Me and Sabre Fencing

I’m going to go to a local tournament tomorrow, which is exciting.  Although I’m a bit of under the weather, and probably won’t be men/women separated, due to the number of participants of women’s, so see how it goes...

If you are close to Pasadena, CA and would like to know how a sabre tournament goes, come to check it out.

For more detail, check the site below.

Most of the fencing salles (clubs) offer two different types of lessons.  One is the private lessons and another one is the group lessons.

A private lesson is one-on-one individual lesson, which runs usually 20-30 minutes.  Do you think it’s too short?  You can’t imagine how much work you need to do in 20 minutes, especially at the first time!

For a private lesson, you do some drills-offensive/defensive blade actions and footwork with your instructor/coach.  You will learn some tactics as well, as you get better. 

For a group lesson, it usually starts with some warm up and stretch, then do some drills with your practice partners and at the end of the class, you actually fence with your practice partners.  You will also learn how to direct a bout.  

Usually a group lesson is a monthly basis fee and a private lesson costs per lesson.  And all the clubs, as far as I know, have some rental gears-masks, jackets, gloves and weapons.  So at the beginning, all you need is a pair of sneakers or sport shoes and comfortable clothes, like a sweat shirt and a pair of sweat pants.

My personal opinion is that start with a group lesson and then add some private lessons.  I started that way and it worked for me.   Fencing is not yoga.  You need to have a partner to bout.  Usually a group lesson is held with people who have similar skill levels.  

“Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force  Awaken” will be released on December 17.  What comes up in your mind when you hear “Star Wars”?  Han Solo?  Luke Skywalker?  Or Darth Vader? I hate to admit that I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, but I know what the lightsaber is!

In any movies, all the sword fighting are choreography, totally different from the sport fencing.  If you do a huge windup (as you can guess, a big windup is a sign for attacking) before you attack during a fencing bout, you never get a point.  All the coaches always say, “Smaller, tighter (movement)!” during the lessons.

But you get the idea.  Those movie/TV shows’ sword fighting is mainly based on sabre fencing.  My club, Avant Garde Fencers Club, offers a try out class for $35.00/90 minutes on Wednesday nights, from 7:00p.m. to 8:30p.m.

5 posts!

There are several reasons that I still keep fencing.

First of all, I met my coach, #Daniel Costin, who is well-known sabre coach in this industry.  He used be a Romanian men’s sabre National Team coach, i.e., who taught the Olympians in Romania.  After he moved to US., he has sent quite a few boys to the US Cadet (16 and under), Junior (20 and under) and Senior (over 13) National Team, including one US Olympian, #Jason Rogers, who went to both Athene and Beijing Olympic Games.

And I have met my best friends through fencing.  I am very glad that I met someone who has similar mentality and mind set toward life in general.

Besides, in my club, Avant Garde Fencers Club, there are so many talented young fencers who wouldn’t mind practice with me.  Some of the high-end young athletes even give me some feed back to help me to get better!

So I started to take a foil group lesson once a week at #the Westside Fencing.

The class was taught by an instructor, #Roberta Brown, who is also a swordmaster/actress.  The class was small, only 4 people were there.

At the end of 6th lesson, we fenced with the club manager, #Andy Shaw, who is also the United States Fencing Association’s Official Historian and now a coach at Fairfield Avenue School of Fencing, LA.  He has been fencing over 50+ years by now.

Yes, quite a few people start practice fencing when they are between 8 to 10 (8 years old is the youngest who can start fencing).  And I started as an adult.  There’s no way that I could have win.  All of my classmate were beat by him without getting any touches.

My turn.  I thought about, “Well, I only have practiced for 6 weeks.  Just do the best.”  And guess what?  I got one touch out from him.  I was so excited.  I was the only one who got a touch!  Yes, it was a lucky touch.  But a touch is a touch and I got one point out from him!

So one day, I went to Westside Fencing in the afternoon, but it was quite empty.  I later found out that most of the fencing clubs (”salle”, which often to be called.  The official language in fencing is French.) open after 3:00p.m. or so, except weekends, which make sense.

Anyway, I talked with a club manager at that time and made an appointment for a tryout lesson, a couple of days later in the evening.

There are three different types of fencing-Foil (Fleuret), Epee (Épée) and Sabre (Sabre).  Generally speaking, foil is based on practice, epee is based on duel and sabre is based on military cavalry.  And quite a few people start with foil and then switch or add to other weapon(s).

My trial lesson was actually sabre with a very tall, stout Russian coach.  I can’t remember how I did, but I still remember what I thought-He is tall and I am short (5′2 1/2″).  It might not be a good idea to choose sabre.

After my first lesson, I was told from the club manager that they offer a 6-weeks foil group lesson and I took it.  

Well, I didn’t write the reason why I started fencing on my last blog...

I got divorced, which made me very depressed.  I wasn’t planning it, but my ex-husband wasn’t honest to me.  Tough life.

I went to see a psychiatrist, like quite a few people in the same situation do, as you can imagine, those sessions are quite expensive.  I took her session twice.

And I thought about that twice is enough.  I didn’t want to pay any more money, just talk about how I feel, let her hear it and get her professional opinion/direction.  Money talks, especially after divorce.

One thing that she suggested me was “Start something new.  Maybe a sport?”

OK, fine.  I was quite athletic when I was in school.  But what should I do?

I know that I live in sunny Southern California.  But guess what?  I don’t want to get sun tanned!  Therefore, there’s no way that I chose any outdoor sports, like tennis or beach volleyball.  Ana I wasn’t and am not so much interested in going to a gym or a yoga class.

What is going to be my choice?

At that time, I was living in Culver City, CA and I was driving by the Helms Bakery quite a bit.  While I was passing by the building, I was seeing a banner, “WestsideFencing”.

“Hummm...fencing.  It’s an Olympic sport, so everyone knows.  But I don’t know anyone who actually practice.  It’s an individual sport, which I prefer.”