This page will be updated from time to time. Keep checking! (July2023)
A Diary, or Journal, can help you develop your fencing skills.
You can use it as a technical record of your training, competitions and achievements, or as a personal diary of your fencing journey with your own thoughts and ideas and goals. It is entirely up to you, but remember other people may see it!
On this page there is some content you may wish to print and paste or hand copy into your Diary but you can put in anything of a fencing related nature, notes on films or plays you have seen with fencing, pictures, cartoons, whatever!
The club provides a robust book for your diary but look after it and bring it to every session so that the coaches can see what you are trying to achieve and help you make progress towards your goals!
All files are PDF (Adobe Acrobat) files that should open in a separate window from where you can print them. Just click the images or links below. You may also be able to right click and save them to your computer for printing later. If you have any problems let us know. There is a contact form at the bottom of the page
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Use this form to set your goals, track your progress and form your final report
Achievement Awards. These are official British Fencing awards for each weapon to show how well you know the actions and rules. There are six levels and some preparation is required but most of the information is on this page. You can find more information here
Hand Signals. It is important to explain to fencers and audience the reason behind the award of a point.
They are not difficult to learn. Ask a Coach to guide you while you do some refereeing.
When you have got the basics you can go into more detail here (Youtube Search)
The Target – What to hit to score a point
The foil – taken apart & How to hold it!
The Fencer’s Pledge of Honour
The Piste – How big?
2+3+2+2+3+2=??
Follow International fencers, check results and watch videos
“Hold your weapon like a bird. Too tight, you will strangle it. Too lightly, it will fly away”
Scaramouche – A famous fencing film
You can watch the lesson here plus the exciting fight scene on YouTube!
Principles of Fencing with the foil
The answer in the rules is to hit a defined target area with the point of your foil with sufficient force that, if it were a real sharp point, it would penetrate the skin!
This is a slightly gruesome definition so instead we say ‘hit with sufficient force to cause a slight bend in the blade’.
In practice an electric foil requires 500grams of force to activate the scoring system. An epée requires 750g
Etiquette
A French word meaning a set of rules of personal behaviour in polite society.
In fencing this means saluting your opponent and the referee, before you commence fencing and before you put your mask on.
At the end of a match, you also remove your mask, salute your opponent and shake hands with them and the referee.
If you fail to shake with the Referee at an FIE competition you can lose the match!
There are also rules that make unnecessary, ‘ungentlemanly’, ‘unsportsmanlike’ or violent contact a red card or even black card offence
Offences
If you contravene (break) a rule you may be shown a yellow card which is a warning. The same offence in the same bout will get a red card which means a point will be awarded to your opponent.
Some offences are an immediate red card.
In extreme cases you, or even a spectator, can be shown a black card which means removal from the building and from the competition!
The rules are complex but you can see a chart of them here
What else would you like to see on this page for your Fencing Diary?