Fencing at South Mountain Martial Arts: A brief history of the art.

South Mountain Martial Arts
91 Main Street, Madison New Jersey 07940-1849
(973) 906-3503

Fencing - Page 2

History and Rationale
Dayn is the Middle Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association Coach of the Year , for the Year 2000. In the last year, Dayn was host coach and tournament director for both the MACFA conference championships and the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships. Over time, fencing evolved into a modern Olympic sport, having three forms;
The Epee . Epee (French for sword) was invented by those who wanted to simulate a rapier duel, as closely as they could. The point is used to score, as it primarily was with the rapier; the target is the entire body, feet and all, as it would be in a fight; and there is no Right of Way rule, if both fencers hit at the same time, both score. Each, all, or any combination of the weapons provides a fascinating, exciting activity that is both physical and mental. It is often called physical chess. Fencing is a combat sport and martial practice which, in its present form, is the inheritance of over 500 years of development and tradition. Swordplay is probably as old as humanity itself; it can be seen Egyptian illustrations from before the Iron Age. The great probability is that recognizable combative methods leading to modern swordplay are even older. For examples, the stick techniques of "La Canne" (an adjunct of Savate) and Philipino "Eskrima" (both developed from fencing and reverse engineered for the more blunt impact oriented stick) and the bare handed techniques of Wing Chun Kuen (gung-fu), are so hauntingly similar to fencing, it would lead (and has led) observers to conclude the development and parallel development of nearly identical offensive and defensive approaches is potentially as old as humanity ability to think systematically, and to use tools. Even the root word for Fencing is Defense or Defensing, meaning the complete practice of personal defense. The Foil developed from the Small Sword carried by gentlemen, shortly before the carrying of swords became uncommon. Much as the actual weapon on which it is based, it is a light thrusting weapon, or point weapon. This means that, in order to score, a foilist must attack with the point (a surprising variety of methods) upon the mandated target area - the torso of the opponent, including the back and groin, but not the arms, legs or areas. Foil is known for its nimble blade play, as the fencers battle through their opponent's defenses to reach the target. The Sabre, or Saber is a light straight bladed out growth of the cavalry saber, which itself, developed from the curved, single-edged sword brought to Europe by invading Steppe nomads, in the 1200s. The saber is a cutting weapon; though the point is also used, the primary method for scoring is to hit the opponent with the blade of the sabre. The sabre target is the opponent's head, arms, and body, above the juncture of the torso and the hips. The legs are off target, and not scored. Sabre fencing is known for its extremely quick and aggressive style of action. Foil, Sabre, and Epee
The Foil and Sabre are known as conventional weapons because of a rule which governs the nature of both their scoring methods; Right of Way. Right of way was, it seems, invented to discourage fencers from making suicidal reactions to an opponent's attack. In essence, it mandates that when the opponent attacks directly, a fencer must either dodge, block (parry), or hit the opponent in such a way as to prevent the attack from landing. Simply trying to hit back or barely beat he opponent to the hit, causes the referee to give the point to the fencer who began the first attack. That's as simplistic as an explanation of Right of Way gets. It gets a lot more complex, and very quickly. For those who don't care for it, there is a third weapon, which also has other wonderful virtues; About the Instructor Fencing is taught at South Mountain Martial Arts by Dayn DeRose . He has been Head Fencing Coach for Drew University's Men's and Women's teams for the past 11 years. Previously, he was The Millburn High School Head fencing Coach, and was responsible for the formation and development of The Millburn High School Boy‘s Varsity Fencing Team, bringing it to State Championship level within 5 years Dayn DeRose is chief instructor at South Mountain Martial Arts, and is a member of both the US Fencing Association , and the US Fencing Coaches Association , by which he is rated as Prevot d'Armes Foil, Epee, and Saber . He has been teaching and coaching fencing since 1984.