Fencing is one of the oldest sports in the world, and was one of the five sports in the original Olympic Games in ancient Greece. It's basically the sport of jabbing swords into each other in order to score points, but most fencers would protest that there's a lot more to it than that! Because of the obvious dangers of waving swords about, fencers are required to wear masks and protective jackets. This has the effect of making them look somewhat like beekeepers, but it does the job of keeping everyone safe and happy, and that's what really counts when it comes down to it.

The Basics

The actual fencing takes place on a strip of ground called the 'piste' which is 14 metres long by 2 metres wide. Fights, or 'bouts', may be up to five minutes in length in competitions and during that time each fencer must attempt to score five hits on his / her opponent. Aside from the two competitors, other individuals involved with the bout include the President (now called the Referee) and the four Judges. The Referee starts and stops the bout and awards points to whichever fencer he deems has scored a hit on the other. The job of the Judges is to watch for any hit scored so that if the Referee is unsure about a hit they can tell him whether the hit was on target or not.

There are three weapons used in fencing, all of course types of sword. They are the foil, the epee and the sabre and each has a variety of different rules in addition to those described above.

Weapons

Foil

The foil is the weapon most fencers begin learning with. It is the lightest of the three weapons and its target area is limited to the torso only (no hits on arms, legs, or the mask are allowed). Hits may only be scored with the point of the foil. Most of the attacks described below apply to the use of the foil.

Epee

The epee is a slightly longer version of the foil with a larger guard (the protective metal shield around the hilt). For the epee, hits may be scored all over the body - everywhere is on target. The epee is the only weapon where, if two hits are scored at once, both combatants are allowed a hit. Like the foil, hits may only be scored with the point of the blade.

Sabre

Sabre bouts are fast and furious, as not only is the whole body on target but hits can be scored with the flat of the blade as well as the point. Sabre fencing is notoriously violent and many fencers come away from their bouts with bruised fingers. Even though the guard on a sabre is huge, the forces involved as both people hack away at each other are so large that it's easy to get your fingers trapped!

Attacks

There are many different kinds of attacks in fencing but they all boil down to two basic types: simple attacks and compound attacks. All attacks may be parried in several different ways including the simple parry, the circular parry and the semicircular parry.

A simple attack is an attack which involves one move that takes one unit of fencing time to perform. Examples of simple attacks include the basic lunge and the extension of the arm.

Compound attacks are everything else! Examples include the accelerating lunge, the 1-2 attack and the disengage attack. When your opponents' blade has been parried, a simple riposte may allow you an easy victory. Or perhaps not...

The Fleche Attack

This attack deserves a section to itself, if only because it is so spectacular. French for arrow attack, the attacking fencer leans his or her weight on the back foot and then launches forward spectacularly with a loud shout, presumably attempting to scare off his or her opponent. Like an arrow from a bow, the fencer is propelled forwards and the momentum of the attack may actually carry the fencer of the piste. This is the only time in fencing when a fencer is allowed off the side of the piste without getting a yellow card (see below).

Penalties

These fall into three categories for three types of card - yellow, red and black.

Yellow Card

If you are fencing a particularly pushy opponent and step back with one foot off the end of the piste, you may continue fencing. If however both feet are off the end of the piste then a halt is called and you are issued with a yellow card. This in itself is not too bad but if the same thing happens again then your opponent is awarded a hit!

Red Card

Should you at any point step off the side of the piste, even with one foot, a halt is called and you are issued with a red card. This means that your opponent is instantly awarded a hit, which ought to teach you pretty quickly not to do that again!

Black Card

Now for the worst possible penalty - the black card. If you use violence towards your opponent (other than with the use of your blade during a bout), or offensive language or violence toward the referee or judges, or engage in 'unsafe' conduct with your blade, you may be issued with one of these. What it means is that your opponent wins the bout automatically and you may be escorted off the premises and literally thrown out into the street. Remember: be nice!

Electric Fencing

Pardon the pun! Almost all competitions nowadays use electrical equipment to find out when a hit has been scored. Conductive jackets are worn and wires are run through the weapons so that when contact is made with one of the jackets it creates a circuit and a buzzer sounds. This pretty much eliminates the need for judges as it's easy to tell when someone has made contact. Since there are a number of halts during the bout whenever a hit is scored, or when a hit lands off-target, the noise can be very irritating after a while, especially as a fencing match consists of 27 bouts (9 for each weapon)...

Other Information

If you want to find out more about the wonderful world of fencing then there's a fencing web ring which contains a lot of information about fencing, including tuition, care of the blade and equipment stores. All you should ever need to know about fencing is almost guaranteed to be on there, but remember - there's no substitute for going down to the local sports centre and signing on to a fencing course, is there...

P.S. thanks to Crescent for reminding me about the electric equipment!