By Joel Fickel
The Talon
Rochester HS
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing
Sports Feature Story
After a series of stretching and footwork, sophomore Kyla Lucey takes position facing her opponent. She slides on her helmet, grasps her Épée and begins to analyze her rival. Lucey looks for openings and weaknesses to exploit during their match, because she knows that she must stay one step ahead of her opponent mentally to succeed in the competition.
“The most difficult part of fencing would have to be the quick thinking required to beat your opponent,” Lucey said. “If your opponent beats you in thinking then you may have as well lost the match.”
As opposed to many other sports, fencing relies almost entirely on a mental aspect to out think the opponent, along with the ability for the competitor to be able to stay in the moment. In other words, a fencer must keep up with the match going on in front of them, but also think
ahead mentally to finish on top.
“The significant difference between fencing and other sports is the ability to think and strategize while strenuously moving,” coach Todd Dressell said. “Fencing is often called ‘Chess at a Sprint.’”
In fencing, there are three different types of swords, and each type of weapon was made incorporating the ways that sword was used in combat throughout history. With each unique style however, competitions are separate in the way that they are scored and played, as each event correlates to the type of weapon being used.
“Épée is the dueling weapon of the mid 1600’s; it’s sharp
only at the point and the target is the entire body,” Dressell said. “Whomever hits first wins the point, but if both hit at the same time, both win the point.”
Likewise to épée, foil uses the same concept, yet it includes an extra set of rules called “right of way” or ROW. These rules state that you don’t just score by touching the opponent with your sword first, but to score a point you must be on offense as well.
“Foil is the training weapon for épée, where you must hit with the point but only on a limited target, which is the chest area,” Dressell said. “However, as a training weapon there is a set of rules called ROW, which was developed to teach how to fight with a sword and avoid suicidal mistakes.”
The additional set of rules used in Foil can make it difficult in some cases, and requires the athletes to stay sharp mentally throughout their contest.
“It’s difficult because you must make sure that you have right of way because you can hit on target,” freshman Claire Cracium said. “But if you don’t have right of way and you didn’t think it out right, it won’t matter.”
The third and last type of fencing is the Sabre event. This sword is sharpened at the sides along with the tip, and athletes can use this weapon with a slashing motion instead of just touching their opponent with the tip of their sword.
“Sabre is the weapon of the military originally done on horseback,” Dressell said. “The Sabre uses the edge as well as the point, and the target is from the waist up to mirror the target on that of a horseback.”
Fencing competitions are generally held in tournament settings, where athletes are placed into pools weighted equally that typically consist of five to seven fencers depending on the amount of entries. Then, depending on the fencer’s success in the pool stage, they are seeded into a direct elimination bracket.
In the pool stage, the bouts, or matches, usually have a three minute time limit for a fencer to reach five touches, or points. In the bracket stage the bouts are typically played in three minute periods with a minute rest between them, and athletes compete to reach fifteen touches.
“You get placed into a pool and fence the people in your
pool, and this first round seeds you for a bracket,” Lucey said. “Competitions go to five points in the pool round, and in the bracket stage you do 15 touch bouts to determine who moves on.”
Fencing is also very modern in the way that their scoring is conducted. It relies not only on the call from a referee, but also on the technology embedded into the equipment that the competitors wear.
“Fencing is scored electronically by using a scoring machine, reels that spool out a wire attached to the fencers,” Dressell said. “The fencers use weapons
that are wired and wear garments that cover the target and are electrically conductive.”
Fencing is a sport that is especially unique in its way to include difficult mental and physical attributes that make the sport both exciting to watch and thrilling for the performers.
“You have to plan out each attack and carry it out within a matter of seconds,” Lucey said. “It is a fast-paced, exhilarating sport that requires effort of both mind and body.”
Fencing sets itself apart from many of the sports that are common today in several ways. With a unique format for competitions, and the significant involvement of both the mind and body during performance, the sport still renders itself as enticing for many athletes.
“I love the one-on-one competition, and I love working with my students and developing their physical and tactical skills,” Dressell said. “I love the fact that everyone can fence and that it usually becomes a lifelong pursuit.”