E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
George Schnabel
The good old days: A younger, more in-shape me takes to the strip in a high school fencing bout.
Olympic fencing matches ended Sunday, meaning I'm starting to come off my Olympic high. Sure, watching people like Michael Phelps or Gabby Douglas go for gold is exciting — but to me, it's nothing compared to the sights and sounds of two blades clashing.
I became interested in fencing the same way a lot of kids probably do: loving the sword fights in movies like "The Princess Bride" and "The Adventures of Robin Hood." I tried other sports like field hockey and softball, but nothing captured my heart like fencing.
Sadly, fencing is only discussed every four years, when the Summer Olympics come around, and is not viewed very highly by Americans. As Mike Wise put it in an article in The Washington Post last week, "no one but fencers cares about fencing after the Olympics are over" and "niche athletes need to savor the Games and smile more often for those two weeks ... because they really matter to most of us only every four years."
Wise is not alone in this rather dismissive view of the sport. Frankly, I think fencing takes more effort to understand than other sports. Also, because of all the required gear, it's not as visually sexy as beach volleyball or swimming, so often people don't take the effort to watch it.
But as a former "niche athlete" who fenced for eight years, I'm always excited to see the sport finally return to TV. I enjoy watching it with my fencer friends to talk about old times, and with my non-fencer friends and co-workers to explain what’s going on. Those who take the time to try it often find it really engaging.
Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP - Getty Images
U.S. fencer Mariel Zagunis, seen on the left, faced Ukraine's Olga Kharlan during the women's sabre bronze medal bout at the Olympics on Wednesday. Zagunis lost and placed fourth.
This year I felt more people than usual were talking about fencing, thanks to American sabre fencer Mariel Zagunis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who was going for her third straight win in the individual competition and was also named the flag bearer for Team USA, an honor many Olympians dream of. Zagunis didn't medal, but the U.S. Olympic Fencing team didn't go home empty-handed; the U.S. women's epee team took home bronze on Saturday.
But you didn't get to see much of epee on TV; instead, sabre seemed to be the most featured television fencing event. In fact, it always seems to get the most attention of the three weapons (the other two being epee and foil). It is an obvious choice for TV because it’s faster and looks a lot more like the swashbuckling sword fighting people see in the movies.
By now you may be asking: What's the deal with all these weapons? Basically, foil, epee and sabre differ in shape, size, which part of the weapon you can hit your opponent with to get points, and the target areas on the body that you can hit. (To learn more, visit the United States Fencing Association website.)
George Schnabel
In high school my coach almost switched me to sabre because I was fast and aggressive. Instead I stayed in foil and used those traits to my advantage.
As a dedicated foil fencer, I'll admit I'm biased towards the weapon and was sad not to see more of it on TV this year. Still, even watching the other weapons was enough to make me nostalgic. I miss not only the physical challenge of fencing, but the battle of wits against opponents. Combined, these two aspects made fencing much more challenging than any other sport I've tried.
But it's the people I met along the way that made the sport truly amazing: from the high school coach who taught me to face my fears, believe in myself, and never settle for anything less than 110 percent to the teammates who had my back and who I fought for in return. Not to mention the godlike Olympians I'll never forget meeting at various competitions: I glimpsed Zagunis at a college meet and once went head to head in a meet with Olympic foil fencer and Harvard alumna Emily Cross (I managed to get three points on her before she crushed me). Olympic fencers always left the rest of us in awe: These were the people representing us to the world and giving us a voice in America when no one else seemed to care.
I think 2012 has been a good year for "niche" sports, as Wise would label them. For example, NBC reported that archery was receiving bigger viewing numbers then usual; more people across the country seem to be interested in it thanks to movies like "The Hunger Games."
Jamie Kraut
En garde! Here I am saluting my opponent before starting a college fencing meet as part of Tufts University's varsity team. There's nothing like the anticipation before a bout, saluting, putting on your mask and raising your foil!
But unlike archery, fencing is still ignored by most. Yet no one can convince me it's any less important a sport than those in the spotlight during the Olympics. While some people might like me to be a good little fencer and shut up for the next four years, I'm not going to. I'm thinking of dusting off my foil and getting back into competitive fencing. I'll also keep talking about it and encouraging people to give it a chance.
Yes, I'm biased, but to me it's the best sport. And if you think otherwise, try picking up a sword and see how it feels. After that, you won't be able to say anything's cooler.
TODAY.com producer Lisa Granshaw's fencing nickname in high school and college was Lil' Killa. Just as you shouldn't ignore niche sports, you also shouldn't underestimate short people!
More:
- Team USA flag bearer dreams of owning pig
- Olympian on why he chose archery: 'My dad wouldn't let me race'
- Video: En garde! Matt and Al duel on the plaza
Leave a Comment:
Thanks for this article, Lisa! I was a foil fencer in high school and college, and fenced regularly at Salle Santelli in NYC and NY Fencers Club (when it was on 72nd Street in NYC) back in the late 70s/early 80s.
