Any other fencers?

Hiya,

I'm a keen fencer in the UK - I fence epee and represent GBR in the Cadet Squad at the mo'.

How many other members are fencers, I was wondering?

 

I fenced for a long time, but haven't done much of it recently. I'm a saber fighter primarily, with a little epee/foil. I've been doing other MA (thaiboxing, kali). There are more than a few other fencers here, and fencing threads tend to pick up steam for a while and then die out.

Welcome!

 

I just instructed two students for a rapier-duel they had in their version of the play "Hamlet" :love: :love:

-You should have been here, as I only know italian longsword, dagger and wresteling, and have had 3 hours of rapier-training

But they were pleased with the result, so then am I as well

 

I dunno, some rapier stage-fighting can be good to watch; the quality of stage-fighting is meant to be getting a lot better recently. In the UK, at least...

I can imagine how most MAists would go with sabre, Cuchulain - there's all the rubbish about priority and right of way, but I imagine it'd be more attractive to them 'cos of the violence.

I like epee because you have to use yer head - rushing in waving your sword will just get you killed, so you have to THINK - plus being able to hit people on the foot (in the epee discipline you can hit any part of the body) is sweet. :love:

Anyway, I was just seeing who's seen the light yet and who hasn't. Need to get evangelising, I do...

 

I'm another fencer, but an ex-fencer now cos theres no club in my new town
I did a lot of years of foil and a bit of epee. Never liked sabre much, but each to their own

 

well, I have no experience with epee\"modern rapier", the only thing resembeling was a one day Rapier-WMA-course (the real thing; not show-fighting or a SCA) -so I have no illutions that I did a very good lecture for them when it came to technicalities

Here, there should be some lines arguing why other WMA's can be just as refied as epee + a little section on why hitting the legs isn't that realistic from a life-or-death-point of wiew, but that would be to pull the thread off topic, and I don't want that; I like to have Epee\fencing-threads welcomed to the WMA-forum

Good luck with the evangelizing; "let there be light!" :Angel:

 

Well, there's some things that fencing actually really helps with. The big ones are control, timing, and range. In kali I am lightyears ahead of everyone else in terms of how quickly I can move my feet, how to lunge, knowing a proper distance, etc.

However, I also have some bad habits- I don't strike in combinations, rather I usually just feint and land one solid strike. I don't move well out of line ("zoning off")... the list goes on. All in all, I think it is actually a great combination.

If you want to talk about "seeing the light", go to a kali/escrima/arnis class. Anyone who loves fencing and weapon combat will really love Filipino MA.. it's just so different, but still so similar!

 

If you like Kali/FMA/Kadena/Panatuka, you really should check out the manual of Fiore di Liberi (fior di battaglia). I've been doing that for 4 years, and when I attended a Kali-Sikaran-weekend-open-seminar some weeks ago, I found that it was very similar to Fiore, only a little less kick/punch, and a little more wresteling. And this is- of course way off the topic; sorry -BACK ON TRACK

 

fencer here. did a stint with the national training team for saber (back in the day that saber was only limited to men).

fma is a good weapons art as well.

 

Another fencer here, still train, but don't really compete these days. Mostly foil at the moment due to the club I fence at, but reasonably handy with a sabre too.

 

I am doing Saber and Epee ...

But is it possible to be able to use both hand and then be able to dual wield ?

 

In modern sport fencing, no. Or rather, it's physically possible but against the rules of sport fencing and none of the scoring equipment supports it either.

 

I know it is against the rule to dual wield in competition , I am a right hand fencer u see , I kinda want to get use to my left hand and try dual wielding since epee and saber is a 1H weapon .

 

I'm an ex-fencer (now kung fu), and that's one of my bad habits: trying to overcome it during sparring is one of my goals - keep attacking and defending rather that waiting for the non-existant light to go on the non-existant box!

Still quite like fencing but wanted a different challenge, and something with a bit more self defence, and I don't have time to do both. I did mostly foil, some sabre (because we needed a female sabreur for competitions) and very rarely picked up an epee.

I vaugely remember reading an article a few years back (possibly in the BFA "Sword" magazine) about a club jury-rigging a system to allow tham to fight a version of epee and main gauche (sword and dagger) - two boxes, twin body wires for each fencer, a normal epee, a cut-down epee blade (for the dagger) and presumably lots of assistant refs and floor spotters to help the president... just for fun obviously, but sounded very cool and a lot of fun !

 

That sounded fun!

 

reply...

I still fence on occasion. My primary weapons were always the foil and the epee.

 

iv started fencing now at uni - just 3/4 months in so still at the basics - i have already noticed how it can help with footwork and timing though. we have just started to allow people to look beyond foil at epee and possibly in the future sabre.
thats the weapon i wanna train in

 

Sabre is less fun since they restricted the footwork I think. Don't have a chance to fence it much these days though, current club is primarily a foil club and only has the cheaper foil/epee boxes, so other than the odd steam bout, I don't get to indulge in sabre as often as I'd like.

Out of curiousity for the foilists/epeeists floating around - french grip or pistol grip, and why?

 

i've tried playing foil and epee. when i do, i borrow a french gripped weapon from my teammates. i suppose it's because i'm so used to the grip of the saber.

 

Yep, some foil, but many years ago ...

It's a brilliant sport If I had the time, I'd go back to it.

However, now I do JKD, I find my modest fencing experience surprisingly helpful, given what Bruce Lee took from fencing to use in jeet kune do.