This collection of pages (here and subordinate chapter/pages at left) is meant to be a general overview for people new to Fencing.  It is not promoted as being comprehensive (by any stretch of the imagination).  But it does allow the reader to say "Ahh, now at least I know what I'm talking about when I talk about Fencing".

 Fencing in the U.S. is overseen by the U.S. Fencing Association (www.usfencing.org).  They are out in Colorado Springs, CO.  The international governing body is the F.I.E. (Federation Internationale  Escrime).  Escrime is the French word for fencing.

Fencing is an Olympic sport, and one that gets scholarships at such Colleges and Universities as Harvard, MIT, Brandeis, Tufts, Wellesley, Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Brown, Rutgers, Princeton, Case Western Reserve, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, and UC San Diego.  It is very big in Europe.  Around here, it is big at  Stevenson, New Trier, Maine Township, and a few others. Stevenson has over 60 Fencers.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FENCING WEAPONS

Modern fencing consists of 3 weapons: Foil, Epee, and Saber.  Epee is pronounced as either ‘a-pay’ or ‘ep- ay’.  Like many terms, it is French.  Fencing is very much an international sport, and because of  it’s relatively small size in the U.S., the international (i.e. ‘foreign’) influence is especially noticeable in the U.S.

The following table gives a brief but fairly comprehensive overview of the difference of the 3 weapons:

Epee uses a slightly stiffer blade than Foil.  Saber is fun because you can whack people on the head and get points for it.  But some people like to spell it as Sabre, and they use the word ‘cut’ instead of ‘slash’ to describe the other way to score a hit.

Individual fencing ‘fights’ are called ‘bouts’.  They are conducted on a ‘strip’ or ‘piste’ about 40’ x 6’.  See ‘The Fencing Strip’  for more details .  Most all Tournaments are scored with the aid of electrical equipment to detect the contact. Fencers need 2 sets of Foils and Lames to compete in such tournaments.   ‘Dry’ is the term used when not using electrical equipment.   But no one describes ‘with electric’ as ‘Wet’.  Go figure…

The main object of a fencing bout is to effectively score 15 points (in direct elimination play) or five points (in preliminary pool play) on your opponent before s/he scores that number on you. Each time a fencer scores a touch, s/he receives a point. Direct elimination matches consist of three, three-minute periods

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Last modified: January 06, 2008