Underground Fencing Organization

A modern fencing bout is fenced more or less in a straight line. The fencers facing each other on a strip, and fencing stops if the leave the strip or pass each other while on the strip. The strip (or piste) is about 2.5 m to 3 m wide and about 14 m long. There are a few lines marked on the strip. Starting from the center is sometimes the center line showing where the center of the strip is. 2 m from that line is an en guard line. This line is where the fencers start the bout and start actions after a valid touch has been awarded. The next line is 3 m from the en guard line and is the 2 m warning line. This line is intended to warn the fencer that they have 2 meters of strip remaining until the end. The last line is 2 m from the warning line and marks the end of the strip. If the fencer crosses the end to the strip with both feet, they lose a touch. Additionally, if a fencer steps off the sides of the strip with one foot, that fencer loses 1 meter of ground from the point that they stepped off the strip.^{1}

During bouts, the fencers are attached to a wire that runs to the end of the strip to a reel. From the reel is a cord that attaches to a scoring box. This is a box with some lights on it. The reel is intended to keep the fencers from tripping over the wire while they are fencing. The scoring box has four lights that show what has happened during the bout. Two white lights to show if a touch was register off target (someplace other than valid target) and two colored lights to show a valid touch was scored (one green and one red to show differentiate between the two fencers). In sabre and epee, the white off-target lights are not used because in epee there is no off-target and in sabre, it is impossible to determine anything other than a valid touch.

The foil is one of the smallest of the three weapons, weighing less than 500 g and having a maximum length of 110 cm. It has a circular guard about 10 cm in diameter. The foil is a point weapon, meaning that touches can only be scored with the tip. In modern fencing foils have a tip which has point that can be depressed to show when a touch has been scored. Practice foils come with a rubber tip for protection. ^{1}

Foil fencing traces its roots to the art of dueling. The foil was used to practice proper technique when fencing in a duel. Because of this foil fencers are allowed to score touches that land on certain areas of the opponents body. (see picture below) Foil also has the concept of Right of Way. (This is explained in more depth below).

As with the other two weapons, the epee traces its roots to dueling. However, the weapon is similar to how a duel is actually fought, the idea being to hit the opponent without getting hit. Modern epee is different from the days of dueling in that in certain circumstances the fencer will try for a double touch to win a bout. This would not necessarily be a good idea for trying to live through a duel

The sabre also traces its roots to the art of dueling. However, the sabre follows from the slashing weapons of the day. Thus, allowing the fencer to touch the opponent with any portion of the blade. Modern fencing prohibits the fencer from crossing their feet during a sabre bout; this is to prevent the two fencers from running at each other and each hitting each other at the same time. Sabre, as in foil, has the concept of Right of Way.

This section will give a basic overview of the concept of Right of Way. It is intended to give a person unfamiliar with fencing a general idea of the concept. The concept of "Right of Way" can be discussed in more depth than is appropiate what is intended for this section.

Right of way is a concept that many experienced fencers will discuss tirelessly. The main idea behind the concept is that any attack made must end or be defended in order for the person being attacked to make a valid touch. Who is attacking and whether or not it was defended is determined by a director watching the bout. During the bout, the director watches the action and once a touch is made, explains what has occurred in the bout and awards a touch to one of the fencers

In order to defend against an attack, the fencer can dodge the attack, retreat so that the attacker falls short, or parry the attack. To parry, the fencer deflects the attackers blade with their own, temporarily moving the blade from hitting. The defender may then hit the attacker scoring a valid touch.

During a tournament, fencers are first ranked by there rating and then divided into pools of 5 9. The fencers in each pool fence each other in a match of 5 points or for 3 minutes of fencing time. After each fencer has fenced all the other fencers in their pool, the results are used to seed the fencers into a direct elimination bracket based their record, indicator (differential between touches that they scored and touches that they received) and wins. The fencers then fence each other through the bracket a bout of 15 points made up of three 3 minute periods with 1 minute break in between each period

Watching a bout can be difficult for some people at first. Lights are coming on, the director is saying things, and the fencers are moving, sometimes quite fast. With some basic understanding of the rules, it can be easier to make out what is occurring during the bout. First, try to watch both fencers. Take in the whole scene. Focusing on one aspect of the fencer only gives a small picture of what is occurring during the bout. Once, a touch has been registered (when the lights on the scoring box come on usually accompanied by a buzzer), watch the director. The director is the individual watching the bout; they (in foil and sabre) determine what actions have occurred during the last actions and determine whether a valid touch is to be awarded. If there is only one light lit on the scoring machine, it is a little easier to tell. One colored light means that the fencer on that side has scored a valid touch that will be awarded (barring a penalty). One white light means that the fencer on that side has hit their opponent somewhere other than valid target. To make it easier to understand what is being called, the director will use hand signals to show what has occurred (see picture below for an explanation of the hand signals). If a valid touch is scored, the fencers will return to there en guard lines and start again until the bout is over. If there has been no valid touch, the fencers will remain in the same location that the action ended at and continue.