----------------------------------------------------------- New Message on Irish Fencing Forum
----------------------------------------------------------- From: PostpaidPBH Message 2 in Discussion As most you already know; since my time in College I have fenced all weapons in competition and I think there is a lot to be gained. 1) Firstly and most importantly (for me) I take a lot of enjoyment out of it. Despite concentrating mostly on foil & sabre for the last couple of seasons, far and away the most enjoyable fight I fenced in recent times was the Galway semi-final against Jack Richie in the Epee. 2) A second reason is to maximise the use of ones time in training. Some nights there'll be no sabreurs around and other nights there'll be no epeeists or foilists. If you fence with more then one weapon you'll spend less time sitting on your ass and more time fencing. 3) A similar reason to number 2. If you have just spent 4 hours driving to Derry or Colraine or Cork and are going to have to spend another 4 hours driving home, why not spend the time up there getting more fencing in? 4) I think a lot of people on this board are relativly new to fencing, I.E. 1-4 years experience. You should learn a little about each of the weapons and fence them in competition, perhaps you're best/favourite weapon isn't what you think it is? Imagine my surprise when having entered my first electric sabre competition (I think it was the Irish Nationals) for the laugh, I came 2nd! 5) Like Marcos says: The other weapons can be excellent cross training for your chosen weapon. Sabre is excellent for footwork and distance, foil for athletisism and blade control, epee for tactical thinking and "1 light fencing" (I.E. hitting without being hit). 6) If you have any aspirations about coaching or refereeing then knowledge of all weapons is very helpful, like the Mike Westgate (that Dali Lama of fencing on this Isle ) says "you never know who's going to show up in your club. You intend to open a foil club but you end up with a load of sabreurs" Hmmm, this is turning out to be a long post. I'll finish off with some of the negative aspects I have found about training and competing with all weapons. 1) Your WHOLE weekend is taken up with fencing. All day saturday, all day sunday and your bloody knackered by the time it's all over. You have neither the time nor the inclination to do ANYTHING else. 2) Tactics/moves/distance from one weapon definitly creeps into the other weapons I can't count the amount of times compeditors in an Irish epee competion have been deafened by a roar of "that's foil fencing you idiot Paul!" coming from my end of the hall. 3) The whole sport costs a whole lot more, and your kit bag weighs a whole lot more. My wheely bag currently holds: 2 Epees (Maraging) 3 Foils (Maraging) 3 Sabres (ordinary steel) 2 Masks (1 electric sabre mask, 1 foil/epee mask) 2 lames (1 foil 1 sabre) Electric sabre overlay A spagetti like tange of 3 bayonette, 3 two pin and 3 epee bodys wires & 2 electric sabre mask clips Jacket, breeches, glove & shoes Tools & Spare parts for all of the above ----------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this e-mail, or change how often it arrives, go to your E-mail Settings. http://groups.msn.com/IrishFencingForum/_emailsettings.msnw Need help? If you've forgotten your password, please go to Passport Member Services. http://groups.msn.com/_passportredir.msnw?ppmprop=help For other questions or feedback, go to our Contact Us page. http://groups.msn.com/contact If you do not want to receive future e-mail from this MSN group, or if you received this message by mistake, please click the "Remove" link below. On the pre-addressed e-mail message that opens, simply click "Send". Your e-mail address will be deleted from this group's mailing list. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
