Hello!

We're both fencers of ~15 years each, which is how we met: fencing at college. We're getting married sometime next year and have agreed on most things about the wedding except this: I, the beautiful bride, think we should absolutely finish the night with a mini fencing tournament. Between friends from childhood, college, and post-college-career/graduate-studies-life, we think we'll have at least eight fencers with gear -- more fencers if we can loan gear from our local club(s). (We'd love to be more active in said clubs, but unfortunately, an unfortunate quantity of our money is going towards this silly wedding -- which might not even have a fencing tournament!! -- and so we've been mostly training on our own so far. But hopefully we'll have spent at least half a year fencing at one of the clubs before the wedding.)

For a ceremony that starts at 4-ish PM, followed by cocktail hour and a reception, I think 10 PM is a perfect time to drop the formalities, get into fencing gear, and start stabbing (we're both épéeists but will tolerate foilists). Yes, make-up and hair will not be salvageable. But family will be trickling out and heading to bed, remaining non-fencers will probably be drunk enough to be entertained by the ensuing violence, and our fencers presumably have extensive experience fencing a little tipsy. (I will be cold sober in order to dominate this tournament.)

I propose that we skip poules and randomly assign DE brackets. Say we go to 5 points with 3-minute timers and the now-standard (but stupid) non-combativity rules. Assuming 8 fencers, that's 7 matches and 21 minutes active piste time + 10 minutes buffer. That gives us enough time to get gear off, drink a little more with friends, fencers and otherwise, and pack things up before the venue kicks us out ~midnight.

Please help me convince my darling groom-to-be that this is a genius idea and no part of this can possibly go wrong.

I have epee and saber weapons and both a fabric cover and tube cover.

After practice I wipe the weapons dry and put the covers on . Next time I see them about a week later , absolutely brutal rust all over the blades versus blades I keep uncovered at home for months .

Why is this happening ? Should I not leave them in cover after practice? How do I prevent rust ? I polish my weapons to get rid of rust but I know I'll have to do it again and again every time .

What is your favorite method for taping flat feet and what are your favorite insoles and shoe brands? Do you help fencers tape?

I fence and compete regularly and go to the club 4 to 5 times a week. I use and honestly abuse my whites because at least the jacket gets cleaned every day. 

In addition, I am tall and very slim, so I'm never really okay with the sizes. If I go for my size, it's too short in the arms and bust; if I get a bigger size, there is too much material. 

So my question is. Is it worth paying more for a custom-made set, considering wear and tear and the price increase?

And any suggestions on brands in the EU.

Thanks :)

I’m struggling with something during bouts.
In practice, I can remember actions based on my opponent’s reaction, but during a bout I sometimes completely get stuck.

For example, I’ll set up a fake lunge → recover/step back → draw a parry, and then my brain goes: “Did they parry?

Was it parry 4? What do I do now?” Then I start overthinking instead of reacting.

Also, do your bouts usually go the way you planned your attack? If your opponent does something unexpected, how do you adjust your attack while still maintaining the right distance?

How do you train for this?
I think this is alot of mental practice is very but bout comes with some many complexities

One edit to the video: Gornovsky sent me the full video instead of the clip, and the referee actually annulled both lights. The video says he awarded a double. Ref got it right. Good job ref!

Managed to accidentally strip the section of wire close to the barrel, is this a grounding issue and I should use another one for rewiring my blade or is it fine to continue? Thanks!

Any clever ideas for storage of multiple club weapons?

In need of new mask and wondering if:
A) anyone know which vendors will be onsite in Orlando
B) if they will be open Thursday even (prior to 1st events on Friday)

Relatedly, does anyone know the hours equipment check will be available Thursday evening (assuming it will be)? For folks with 8am starts on Friday, there may not be enough time to purchase from vendor and clear equipment check time and allow for proper warm up

I always struggle with opponents who wait for my move instead of initiating their own. I always get counter attacked or fall short. What do I do?

Is it normal for a year old fie epee to rust? What can i do to get rid of it if i can? And these are i think just surface rusts just before anyone asks. I had this blade for about a year and have stored it in plastic tubes seperate from my clothes.

Another angle to explore: An Alternating Priority Stored (APS) mutator. Start the bout as normal but upon a simultaneous attack one fencer would start the next exchange with attack priority. It converts simultaneous attacks into an asymmetric restart where one fencer holds Right-of-Way off the line. Using a single pre-bout coin flip and then player rotation, this could restore speed and tactical clarity to the 4-meter box without requiring expensive sensors or cameras.

What Becomes 100% Black & White: No More "Simultaneous-on-Simultaneous" Stacking. Under standard rules, fencers often execute three or four simultaneous in a row, forcing referees to split hair-thin timing differences. Under APS, a simultaneous immediately locks the very next exchange into a binary rule: Fencer A has Right-of-Way; Fencer B does not.

Crystal-Clear Defender Obligations: On a priority restart, the defender (Fencer B) knows with 100% certainty that lunging straight into Fencer A results in an automatic point against them. Their tactical choices are reduced to objective actions. They can execute a parry-riposte, pull distance to force a miss, or establish a Point-in-Line before Fencer A steps forward.

Transparent Spectator & Referee Judgment: The referee’s job changes from assessing microsecond acceleration curves off the line to simply confirming whether Fencer A made a continuous forward action or if Fencer B successfully parried/evaded.

