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fandomhigh2005-11-07 07:41 pm
ihatedenmark.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2005-11-07 07:41 pm
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Fencing Club
*The gym is set up a little differently this week. In addition to the regular fencing equipment and gear, there' also been a TV/VCR combo set-up in one corner of the room.*
Welcome to this week's Fencing Club. For those of you who are already experienced swordfighters, you may feel free to skip this and proceed straight to your practice. For those of you who are less experience, I have acquired a video that covers the main equipment of fencing, and the basic ways in which to use it. I hope that it will prove educational.
As always, please remember to sign in on the sheet in order to receive credit for this extracurricular activity.
Welcome to this week's Fencing Club. For those of you who are already experienced swordfighters, you may feel free to skip this and proceed straight to your practice. For those of you who are less experience, I have acquired a video that covers the main equipment of fencing, and the basic ways in which to use it. I hope that it will prove educational.
As always, please remember to sign in on the sheet in order to receive credit for this extracurricular activity.
no subject
And Kiki's welcome to join the club if she wants to
help me find some directionlearn about fencing.]The Fencing Personality
Well, just to give you a crash course: Fencing is chess at 100 mph. In the Olympic games, there is only one object that is actually faster than the tip of a fencing blade, and that is the bullet in shooting sports. The three weapons in sport fencing most definitely have an appeal based on personality. When meeting a prospective fencer, an experienced one can tell within 5 - 10 minutes what weapon that fencer will choose (some clubs start all beginning fencers on foil. We think that is silly!)
Sabre is most certainly built on the dashy, brashy and flashy. Very extraverted people gravitate towards this weapon. It's extremely fast, actions are quick, and exchanges rarely last more than a few seconds. I have never seen a bout last longer than 1 minute, let alone go to 3! Sabrists have a (somewhat deserved) reputation of being brutes, knuckle-draggers, neanderthals, linebackers, etc. In spite of that, in well-fenced sabre there is a lot of finesse and grace. The intensity of it (as well as the extra layer of clothing with the lame) makes it incredibly physically demanding for over many sequential short bursts.
Epee is for the psychology student; sometimes the quiet ones, but I know plenty that are as loud and swaggering as any sabrist. Epee is all about entrapment, trickery, subtlety and capitalizing on your opponants mistake at just the right moment - or, rather, tricking them into making a mistake and then taking advantage of it, all while they are trying to do the same thing. It's a weapon for the patient and the manipulative, and those who like mind games. At the beginner or collegiate level, this means that epee is god-awful slow and painfully boring. Especially in the women's bouts, the fencers stand there and just tink around for 30 seconds and nothing. Happens. 30 seconds does not sound long, but it's an eternity in fencing time. At the World Cup or Olympic level, it is mind-boggling. Epees are the heaviest and largest weapon, which makes this a lesson in endurance as well as patience. Epee is also notorious for cheating.
Foil, the oldest weapon, is also the middle of the road. It has both the speed element of sabre as well as some of the mind games of epee. It is taxing both physically as well as mentally - the bouts last much longer than sabre bouts, and often even longer than epee bouts, but the intensity of the action can be as high as that of sabre - and, at the same time, the fencer still must be working to take advantage of every opening, just like epee. Foil has skill, speed, finesse, grace, and intensity (I'm trying really hard not to say "Foil is the best because it IS," ha!) Foilists have a reputation of being sometimes a little stuck-up, occasionally vindictive, but very nice and quite intelligent off the strip. Due to some recent changes in the weapon, more bouts than ever are running to time, making it a very tiring weapon to fence - it's like long-distance running, but without the mental zen-out place. Moreso than the other weapons, this is chess at 100 mph.
Fencers - at least, at the collegiate, National Championship, World Cup, and Olympic level - also tend to have a minor reputation of being hard drinkers: Sabrists slam the whiskey and tequila shots, epeeists sip the wine, and foilists go for the beer and mixed drinks.
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