Fencing
We Have Swords
The Princeton High School Fencing team is a varsity sport.
You may have been fencing for a few years, or have just heard about the team and think fencing sounds really cool (it is).
Regardless of your experience the fencing team is an excellent opportunity to experience this amazing sport at whatever level you are currently at.
If you are brand new to the sport, the fencing team is a no-cut team, so if you get all your forms in and show up at practice, you are in . The mission of the team is teach the sport of fencing to whomever wants to learn, to have all of our fencers grow in the sport and experiences the advantages that this fast paced, deeply intellectual martial art has to offer students.
The school has equipment for the students to use, athletes are not required to purchase their own equipment. If they do have their own equipment, they may use it as long as it is compliant to current regulations and is in good repair.
Why fencing? Perhaps you were inspired by the Princess Bride and the duel at the Cliffs of Insanity, maybe is was light saber duels in Star Wars, maybe you saw the sport during the Olympic games or on YouTube. Maybe it’s just because there isn’t anything cooler than learning to fight with swords. This fast paced sport requires a quick mind and critical thinking and teaches the athletes to think clearly and solve problems under extreme pressure. The sport is exceptionally egalitarian, rewarding hard work more than anything and does not particularly favor one body type over another. Anybody can be great at this sport if they put in the hard work.
US Wins Gold in Mens Team Epee against France
Learn more about fencing
Fencing iis growing in popularity, but is still not a well known sport.Â
You can watch one of these overviews of the sport to get a general idea about the sport and its rules.
If you are an experienced fencer you may be looking for resources to help learn more at home, especially as clubs in NJ are closed as a result of the Covid 19 quarantine.
If you want your own equipment
The team will provide equipment:
The school will provide all the safety gear and equipment that the athletes The equipment they will need:
- Fencing Mask
- Fencing Jacket
- Plastron
- Chest protector (required for women, optional for boys)
- Glove
- Fencing Pants for competition
- Fencing Socks for competition
- Body-Cords and Fencing Swords for practice and competition
When an athlete selects the equipment they will be using for the season they will store it in a personalized bag at the school. The equipment will not be used by anybody else (except in an emergency).
Buying your equipment
After students have decided that fencing is for them, they often want to buy their own equipment.
For starters I strongly recommend that athletes go to Absolute Fencing in Bridgewater. The staff there can help with fitting and making sure that everything fits and is appropriate.
Fencing Organizations
NJ High School Fencing
High School Fencing in NJ is organized under the NJ Interscholastic Fencing Association (NJIFA). This organization of HS Fencing coaches is the liason to the NJ Insterscholastic Athletics Association (NJISAA)
NJ Interscholastic Fencing Association
US Fencing Association
Fencing in the US is organized under the US Fencing Association USFA. The USFA is the sport’s governing body and the liason with the international organization the FIE)
Federation Internationale d’Escrime (FIE)
The international governing body of this sport is the FIE that determines any rule changes for the sport.
US Fencing Referees Comission
Under the USFA the Referees Commission trains and certifies referees and manages the rules. When the FIE passes rules changes the US Referees Commission determines how the US will implement those new rules.
For High School fencing the NJIFA and NJISAA will discuss rules changes being adopted by the USFA and how high school fencing will adopt those rules.
Clubs in the Area
The Princeton Area has multiple fencing clubs in the area. If you decide to pursue this sport, there are ample opportunities to train and compete.
Clubs are regulated as part of the USFA and under the NJ Division of the USFA
The NJ Division
The NJ Division is the statewide organization responsible for developing fencing in the state. There is considerable overlap between the NJIFA and the NJ Division.
Fencing Clubs in the Area
These are the clubs in the Princeton area. There are many many more in the state. Check the club list on the NJ Division and USFA websites if you need to find a different club.
- Medeo Fencing
- Princeton YMCA Fencing
- Sebastiani Fencing
- Tiger Z Fencing
- Fencing Club of Mercer County
- Bucks County Academy of Fencing (Lambertville)
- Wanglei Fencing
Fencing Competitions (AskFRED)
There is a national searchable database of all competitions. If you are looking for a competition this is the place to start.
Training at Home
Fencing is a sport that rests on multiple pillars of ability.
- Physical: Your strength, endurance, agility and flexibility, all of these are useful in fencing. Any sort of training helps, but you should think about shaping your workout plan to supplement your weaknesses and optimize your strengths.
