Let me know if you have any questions about fencing.

- I was a casual fencer for 6 years did a few yearly local competitions 

- I was in college club fencing

- my daycare owners son was a US national team fencer who had opportunities to go to Paris Olympics but decided not to. He also did NCAA college fencing.

 1259:

wow

Its not really a popular sport in the US. It's quite expensive and niche. I also forgot to add that my instructor coach did go to the Olympics.

Fencing is popular in Korea though.

Why is fencing so expensive? Are the swords & the gear need replacing very frequently?

How is the fencing shown in the drama, is it accurate?

Can you share us any injuries or hiccups stories of your fencing journey? How serious can they be?

 Sinasina:

Why is fencing so expensive? Are the swords & the gear need replacing very frequently? 

Better then my write-up: https://www.fencingparents.org/for-beginners/2018/4/17/how-much-will-it-cost-for-my-child-to-fence

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Firstly, I was not part of a school club but I took group lessons so I can't compare to the leads in the drama. However, since they are bringing their swords (we call them either épée, foil, or sabre based on what type of fencing you are doing) back and forth to home at times it seems that they may own their own swords. Add on episode 6 this week I can certainly say that the main female lead has owned her fencing saber (they are fencing saber in the drama) for quite some time.

So I will go over buying vs using community equipment (with paid lessons) 

Stuff you have to buy and or have - 

  • sword of choice and or 3 other swords of choice (I will explain this in my next comment but it's odd because I only see one type of fencing being played in the drama), usually we want to have both a practice and an electric blade.
  • clothing - fencing pants (we call them fencing knickers, during practice sessions we won't wear them that much but during competition we will wear them), fencing jacket (over $100), electric bib (it's the mesh looking overcoat that you see in the drama)
    • there are also different types of fencing jackets light, packed, front-zip, back-zip,
    • there are different electric bids for different types of fencing as well  
  • glove - this is something you will want to replace a lot!! my old fencing glove is gross and I am not sure how machine washable it is  
  • mask - wearing someone else's mask thats not fitted to you is the worst so this is usually one of the first fencing investments made, add that there is a bid that's adjustable so that it can rest on your chin better.

Optional - 

  • fencing shoes - typically cost over $150 dollars maybe even more in present day mainly because fencing is such a niche sport especially in my country the U.S. most of the companies we order from are coming from European companies. I even wanted to buy fencing shoes from Addidas a long long time ago but the shoes I looked at were not available anymore and were Europe exclusive I believe
  • chest protection - for woman with breasts it can hurt being pierced by the metal so this is something to invest in, add that there are different types of chest protections as well, some people are more umm violent in their fencing then others (I underestimated in college fencing what a first time fencer would feel like in the chest area, for this reason I hardly let her get any points on me to save face during a bout)


All these investments besides instructor dues can be avoided but if you don't like sharing things with people (smelly masks, smelly gloves,  ill fitting jackets and such) then you have to buy into it.

 pinksprings01:

How is the fencing shown in the drama, is it accurate?

How do I start? Kim Tae Ri's (MFL actor) fencing form is gorgeous! My only complaint about the drama is that for some reason they are only fencing sabre. Why wouldn't the competitive fencing club be training on all different types of fencing?? You can get enter competitions for multiple types of fencing as well. 

Foil is a bit more of a slower match, epee is super quick (like oh what I didn't even catch that point), sabre is similar to foil but your arms are a target and it's easier to score points.


There are 3 different types of fencing foil, epee and sabre. They are fencing sabre. I fenced foil but watched epee and sabre. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fencing#:~:text=There are three forms of,specialize in one weapon only.

Foil

  •  only targets the torso. 
  • Touches are scored only with the tip; hits with the side of the blade do not register on the electronic scoring apparatus (and do not halt the action). 
  • If both fencers land touches within a close enough interval of milliseconds to register two lights on the machine, the referee uses the rules of "right of way" to determine which fencer is awarded the touch, or if an off-target hit has priority over a valid hit, in which case no touch is awarded. If the referee is unable to determine which fencer has right of way, no touch is awarded.

