Intro to Fencing: Renaissance martial arts

In a recent visit to Toa Payoh Sports Hall, we were fortunate enough to spend some time with two of Team Singapore's fencers: Cheryl Lim and Samson Lee, who gave us a bit more insight into this unique weapons sport. Our curiosity got the better of us so we asked them some questions we felt those who are curious about fencing may be interested to find out.

Fencing is a sport that provides an intense workout. It requires a substantial amount of endurance, with plenty of leg work and mental strategy during the duel. While fencing involves the use of blades, participants are protected by layers of protection including the head and neck and is generally considered safe with the exception of suffering a few bruises from time to time. 

Watch our Fencing for Beginners video with Team Singapore fencer Samson Lee as he demonstrates 3 basic moves in fencing.

What are some of the basic moves in fencing?

There are many moves in fencing both for attacking and defending, but while some of the more advanced techniques that involve feinting, parrying and ripostes may take time to learn, the common ready position or “En Garde”, “Lunge” for attacking, and basic footwork in moving forward and backwards are easy to learn.

a. En Garde: Known as the ready position, you first hold up your master arm (holding the weapon) at a 90 degree angle to your body, leaving just enough space to insert a “thumbs up” between your elbow and your body. Legs should be about one and a half steps apart, with your front knee aligned to your toes.

b. Moving forward/backward: When moving about during a bout, quick recovery of your steps between movements is important. To begin when moving forward, your trailing foot always follows in recovery position after your leading foot. The same applies in reverse when moving away from an attacker. 

c. The Lunge: Extend your master arm with the weapon forward, and this is quickly followed by your legwork, with your front leg pushing off and your back leg kicking forward to propel you toward your opponent.

Modern fencing generally involves three weapon types: the foil, épée, and sabre.

The Foil is a light thrusting weapon targeting the torso, neck, groin, and back, but not the arms. Points are scored only with the weapon tip (tip needs to be compressed), while hits using the side of the blade do not count.

Épée similarly is a thrusting weapon, albeit heavier and also targets the whole body. All hits must be with the tip but not the sides of the blade.

Sabre is a light cutting and thrusting weapon that targets the entire body above the waist, excluding the hands. Hits with the edges of the blade or the point are valid.