The Sport of Fencing

1
The Sport of Fencing

• By Gwyneth Hunter

2
What is Fencing?

• Fencing is not what you see in the movies with
  people swinging off everything and slashing about
  wildly!
• It is a calculating sport and its extremely
  important to be both mentally and physically fit.
• It comprises of three different weapons, each
  with their own rules and techniques.

3
What is a Bout?

• A bout is, in essence, a game in fencing!
• Bouts are fenced on a strip that is six feet wide
  and forty feet long.
• In a pool bout, fencers fence for five touches.
• In a direct elimination bout, they fence to
  fifteen touches.
• The winner is the person who gets the correct
  number of touches before their opponent.

4
Reasons to Fence!

• Anger Management! Its easy to let go of all
  your anger when you get to hit someone with a
  pointy metal stick!
• Quality Points! Colleges love you if you can
  fence. It looks great on a transcript! Shows
  youre dedicated to a relatively unknown sport in
  the USA.
• Great exercise! It gives you endurance while
  building leg and arm muscles.

5
Ratings in Fencing

• The rating system is a way to know how good a
  fencer is at their weapon.
• Each fencer has three different ratingsone for
  each weapon.
• Rating go from U (un-rated) to E to D to
  C to B and finally to A which is the best a
  fencer can get.

6
Foil

• The foil has a rectangular blade that is 35
  inches long and weighs around 16 ounces.
• The target area in foil is the torso and touches
  are made by the tip of the foil!
• A lamé is used in foil to register whether a
  touch was on-target. A lamé is a metallic vest
  wore over the other fencing gear.

7
Epee

• The blade is triangular and is the same length of
  the foil but weighs 27 ounces.
• The target area in Epee is the whole body from
  head to toe! Touches are also made with the tip.
• Epee is a descendant of the dueling sword where
  the first person to draw blood was the
  winner.hence the reason the whole body is a
  valid target.

8
Sabre

• Sabre is similar to the foil except that it is
  also a cutting weaponmeaning touches can be
  scored either by the tip of the weapon or by the
  side of the weapon.
• The target area in Sabre is from the waist up! A
  lamé is also used in Sabre to score touches.
• Sabre is the modern version of the cavalry sword.

9
CFFA

• Cape Fear Fencing Association (CFFA) is the
  fencing club in Wilmington.
• It has been around since 1997 and is run by
  Herman Smith.
• We meet Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays.
• Club members range from beginners to those who
  have fenced for 30 years!