Fencing

[Oso]

but be sure to post a pic of you in the whole white outfit.

we had a dude show up here in town a couple of years ago and he actually stopped me at a gas station because of the school sign on my truck to give me a flier. no way I could work it in to my schedule either.

How did the move go?

[GeneChing]

I fenced in high school and college but was a second placer at best. I did earn a Provost master degree, two in fact (for complicated political reasons) and was captain of the epee squad for our NCAA team, but wound up with one of the weakest competitive records on that team by the end of my lackluster competitive career. All that being said, I enjoyed fencing immensily and would probably still do it if I had the time. It's a great sport and gives you a very unique understanding of swordplay. I'd argue that it's because its one of the only sword sparring games that still use steel (kendo and escrima swap their steel for wood) and there's something called sentiment du fer or 'feel of the steel' that you just can't get anywhere else. Give it a go. It's the only way you'll find our for sure. And I always advocate cross training, even if it's just a nibble, just to see what's there.

There was a hilarious fencing thread on either the ORA or JKD forum - I just did a cursory search for it but couldn't find it. If I do, I'll add it here.

[David Jamieson]

Im no provost master, but my riposté is admirable or so I've been told.

Fencing is a wonderful thing that will benefit your overall martial arts practices without a doubt.

Go for it.

[Pork Chop]

Didn't make it last night.

having a hard time getting a schedule going here.
work is a lil longer than i'm used to- we work 9 days every 2 weeks at 9 hours a day for a total of 80 hours. Days go 10 hours if we take an hour lunch. At orientation we've been working with our new offices during lunch; but still working 10 hours.
I probably shoulda taken another week off before I started working. Basically been coming home from work, passing out, waking up, eat, and then try to go back to bed.
Still haven't unpacked much.
Today, my first off-friday, i spent the day paying bills and unpacking stuff.
Think I'm going to wait until I'm a little more adjusted to my schedule before I start stressing the workouts- which is bad coz i been packin on the weight.
No fridge at work, so it looks like doing nutrisystem for men is out the window.
Guess I'll just start eating salads at lunch?
Gotta do somethin.
So yeah, get my house in order, focus on the schedule, and then get in there on a regular basis.
Next week will be better.

[3 Rotor]

What a deal. Definitely exploit this one.

[The Xia]

Bruce Lee borrowed fencing concepts to enhance his hand-to-hand skills. What are some of your opinions of fencing?

[FuXnDajenariht]

there are many different types of fencing. but its all good. i like the energy in kendo personally.

[golden arhat]

bruce would say
it worked for me but it might not work for you
true to jkd the perfect form of self defence is different for each person

i think fencing type training should be done with weapons like the straightsword
people always just seem to do the jian form as opposed to properly training with a weapon
i think this applies to most cma weaponry

[cjurakpt]

put a gim / jian in the hands of your average college level epee fencer and he / she would dissassemble the vast majority of "advanced" TCMA gim / jian practitioners...

while western fencing has "lost" a lot of its combat oriented aspects (e.g. - second hand striking, grabbing, grappling, sweeping), the efficiency of line and angle that it developed persists in the sporting aspect (in fact, m taiji sfu has had some of his students go study western fencing in conjunction with their taiji sword studies)

in high school, I was lucky enough to train in saber with one of my father's friends from the "old country", a former Hungarian National / Olympic champion by the name of Laszlo Pongo - the guy was in his 60's at the time, and would whoop the crapola out of guys decades younger than him (me included)

[golden arhat]

i want to train in fencing and the jian then if i ever teach i can teach to fight with the jian not just dance with it

[The Xia]

It's interesting to note that more realistic rules are becoming popular in fencing. In my opinion, realistic rule-set weapons sparring would be a great idea for both TCMA and Budo.

[David Jamieson]

i was an avid fencer at one time. it is a lot of fun.

[TenTigers]

I fenced epee,foil, and saber in High School. I was small and the saber guys were big, and I would go home with welts on my arms and back from them. It's alot of fun. My daughters fenced varsity, until their coach left, and the new coach just made it a bad experience for them. Too bad. Fencing is fun, and if you are good, you can carve out a niche for yourself-if you are in High School. Most Ivy League colleges have a fencing team-which means scholarships.

[cjurakpt]

Fencing is fun, and if you are good, you can carve out a niche for yourself-if you are in High School. Most Ivy League colleges have a fencing team-which means scholarships.

spot on - and it's not just ivy league either: U Penn for example has a monster fencing program (I think they were Division 1 champs or some such for a good number of years) and aggressively recruits nationwide (learned about that a few years back at a PT seminar they hosted on site - amazing facilities these colleges out in the middle of nowhere have...)

[The Xia]

Colleges and high schools are bastions of fencing in the US. There are some actual fencing schools though. Fencing gives you agility, speed, and wrist strength. These attributes definitely compliment TCMA.

cjurakpt,
This organization is dedicated to historical fencing.
http://www.ahfi.org/
This is their tournament rules.
http://www.ahfi.org/rules/