Academy of Fencing Masters Blog

It’s a common thing that people don’t understand which color of fencing scoring lights belongs to which fencer. Parents often watch their children in a bout and don’t understand what’s going on and who’s scored.

That’s especially true in a large venue like at an NAC or at the majority of clubs, where the lights oriented differently. That makes it very hard for parents and spectators, particularly novice parents and spectators, to guess who among the fencing competitors has scored. They find themselves having to rely totally on the final hand gesture of the referee, and that can take a lot of the fun out of watching fencing.

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Google “fencing” and you’ll get results that look like this:

• “Top Notch Temporary Fencers”
• “Fence Builders Inc.”
• “The Best 10 Fences and Gates”

Obviously these results aren’t related to the kind of fencing that we all know and love, but rather to tall structures that enclose an outdoor area. When you think about it, it’s odd that these two very different things – swords and enclosures – have the same name.

Even fencers who have been fencing for years often don’t realize the origin of the term “fencing”, and the story of how the word came about is a fascinating one to say the least.

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Fencers tend to be pretty enthusiastic about our sport, whether we’re adult fencers or kids. We want to encourage other people to learn about the sport and so to share our passion, but how can we best do that?

Sometimes we can be shy about putting our interests out there with our friends because we’re a little afraid that they won’t like things as much as we do. This can be especially true for tweens and teens who are dealing with social pressures and struggling to find their way through their very social worlds. How can you even get that conversation started?

Some fencers are naturally gregarious and just put it out there, but if you or a fencer you know wants some new ways to get the conversation going, then check out these fencing conversation starters.

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Sports in popular culture is often about inspiration and driving towards success. How sports can bring out the best in human nature. Whether it’s in movies, television shows, books, or even music, these themes are everywhere.

Fencing is increasingly in the spotlight in popular culture as the sport grows. Whereas soccer movie and boxing movies are everywhere, there have been few films or television shows focusing on sport fencing. Sometimes it can be hard to find what are actually wonderful depictions of fencing in films, either on the big or small screen! The Olympic level of fencing hasn’t gotten to Hollywood much just yet, but there are lots of smaller modern depictions of sport fencing.

We’ve put together some of the coolest and most interesting sport fencing mentions in movies and TV shows. Some are funny and some are touching, but what always stays the same is the heart of sport fencing as a blend of thinking and action.

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