Anyone into fencing? I’ve fancied a go for many years and I’ve finally got around to doing something about it – signed up for a beginners course starting in January at a local club.

wanna buy some gear ?

Yeah on and off since I was about 7. My old man was veterans world sabre champion a few years back. Where are you doing the beginners course?

Klunk – lets see if i’m any good first!

Its at http://www.wingerworthfencingclub.co.uk/

🙂 I was debating starting a thread with the same title and then posting pics of the 650 m of stock fence I am currently putting up in my wood. You have now stolen my joke. Never mind…

For the record I have never tried fencing of the combatant stylee

Klunk – lets see if i’m any good first!

I’m the man. 😆

I used to be a qualified instructor, many many years ago!

Rachel

I did a bit many years ago. It’s brilliant, though I had so many other things I was juggling I didn’t stick with it. Foil and epee for me.

Like Welshfarmer, I was expecting stock fencing.
Did a woodland fence last year that involved feet on the tractor windscreen, bit steep, but so much easier to put strainers in with the knocker rather than dig them in.

As for the fencing the OP refers to, closest I’ve got is stick fighting with mate from next-door when I was 6.

STW brilliance 🙂

My daughters did a bit at school, I thought it was a good sport for girls in terms of encouraging a bit of agression (in a good way) and hence confidence.

Sadly it’s had it’s Olympic / Lottery funding removed.

Yes i heard about the funding thing – lack of success i imagine? It seems a relatively affordable sport to get into compared to my other hobby (small bore rifle shooting).

My son (17) fences and absolutely loves it. For him it is an ideal mixture of the physical and intellectual, as from what I can see it is almost chess like in the way in which you need to unpick the weakness in your opponent. I’ve frequently seen a fencer appear to be running away with a fight before his/her opponent susses out how to win.
Not sure I’d agree it’s “affordable” given the number of swords my son appears to break….. Plus if you want to compete there’s a lot of travelling as being a relatively small sport the competitions generally need to draw on the national pool of fencers.
The facilities are a bit hit and miss (there aren’t that many good fencing salles in the country) but we are lucky as he uses the Durham salle which was purpose built a few years ago and is one of the best.

I would recommend it! Did a fair bit at university but was at Bristol so was way below the competitive level which was dominated by people who had been fencing for years at public schools…

Agree with the above about the mix of skills required – I used to say when I taught beginners that you start learning how to move your own feet, then your own sword, then your opponent’s sword, then your opponent’s feet – you start getting good when you can manipulate your opponent into the moves you want them to make in order to give you an opening. Feinting is a fencing term for a reason…

Much like most martial arts you have to work out your opponent mentally while also being physically capable, so – at least to begin with – there’s lots of improvement you can make so you feel you are making progress. When you reach your plateau of competence it becomes hard to get better without really intensive training (also not unusual for sports) – but with fencing being quite niche you may find it hard to get a lot of good-quality training or opposition at your level. Local clubs tend to be small but have quite a wide range of skill levels and making the jump from novice to competitive may be very tricky – I got a bit stuck being significantly better than a beginner but hopeless against the experienced.

The main downside I found was the emphasis on who had right of way once you get beyond the basics (i.e. which fencer is ‘allowed’ to score a point – only applies in foil and sabre) which can end up meaning you rely on electronic timing and/or judges’ decisions which rather takes away from the whole sword-fighting thing.

It does go well with building strong thigh muscles though! And you will sweat hard if you train properly…

Interesting, thanks.

Affordability is relative I suppose, mountain biking can be expensive, rifle shooting is expensive (my new rifle cost me nearly £5k…)

Travelling to compete can get pricey but I’m not sure I’ll ever get to that level (I’m 51 after-all). I see starter “kits” for around £500.

I think the great advantage with going to competitions follows on from maccyb’s point about being able to improve by fencing against better quality opposition. In addition, fencers’ styles vary hugely so competitions allow you to develop differing techniques.
And yes it is surprisingly hard work physically. My son is absolutely pouring with sweat at the end of a fight and we tend to have the windows open on the drive home…..
The other aspect of it my son enjoys is refereeing. Fencing seems to have a view that “if you are good enough you are old enough” which coupled with a relative dearth of decent referees at many competitions means there are lots of opportunities to referee. Of course you still get the sh*t from competitive mum & dad defending their little Sebastian but fortunately he’s confident enough to ignore them.

I see starter “kits” for around £500.

Clubs usually have kit for beginners to use. You don’t need anything fancy.

Yes, kit is freed for the four week course (as is the course itself!!)

I used to do it, took it through uni but have sadly dropped it since. I should really dig out the kit now I’m not living that far down the road from where I started. It’s down to finding the time!