Equipment |
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While the weapon may be the most important piece of equipment, several others are neccessary, primarily for safety, which is taken very seriously in fencing. |
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The mask may be the most important piece of protective equipment. Your eyes, your ears, your skull and your neck are all things that must have become very dear to you by now and the mask is the one thing standing between them and a cold piece of steel. Try to find one that fits comfortably. A loose mask may slip out of place and obscure your vision during a bout. A tight mask may distract you by being uncomfortable. Do not use a mask that has rust spots because you do not want to risk a mask puncture. Get one new if you can but if you get a used one make sure it is the right size and rust free. Click here to see an animation of the mask from all angles. |
Jacket |
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Another piece of essential equipment is the jacket. Just as the mask protects the valuables in your head, the jacket protects your torso and arms. Jackets come in a variety of styles, such as a front-close zipper, a back-close zipper, a button -up jacket, a velcro jacket, and more. They also come in a variety of fabrics from cotton to synthetic fibers. There is no major difference between styles; you should get whatever you're most comfortable wearing. A jacket is very protective and there is not much to worry about even if a blade should break on you, but without a jacket you may be placing yourself in grave risk. |
Glove |
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A fencing glove both helps you to better grip your weapon and protects your hand from your opponent's blade. It may seem less important than the jacket or the mask, but injuries to the hand can severely effect your ability to fence well, so never fence without one. |
Other dry equipment |
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Other equipment such as knickers (short fencing pants with suspenders),underarm protectors (kevlar under-vests used for added protection), long knee-socks, and fencing shoes, while not being neccesary for practice, may be needed for competition. If you want to become a fencer I suggest you start by borrowing equipment (most clubs will let you borrow or rent used equipment). Once you are really serious about fencing you may want to invest $100-$200 in a weapon, a mask, a jacket, knickers, a glove, and a bag to carry them around in. |
Electric Equipment |
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Most competitions will use electric scoring. The weapons will be hooked up to a machine that beeps and flashes lights to indicate when a fencer has scored a touch. This makes the director's (person scoring the bout) job easier, but they must still make important descisions regarding right-of-way and timing. As a fencer you need special equipment to fence electric. For Sabre you need an electric weapon, a lamé (pronounced Le-may-it is simply an electrified jacket), a body cord, an overglove (electrified glove), and an electric mask (because head is target area in Sabre). The body cord connects the mask, lame, overglove and weapon to the floor cord which conects to the scoring machine. When the electrified sabre touches the lame, mask or overglove of the opponent the buzzer goes off. For Foil the system is basically the same except that no mask or overglove is used and the point of the weapon must be depressed on the lame for a touch to be scored. In Épeé, the only piece of electric equipment needed is the weapon. Since the whole body is target area, the point being depressed at any part of the opponent is enough. The judges can tell when the point is depressed in Foil or Épeé because a small spring keeps the electric circuit closed until pressure is applied. |
