Safety and Fencing

Greetings, 

 Safety is a concern for all fencers. It does not matter which weapons you use or which school you subscribe to, safety is important. This entry in the blog will discuss safety and some aspects with regard to it. This is a subject of great significance for all fencers. Safety is one of the most serious of considerations with regard to all forms of fencing and one that cannot be ignored except at our peril. It is important to all who participate and not just for those safety officers whose job it is to watch over the proceedings. We all need to be aware of the various aspects which affect our safety and also how this affects the entire fencing community as a whole independent of the weapon choice or style being used. 

At this particular time I would like to discuss the subject of armour. In essence this is the protective equipment that we wear in order to be safe in the practice of our particular art. This takes into account such things as masks, helms, jackets, groin protection and footwear. All of these elements are a part of what we would call protective equipment, what I would like to refer to in the future as armour. 

Next there is the subject of calibration, the question of how hard we hit our opponents. Calibration is a measure of how hard we hit our opponents with our chosen weapons. This is a particular aspect which goes hand in hand with the chosen armour for the particular form of fencing which is being done. There is a scale of calibration as to armour. If we wish to hit our opponents with a certain level of force then the armour must be up to this task. If the striking is heavy then the armour will have to be heavier than it would have been if the striking was much lighter. This is the first question that we need to ask. Do we increase the armour and increase the calibration or do we reduce the calibration and thus the armour required? This is a question that needs to be answered by the particular organisation doing the fencing and the safety officers within that organisation. 

 There is a sliding scale which exists which must be paid attention to in the question of establishing an armour standard. If the armour standard increases so too will the calibration and thus the armour will increase and so forth. In order to limit this it is necessary to remain in control of the calibration of the striking being done. 

In response to this it is fair to say that the level of calibration used takes an element of control and it is better to have this control than to increase the armour. This must be taught to the students of the school in order that they can control their calibration and thus not require an increase in armour. In all aspects of our teaching of students control should be the focus, and calibration will emerge from this. It is better that we teach all of our students control in all their actions in order that they are able to become better fencers. 

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The rest of this article can be found in Un-Blogged: A Fencer's Ramblings by Henry Walker, which is available in paperback from:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blogged-Ramblings-Henry-Leigh-Walker/dp/098764470X
Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/un-blogged-henry-leigh-walker/book/9780987644701.html
Among other places...

It is also available in electronic format (pdf) from: https://buy.stripe.com/fZecP419c7CB9VKeUV

... or direct from the author.