Thread: Any fencers?

I'm already seen as a weirdo/crazy man because I fence, and now I'm starting with straights.

Does anyone else here fence? My main blade is the foil, though when I compete, I do both foil and epee. I'm a mediocre saberist, and only do it for fun.

I did kendo for 2 years when I was 10 or something like that.
I had another go at it 2 or 3 years ago, but I quit when it was time to put on armor.

For those who don't know kendo is the Japanese art of sword fighting, and is practised with bamboo swords and armor. wooden swords are used for prcatising kata (forms).

Kendo involves lots of hitting on the head with a bamboo sword, and concussions are not unheard of.

I already had a severe concussion once in my life, and don't want to risk that again. That is my main reason for stopping with martial arts altogether. That and the fact that I want to focus all my effort on systems programming.
I also sit behind a computer screen for an average of 12 hours / day, and a concussion would be a very serious problem.

I use to study iaido and have a fondness for any type of art involving a sword. I've never had the opportunity to try fencing though.

Did it for two years in HS, and a couple more semesters in college. Foil mostly. Still have my foil and epee hanging up in the closet.

Used to do kendo, and light free style sword play (ala SCA). Also took one fencing class (foil) liked it, but haven't found the time to return to it.

I was thinking of getting my son involved. He is 13 I don't know if this is too young.

13 is prime time to get him started. That way if he competes, he'll have plenty of time to get good before college and possibly nab a scholarship

Wow, two kendo guys. My salle also had a kendo class, and they were very hardcore. Even with the armor, there's no way I could get beat with that shinai, plus all the yelling The kendo instructor we had was a very large man (super nice), and he could seriously beat the tar out of an opponent. I saw him compete once and was just in awe.

These guys are serious - and it is a blast. I have always wanted to fence, but I leaned toward heavier blades and the historical aspect of real sword fighting - not the stylized Conan stuff. These boys use Italian and German manuscripts from Medieval and Renaissance schools to train using Eastern style swords and methods from a long time ago. Very scholarly, very cool.

I highly recommend those guys who would like to learn an Eastern martial art, without the costumes and turkey legs, to check this out.

http://www.thearma.org/

K

Originally Posted by RichZ

I was thinking of getting my son involved. He is 13 I don't know if this is too young.

13 is an excellent age. I played from my 11th till my 16th and it's a great sport. I competed in the Dutch Championships twice with decent reults (once 7th on Epee and once on Foil) and various other competitions like the Dutch Open championships (we even had russians coming over for that one). I ended up 4th on that one.

Maybe you've ever heard of Siebren Tiggelaar or Bas Verwijlen? They were in my....uhm..club? I used to train with Siebren.

I don't play now. Things got too intense for something that I wanted to be a hobby. But it's really fun to do and I've been thinking about starting again.

That's pretty cool! Funny thing, I've tried to actually sword fight, but my body immediately goes into sport fencing mode. I start bouncing around, trying to fleche and jump