For a while last year there were two great fencing podcasts, and all my long journeys were sorted!

I completely understand that Direct Elimination is secondary (if not tertiary) to Ari and Steven's real jobs, but I do miss it. I know Ari has been doing the FIE Will to Win ones but his and Steven's good natured to and fro was a big element of DE, and some of their episodes were genuinely superb (the Romain Cannone one was magical, frankly).

First to 15's disappearance is stranger, I feel? Surely that was part of someone's job? I really liked the diversity of topics covered, and the breadth of people interviewed, it felt like that was its strength in comparison to DE, but there's only been three since February now. They should def amend the 'released fortnightly' tag. Were there just not enough people listening for it to be worthwhile continuing? I'm not sure of a way I can check listenership.

Basically I'm just griping! BUT if other people also miss them and agree with me, it might be nice if they chip in and let folk know! Or it could just be that I was in a bubble of one and no-one else was actually listening, in which case, fair do's 🤣😂

I'm enjoying some nice weather and a fire, while rewiring some blades in the backyard. Which gave me a thought, has anyone tried to burn off old glue instead of sanding it or using acetone?

If I react and retreat too fast, I usually end up crossing my feet. I fence in a casual setting, and it's never caused a problem in scoring as far as I've seen, but I saw someone recently tell a beginner that they can't cross their feet. Was that just tending to their beginner form?

….and had a blast!!!!! I’ve only been at it for about 3-1/2 months. Managed 2-3 in the pool stage (don’t remember scores), and got positively hosed in the SE bracket against a guy I beat in the pool. Two questions:

1) When you just absolutely for the life of you figure out how a Director is awarding ROW, what do you do??? I was trying everything, advancing immediately, “taking the blade”, pushing the blade out immediately, there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. The first two bouts seemed normal (to me) as he was calling it. The next three I couldn’t get a call in my favor if I paid the guy off! Coaches seemed a little confused as well. They thought they figured it out, then were like “wait…. No….”

2) Coming from a folk wrestling background, how do you unlearn what was beaten into your head as far as body position? Every time I leaned back into a more “Greco-Roman” type posture, the opponent didn’t know what to do with me. But ultimately I always leaned forward, sucked in my elbows, bent hard at the knees, and that’s when it would go south for me. I didn’t “square up”, but it was some sort of weird hybrid staggered stance. Just a matter of stress practice, as that’s what the mind and body does under stress: doing what it knows?

But regardless, I learned a ton and can’t wait for the next one! I’m in my 40’s doing this, so it’s really just for fun and more exercise. But, as we all know it’s more fun when you can at least put up a stink!

Hello, is this sort of wrap around the pistol grip legal in competition, or does it conflict with FIE Material Rules, m.4.3 directly?

So I'm tentatively encouraged by the new format.

But I've read the rules and one thing is still not really clear to me:

What is the intended mechanism for moving from Challenger to Elite, or Elite to Challenger?

Like, if a kid is initially sorted into Challenger but then wins the event, that gives him some points, ok. But I'm not clear on what the threshold for moving up actually is.

There's an article on the topic here:

https://www.usafencing.org/news/2026/september/19/two-new-ways-into-the-elite-field

but that seems like a one-off and special case kind of thing. What's the intended mechanism for someone who is just underrated, or who improves?

Hello,

I was scrolling the internet and found this. Never seen anything like it, but it looks technically legal to my eyes. Anyone got an opinion on it or seen anything like it. I think it might be some kind of italian grip based on the post.

It's got no prongs and doesn't fix the hand, so technically legal(?) It's just super weird I wonder if it's maybe legal as ab italian and illegal as a french(?)

Dear Absolute Fencing Gear, Starter sets should definitely be on the landing page, but dear, oh, dear... How many things are wrong with this picture?

How dangerous would it be? Cause it looks like alot of death quite quickly...

We got another email notification about someone making it onto the “Crime Beat” today. I’m not trying to spill the tea for the sake of spilling tea but I would like to know what happened.