I love the sport, but you're right, it barely registers on the recognition meter in the US. It does deserve some more attention than seeing it every 4 years. That said, I'm noticing fencing appear in more TV ads, and this year, I was able to watch a lot of Olympic fencing via the web. That's a big difference from just a few years ago, and I do hope the USFA continue to promote the sport. By the way, you're also right in noting that the fencing isn't quite the ultimate spectator sport. It takes some effort to learn the rules and be able to mentally slow down the action so you can understand what just happened.
By the way, is it me, or has fencing become a LOT more sloppy over the years? Lots of attacks with a bent arm; lots of the body opened/exposed for attacks; hands dropping in front of a fencer's body; lots of "flick the blade" type of attacks, too.
Go fencing!! :-)
Maybe if fencing still resembled a sword fight instead of playing tag with a car antenna, it would be more popular. Up until about the 1930s or 1940s, the fencing that you learned in the school was fundamentally the same you'd use for a duel (although, you'd use a conservative selection of techniques against someone with a sharp sword as opposed to out on the piste).
As it is, the sport is a "mess" from a spectator's point of view. With the current interpretation of rules, the way in which right-of-way is played by the fencers, what is going on is generally too obscure for an audience of non-fencers to watch and it is doubtful that this will change any time soon...
True, with current right of way rules it’s hard to follow. However I still think it’s possible to learn enough basics about the sport and right of way to enjoy watching it and just follow along with the referee’s calls. I think it’s similar to understanding any other sport, it just happens to be a bit more of a challenge at first.
In college I took a fencing class as a filler (1 credit). I really enjoyed it and it is worthy of being a sport. It takes great skill, wits, speed, agility, etc. I agree with the other comment that most spectators are not going to understand what is going on so it is kind of lost on them.
My son has been fencing since he was 7. He's 10 now, and seems to enjoy it.
He was sad that there wasn't much fencing to watch during the Olympics.
Don't understand the sport, but would much rather watch it and some of the other "fringe" sports than NBC wasting time on sappy feel good stories about how "X over came..." or how "Y's mother did..." or the other feel-good smarm that NBC shows to generally capture the female audience. NBC sports are pathetic.
As a competitive fencer for 12 years (and one of the early certified female armorers) I can attest to the fact that the right of way rules (in both sabre and foil) make it almost impossible for a non-fencer to follow either on TV on watching in competition. These rules invariably have changed over the years to add to the confusion. During the Olympics, one of the foil announcers clearly made it known by his comments that he had very little understanding of the right of way rules. Nor did he understand the target in foil, until it was explained to him. Fencing is a sport where the fencer (or the parent of the fencer) needs a rudimentary understanding of electronics (to repair the weapons or wire them and to test them). Otherwise, the parent or fencer will have to pay someone who does have this understanding. This to me, is another barrier in the sport.
The USFA would have to put forth a very aggressive national educational program if fencing were to ever achieve the popularity of say, basketball or soccer.
Having to learn the concept of right of way, having to learn basic electronic circuitry, and the steep cost of fencing equipment constitutes the perfect Trifecta that prevents fencing from becoming more popular both on and off TV.
I actually think that despite the complicated right of way rules spectators can still enjoy watching fencing. By doing a little digging, people can gain a basic understanding of what's going on. It'll just be a challenge for them at first. Even without a full understanding it's still an exciting sport to watch!
Maintaining and buying equipment is indeed expensive. I was lucky to have teammates or club members that were willing to help me out for free if I ever had issues I couldn’t fix on my own. I like to think it's possible to make due in that regard with help from your club and teammates, but it is an area that will need to be addressed if more people are going to get involved with the sport.
And yes, the USFA has to do more in order for the sport to be better understood by the public and become more popular. Perhaps if there were better resources, more people would give it a chance. I hope eventually they will take more steps to do this, and maybe if people start expressing an interest it will push them to act.
Even tougher is the Wheelchair fencing at the Paralympics starting August 29th in London. Lightning fast with wheelchairs locking in place so there's no retreat, just speed and strategy.
Google: london2012 paralympics wheelchair-fencing
What did they do prior to the electronic version? Check for blood?
I agree it's more of a sport than driving a race car or killing something with a gun.
It was called "dry fencing". Meaning no scoring lights or machines. Fencers would suit up and come on the strip exactly as they are today, with the exception that the referee would have to be an 'eagle eye' and follow the fast attacks and counter-attacks visually and award the points as he/she saw them. It took quite a while to train a good referee back then. It takes quite a while now. Referees have to undergo testing to qualify for certain ranked tournaments.