There are three weapons in modern, competitive fencing: foil, sabre and epee. The first two have already been covered so we now turn to every crossword puzzle fiend's favorite fencing weapon, the epee.

At first blush, the epee seems the simplest of the three weapons. It may score only with the tip like foil, but all similarities end there. First of all, forget that blather about "valid target" from foil (torso only) and sabre (everything above the hips). It epee, the entire body is valid target: head, toes, knees, pinkies.

Epee also dispenses with conventions of "right-of-way." If two epeeistes attack at the same time and both land a touch, the score is now tied at 1-1. It is said that foil teaches us how a duel should be fought and the epee teaches us how it would be fought.

In the 1800s smallswords and colichemardes were the early duelling sword of choice in France, England and America. Both weapons had a trifoil cross-section (thus no edge) and a devasting point. Duelling began to change, however. Men stopped wearing swords as a matter of civilian dress. At the same time, a movement began that allowed for duels "to first blood" to satisfy matters of personal honor.

Two men would agree to meet and fight until either one bled. At that point they had proved their honor. The matter was settled and both could adjourn for a pleasant breakfast together.

Because swords were no longer worn as a matter of dress, the guard got larger, to protect the hand. Especially important since that "first blood" movement took hold. The closest part of my opponent to me is the hand holding his sword. There is my first target.

Thus, the duelling sword (or epee... simply French for "sword") was born. The large guard covered the hand. The trifoil cross-section allowed more metal (and, thus, weight) to be removed without reducing strength or flexibility.

Sorry, that stuff about "blood-grooves" is a myth. It's all engineering and metallurgy.

At the first Modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, only the foil and sabre were used. In 1896 the epee was not considered a "sporting weapon." Epees were still being used for duels. The epee was not for sport. It was a serious weapon for "frank encounters." As a point of fact, even in America, once the epee joined the ranks of the other two competitive weapons, from the 1900s to the 1930s, it was more often called the "duelling sword" than the "epee."

Even now we have a saying in fencing. "Sabre is theatre. Foil is art. Epee is truth."

While foil is still the weapon most fencers learn first, in Texas, the epee is so popular that it is not uncommon for epee events to pull more competitors than foil. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the one Texan on the US Olympic fencing team fenced... yes, epee.

Here is a trivia point I will answer in my next post. When was the last duel with epees fought?

TEXAS FENCING ROUNDUP:

This weekend saw two tournaments in the Lone Star State. In Katy, just west of Houston, there was a small tournament held by the Katy Blades fencing club, In Remembrance of Pedersen. The reference, the Katy Blades fencer Trevor Pedersen does not mean he died, just that he is leaving to go off to college. It drew a respectable crowd of local fencers from around the Houston area.

The big tournament, however, was farther north. Baylor University hosted their annual Alvin Adelman Memorial Tournament. As the results link shows, it drew a collection of powerhouse fencers from: Dallas; Forth Worth; Houston; San Antonio; Austin; San Marcos; Round Rock; College Station; Oklahoma City; Florida; Kentucky; and, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

This next weekend there are three tournaments in Texas. There is a youth epee tournament in San Antonio hosted by the Alamo Fencing Academy. For sabreurs (sabre-fencers), the focus of the weekend will be the suburb of North Richland Hills near Fort Worth, where the 19th anniversary SabreCave tournament will be held.

The really big event, however, will be at Texas State University in San Marcos where they will hold the 34th annual Bobcat Open. This is the longest, continuously held tournament in the state.

The Cutting Edge

Now for sabre.

Sabre is the only one of the three modern fencing weapons that allows the fencer to score with the edge as well as the point. It makes sabre somewhat less linear, more multi-dimensional.

Like foil, sabre has a restricted area that is considered valid target, but it is less restricted than foil. In foil, only the torso is considered valid target. In sabre, everything above the forward curves of the pelvic bone is valid target: belly, chest, back, arms, head.

Because of this expanded valid target area, and the fact that even simple contact by any part of the blade on that target is seen as a "hit," sabre becomes a very fast game. Like foil, sabre employs conventions of "right-of-way" or "priority."

One fencer attacks. Their opponent must either avoid the touch or parry it (with an IMMEDIATE riposte), As with foil, once the first fencer attacks, if their attack is not parried and lands on valid target, only they are awarded a touch, even if their adversary also hit them. If attacked, you must defend or successfully evade. As with foil, sabre does not reward suicide.

