Fencing 101

Sada Jacobson (USA) vs. Xue Tan (CHN) - photo S.Timacheff FencingPhotos.com

If you were looking for a web site about home improvement, or about how to keep your neighbors out of your yard and your dogs penned in, unfortunately you’ve come to the wrong place!  That’s not the type of fencing that we’re talking about here.

Chances are, you already knew that.  “Fencing,” as many people know, refers to a form of armed combat typically using swords, but technically it may also include knives, bayonets, batons, clubs, and any similar handheld weapon.

Hundreds of years ago, fighting with swords was commonplace, both in Europe and Asia.  A student of martial arts in China and Japan learned to fight, not only with his hands, feet, and weapons such as a staff or sai, but also with a variety of swords.  The Chinese and Japanese did much to study and further the use of different sizes and weights of swords used in battle, and most history buffs know how important the sword was to the Japanese Samurai and to the Chinese warrior as well.

Swords were important pieces of equipment for soldiers in Greece and Rome as well.  Their popularity as a means of personal protection off the battlefield spread throughout Europe and were used as such for hundreds of years.

Today however, rarely do two combatants meet on an actual battlefield armed with only swords or knives.  Compared with guns and other weapons, swords of course are bulky, hard to use, difficult to conceal, and somewhat impossible to sneak past a metal detector!

Many people’s familiarity with fencing today revolves around what they’ve seen only in movies, with two men in fancy pantaloons and boots (and possibly a cape as well!) fighting over the virtue of a beautiful woman that is swooning over them nearby.  To most, fencing seems like a fancy dance, an old-time curiosity rather than an actual threat or means of protection.

This doesn’t mean that people’s interest in fencing is completely dissipated today, however.  There is still great attention paid to this graceful sport, as borne out by those movies – often box office successes – that are set in these “olden” times and that feature heavy emphasis on swordplay.

For example, consider the two recent “Zorro” movies (with megastars Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones), “The Princess Bride,” “Highlander” (both a movie franchise and television series), and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, all of which have done quite well with audiences.  Even the “Kill Bill” movies, which were set in modern times, featured heavy swordplay throughout.

And of course the light saber, featured in the “Star Wars” movies, could be considered a type of sword and their Jedi battles a form of fencing!  (In fact, US Olympian and silver medalist Keeth Smart tried out fencing because he thought the sword fighting in Star Wars was cool.)

While movies and television shows typically portray a fanciful and frenetic form of battle with few rules or attention to form, the term “fencing” today usually refers to the swordplay one finds in European schools of swordsmanship, and the Olympic sports that have developed from them.  Both of these venues are governed by rules that dictate each combatants’ moves, strike zones, weapons, and so on.  Emphasis is placed on footwork and controlled movements, rather than simply trying to overpower or “out-stab” your opponent.

Note what the official web site for the Olympics says regarding fencing:  “Evolved from the ancient form of combat, fencing is one of only four sports that has been featured at every modern Olympic Games. It was the first to include recognized professionals in a medals competition after modern Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertin arranged special events for professional fencing ‘masters’ in the original 1896 and 1900 competitions.

Fencing was one of the few sports that admitted professionals prior to the 1980s. In fact, the original Olympic rules, written by de Coubertin, specifically stated that fencing professionals, called masters, could compete. Events for masters at the Olympics were held in the foil in 1896 and 1900. Masters also competed in épée and sabre events at both the Olympics in 1900 and the Intercalary Olympic Games in 1906.

Women’s fencing first appeared in the Olympics in 1924. Today, men compete in both team and individual events at the Olympics using three types of swords – the foil, the épée and the sabre.

Women compete in both team and individual events at the Olympics using the foil, the épée and the sabre. Women’s épée events were first added to the Olympic program during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and women’s sabre was added in 2004.¹

Today of course we do not see two armed combatants settling disagreements with swordplay, but these fencing schools still continue to thrive and flourish.  Celebrities have been known to take up fencing, among them Jerry O’Connell, Katherine Moening, Marcel Marceau and Robert Goulet.  Many celebrities that have had to train in fencing for a particular movie role have enjoyed it so much that they continue with the sport.

Colleges often offer fencing as an elective sport, right along with the more popular football, soccer, and basketball.  Fencing even continues to be taught at the high school level in some areas.

But why bother to take an interest in fencing today, if it really serves no purpose in a practical sense – or is there a practical purpose to fencing in today’s world?  Why do Olympians and professionals alike still keep the art and science of fencing alive?  Let’s discuss that in greater detail in the next section.