The latest article by BBC Future on the Fightbooks describes what we already know: obscure, incomplete and mystifying. Titled The lost medieval sword fighting tricks no one can decode, Zaria Gorvett’s well-researched long-form article (20th December 2022) is a worthwhile read. …
Time for some over-the-top fencing in an Adidas deodorant ad from 2010. Such is the cachet of fencing in France, Adidas persuaded French soccer star Zinedine Zidane to kit up for some stage-fighting that makes the ludicrous James Bond Die Another Day routine look like Playschool. …
Today’s dose of unintended hilarity (make that horror) comes from WikiHow, ‘How to do anything.’ In this case how NOT to do anything, especially How NOT to Win a Swordfight. WikiHow’s signature style ‘tutorial’ glosses over safety and will get somebody killed or injured. …
Fencing is not a very televisual sport, for several reasons.
Firstly, the fencers wear masks which not only makes it difficult to know who’s who, but completely disconnects the viewer from the competitors. This is one reason why, for every hit claimed, the fencers rip their masks off for a burst of emotional shouting. Just as quickly, everyone calms down, covers up and carries on. It all looks like the demented behaviour of a bunch of crazy people. …
Fencing is very much an individual sport and over the years we have seen time and again the fencing attracts many of those children who turn away from the main stream team sports, those who can’t run, throw, catch or kick, those who aren’t natural athletes in group environments.
Give them a sword, however, and something fires their imagination. …
In foil and sabre, the priority or ‘right of way’ is one of the most difficult concepts in fencing to understand. For these two weapons, there is no such thing as a double hit; only one fencer can score at any moment in the bout.
If only one light comes up for one side or the other, no one has to worry about priority. The priority rule determines who is the attacker and who is the defender when lights for both fencers come up on the scoring box. …
When you watch a fencing bout, what exactly are you looking at?
Newcomers to competition, including parents, partners and even some of the new fencers may find it confusing to watch and, more importantly, understand fencing. It is a fast sport fought in short bouts (fights) according to strict technical rules with little time to analyse or find explanations.
For this non-fencer and newcomer, this is, in summary, how fencing ‘works’. …
“It’s okay to not be okay. You’re allowed to change your mind, to take a break or leave a situation you don’t feel comfortable in. There’s no need to blame yourself for any of those things just like there’s no need to feel bad about… feeling bad. We should all be allowed to fall apart sometimes so that we can find ourselves all over again.” …
In a previous post, we looked at the priority weapons, foil and sabre, attempting to untangle the issues of fencing time and what constitutes priority over oncoming traffic.
In short, priority (or right-of-way as it is also known) is the set of rules used to determine who is awarded the point when there is a double hit in foil or sabre (that is, when both fencers hit each other in the same period of fencing time). …
