What Is Fencing?

Fencing is a modern Olympic sport, but the quickest way to picture it is as a fast, closely refereed game of distance and timing played with a light sword. Two fencers wear protective kit, and electronic scoring equipment registers a valid touch. If you are watching a bout rather than fencing one, how to watch and understand fencing is a good place to start.

What actually happens in a bout?

Two fencers face each other on a narrow strip, salute, and begin on the referee’s command. Each carries a weapon wired into a scoring system, and each wears a mask, jacket, glove and other protection depending on the weapon. A touch that lands on the valid target registers on the scoring box, the referee confirms it, and the score updates, according to rules that also set out what is not allowed in fencing. Bouts are short, sharp exchanges, often over in a second or two, followed by a reset and another exchange.

What are the three weapons?

Fencing has three disciplines, each with a different weapon, target area and rhythm.

• Foil: a light thrusting weapon, target limited to the torso, with right of way rules deciding who scores when both fencers hit together.
• Épée: the entire body is a valid target, there is no right of way, and whoever hits first scores.
• Sabre: fast and aggressive, points can be scored with cuts as well as thrusts, and the target area covers the upper body and head.

Most fencers pick one weapon to specialise in, though trying all three is common early on. You can read more in the three weapons or our complete beginner’s guide to fencing.

If you are unsure where to begin, our guide on which weapon a beginner should start with helps.

How is a bout scored and won?

The standard senior format is a short poule round, with bouts to 5 touches, followed by direct elimination, where bouts go to 15 touches over three three-minute periods. The first fencer to the target wins, or whoever leads when time runs out. In Singapore, the national governing body for the sport is Fencing Singapore, and many young fencers first compete in school events.

What kit do fencers wear?

A mask, a jacket, a glove and an underarm protector (plastron), plus breeches and long socks. In foil and sabre a conductive vest (lamé) goes over the jacket so hits register on the scoreboard.

Why fencing is as much a mental game as a physical one

The physical speed of the sport sits on top of a constant mental game. Every attack is a question, and every parry or retreat is an answer, so fencers are reading distance, timing and habit as much as reacting to blade movement. A fencer with sharp footwork but no tactical sense will lose to one who reads the game well, which is part of why fencing suits both quick, reactive players and patient, thoughtful ones. To understand how points are actually awarded within that mental game, see our guide on how fencing scoring works.

Where does fencing come from?

Fencing developed from historical swordsmanship and duelling, gradually formalised into a sport with agreed rules, standardised weapons and safety equipment. It has been part of the modern Olympic Games since the first modern Games in 1896, and it is one of a small handful of sports to have featured at every edition since. Over the past century it has moved from a largely elite pursuit to a sport taught in schools and clubs worldwide, Singapore included. For the full story, see the history of Olympic fencing.

Who is fencing for?

One of the more surprising things about fencing is how wide its age range is. Students can start as young as 3 with private coaching, and it remains accessible into a person’s 80s and 90s, since there are no collisions or tackles, intensity can be scaled, and technique counts for more than raw power. Lunging does load the knees, calves and Achilles, so build up gradually.

• Young children build coordination and focus, often one on one before joining a group.
• Kids and teens typically join structured group classes that combine technique with discipline and sportsmanship. See our kids fencing classes in Singapore.
• Adults often start from zero, sometimes purely for the workout, sometimes for the sport itself. See our adult fencing classes in Singapore.
• Seniors find it a satisfying way to stay sharp and active, with intensity that can be scaled.

Why do people take it up?

People come to fencing for very different reasons: the fitness, the mental challenge, the discipline it teaches, or because it looked interesting on television. What tends to keep them there is the combination of all of it, a sport that works the body and the mind together, with a clear sense of progress as technique and tactics improve. Unlike many sports, there is rarely a ceiling, since even experienced fencers keep refining timing and reading their opponents better.

Feeling the sport for yourself answers more than reading about it. Beginners of all abilities are welcome at Fencing Masters, and a fencer can go from a first lesson through to national team level. Request a trial lesson with the club; the trial needs no gear, and we lend the mask, jacket and blade once you join, for the first 8 lessons in a group class, on a membership of 8 weeks or longer (on a 4-week membership, the loan covers those 4 weeks), or for the first 10 lessons in private coaching with a 10-lesson pack (the first 5 with a 5-lesson pack or single lessons).