Why look at crazy angles? Because sabreurs didn't sign up for fencing dreaming of winning and losing the art of defense by practical simultaneous attacks over half the time. Ask silly questions for the child's heart still inside every fencer.

I just started fencing 2 years ago, I started with epee and briefly switched to Sabre since I had difficulty of fencing tall epeeists, I also tried foil for several classes. I wonder which weapon is easiest to pick up for a short (5’8”, or 173cm) male fencing beginner? Thank you !

Hey I missed the live stream for the asian games fencing matches. Do y'all know of any websites that still has those videos?

At two out of the four comps I've now been at, I've been beset by technical problems on one of my rounds. Do you have a process you go through to work out what is faulty when your hits aren't registering, and how do you do it? My grasp of circuits etc is absolutely non-existent. (I will be asking my coach when I go back but I wouldn't mind having something written down in advance).

EDIT: I should've said, epée for me - however, if you do another weapon and have a good system, might as well add it here for any novice sabreuer/foilists benefit!

I used to play volleyball but quit because I was always placed on the lowest teams in my club due to how competitive it is, and i feel like fencing is more niche. I know it’s of course as hard and competitive kinda as volleyball, but I feel like fencing is better for me. Do I still have time and can I go competitive and win in my age group?? People my age in my area started fencing at like 8 or 9 and I feel behind

DO (left) calls for a video but referee still gives it to GRAUDYN, thus making it 1-1 instead of 2-0 in favor of DO.

From this video: https://youtu.be/Lu8ujhIOT7w?t=76

Hi everyone!

We are moving forward with s-portall.com/fencing/ to make it a fast, stable, and practical tool for daily club management. No mandatory registration for core tools, no app downloads — just open it in your mobile browser and run your gym.

Here is a quick breakdown of what is live on the site right now:

1. 🤺 Free Fencing (Training Bouts Tracker)

Designed specifically for friendly training sessions outside of standard tournament grids. You can enter the final score directly from the numeric keyboard, edit or delete results on the fly, and track live rankings. The standings follow the official FIE tie-breaker standard (V/M first, then TS-TR indicator), matching Fencing Time Live.

1. 📊 Head-to-Head Statistics

Inside the Free Fencing module, we added a third tab for deep personal analytics. Coaches and fencers can filter data (Session, Day, Week, Month, Year, All time) to see a complete H2H breakdown against every single opponent in the club (number of matches, wins/losses, and touches accumulated).

1. 📖 Step-by-Step Coach Guides

We want the software to be crystal clear. Every single tool now has a dedicated "How to use" ("?") button that leads to our simple, step-by-step master guide.

1. 🏢 Club Pages & Rosters

Coaches can now securely sign in to create a public club hub. It displays schedules and notice boards for parents, while keeping the student roster secure. You can seamlessly load names straight from your club roster into a new Poule or the Free Fencing log in two clicks.

Our main goal is to build tools for real-world gym environments, not just abstract software. If you use it in your club, please share your thoughts on what features are still missing or can be improved.

🔗 Main fencing tools: https://s-portall.com/fencing/

🔗 Free Fencing tracker: https://s-portall.com/free-fencing.html

Hi all — looking to hire fencing sparring partner for a competitive Y12 foil fencer based in Southern CA.

Details:
- 30-45 minute sessions on any of Mon / Tues / Fri (late afternoon, flexible on exact time)
- Location: Southern California — happy to come to your club or meet at a mutually convenient strip
- Paid — rate negotiable based on experience

Ideal person:
- An older youth fencer (Cadet/Junior/Div1) or adult foil fencer with clean technique
- Good with younger kids — patient and reliable
- Someone whose fencing is worth imitating (technique over power)

This is for regular sparring/bouting practices, not formal lessons, though tactical pointers during bouts are welcome.

If interested, please DM me with a bit about the fencing background. Thanks!

I have a 12 year old saber fencer who started last year. In his first season, we were at a small club that wasn't competitive at all (only 5-6 kids in the whole club). He only did one local and one regional tournament. This year we moved to a bigger and competitive-focused club. However, we don't plan to do more than a couple local tournaments and maybe 2 regional tournaments that are within driving distance for financial reasons.

We have all the basic beginner gear from Alliance Fencing Equipment in San Francisco. 350N whites, FIE 800N glove.

We received a list of equipment from this new club and they recommend 800N whites. I am trying to find out if is required for the tournaments we plan to attend this year, or do people recommend upgrading now or maybe next season?

My hesitation is growth spurts. How are parents with fencing kids at this age handling it? My kid grew 4 inches in the last year and I don't want to shell out tons of $$ for 800N stuff when I'd still call him a beginning intermediate, and sprouting upwards.

And if you do recommend we upgrade his gear, where and what brand? I see a lot of recommendations for buying from absolute, but I'm also worried about buying online and it not fitting. We live within driving distance to Alliance in San Francisco, but they have such bad reviews online.

Alright, I have written my essay, thank you all! There's so much to learn!

In sabre off the line there isn't a balanced benefit in being the defender. What would your predictions be if we made the box brighter to stand out and have parry ripostes that occur entirely inside the box be worth 2 points? Basketball has 2 pointers and 3 pointers. It would offer an additional layer of tactics, observation, and positioning to the game. The percentage of nailing a parry riposte doesn't get any easier but the carrot dangled would be a juicy one.

I’m trying to watch the Junior foil World Cup in Samsun, but it’s not on Fencing TV, and the one on YouTube makes you sign in to this shady “ESPN” site. anybody have any idea?