New to fencing

[ultimateswordsman]

ok ok I know my name isnt the best because Im new to the board and to fencing. what I wanted to ask was if there was a specific age that was recommended to start fencing. Also if 6'3 is tall enough to have an advantage in epee.

Thanx

[Peach]

Recommended age: I prefer beginning students to be at least 8 but I know of a number of 5-year-olds.

There is no maximum, unless you are asking how old you should be when you start in order to have a shot at the Olympics, in which case see above <grin>, assuming you happen to get the right coach and don't blow out your joints before you get to college age. Actually, a number of very talented internationally competitive fencers started in their early teens.

But I started when I was 43.

6'3" is around the height where people give you flak for wanting to fence foil or sabre, though I know some very tall foilists and sabreurs.

[Eileen]

Welcome! And I'd say 6'3" has an advantage.

Especially if we were in a mixed tournament and you had to face me, hehe (5' 4" here).

[HilandDoug]

Personally, I feel 5 is a little young to compete, but learning is OK. I have seen young kids in tournaments where they get hit with a particularly brutal hit, and leave the strip crying. I would not want to inflict that type of thing on anyone. My class does not allow anyone younger than 11 without first speaking to me about it. I took an 8 & 9 yr old set of brothers whose Dad told me they were in hockey, football, baseball, and soccer. I told him that we hit each other with 36 inch pieces of metal, and his responsewas, "Heck, these two beat on each other all the time, and they've both taken soccer balls to the head, been tackled roughly, checked into the boards by the 12 year olds, and been hit by pitches. They just shake it off as part of the game." I took the 2 of them and they were great students, but I think this is the exception rather than the rule.

I could be wrong, but that's my 2 cents worth.

[ultimateswordsman]

Thanx for the advice. I still have a few questions though, because I get a little obsessive at times. They do make suits for tall skinny fencers, right? Also, would height be a disadvatage in foil and sabre? Sorry for all my questions, but this seems to be the best place to ask them.

[mfp]

If a 6'3" five year-old wants to start fencing, I say let him.

[135711]

why would you ask such a question. i don't understand, what would your height have anything to do with fencing.

[ultimateswordsman]

maybe the target area for taller people might be bigger, or it might be hard to find suits my size

[Craig]

Some of the best foil fencers I know have been taller fencers. The main advantages of height in foil and (to a lesser degree) sabre are your ability to attack in preparation and score a hit and still have time to get out of distance of the attack and also the ability to launch a strong, long attach that a smaller fencer isn't going to be able to get away from.

The thing that you would have to watch out for in those weapons is that you have to concentrate on making your actions small or else you give too much time for a smaller/quicker fencer to get in on you or hit you in between steps/actions.

Most people will automatically try to put a taller fencer to epee, but height gives a very specific advantage to foil.

Cheers,
Craig

[D'Artagnan1673]

Your height is very well suited for epee. There isn't a "starting" age provided you are't super result oriented. One of my club's finest fencers is 71 this year and he started at 54.

[Cheryl]

My 7 year old daughter started this past January. She is doing fine and now wants to begin sabre. It can be difficult to get her to do drills (but that may just be genetics) She had the desire to continue, but we are not pushing it. As long as she wants to fence, fine.
We did get a lot of flack for starting her at her age. But, what can you do? Our fencing coach is from Italy and started at 5 and he pushed us to get her going while she was exicted about it.

[epeemike81]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial">Originally posted by mfp:
<strong>If a 6'3" five year-old wants to start fencing, I say let him.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial">lol.

A+

-m

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

I would say take up beginning foil and then you can decide if you like the sport.

If you stay with fencing, you can try out epee or sabre or continue with foil.

Height is not a disadvantage in any of the three weapons.

There are uniforms for tall people and some companies make custom-made uniforms.

I think in your case, starting age is not a factor. At 6'3", you are probably older than 13 years old. I think Shaquille O'Neal was 6 feet+ in sixth grade.

[ultimateswordsman]

Thanks for the advice. I intend to start fencing as soon as possible

[Sanky]

I stopped growing upwards when I was 15, I'm 6'2" and ½. Yes the half is very important

I've had no problems finding kit to fit. I went to the Leon Paul showroom in London and tried on different sizes and cuts till I found the ones that fitted.

[Spanky McFarland]

Sanky,

A tall bloke from Oxford knocked me out of the British Championships this year. It wasn't you, was it? If so, I apologise for the many expletives I let loose after the fight!

Spanky.

[Sanky]

No wasn't me

[angrylemur]

I think height can help in all three weapons. The only disadvantage (which isn't really a disadvantage at all) is that I see a lot of tall people becoming lazy with footwork because it's easier to get away with (feet come together often, etc).

It opens the door for some COOL counterattacks, too.

[Ben[PrFC]]

Physical characteristics are what you make of them, being inherintely neither an advantage nor a disadvantage.
For example, there is a young sabre fencer in my division who does exceptionally well, and alot of people say things like "he only does that well because he's that tall", him being somewhere over 6 foot. But the truth is that in addition to being tall, he can move really well.
That's why sabre fencers are typically thought of as being average height and a somewhat stockier(?) build, it's a mobility issue.
On the other side of the road, if you just rely on being tall as your strategy, then it can be a disadvantage as it makes you complacent, to the point where if you have to fence someone who is just as tall, but can also move really well, you'd be in trouble.

[mifencer]

i thought size doesn't matter? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> maybe f. mackenzie could really answer this question... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

sorry, i couldn't resist

<small>[ 07-21-2002, 11:46 PM: Message edited by: mifencer ]</small>