so as to push the
attacking blade out of the way. Now, the attacker becomes the defender as the
defender will now 'riposte' - they will begin their own attack by extending
their arm. And so on... Right-of-way (often shortened to ROW on web forums) can
be confusing, but it doesn't present any real problems when teaching fencing -
it's something you just pick up as you go along. Electric Equipment Most of the
electrical equipment in fencing is the same for all fencers. In the centre of
the piste, opposite the referee, is the 'box', which has the lights on that
indicate whether a fencer has made a hit or not. This is connected by 'ground
leads' (wires) to the 'spools' at either end of the piste. The fencers are
hooked up to an extending wire that comes out of these spools. They then plug
their 'bodywire', which is a lead that fencers put down their sword arm when
they put their jacket on. They then plug this bodywire into their weapon inside
the guard, and in foil and sabre they connect a crocodile clip on the bodywire
to their metallised 'lame' (pronounced lar-may) jacket (in sabre they also
connect the mask to the lame jacket by another wire). They then turn the box on
and hit the other fencer! In foil, depressing the tip of the blade on any
surface (except the other fencer's guard and a metal piste if one is in use)
causes one of their lights to come up - coloured if they have hit the other
fencer's lame (which covers the target), and white is they have hit anything
else (e.g. the floor, the other fencer's legs/arms, the box or the referee)...
In epee, hitting any surface except the opponent's guard or a metal piste where
one is in use will bring up a coloured light - the referee then has to
determine whether the fencer's hit was anywhere on the other fencer (a valid
hit on target), or on the floor, or sometimes on his/herself! There is no
'white light' (a hit made off-target that stops the fight) in epee, since
everything is target. In sabre, a hit is made by touching your blade to the
other person's target - their lame jacket (which includes the sleeves, but not
below the waist), the wrist (usually sabreurs wear an metallised overlay over
their glove), or the mask (which has no insulation, and a metallised bib).
There is no 'white light' in sabre.
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