Journal Entry 7

FENCING

I want to introduce one of my favourite sports, fencing. Fencing is an activity with bladed weapons and it is fundamentally based on fighting arts. Its becoming a sports branch is closely related to the duels which were made by swords in the middle ages. There are three kinds of weapons, Foil (Flöre),  Épée (Epe), Sabre (Kılıç). All of these three branches of fencing has the same point system, but the way of the scoring is different. I want to talk about the weapons now. Foil can be used when learning fencing because it is very light. Its targets are the torso, neck, and groin, including the back, but not the arms. Touches are scored only with the tip. In the competitions, the fencer moves forward-backward with small and fast steps. In Foil, there is a rule called "right of way" which means that if both of the fencers hit each other at the same time, the one who starts the attack earlier gets the point. Épée is sharper and heavier than Foil. In Épé, you can get point by touching to anywhere from the entire body. All of the hits must be with the tip, as it was in Foil. There is no rule like "right of way" in Épée. It both fencers hit at the same time, both of them are scored. Sabre is straight and flat. In Sabre, you target the entire body above the waist, except for the hands. If you hit your opponent with the edges of the blade or the point, you can get scored. As in Foil, the "right of way" is used when both fencers hit each other. Because it is a very dangerous activity, fencing has a lot of precautions. Fencers have to wear a form-fitting jacket covering groin, a plastron which is an underarm protector, one glove for the weapon arm, knickers which are a pair of short trousers that end just below the knee, high socks, shoes with flat soles, masks, and plastic chest protector which is mandatory for females. Fencing is a sport which is very enjoyable both to watch and to play. There is a fencing club in Metu and I am one of the members of it. I recommend you to go and watch the matches because it is really joyful to do so. :)

VIDEO REFLECTION

I chose this video because I thought that it could show you most of the things you should see, for example the salute. In fencing competitions, the fencers have to salute firstly their opponent, secondly the referee, and lastly the audience before the match started. In the end of the match, they have to shake hands with the gloveless ones. If the fencer doesn't do these, he or she will be disqualified. That's a strict rule. The matches you see in the video are the official ones. They salute, wait for the commands, and then start. "En garde" is one of the commands which are said before the matches start. "En garde" means "Take you guard". Then the referee says "Allez", which makes the fencers begin their match. And when referee says "Halt", the match is over. Referee says "Halt" when a fencer scores a hit, drops his or her weapon, steps out of the bounds, or commits a foul. As I said before, it is very enjoyable to watch and play fencing. You should see a match with your own eyes. En Garde! :)