I'm always looking for activities we can do as a family and fencing? That wasn't one I would have thought of.
But when we were invited by Absolute Fencing to a family fencing session, I was pretty excited. Primarily because Noey has been asking about fencing lessons for a while. I had actually previously brought him for a trial assessment at a fencing club not far from our home but was unable to find a suitable time slot. I knew he was going to be thrilled. And the second reason was that I was going to be able to suit up myself and have a go… at my husband. Now THAT was going to be interesting!
We rocked up on a Saturday afternoon and were received by our affable coach for the day, Coach Zhenggang. A national fencer himself and coach at schools and various fencing clinics, he quickly put us at ease while helping us to get changed in preparation for the session. I thought the kids looked especially cute in the fencing breeches! Coach Zhenggang then introduced us to the weapons used in fencing -- the foil, epee and sabre. For this session, the kids used the foil as it was the lightest weapon of the three. The adults got the epee.
Thereafter, we were all taught some basic fencing movements. How to stand in rest position, en garde, how to advance and retreat. And of course, how to lunge! We had quite a bit of fun practicing these and Coach Zhenggang also rolled over a number of dummies for us to practice on. You have to push hard enough for the tip to bend in order to score, so it wasn't that easy, though we got the hang of it pretty quickly.
There's nothing like giving it a go on real targets to actually hone your skills, so we were suited up to give it a go! The kids on the foil went first. They put on a protective chest plate, then a fencing jacket on top of that, and an electric jacket over the fencing jacket. I thought Noey looked a bit like a marshmallow man after that with all that clothing! The electric jacket was necessary as with foil, you only score when you hit the chest area, ie. the areas covered by the electric jacket, and only with touches with the tip of the foil. Hits with the side of the blade do not count, and neither do touches outside the target area. You also had to run a wire through your sleeve which hooked up on one end to the overhead scoring system and on the other to the weapon. I thought it was rather interesting, and not too different from being in a live computer game!
Noey was very excited to start sparring. A bit too excited I think. When given the signal to fight, he charged! Not always the best strategy, as he was to learn. Calm and steadier HR took his opportunities better and scored all five points to win the bout. With the foil, only a single hit can be scored by either fencer at any one time. When both fencers hit each other at the same time, it didn't count in the kids' bout.
The husband and I had an epee bout. With the epee there was no electric jacket and every part of the body is a target, though again, you can only score with a hit with the tip of the touches of the tip of the weapon. In our bout, the first to reach seven points won.
I can tell you it was really a good workout! The husband and I had a good go at each other and after few exchanges, we were both sweating away. All the lunging and hasty back peddling when failing to hit the target was hard work. The epee isn't a terribly heavy weapon, but after a while, I started to feel the weight in my hand and my thigh started to burn from the lunging. It was a close call but I managed to edge out the husband 7-6. Yay!
It was definitely a fun way to spend an afternoon and I'm now thinking maybe the next time the husband and I have a disagreement, maybe I should invite him to suit up and fight it out, huh!
If you're thinking of trying it out, Absolute Fencing has a couple of interesting courses coming up. For kids there's the Holiday Musketeers Programme where you can learn to fence in one month through 8 carefully structured lessons. Kids should be 5 years and above to participate. I'll be sending Noey for this and we are both looking forward to it!
And for the adults, do consider Epee Jump Start, 10 weekly sessions for an hour on Saturday evenings that promises to teach you the art of swordplay.
If you'd like to try fencing out before signing up for a course, you are in luck as Absolute Fencing is currently running a promotion for FREE TRIALS. Just click here to find out more and to register for a free trial slot.
Thanks for hosting us, Absolute Fencing!
Absolute Fencing
18 Boon Lay Way
#01-127
18@TradeHub 21
E-mail: administrator@absolutefencing.com.sg
Web: www.absolutefencing.com.sg
(Click here for further driving directions and information on public transport)
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