The Basics of Fencing

The fall semester I took a fencing course at Columbia University as part of my Physical Education requirement. As someone who has never touched a fencing blade nor ever watched a match, I was initially impartial to the sport, but the course, taught by Coach Michael Aufrichtig, ended up being one of the best classes I’ve taken at Columbia. I’ve learned so much from this course about the basics of fencing, how to “warm up” important muscles, the patience and emotional control required in 1-touch fencing matches, and teamwork in team fencing. Fencing was also a great release for a lot of the pent up stress I had during the semester. It was exhilarating to fence against people who were physically stronger than me, as physical strength and size didn’t directly translate to being a better fencer. I want to remember some of the things we’ve learned in the course that were on our final exam so I’ve noted them here in this blog post.

THE NAMES OF THE 3 FENCING WEAPONS AND THEIR TARGET AREAS

  • épée – head, torso, legs, limbs, hands (basically everywhere)

  • sabre – above the waist

  • foil – torso only and back

DEFINITIONS

Parry – when an attacker comes at you, you can “parry” the blade by directing it away from yourself (parry 4, 6, 7, 8)

Halt – stop

Circle 6 – have the blade in 6th quadrant with right side of blade making contact with opponent’s blade and do a full circle going clockwise down and back up moving opponents blade back to quadrant 6 (for right handed)

for reference the quadrants look like:

4 6

8 7

Other fencing terms: beat, half-circle, advance retreat, en garde, disengage, etc;

Fencers shoulders should not be tight in the shoulders

How to lunge: Fencers start en garde, then to lunge, fencers first extend the blade, then lunge forward with the foot in front with knee bent at a 90 degree angle. The back leg is generally straight and the front leg is bent. The distance of the lunge is greater than the distance of an advance.

The lunge position in fencing

SCORING AND RULES

How many points is a normal fencing match in the NCAA/College: 5

How many points is a direct elimination match in World Cup, Olympics or NCAA final four: 15

How many minutes is a normal NCAA/College Fencing match Epee and Foil: 3

How many minutes is an Olympic Direct Elimination Match for Epee and Foil: 9

When you fence electric and you score what side does the light go off: Your side

What happens when a fencer goes off the back of the strip with both feet: They lose that round and the other side gets a point

If the score is tied at the end of time in Epee and Foil (e.g. 4-4-) what happens: One fencer is chosen at random as the one with “the advantage” and in the next round if the person without the advantage doesn’t score a point, then the one with advantage gets a point. It’s similar to “sudden death.”

What should fencers do before and after a match (proper code of conduct)?
Fencers should salut the other player with blades up. Afterwards, they should shake the non-glove hand of the other fencer.

What does the referee say before the match beings? En garde, and then “Prêt” (ready) to alert the fencers that the match is going to begin

CLASS PICTURE

Our fencing class with our amazing coach Michael Aufrichtig

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