You know that you love fencing, and if you’re like the rest of us then you’re probably follow fencing on social media too. You want to keep up to date with the best fencing that is out there, and honestly there’s a lot of great fencing people to connect with on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. We’ve put together dozens of fencing channels to check out.
Note that this does not constitute our endorsement of every single one of the posts on every single one of these pages, nor are we directly or indirectly affiliated with any of these fencers. We just wanted to share the fencing on social media that we’ve found to be awesome through our own experience.
Fencing on YouTube
The wonderful videos on YouTube for fencing are a rabbit hole that any of us can get lost down. Lots of kids we know spend hours on YouTube, as much time as they can possibly get from their parents! There are tons of historical fencing videos on YouTube, cataloging bouts going far back into the past. It’s amazing what’s been saved and uploaded! Check out these awesome YouTube fencing channels and you’ll probably understand why, if you don’t already.
- FIE Fencing Channel – Obviously the YouTube channel for the international fencing body is an important one and is our favorite, especially due to their extensive live coverage of the world level fencing tournaments. Be sure to check out their Behind the Mask series and their World Fencing Day series. Then keep digging! There is so much to see on this page, it’s one of the richest sources of fencing information you’ll find.
- USA Fencing – It goes without saying that every fencer in the United States should be watching what’s on USFA’s YouTube channel. Here you’re going to find videos of major bouts from every major competition in the United States. Check out their playlists to navigate more easily!
- Sydney Sabre – For sabre fencers, this YouTube channel has a lot of breakdowns and analysis, which can be very helpful for improving. Arguably one of the best sabre fencing channels.
- Cyrus of Chaos – This channel is one of the biggest for fencing and full of video analysis. It’s amazing! Cyrus is a bona fide YouTuber – your kids will know what that is.
- David Tanamachi – This is a full foil channel that had tons of match videos from all over the world, going from several years back. He’s also got some bloopers that are really fun. Check out his website too: http://fencinginsider.com
- The Fencing Visualization Project – There are only three videos on this YouTube channel, and they’re all from at least two years ago. But wow, are they really cool visual effects put with real fencing matches. Based on their track record I doubt anything else will appear on this channel, but you can definitely impress your friends with cool fencing video graphics.
- Jesse Morris – This was an active fencing vlog for a long time, but it’s been a while. It’s still a great window into traveling for fencing and the realities of competition, not to mention a ton of really fun compilation videos.
- The Olympics – We are all gearing up for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo! Of course the Olympics YouTube channel has all of the other sports, but it’s all inspirational.
- Team USA – Not all fencing either, but a great channel to follow in the run up to 2020. Lots of cool videos that make it hard NOT to get excited about next year!
Fencing on Facebook
You’ll find a lot of solid pages on Facebook to follow, and it’s a place where AFM tends to be most active. If you aren’t already following your local fencing club on Facebook, be sure to look them up! These are some other great pages that we love on the grandfather of social media.
- @USAFencing – Again, every fencer in the United States should be following USA Fencing. It’s a no brainer!
- @fie.org – This is THE page for international fencing! Every major tournament, from World Cup to Olympic Games, is going to be covered on this channel, and a lot more of other great stuff. Bookmark it!
- @FencingTokyo – This is a major Facebook page that follows, analyses and predicts qualification of countries and individual athletes for fencing in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. They update the page after every qualification event and this page is must to be followed by every fencing aficionado.
- @EuroFencing – The organization that governs European fencing. Great page and it tries to aggregate material from FIE, CyrusOfChaos and different European national fencing federations. As fencing is very important and quite developed in Europe – definitely a page to follow.
- @FencingNet – The official facebook page of Fencing.net and a great resource. Unfortunately not as active as it used to be before (hint, hint…)
- @TheFencingCoach – Incredible resource, with tons of posts and lots of solid information. A real must follow. His posts are R-rated sometimes, but they do get a point across.
- @I.lovee.fencingg – Lots of fencing images and cool information.
- @thefencingref – Another active Facebook page with some insight into International fencing referee life. Lots of original content.
- @AcademyofFencingMasters – This is our own Facebook page, and we’d love for you to come follow it for updates and information!
We really encourage you to look for facebook groups if you’re on this platform. There are groups for veteran fencers, for women fencers, for competitive fencers, for your local area fencers, for all kinds of fencers! A lot of them are closed, but once you join you’ll be part of your community within fencing, and there is a lot to learn. Connecting over social media is what social media is all about! One very active open group you can check out is USA Fencing.
Fencing on Twitter
This is a fast paced place to follow fencing! Frankly we found that most of the tweets come from their Facebook counter-parts, so for most cases you can follow only their respective fencing Facebook account. But just in case, check out the following Twitter fencing pages for more insight into the most current happenings in fencing.
- #fencing – This is a big one for Twitter. Follow the hashtag! This will give you all kinds of tweets from many different sources. It’s usually pretty focused on sport fencing, but sometimes you’ll get the other kind too.
- #esrime – A good one to follow! You’ll always find some cool tweets when you chase this hastag.
- @USAFencing – another no brainer. They don’t tweet often, but the content is always great.
