There are many fencers today who claim that they are very good at the sport of fencing. The first thing I would tell them is that fencing is not a sport, it is a martial art. Yes fencers compete for points and that is an aspect of a sport. But I think that "sporting" rules and whippy blades are depriving many competitors of the true martial aspect of fencing.
A big problem has been the whippy blades that foilists and saber fencers have been using for a number of years. The foil, which is not a duplicate of real weapon, is a thrusting sword. You are supposed to thrust the foil into your opponent, not whip, hack or slash. When I have gone and watched competitions the past few years I see foilists whipping their blades to attack and score points. I know that is the nature of the sport, many times you can score more points by whipping the blade than actually thrusting it. I have seen fencing instructors teach Saber defenses for foil whipping attacks. WHAT? A foilist making a number 5 head parry? In classical and true foil fencing there are no head parries.
Saber blades have been made to be quite whippy. I have seen saber fencers attack their opponents bell guards hoping that their whippy blades will wrap around the bell guard and score them a point. I have met saber fencers who refuse to dry fence, they only do electrical with whippy blades. If they dry fenced, they would be squashed. These people are trained to smash their blades into a bell guard. COME ON! If you smashed your blade into a bell guard, your opponent has just seized the advantage over you. I know some people might say, "Well its just a sport, people don't fight with swords anymore, we don't need to practice classical fencing." If you believe this then you are kidding yourself.
You could never whip your thrusting weapon in real life, as the blade has to be stiff in order for you thrust. In real life, you would never purposly crash your saber blade into your opponent's bell guard on purpose. Fencing should mimic real sword play, because classical fencing was developed to mimic real sword play. My fencing and Savate (French boxing) instructor was from France. He actually fought real sword duels in Italy during the 1930s and one knife duel in France. He survived and won many of these duels, he also lost one. He brought nothing but realism to our training. People don't duel with swords anymore, but the concepts of fencing, timing, countertime, distance, the stop-hit, hand before foot etc...etc are useful in all martial practices. Don't believe me? Take your straight fencing thrust and remove the blade and what do you have? You have a straight strike. James Figg the godfather of English Boxing was a master fencer. He adapted the principles of the straight lunge and thrust into straight punching and the footwork from fencing into boxing footwork. The best aspect of fencing is that it teaches you to be non-telegraphic. Your hand must always move before your foot and your blade must always land before your foot touches the ground. I was taught to adapt to this punching and striking because it makes it non-telegraphic. Want proof? Bruce Lee was a fencer in college, he adapted many fencing concepts into his Jeet Kune Do philosophy. I suggest that all fencers read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do because it is littered with fencing concepts and how they can be used in unarmed combat. Bruce Lee's quickness came from his methods of being non-telegraphic. His hand always shot out before his foot and his hand always landed on his opponent before his foot landed. If anyone is interested my friend Mauser has posted some of his thoughts on fencing and knife fighting in the Common Sense Self-Defense discussion under REVERSE GRIP KNIFE FIGHTING. We have some similar thoughts on the subject.
Fencing is a martial art and should be practiced as such. At my salle, unarmed combat and fencing were taught hand in hand. If you whip the blade, you are not fencing.
A big problem has been the whippy blades that foilists and saber fencers have been using for a number of years. The foil, which is not a duplicate of real weapon, is a thrusting sword. You are supposed to thrust the foil into your opponent, not whip, hack or slash. When I have gone and watched competitions the past few years I see foilists whipping their blades to attack and score points. I know that is the nature of the sport, many times you can score more points by whipping the blade than actually thrusting it. I have seen fencing instructors teach Saber defenses for foil whipping attacks. WHAT? A foilist making a number 5 head parry? In classical and true foil fencing there are no head parries.
Saber blades have been made to be quite whippy. I have seen saber fencers attack their opponents bell guards hoping that their whippy blades will wrap around the bell guard and score them a point. I have met saber fencers who refuse to dry fence, they only do electrical with whippy blades. If they dry fenced, they would be squashed. These people are trained to smash their blades into a bell guard. COME ON! If you smashed your blade into a bell guard, your opponent has just seized the advantage over you. I know some people might say, "Well its just a sport, people don't fight with swords anymore, we don't need to practice classical fencing." If you believe this then you are kidding yourself.
You could never whip your thrusting weapon in real life, as the blade has to be stiff in order for you thrust. In real life, you would never purposly crash your saber blade into your opponent's bell guard on purpose. Fencing should mimic real sword play, because classical fencing was developed to mimic real sword play. My fencing and Savate (French boxing) instructor was from France. He actually fought real sword duels in Italy during the 1930s and one knife duel in France. He survived and won many of these duels, he also lost one. He brought nothing but realism to our training. People don't duel with swords anymore, but the concepts of fencing, timing, countertime, distance, the stop-hit, hand before foot etc...etc are useful in all martial practices. Don't believe me? Take your straight fencing thrust and remove the blade and what do you have? You have a straight strike. James Figg the godfather of English Boxing was a master fencer. He adapted the principles of the straight lunge and thrust into straight punching and the footwork from fencing into boxing footwork. The best aspect of fencing is that it teaches you to be non-telegraphic. Your hand must always move before your foot and your blade must always land before your foot touches the ground. I was taught to adapt to this punching and striking because it makes it non-telegraphic. Want proof? Bruce Lee was a fencer in college, he adapted many fencing concepts into his Jeet Kune Do philosophy. I suggest that all fencers read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do because it is littered with fencing concepts and how they can be used in unarmed combat. Bruce Lee's quickness came from his methods of being non-telegraphic. His hand always shot out before his foot and his hand always landed on his opponent before his foot landed. If anyone is interested my friend Mauser has posted some of his thoughts on fencing and knife fighting in the Common Sense Self-Defense discussion under REVERSE GRIP KNIFE FIGHTING. We have some similar thoughts on the subject.
Fencing is a martial art and should be practiced as such. At my salle, unarmed combat and fencing were taught hand in hand. If you whip the blade, you are not fencing.