Épée

Valid épée targets

Main article: Épée

  • all hits must be with the tip and not the sides of the blade
  • Hits with the side of the blade do not register on the electronic scoring apparatus (and do not halt the action). 
  • As the entire body is legal target, there is no concept of an off-target touch
  • Unlike foil and sabre, épée does not use "right of way", and awards simultaneous touches to both fencers.

Sabre

Valid sabre targets

Main article: Sabre (fencing)

  • targets the entire body above the waist, except the weapon hand
  • Hits with the entire blade or point are valid. 
  • As in foil, touches that land outside the target area are not scored. However, unlike foil, these off-target touches do not stop the action, and the fencing continues. In the case of both fencers landing a scoring touch, the referee determines which fencer receives the point for the action, again through the use of "right of way".
 pinksprings01:

How is the fencing shown in the drama, is it accurate?

Parts that I really like 

  • the fencing form (the way the backfoot and leg looks and how you go up and down)
  • the emphasis on analytic competitive fencing, how the female lead knows that when her opponent does A opponent typically does action B
    • my daycare owner's son would typically post-competition pop-in recordings to the TV in the living room and review the footage with his family and analysis any clues or things that other opponents were doing, it wasn't just his own bouts but others bouts as well
  • how they highlighted people delaying the bout!!
    • nothing says psychological warfare like when your opponent who is loosing asks the ref if they can do a touch check to make sure everything is working (sometimes it is not working but typically before the game starts this will be done) 
  • The noises!! 
    • I don't know why but fencing became like tennis where when you get a point you just scream to the ground!! even if you haven't won the match. You would think the person who got hit would make the noise but nope. 

OH YES ONE OF MY MAJOR GRIPES!!!

* When the MFL and MML were talking and they were playing with the sabre without masks on!!!!! I was in a class under 16 years old so we were taught to not touch our swords without our masks on when we were next to other people. I was frightened watching that scene!! Your only a few steps away from poking someone's eye out!!

 senoseno:

Can you share us any injuries or hiccups stories of your fencing journey? How serious can they be?

Probably leg cramps. I didn't fence enough or aggressively to hurt anything. But on thing I hated is that in foil the crotch area is a place that you can target. My daycare owner's son most of the time when he was injured it was due to some skateboarding injury or something like that. 

I would say it's important to protect your ankles and leg muscles. Not many injuries though. 


I could say that in the competitive level dehydration can be a risk. It gets real sweaty underneath the jackets during the hot months.  

Sorry can you elaborate on the principle of “right of way” like how does one get priority?

Thanks for answering so many questions! Is it normal for fencers to take off their mask each time their score a point? Seems like you have to secure the mask and it shouldn't be easy to remove.

 jeanfiles:

Sorry can you elaborate on the principle of “right of way” like how does one get priority? 

This video explains it well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7zxpDW8nb0&t=122s

This one has a lot to digest but it's quite cool because it's a womans sabre gold match like the one we watched last week : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbysntM36A



 SparklingButterfly:

Thanks for answering so many questions! Is it normal for fencers to take off their mask each time their score a point? Seems like you have to secure the mask and it shouldn't be easy to remove. 

No problem. It's quite easy to remove if the mask doesn't have the velcro backing but it's putting it back on that's annoying. Additionally, the helmet hair and static hair that I would get sometimes would be annoying.

However, I can see that this is a choice of the director to capture actor Kim Tae Ri' s amazing facial reactions to every successful score. I applaud that. It's like imaging if we can see the face of a sports car driver when they are in the lead of a race.  There are fencing helmets with a window in them for the eyes it would have been interesting had they used them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbysntM36A (video I linked in my comment above) this shows a bit of a gold metal match that's woman's sabre like the one in the show (there are parts probably cut). 

Oh my goodness, thanks to you I've learned so much about a sport I didn't even care for a month ago, but now I'm quite interested in. My only question is related to the swords. 

It gives me anxiety every time I see players and the drama characters folding their swords constantly as if the sword is having a cramp or something. I know they're sturdy but won't that affect it in the long run? And if not, why the constant bending?