I feel like it’s important for all of us as a community to understand what happened, what caused the investigation, and what deserved the suspension. I think we can all learn from this. Maybe even inspire victims who were in a similar situations to come forward.

Are we allowed to post the Disciplinary Actions on this subreddit to get the input of local members within that region?

I’m not trying to bring down anyone’s reputation but this email blast is already doing that. I just want to bring up a discussion.

What do you all think?

I can never anticipate when an attack is going for my flank. I’m pretty good at seeing if an attack is going for my outside line, rather than my inside line. But I can’t differentiate between high outside and low outside attacks until it’s too late. My first reaction is always to parry 6 if I see it going to my outside line. By the time I see its a low outside line attack to my flank, I’ve usually already been hit. Is there body language or other clues I can focus on to help anticipate a flank attack instead of a shoulder attack?

My fencing club has a library in its lobby, so I'm always looking for fencing or fencing-related books, both fiction and nonfiction. When the Instagram algorithm recommended En Garde by Keelin Schafer to me pre-release, I knew I had to get a copy. In the interim between learning about it and the book releasing, fencingtuna shitposted about it, and other fencers seemed turned off by the premise without giving it a try.

So here I am, volunteering as tribute, a saber coach reading a YA contemporary romance about saber fencing.

The Official Plot Summary:

When Zahra Mandel is given an ultimatum by her mother, she has no choice but to throw herself completely into the sport she’s grown up in, even as the unexplainable pain she lives with grows worse. If she doesn’t win state regionals, she has to quit competitive fencing. Her situation goes from bad to unbearable when Trid Chang, the boy who stole her gold medal at the last tournament, becomes her new assistant coach. Suddenly, Zahra’s forced to train under the one person she’s determined to beat. Trid is charming, infuriating, and relentless about staying on top. So relentless that he starts flirting with Zahra, threatening her focus in ways she can’t afford. As regionals approach, Zahra must decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice to win. And Trid must decide if his heart is really in it, or if it’s been captured by something—or someone—else.

The Unofficial Fencing Backlash:

The author, Ms. Schafer, revealed in comments that Trid and Zahra are in competition for a spot at Notre Dame. A NAC is coming to Las Vegas where they live, and a mixed gender demonstration tournament is where the Notre Dame saber coach is going to go observe to pick the fencer to come to campus. Also, you know, they're described as vying for being the strongest fencer in Nevada.....which doesn't exactly have the same fencing scene as, say, New York.

(Which meant that the fencing community had to feel superior and say how she was doing everything wrong and this would be such a lame book because obviously a fiction book can't break any realism.)

My Thoughts on the Fencing

Heading into it, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was hooked from the first chapter. Schafer describes a tournament venue in such a way that I could picture the tons of local and regional tournaments that I've been to where bags are haphazardly spread around. She describes the smells such as the stale sweat of gear, sounds of the tournament, etc in such a way that I felt like she had been there before. Hell, she even describes walking back the reel cord after unhooking, and at one point, a character lets go of it in anger knowing they aren't supposed to.

There are some details that Schafer gets wrong. At one point she describes a fencing bout as being 3 three minute periods with breaks, which doesn't apply to saber, yet in all of the fencing scenes for saber she gets it right by only having one break and no mentions of a clock running. She also consistently calls masks "helmets" and sabers "swords", but that doesn't bother me so much because the amount of times I have to correct fencers on that is too damn high. However, Schafer gets so much more right than she gets wrong when it comes to fencing. The gear descriptions are spot on. Schafer's bout descriptions were a little weak, but it sounds like she competed a significant time ago in her life. (I don't fault her for that.)

One thing she excels at in this book is presenting characters that we see everyday in the fencing community. There's the old Olympian father/coach who is living vicariously through his fencer/son, Trid. Zahra's motivations of wanting the be the best and refusing to admit she needs help through some medical issues hit home for me. (When I started fencing, it coincided with mysterious medical issues that prevented me from fencing.) Trid's fear of disappointing his dad? Zahra's mom concerned she's taking the sport too seriously at the cost of everything else? Pretty realistic.

