En Garde. Ready. Fence! (Fencing - General)

Member Name: LegallyBlonde88

Product:	Fencing - General
Date:	13/03/08 (176 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: gets you really fit!

Disadvantages: can be sore sometimes

I never was a fan of the compulsory PE lessons I had to participate in at Grammar School. Hockey was just a nightmare and I was a bit too petite to ever be any good at it considering most of the girls on the team were built like BIG men!

So when I had the opportunity to actually choose what sport I was going to endure twice a week, I decided to try something new...Fencing! Some of my friends had already been taking this class and I had heard some good reports.

An outside instructor was contracted in to teach us, so I didn't have to put up with the old PE teachers from my school that I didn't particularly like! He was such a lovely gentleman, obviously due to his age, his days of competitive fencing were long gone but he was still surprisingly fit! On the first day I was so excited getting all the equipment on! The white jacket (complete with plastic chest protectors), breeches, glove for my fencing arm and a very heavy mask!

Before we were even introduced to a sword we were taught how to stand in the various fencing positions e.g. a lunge and how to stand en garde... and all the terminology. After a brief introduction our school gym was arranged into pistes so that we could all take part in bouts simultaneously. Each piste is to be between 1.5 and 2 metres wide and 14 metres long. There will be two fencers and one referee on each piste at any one time.

We first started using the Foil weapon, which is by far the lightest and most flexible out of the three available. The target area in this discipline is just the torso and hits can only be scored by hitting the target area with the very point of the foil. There are priority rules such as right of way when fencing with foil but I will not bore you with all the precise details of that!

We eventually progressed to the Épée. It is alot heavier, longer and makes it feel more like a genuine duel! The target area is the whole body and the fencer must fix the point of his weapon on his opponents target body part. There are no priority rules. We used electric épées which have a push button on the end, so that a hit can be registered with electric scoring apparatus. A force of at least 750 grams is required for the hit to be registered. So sometimes when fencing against an over-zealous male...these hits could be quite painful!!
Despite the protective clothing, I did end up with lots of little bruises all over my body during this period!

Sabre is the cutting weapon. You will have to have been fencing for some time before you will get to use this one! Points are scored on hits with the surface and edges of the blade.

Fencing is quite famous for the rules governing the sport. For example, before a bout each fencer must salute the other. All refereeing is usually in French..."En Garde. Pret. Allez!" marks the beginning of a bout and "Halte!" interrupts it.

After months of fencing lessons my instructor advised me to sit a witten examination which tested me on the theory of the sport, and I received a qualification from British Fencing to instruct fencing (at an elementary level)

I was so glad that I chose fencing because I have now found a sport that I really enjoy. Once you start and as you continue you will notice your fitness levels increase dramatically as fencing is one of the most demanding sports. Bouts can continue for ages and it feels like hours when you have a heavy mask on and you are wielding a heavy sword! Rigorous training sessions are vital if you want to succeed.

Summary: the great sport of fencing