Because of the large amount of valid target and the ease with which an attack may be subtly altered (a verticle stroke that appears to be a cut to the head can easily shift in mid-extention to a lateral cut to the flank), sabre can be more difficult to parry. Thus we see many actions where the defender retreats just out of range then, as the attacker's cut/swing misses, leaps forward to deliver an attack of their own. All in seconds... or less.

Sabre is a very, very fast game. It is also, at the higher skill levels a very nuanced game. The number of people qualified to referee sabre is much smaller than with either foil or epee.

Even at the elite level of Olympians the unexpected can happen.



THIS WEEKEND: Sabre was the focus of this weekend's only fencing tournament in Texas, the End of Summer Sabre tournament. It was held by the Fencing Institute of Texas in Farmer's Branch, a suburban city on the northern edge of Fort Worth. Being early in the fencing year, and focusing on the weapon with the fewest adherants, it was a small affair, drawing a couple of competitors from Houston and one from Tulsa, but otherwise representing the "usual suspects" for sabre in the Dallas-Ft. Worth region. Kate Sierra, who I thought was the strongest of the competitors who had pre-registered as of last Sunday, came in second, being defeated by her clubmate Omair Ahmad (both belong to the Cutting Edge Fencing Club of Ft. Worth).


NEXT WEEKEND: Again, we have only one tournament in Texas, but WHAT a tournament. The Bayou City Fencing Academy, based in Houston is playing host to one of the 8 Super Youth Circuit tournaments in the US this season. In a SYC tournament competitions are held men's foil, women's foil, men's epee, women's epee, men's sabre, and women's sabre... but each of those six events I described is actually three (broken into Youth-14 & Under, Youth-12 & Under, and Youth-10 & Under). So we have Youth-14 & Under Men's Epee, as well as Youth-10 & Under Women's Sabre... and everything in between.

To get an idea of the scope follow the link to the SYC pre-registration for this event. Place your cursor on the abbreviation for the fencer's club and get a feel for the diversity of locales these youngster are flying in from to fence.

As the new fencing year begins chugging forward we come into the weekend of August 22nd with offerings in the DFW Metroplex and the Houston/Galveston area.

To the north, the Fencing Institute of Texas, affectionately dubbed "FIT," is hosting their "End of Summer Foil" tournament. You may recall in my previous post I mentioned that foil is a weapon traditionally taught to beginners. I neglected to mention that it is also the discipline that many devote their lives to mastering.

The "End of Summer Foil" consists of two events.

One is for fencers age 12 and UNDER.

One is your basic Senior (age 13 & up) Mixed (both men and women in the same event) Foil. So far 25 fencers have pre-registered for that event. While the number may seem rather small, some of the Lone Star State's best foilists are already on board. Leading the pack is Enzo Castellani, who has seen more than one gold medal at the national level. Just as intimidating are the sisters Mai and Mona Shaito. As one colleague once quipped, the Shaito Family is "all over foil." Watch for all three of these names to appear in the future.

Across the state, the Clear Lake Fencing Club, based near the Johnson Space Center, is hosting their 11th annual Fete de Lune "veterans' tournament." This is not a reference to military service, but to age. All of the competitors are 40 years old and OLDER... some much OLDER. This event has competitions in all three weapons (foil, epee, and sabre).

While the women's events are still a bit small as far as pre-registrants go, it is not going too far out on a limb to predict that Diane Kallus from the Texas Hill Country will sweep all three women's events.

The mixed events are a trickier game. Reviewing the pre-registrants, there are four to focus on. The local favorite is Don Cravey, an aerospace engineer working at the Space Center. He is by far the host club's major threat in all three weapons.

Another local concern is August Skopik of Katy. Both Cravey and Skopik have won the Grand 3-Weapon Prize in the past.

Ray Sexton, however, must be taken into consideration. Not only is has he competed on an International level in his age group, he once travelled to Budapest and defeated the locals in sabre (Young boys in Hungary take to sabre fencing like American kids take to Little League Baseball). I should add that Ray is Diane Kallus' significant other. They are the double-threat from the Hill Country.

The real concern, however, may be Curtis Hardy of the San Antonio area. He just "aged up" into veterans events awhile back and took the 3-Weapon Grand Prize last year.

This time next week, we will know.