- @fencingnet – A good twitter feed from the folks at fencing.net
- @FIE_fencing – Super active Twitter account of the international fencing body.
College fencing is something a lot of people ask us about, and Twitter is a good place to start getting familiar with universities and their fencing teams. This list isn’t inclusive! Just a few of the big schools and some other collegiate fencing organizations to follow.
- @ncaafencing – Follow collegiate fencing, a great place for fencers who aspire to fence in college.
- @CF360Updates – Consistent, informative updates on what’s going on in the world of college fencing.
- @columbiafencing – Columbia University fencing
- @DukeFEN – Duke University fencing
- @NDFencing – Notre Dame fencing
- @BrownFencing – Brown University fencing
- @TigerFencing – Princeton University fencing
- @HarvardFencing – Harvard University fencing
There are far too many major fencers for us to list here, but there are a LOT on Twitter! These are wonderful to follow because you can tag Olympic fencers and comment, interacting with your heroes in this fantastic sport! This list is obviously not exhaustive, USA-centric, and there are so many more.
- @Race_Imboden – Race Imboden
- @GerekMeinhardt – Gerek Meinhardt
- @AMassialas – Alexander Massialas
- @leetothekiefer – Lee Kiefer
- @MChamleyWatson – Miles Chamley-Watson
- @IbtihajMuhammad – Ibtihaj Muhammad
- @TimMorehouse – Tim Morehouse
- @marielzagunis – Mariel Zagunis
- @DagaUSAFencing – Dagmara Wozniak
- @DarylDHomer – Daryl Homer
And of course many more other accounts of your favorite fencers from different countries, fencing federations from all continents and teams and clubs you follow or belong.
Fencing on Instagram
The visual style of Instagram makes for some just incredible fencing photos. Our sport is truly one of the most strikingly visual that you’ll find anywhere. There’s a reason it captures so many imaginations across the globe! Here are some of our favorite fencing Instagram channels.
- Most important – follow fencing athletes. Search your favorite fencer and just follow them. Since there are so many great athletes from different countries and speaking different languages, we leave it up to you to connect with your fencing idols.
- #fencingmemes – The kids will love this one, but the adults too! Type in this hashtag and find all kinds of cool fencing memes.
- @teamusafencing – The official Instagram of Team USA Fencing! Amazing pictures of Olympic fencer and Olympic fencer hopefuls. A must follow in the lead up to 2020 Tokyo!
- @usfencing – The official Instagram of USA Fencing is full of warm, candid photos of fencers here in the U.S.
- @fencing_fie – The official Instagram of FIE, the international fencing governing body. This page is busy and always full of information about what’s going on in fencing around the world.
- @fencing_memez – Want to laugh out loud? Here you go. These are hilarious!
- @fencing_ins.gram – Wonderful feed for fencing images and things like cool t-shirts. Tons of powerful photos of women fencers!
- @sportfencingphotographyusa – A professional photographer who specializes in fencing. These images are incredible.
- @fencing.loverr – Tons of cool and unique fencing photos.
- @fencingways – Cool gear and fun images.
- @fencing_is_mylife – Almost daily fencing videos and pictures.
- @betterfencer – The official page of Better Fencer, a marvelous resource that every fencer should know about!
- @radicalfencing – A fencing equipment company. Very cool stuff.
- @nyufencing – Official page of the NYU fencing team. Always great pics and lots of athlete info.
- @fencing_video2s – Unique and interesting fencing videos, mostly from Europe!
- @fencing_lover_ig – Daily instagram posts about fencing! Cool stuff, lots of videos and pictures
- @cyrusofchaos – The Instagram of fencing Youtuber Cyrus of Chaos
- @academyoffencingmasters – Our Instagram, with information from our fencing club.
Last thoughts on social media and fencing
Yes, we all definitely spend to much time in front of screens. It’s absolutely true. It’s healthy to take regular breaks from social media and from our screens in general, but it’s also good to use these technologically marvelous platforms for good things, good things like getting a deeper knowledge of fencing.
Other good things are laughing! Fencing training is tough, and while we love it, we also need to laugh about it. Checking out our favorite fencers trying out the newest internet challenge is pretty fun and can be inspiring for young fencers. There’s also lots of information that’s useful, from new fencing gear to techniques and rule changes. Inspiration is a big part of why we love following fencing subjects on social media too! It helps us to want to get up and go fencing, keeping us in the world of fencing.
The last reason is connection. When we go to far away competitions, it’s great to connect with our fellow fencers who we meet along the way. Connecting on social media with fencers who we meet at competitions all over the country is the modern version of being a pen pal. Young fencers especially are comfortable connecting online. You never know who you might meet!
We like to encourage our kids that when they do have access to screen time, they should use it in positive ways. That goes for us adults too, we should use our social media in positive ways too, right? Hopefully these social media fencing connections will help you to find some insight into and excitement about the sport.
Karen
Podcast recommendations?
Igor Chirashnya
Hi Karen, these two are the major ones I believe:
– http://sabrecoachkate.libsyn.com/
– http://www.thefencingpodcast.com/podcast
Karen
Thanks, I’ll check them out