History of Fencing

     After pondering what I wanted to write a blog post about for approximately 10 minutes, Mr. Parker suggested I write about the history of fencing. It is extremely interesting that whenever I tell someone I fence they respond with one of two answers. Either they ask, "oh, like Pirates of the Caribbean?" or they ask, "like the Three Musketeers?" Fighting like a pirate is what we call "theatrical fencing". But the Three Musketeers are actually pretty close to original fencing styles. In 1763 Domenico Angelo started a swordsman school. This school appealed to soldiers that wanted to increase their skill in the art. Being that the Three Musketeers were actually King's guards and originally soldiers, they were most likely trained in an original swordsman school.

                                                               I got this photo here.


     These schools emphasized footwork and posture. These principles are still emphasized today, even though the attack and parry methods are extremely different from how they used to be. The original purpose of the school was to train soldiers, but he was the first to explain the health benefits and exercise instead of killing. The first tournament was held in 1880 and was called the Grand Military Tournament and Assault at Arms. That competition featured multiple matches between officers and soldiers. Each bout ended once one hit the other five times (same as today). The blades were tipped with a bright color to help the judges. In 1898, an official set of rules was created.
     Fencing was a part of the Olympic summer Games of 1896. Saber events have been held at every Summer Olympics. Foil has been at every Summer Olympic games except 1908. Epee events have been held at every Olympic Games except 1908 for an unknown reason. Over the years, the use of three judges has been reduced to one judge and an electric scoring system.
  Today, in the United States, fencing still isn't very popular. But in European countries such as Italy, France, and Spain, fencing is a prominent sport. Because of the original starting point of fencing, it has become much more popular elsewhere. Being this as it may, we see lots of diversity at high level events. I have met people from all over the world. My coach is Italian, my side team is Russian and my best friends are Indian.
     You may be thinking that because of the unpopularity of fencing within the United States, our international skill is not near even with those of the Italians or French. This is not at all true. Currently, the United States is the number one team in the world and has an expected gold medal in Rio this summer. To no ones surprise, the Italian team is right on their tail. I am very excited to see what happens in Rio this summer.
     Anyways, it is clear fencing has evolved quite a bit from a military killing style to a sport. Even though we aren't trained to be soldiers, I would still choose my teammates to assist me in The Hunger Games if our country ever came to that. #votecruz2k16