- Technical: Fencing requires very specific movements and sequences to be successful. Learning these and learning how to execute the perfectly is important. Repetition and coaching feedback is key to executing actions correctly.
- Tactical: Putting all the pieces together on the strip, so you can execute actions in the right space and time. Watching high level bouts online and seeing how the best in the world solve problems on the strip.Â
There are lots of resources online, and clubs have been putting more and more online in the wake of covid 19. See the sub-pages for targeted resources.
All aspects of the body need to be trained
Fencing is a sport that requires all around athleticism, speed, strength, endurance, flexibility, mental toughness and the list goes on. Most of all is the mental aspect of the game, you want to be able to maximize your physical strengths and ensure your weaknesses are not vulnerable. Your training regimen should be structured specifically to the fencer to achieve those goals.
Training areas I would emphasize:
Plyometrics: Explosive strength, jumping, accelerating
Agility: Balance and coordination
Concentration: Your mental state while exerting yourself is very important to fencing. The warmups we use as a team are geared toward challenging the fencers ability to concentrate.
Training Videos
Strategy and Tactics
Training your strategy and tactics without having access to a fencing club can be difficult. There’s simply no substitute for bouting, and private coaching sessions. That being said there are ways that you can stay sharp.
Watch and analyze fencing videos:
There are tons of fencing videos online and some excellent analysis. I reccomend you look at some of these resources:
- https://www.youtube.com/user/CyrusofChaos Andrew Fischl (Cyrus of Chaos) is a top level US Saber Fencer provides a great selection of videos and bout analysis.
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzIyPbTBgNZSYgnal1_tqkQÂ Cyranos Place has some fantastic technical and tactical videos
- https://www.youtube.com/user/sydneysabrecentre This is a fantastic saber resource for bout analysis and training
- https://theengrd.com/Â Engrd is a web resource for fencing with paid and free content curated by US Fencer Race Imboden
- https://www.youtube.com/user/sicardable Michel Sicard is a legendary epee coach that has shared his coaching sessions with the world
Shadow fencing:
There are a couple excellent methods to practice visualization in fencing.
- After watching a fencing video of your favorite fencer visualize the action and try to imitate it. Imagine the opponent in front of you and try to do the same action as your favorite fencer
- Remember a tough bout or opponent and imagine them in front of you again, and think about what you could do to change the outcome of that action.
NJ High School Fencing
NJ has a vibrant fencing community, the biggest and best organized in the nation. Over 70 high schools have varsity fencing team. The Cetrulo / Santelli fencing event organized by the NJ Interscholastic Fencing Association is the largest High School Fencing event in the world with fencers from NJ, NY and PA coming to participate.
Fencing in High School is an excellent choice:
- Nearly 20% of High School fencers continue competing in college. This is overwhelmingly higher than any other sport, continuity and resources
- Fencers are typically among the highest academic achievers of any athletic group
- Fencing is an excellent sport to write about in college applications
- There is a persistent myth that fencing scholarships are plentiful and easy to get. This is not true.Â
Fencing, especially in NJ have ample opportunities to fence outside of high school. The US Fencing Association (USFA) sanctions hundreds of tournaments statewide and nationally throughout the year. PHS Fencing has had several national medalists in the past. I hope to see many more in the future.
Getting on the team
Get your forms and waivers in:Â Consult the Princeton High School athletics site and make sure your paperwork is complete and in on time.
https://princetonhs-ar.rschooltoday.com/
- Your sport specific form for each sport you want to participate in every year
- Your PE/Medical medical release form for each year
- Your impact test results every other year
PHS Fencing is a no-cut team: If your forms are in and you are cleared, you are on the team.
- You may attend practice for the entire season.
- There are no tryouts
- No experience is neccessary
- Equipment is provided for any athletes that need it
Team Policy
The team has a conduct and participation contract that each team member must sign prior to any competition.
Overall PHS Fencing has a minimal attendance policy: I understand that the students have a lot of other commitments and requirements that provide enough stress in their lives. I want the fencing team to be a refuge from that stress rather than a contributor to that.
- On the school provided cleared list before attending practice
- Attend six practices before being allowed to compete
- Attend 40% of practices to be considered for a Varsity Letter
- Attending practice means that you are present during warmups (I take attendance during warmups, if you aren’t there when I do, you will not be marked as attending)
- Life is complicated, and I want to work with you. Communicate with me prior if you must be late to practice (every time) or you need to take some time off.
