Fencing is a simple game, in a way. The whole object of fencing is to hit without being hit yourself. Now most people aren't too familiar with this most romantic of sports, so let me lay out the basics of it in the viewpoint of a fencer in a bout.
Walking onto a narrow fencing strip, your opponent faces you, similarly clad in white jacket, breeches, and holding a steel mesh mask under his left arm. You stand with your feet at right angles, sword foot forward. Tugging your sword glove higher over your cuff, you grasp your foil, firmly but not tightly, and at the director's command you raise it in a salute, dipping it in a crisp line towards you opponent. The gives the command of "On Guard". You have done hundreds of times before, and do so now. Feet about a shoe-length apart, knees bent so your body weight is equally distributed, sword hand bent slightly with your point at eye level, and back hand raised up behind you for balance. "Fencers ready?" at a nod the director gives the final command, the one you've been waiting for. "Fence!". Alert but sure of yourself, you probe your opponent, testing for reactions, weaknesses. But all is not well. Your opponent almost immediately launches a powerful lunge, beating your sword sharply to the side and bending his flexible blade on your chest. "Halt!" cries the director. The judges across from you have their hands raised, which may mean they saw a touch arrive. In foil, the touch is a thrusting action with the point on the valid target, the torso. Did it arrive? Or was the touch off target or a flat--plaque--touch. That's what the director and judges are deliberating. You rest, knowing that even if your opponent hit, they still need four more touches to win the bout, and have just given you a vital bit of information: they may repeat the same action later in the bout. The director calls his view of the right-of-way: "The Beat-attack from my left?". One judge says "yes", while the other abstains. All four judges have one vote, while the director has one and a half. "I agree, yes" calls the director, and the opponent is awarded a touch. Now the game is on, and you see that your opponent favors the same lateral parry every time you probe. Seizing on this, you feint and deceive his parry, scoring on another part of the target. This time your judges speak up emphatically: "Yes!". The score is now 1-all, and there are still 3 minutes out of the 5 in the bout to go. The fight progresses, your opponent scoring another touch by closing in and in-fighting. Realizing that you need to keep them at a longer distance, you wait until they rush into your lunge distance, and you execute the same feint that won you a touch earlier in the bout. (Five minutes seem like forever when you fence). This time, your opponent manages to parry it and score with a return attack or riposte, and gains another touch. The score is now 2-3 in your opponent's favor. Because it is three touches, you and your opponent change places on the strip, shaking hands briefly and coming on guard. You are secretly thankful, because you know that his judges are slightly sharper when it comes to calling a clean touch. "Fence!". Your opponent comes forward, preparing another beat-attack, and you stick out your blade in line as an invitation. He goes for the bait and you disengage around his beat, arresting him before he can finish the action. Unfortunately, you hit off target in the arm, and the action stops. There are 52 seconds on the clock. You only have a slim possibility of winning this bout, and so your will have to use all of your mental abilities to out-fence your opponent. Both of you are cautious now- the other fencer knows that he could stall for time, but you could also score. 29 seconds. You attempt the feint that you scored on earlier. Knowing that your opponent may attempt to parry it as he did before, you feed him enough blade to let him do so. He ripostes. There is a touch. However, it is not your opponent's. You relied on second intention, knowing he would riposte, and deciding to counter-riposte. The touch is good, and there are 14 seconds left. 3-3, and pressure is on: one of you have to score the next touch. You prepare for an attack, but your opponent beats you to the touch and at 4 seconds left scores by dropping to the low line. The bout is over, and you have lost. It was a good match however, and your opponent simply did not outscore you, but out-fenced you. You grin, albeit ruefully, and take off your mask placing it under your sword arm, shaking ungloved hands with your opponent. The bout is over, but your fighting spirit is not dimmed. Next time....
So that is not always how a bout goes, but that's the general idea. Whether with foil, epee, or sabre, the goal is to not just score five touches before your opponent, but to out-fence, to out- think them. It's a game of chess at 100 mph. Fencing is an ancient sport, with noble traditions of honor and respect for the opponent. It's all about sportsmanship and winning well. "Gracious and dignified in defeat, humble and noble in victory", as the saying goes. There are three weapons in fencing. The foil is a light thrusting sword with small bell guard, the target area being the torso. The epee is slightly heavier, also a thrusting weapon with a larger guard to protect the hand, and the entire body, (head, shoulders, knees, and toes) counts as target. The sabre has a curved knuckle guard, and can be use to either cut or thrust anywhere above the hips. For a 5-second history of fencing: fencing was developed as training for the duel. When the duel died out, the sport of offense and defense with a sword (fencing) was left over. More to come.
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