A Brief Guide to
The Sport of Fencing
Fencing (or Escrime) began as a method of teaching people to use light swords. It is now an Olympic sport with electronic scoring of hits. The modern sport has three sets of rules or weapons which can be competed for by individuals or teams.
Above, from top to bottom Foil, Epee, Sabre
Epee - scores with a push button switch on the tip of the blade. A hit on any part of the opponent will score, and if both sides hit together then both get a point.
Foil - also uses a push button switch, but only hits to the body score, those to the arms legs or helmet do not. If both sides hit together then a set of priority rules is used to award the point, with only one point being awarded at a time.
Sabre - scores when any part of the blade touches any part of the jacket or helmet. Priority rules which are similar to foil are used if both sides hit at the same time, so only one point is awarded.
The Modern Pentathalon also includes Fencing in addition to riding, shooting, running and swimming. Competitors fence all of the others to one point in Epee.
Right - Epee at the Trofeo Carrocio, Italy
In fencing the hits are signalled by four lights on the side of the piste, the two coloured lights indicate good (scoring) hits while the white lights indicate off target (non-scoring) hits. Hits come up automatically through the competitors weapons and/or jacket which is connected to the scoring system through a wire on a spool.
Bouts take place on a piste 2 metres wide and 14 metres long and are usually to five or fifteen points, however in Olympic team matches three fencers in each team fence three bouts each to a total of 45 points.
Personal equipment for competition fencers consists of a mask, glove, jacket, and a plastron which is worn under the main jacket and is a half jacket covering the sword arm and chest. Fencers traditionally also wear breeches and socks rather than long trousers. Weapons are connected to the scoring system through a bodywire inside the jacket, and Foil fencers wear a metalic target jacket over the top of their main jacket which is also connected to the scoring system. Ladies also wear a plastic breastplate.
Right - Foil fencing at the A.S.C.
The competition format for individual competitions usually consists of a seeding round of five 5 point bouts, followed by a direct elimination (knock out) competition of 15 point bouts with the winners going through to the next round. In European countries where there are often over 128 competitors this means that a competitor must win five consecutive bouts to make the top four, and then fence a semi-final and final.
At the Athens Olympics there were six individual and four team events. Qualifying for the Olympics was through an Olympic qualifying event held by the F.I.E which included both the world champs and some regional competitions. Each qualifying nation is allowed to send one team for the team event and three competitors for the individual event. There are over 100 nations in the F.I.E. and only the top 8 teams and top 36 individuals qualify for each Olympic event.
Who's the best? Well it sure isn't us. The current Olympic Champs from Athens are:
Mens Team Foil: 1st Italy , 2nd China , 3rd Russia
Mens Team Epee: 1st France , 2nd Hungary , 3rd Germany
Womens Team Epee: 1st Russia , 2nd Germany , 3rd France
Mens Team Sabre: 1st France , 2nd Italy , 3rd Russia
Mens individual competition champions: Epee - Marcel Fischer ( Switzerland ), Foil - Brice Guyart ( France ), Sabre - Aldo Montano ( Italy )
Womens individual competition champions: Epee - Timea Nagy (Hungary), Foil - Valentina Vezzali (Italy), Sabre - Mariel Zagunis ( United States )
Italy, France, Poland, China, Russia, Hungary, Ukraine and the United States share the silver and bronze medals. There was no Womens Team Foil or Womens Team Sabre.
Right - Sabre at the NZ National Champs
The history of the sport can be traced back to ancient times, but Foil fencing was largely developed during the Renaissance as a method of teaching people to use light swords (a Foil always refers to a blunt training or fencing weapon). From about 1600 onwards the Rapier ( about 1.5 metres long) was replaced by the Epee or Sabre (about 1 metre long) that could be conveniently worn at the hip, and these 'small swords' became the principle duelling weapons.
During the 19th century, duelling and the use of swords was made illegal in many countries, and so the wire mesh helmet was developed which allowed fencing to be safely conducted as a sport. At the same time the Epee and Sabre which had been the common swords in use, were developed as fencing weapons in addition to Foil.
When the Olympics started in 1896, fencing was one of the sports included, but it underwent a major change when in the 1930s electronic scoring of Epee was developed, followed by Foil in the 1950s and Sabre in the 1980s.
The Modern Pentathalon has been developed from the skills that a 16th-19th century army officer would be expected to have, the ability to ride, shoot, fence, run and swim.
Auckland Swords Club was established in 1935 and has run continuously since 1946. It was very busy in the post-war period, and has averaged around 50 members every year since 2000.
To find out about the beginners course which we offer to new members, click below