Typical Practice Schedule
A typical practice is 2 hours.
- Warmups – 15-30 minutes (they speed up as the team gains experience. Roll is taken during warmups so be there) (our fitness goal is to do all 4 in 20 min)
- Footwork Exercises 15-20 min – Footwork is the key to fencing and builds up fencing strength and endurance.
- Fencing Drills – Partnered drills or gamesÂ
- Bouting – remaining time, until stretches
- Stretch out – final 10 min of practice is stretching time
There are four warmup menus that we perform (The names are as weird as the exercises, video examples to follow)
Menu 1: Each menu follows the same basic pattern of exercises to balance strength agility and coordination.
- Boxing Hops (traveling exercise)
- Alterna-Jacks (calisthenic exercise)
- Water-Benders (Dynamic Stretch and Strength)
- Jumping Fish (Dynamic Core and Strength)
- Medicine Ball Snaps (Plyometric Core Strength)
- Jailhouse Pushups (Core Strength equivalent of 20 pushups)
Menu 2:
- Ballet Kicks
- Crazy Clock
- Over-Unders
- Ninjas Bonnet
- Russian Twists
- Twisty Pushups
Menu 3:
- Drownies
- Crabs
- Lunges
- V-Ups
- The Box Pushups
Menu 4
- Cotton-Eyed Joes
- Cheerleaders
- Death Jumps
- Starfish
- Around the World
- Clapping Pushups
Each of these exercises are meant to build fencing strength and emphasize concentration.
- Traveling Exercises are done forwards and backwards and are:Â plyometric, cardio vascular and agility
- Calisthenic Exercises work coordination agilty and cardiovascular strength
- Plyometric Exercises emphasize explosive strength
- Dynamic Stretches lengthen the muscle fibers and warm them up for exertion
- Core strength is emphasized in many of these exercises because it is key to fencing.
Fencing 101
Fencing is an Olympic sport and does not resemble the swashbuckling flamboyance of the movies.
The sport has some unique traits that shape the actions:
- After each touch the action stops and the fencers reset. A fencer needs to be able to execute the plan.
Fencing Videos
The game of epee
Epee is unique of the three weapons in that it does not have a designated target, and does not have the concept of right of way. This makes it both the simplest of the three weapons to understand and the slowest to watch.
The main reason for this is in those two unique aspects:
- The entire body is target: You will see wrist hits, toe hits, if the tip hits any part of the fencers body it is a touch.
- Whomever hits first gets the touch, if both fencers hit at the same time, they both are awarded a touch: This means that you need to create an opportunity to hit your opponent without allowing yourself to be hit.
Strategy, timing and perfect technical execution of an action are keys to success in epee. Because both fencers are playing a very strategic game with no room for error, the bouts can appear to move very slowly.
The Game of Foil
Foil is fast game that employs the point to score a touch on the torso of the opponent.
- Only hits to the torso score.
- Hits not on the torso are considered off target and will not score but still stop the action.
- If both fencers hit at the same time, the fencer with priority (called Right of Way, ROW) will be awarded the action (if the hit is on target, it will score, if it is off-target nothing will be done).
There are a couple technical considerations to executing a touch correctly
- The tip of the foil must remain in contact with the target (the lame, or metallic vest the fencers are wearing) for 12 ms.: The point must plant firmly and directly on the target, any kind of swinging motion (like saber)Â will not depress the point correctly.
- There is a 300 ms (1/3 of a sec) time delay for both fencers to score: A fencer with ROW still has 1/3 sec to finish a touch if the defending fencer is trying to hit first without defending. This may seem like a very short period of time, but it is an eternity on strip.
The game of Saber
Saber is very fast game with dramatic changes in directions and gigantic sweeping actions.
- Any part of the saber blade may be used to score (edge or point)
- Virtually any amount of contact will register a valid touch
- Only touches on the lame will count (there are no off target touches as in foil)
- The target area is from the waist up, including the mask
- The fencer with priority (Right of Way or ROW) will be awarded the touch if both fencers hit
Saber is very very fast, there is little risk of missing the target and ROW protects you during your attack
Swords are cool
Swords are just cool. There are few things in life as thrilling as a sword fight.
Fencing and swordplay feature heavily in film and media. There’s more that I can list here, and apologies if it misses your favorite. These are a few of my favorites.
Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back: Duel at Cloud City