Of course liberties are taken with the plot, and you have to laugh and just go along with the fiction. Overall, it's great representation of our sport and if it inspires someone to pick up fencing, that's wonderful!

My Thoughts on the Characters and Plot

Disclaimer: I haven't read YA romance in like....years. Like since I was a teen. I mostly read magical realism, fantasy, nonfiction, and occasional fantasy romance nowadays at a rate of approximately one book a month. (I DNF liberally because my time is precious and I don't want to spend time reading something I am not enjoying - so if I truly hated this book, I would not have finished it!)

I think the age of the characters as high schoolers was perfect for the plot. Tropes that would usually annoy me, such as miscommunication, make more sense at the characters' ages and with their motivations. The enemies to lovers angle was executed excellently - it doesn't happen overnight. The dialogue is witty, the writing is strong, and the story moves quickly enough that I did not get bored. I actually read the book in two sittings (albeit a month and a half apart) when I coudl set aside a few hours of free time.

Of the characters, I thought Schafer did a fantastic job at having a diverse cast of characters with distinct personalities and motivations. I liked the other fencers and family members.

There is also great representation of chronic illness and issues women face with getting diagnosed or being taken seriously by medical professionals.

I was happy this was a standalone novel and not the start of a series, so the ending was a proper ending.

Final Review

Final review for me was 4.75/5. It's not perfect, but its pretty damn good for YA contemporary romance and better than some other things I've read this past year.

I’d recommend this to anyone who likes YA romance, good banter, a mix of fun characters beyond the mains, and has ever day dreamed of fighting with a sword or enjoys fencing

Hello fencers!

My new app for logging, calculating, and saving club tournament results is now available in the open Android store F-Droid. Free and without ads or tracking, of course:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.fencing.scores/

Please try it out and be so kind to report any bug:

https://github.com/leodp/Fencing_scores/issues

I prepared an overview video (for a previous version with less features) which I share even if it shows I strongly need some classes in pronunciation :-P

https://youtu.be/qzfWdVEW2AU

Thanks and enjoy,

Leodp

So, I just read a post about the behavior of some of the coaches/parents when interacting with their fencer(s). In fact, I knew a coach who treated his fencers very poorly (most of them have since left that club and have come to mine) I want to become a ref soon and was wondering if it would be okay to speak up for the kid when their coach/parent is yelling at them? Or even if I'm just passing by (as a fencer competing)? I know most people are going to say that morally that is the right thing to do, my only problem is some coaches have a lot of power in the fencing community and can make your life a living hell if they remember you.

Just wondering your thoughts, thanks.

it doesn't have to be competition level accurate, just good enough for training and club fencing. I'd also love to spend less than 1k on the whole system, so basically wondering what folks have tried, and what is the best bang for the buck

Was supposed to open today at 12pm EST... I assume it's delayed

October 29-November 1

[and we still don't know where the March NAC will be]

Hi everyone, I hope this is not a wild idea. I wonder if anyone has experienced of converting/re-tailoring a sabre lame into a foil lame? Is it allowed for tournament? How about regular practice ?

I read the rules of the subreddit and i dont think there is anything against it, so...
i'm an italian guy, with a big, BIG head, mesaured from ear passing below the chin and up to the other ear and around and i mesure 80 cm, the forehead is 67 cm, i'm in need of a level 2 fencing mask, the one it goes up to 1600 nw.
i literally cannot find anything, i'm desperate if any of you guys can help i would be glad.
thank you in advance.

Thoughts, comments, concerns?

Hi!
Last 2-3 mm of threaded part of epee blade broke off and is stuck in the point. I can't unscrew it for now. My question is: can I somehow cut a new thread on the remaining part of the blade? Or what are my options to save it?
Thanks!

I'm traveling to Phnom Penh for a week during the summer, are there any clubs to fence sabre at? I saw CamEd has a fencing club and I'll contact them, but it's hard to get info on other clubs there because lack of websites, and I want a backup option in case I'm not able to fence at CamEd.