How to Learn to Fence

Join up. Once you have decided on where you want to go arrange a trial period, or taster session to see what you think. You can also just sit in on a class to see how it all works, and get a feel for the coaching techniques and styles.

Start going to group classes. Throw yourself into it, but be sure to pay attention to the style of the classes, be respectful and listen. Fencing is a combination of physical skill and mental sharpness, as well as lots of self-discipline. Be ready to really concentrate on what you are learning, which means both the theory and the practice.

• The rules can be complicated so do your homework and ask about anything you are unsure of or confused by.

Try to find out who the best available coach in your club is. Usually, they'll have a few hours a week in which you can fit in private lessons with them. Sometimes, this is not the case, and it will be necessary to take group lessons from that coach, if you want to take any at all. Take them up on this if it is offered, but try to find another coach to give you private lessons as well.

Learn to use your sword correctly and safely. It's important that you know how to hold your sword. Don't wave it around, and never point it at somebody who isn't wearing the protective mask. When you are holding it, keep the point of sword pointing towards the floor. If you are moving while holding the sword, hold it by the point not the handle. If you need both of your hands to take your mask on or off, be sure to put the sword down first.^[2]

• You should always check on the condition of your sword and ensure that the point has a covering that is intact and in a good state.

Get to know the essential terminology. You will need to have a solid understanding of the basic lexicon of fencing. Some of the most important terms to learn at the beginning are: En garde, Attack, Parry, Riposte, Counter Riposte. Attack is an offensive action, parry a defensive one.^[3] A riposte is a counter-attack after a parry, and a counter-risposte is an attack that follows a parry of a riposte.

• Take some time to read through a glossary of fencing terms to familiarize yourself with them.
• Remember that some people might use the French or Italian words.

Master the basic footwork. Footwork is absolutely essential in fencing, so it's important to develop fluid and easy movement. The basics you will need to learn, however, are the En Garde position, and the simple advance and retreat. The En Garde position is your starting position. You will stand side on, leading with your sword hand, with your foot on that side pointed towards your opponent while your rear foot points out at roughly 90 degrees. When advancing the front foot leads, and when retreating the back foot leads.

• Try to get an even balance of weight and be on the balls of your feet so you can move quickly.
• As you progress you will learn more techniques like attacking lunges.

Learn the right grip for your weapon. Before you start to learn sword techniques you have to master the grip and learn how to hold the sword properly. There are different styles and your instructor will probably have a preference for their students. Different swords also have different grips, so you have to learn these with an instructor.

• A common mistake for beginners is to hold the grip too tight. You need loose and flexible wrists.

Learn the first blade work techniques. Once you have got a comfortable and technically sound grip you can learn the first elements of blade work. This may depend on your instructor and weapon choice, but you can expect to learn the straight thrust and the simple parry first. These are the simple offensive and defensive moves which you will then build on with variations and additions.^[4]

Decide on your sword. Once you've got started you might want to choose to focus on one weapon which you prefer. Your coach will probably present you with a choice of weapons (Foil, Epée, or Saber), or give you a foil without such a choice.^[5] Many fencing masters and coaches believe that the correct order to learn the weapons in is foil-épée-saber. Sometimes you will encounter a coach who will try to start students with Epée or Saber (this is actually fairly common among high school coaches, as they need to generate fencers in all weapons quickly).

• Some believe it preferable to always start with Foil because, they assert, Foil provides point control necessary to épée, right of way ensures that you develop the correct technique, and right of way is an essential aspect of Foil and Saber.
• The other side would contend that while most of this is the case for épée, you can learn right-of-way and technique perfectly from Sabre. Ultimately, it's up to you.

Find out about the equipment you need. Fencing is a relatively equipment-heavy sport, so find out about the special protective clothing that is required as well as the swords. Some of the protective clothing for fencing differs for genders, and comes in differing right and left-handed versions. Before thinking about buying any of the equipment, do some investigations and see if you can borrow club equipment.

Use the club's equipment. Many clubs have spare equipment stores, so borrow equipment for your first few lessons, just to make sure you like the sport enough to continue. Club equipment is often old and worn thin by use, the masks unpleasant from the sweat of fencers, and the weapons bent beyond the point of recognition as a sword. This will eventually happen to your own equipment as well, but you'll get a good few years use out of everything, at the very least.

• It might be old and a bit tatty, but treat the club equipment with respect and don’t be careless with it.

Buy your own equipment, when you're ready. Fencing equipment can be expensive. A few hundred dollars or euros, so be completely positive that you will be fencing for some time before you go out and buy it. But be sure to talk to your coach about what to get before you go to the store. The USFA maintains a list of vendors in the US.

Do lots of drills. Virtually all fencers agree that they're boring, but no one denies that drills will improve your fencing. A tip to make is less boring is to visualize that you are using a real weapon on a real opponent (only if you are macabre, though). But like all things, practice makes perfect.

Watch the pros. Spend some time just watching pro competitions to learn more about the top-level of the sport. Watching the experts can also inspire you to practice more, and increase your love of fencing by seeing it practiced so excellently. If you have the opportunity to see a big competition nearby, go for it!

Read books on the subject. This may seem like carrying the sport to the point of fanaticism, but books about fencing are often useful. Aldo Nadi's "On Fencing" is a volume filled with a good number of drills, exercises, and hints and Rudy Volkman's "Magnum Libre de Escrime" is a fantastic resource for beginners.

Improve your fitness. Although it might not look it to the untrained eye, fencing is a physically demanding sport. Work on improving your general fitness outside of your classes in order to improve your stamina and sharpness with a sword.

Prepare for competitions. A big part of fencing, and the best way to test your skills and measure your progress, is by going to official fencing competitions. Before you actually go to compete, you might want to go to a competition as a spectator to get a feel for the event and the atmosphere.

• Pay attention to the scoring, and try to learn from what you are watching.

Go to competitions! This cannot be stressed enough! When you go to a competition, you're under pressure to perform well. This pressure can bring out weaknesses in your fencing for you to work on with your coach. Do not, however, go to competitions before your master/coach thinks you are ready. There's a certain level of readiness that you should be at before you throw yourself into an actual tournament.