Websites

In Spring of 2003 American Fencing published their list of the best fencing web pages of the year. Readers were encourage to submit their favorites sites. The top sites were ranked and reported as: 1. Zetafencing.com 2. Prisedefer.com 3. Big4ourbritches.com 4. Fencingsucks.com 5. Fencing.net 6. Askfred.net 7. Esgrimamex.com 7. USFCA.org 7. USfencing.org 8. Sallepouj.com 8.… Read More »

The More Things Change

Rule changes are nothing new to fencing. Here is an article from the October 1950 issue of American Fencing which shows some of the major rule changes that occurred up to that time. Adding the bib as target in foil is just the latest in a 100 year long set of adjustments. The AFLA or… Read More »

Electric Foil

In October 1955 Electric foil was in its infancy with fencers and referees both struggling to adapt to it. One solution posed was to have the scoring equipment on a cart and assign an “apparatus manager” to move the cart during the bout so it was always in line with the director. Also of interest… Read More »

The Making of an Epee

The electric epee was introduced in 1933. By 1949 use of the electric epee had become the standard equipment at all major competitions. The epee itself, however, had not yet become what we see today. Looking at this figure from the December 1949 issue of American Fencing current fencers will notice a few peculiarities when… Read More »

The Great Epee Debate

As reported in “The Riposte” (precursor to “American Fencing”), there was a debate in 1940 on whether or not electric epee should return to the “1-Touch”format or remain the new “Best 3 of 5” format. With World War II preoccupying Europe and both the Olympic and FIE competitions being cancelled, America was in a position… Read More »