Why did you choose .....

[Zilverzmurfen]

I "choose" épée simply because it is the main weapon, not only in Sweden, but also in my club. (There are but a few foilists lurking around our club.)

The weapon suits me and I have the oppurtunity of having a very, very good Maître D'Armes.

[glowstix]

i chose epee because i've been brainwashed!!! hehehe..actually i enjoy it the most. i'd probably be a better foilist in the long run but since fencing is not occupation, i get to chose whichever one makes me happier.

[EpeeConvert]

We needed 3 kids to make an epee team for my high school and i got chosen. i stuck with it because i was tired of living in the better sabrist shadow. so i found a weapon that i could understand and do well in. in retrospect that seems kinda shallow...

[Epictetus]

I have only been fencing for three months, so still haven't really settled down to any single blade specifically.

I do enjoy Epee though, because, as peet said, it is very heady. And all the epee fencers at my college are seniors, so we needed someone to be there next years as well. So, who knows where I'll end up, but right now, epee looks like it.

[Epee_Pox]

Coach said I'm best at epee, so that's what I do.

I really enjoy saber and foil, and even like right-of-way rules. I don't understand them most of the time, but I don't think they're bad.

(As a matter of fact, I think ROW is embodied in epee most of all. Except, instead of a screwy director calling the shots, the lights tell you who had it. If the other guy got a light, you didn't have it.)

I like the other weapons immensely, because you can be a lot more swashbuckling than with epee. However, as the coach said, I'm not as good with them.

[mrbiggs]

I don't fence sabre because:

a) I'm not really good at it

b) There really isn't much sabre from whence I come.

I started in foil, because that's what I was taught. I do a little épée, but I'm not really coached in it. It's my fun weapon...

[The Mormegil]

coach hasn't let me pick up anything but a foil, although i think he has plans to change that shortly

[lochinvar]

I chose epee because it's the cheapest to compete with. No lame, no metalic mask, and the weapons are easier to work on.

[mrbiggs]

I chose epee because it's the cheapest to compete with. No lame, no metalic mask, and the weapons are easier to work on.

Yes, but the lamés are nearly a one-time expense, and épées tend to be a little more expensive than foils.

Sabre wouldn't be bad, but the masks are alot....reason #3 why I don't fence sabre.

[Inquartata]

"In Soviet Russia, weapon choose YOU." And sometimes elsewhere, it seems.

I don't really have any thoughtful reasons for why I do sabre. It just called to me, and neither foil nor epee did. Foil in fact emphatically did not. At some level, upon which I do not waste a great deal of fruitless cogitation, I guess I'm just constitutionally suited to sabre.

[EpeeConvert]

I chose epee because it's the cheapest to compete with. No lame, no metalic mask, and the weapons are easier to work on.

This is a flat out lie. I used to fence sabre, it was great. i paid 350 when i started, and then like 30 bucks whenever i broke a body cord. Epee has me buying new wires, new tips, more tip screws, and new weapons entirely. i had 1 sabre and it was nice. i have 6 Epees and none work.

[sabreur]

A sabre has six parts. Pommel, bell, blade, grip, pad, thing you stick your body cord into. Five parts if the body cord connection is riveted to the bell. No wires. No moving parts. Building a sabre requires a wrench. No glue. No little screwdrivers. No springs. No little screws.

That is not why I fence sabre, but it certainly makes it easier to prepare for a competition.

[Insipiens]

Started with foil at the age of 11 and won competitions early on (very small local ones) so I never felt the need to look for another weapon.

elder brothers were foilists primarily so competing with them required foil (and switching weapon would have been a cheat).

foil was what all beginners and virtually everybody did at my school when I started.

after a couple of years I could not physically cope with sabre - you seemed to have to do weird things with your hand (cutting and the parries)

epée and sabre just don't seem that fun to watch. (I can see more tactical interest in foil).

why switch when I am doing well?

[Victor]

My father was an epeeist, and his father before him, and so on down the family tree for 217 generations.

[ChevalierDeBrun]

I do Saber and Epee with equal love for both, but i will never fence Foil for more than 5 touches at a time. it's far to restricting in target areas and rules for my blood. i'm not a big fan of R.O.W.

[lochinvar]

This is a flat out lie. I used to fence sabre, it was great. i paid 350 when i started, and then like 30 bucks whenever i broke a body cord. Epee has me buying new wires, new tips, more tip screws, and new weapons entirely. i had 1 sabre and it was nice. i have 6 Epees and none work.

Perhaps rather than "a flat out lie" it was incomplete information...Let me rephrase:

I chose epee because it's the cheapest to start to compete with. No lame to buy, no metallic mask to buy, and the weapons are easier to work on than foils.

I stand by my original assertion, with additions in bold. Two $60 weapons and two $20 body cords, and I'm competing without having to add a $100 lame and (in the case of saber) a $100 mask. I'm sorry your weapons don't work--perhaps you've been abusing them by treating them like sabers...?

[lochinvar]

My father was an epeeist, and his father before him, and so on down the family tree for 217 generations.

I'm reminded of a story told about Teddy Roosevelt:

During his run for the Presidency as a Republican, Teddy arrived in South Boston for a rally--a hotbed of Democratic sentiment for scores of decades.

During his address, one heckler in the back of the hall continually shouted, "I'm a Democrat!" into every pause. Finally fed up, Roosevelt asked the heckler, "You, sir! Why are you a Democrat?"
"Because my father was a Democrat, and his father was a Democrat!"
"Well, then--if your father was an ***, and your grandfather was an ***, what would that make you?"
Without missing a beat, the heckler shot back:

"A Republican!"

[telkanuru]

The only epees of mine that break are those I had to jury-rig with homemade wires, and those are all shims problems. The .5mm shim is the only reason I would ever dislike epee .

I got started when I showed up on the HS team and they said, hm, 6'1", 140lbs, here's an epee. And ever since I've been the bane of persons with bad on-guards everywhere.

[Calder]

AAARRGGHH! Her I am, a begginner (well, sort of...My dad was a national foilist in 68, 69, 70 and 72, so Ive been playing with a foil since I could walk) but after a long break from fencing I am returning with full force and getting into competition. I have never asked him why he chose foil, but I always got the impression that it was due partly to the fact that he was shorter. So am I, and I am stomping everyone in my entire class in foil! I have yet to have more than 5 total points scored on me at all. This made me feel preaty good, but the paradox to it all is that in our first intro class "tournament" we were given epee's to fence with, but with foil restrictions. ROw didnt seem to bother me because in most cases, it seemed to work in my favor. So here I am thinking that epee is a more "advanced" weapon and I am cleaning house with it! So naturally, I think "wow, maybe I should look at getting epee gear instead of foil gear" (because as previously pointed out, it is cheaper to buy upfront because of no lame' which saves close to $100.00)

But then I read through everyones post, and see the great shot from davtsung and I am hooked…back to foil. Man, my wife is going to kill me with the first weapon I choose when she sees how much I am going to dump into equipment just trying to decide which one I like best. And kudos to sabreur, how do you argue with a valid quote like “Why sabre? Because you don't take heads with the point.” Any suggestions for one over the other to start? I always heard it was foil, but maybe feeling good with the Epee last week was a sign from the “bladed gods” that I should be facing off with an epee in my hand, not a foil……

[downunder]

-First one being that the foil coach at my club is one of if not the best in Australia..

Al Wardle i'd be guessing?

Where are you training mate?