Does it Hurt when...

[Deputy_Cow]

Does it your ears hurt when your opponent whacks your mask???
Because it does to me or is that a sign of a crappy mask?

[mrbiggs]

It's more the sign of a crappy opponent...especially if it's foil

[epeeisky]

My LP FIE contour fit mask is rahter comfy, and doesn't give compression injuries even with hard shots to my face in epee.

[Beowulfman6]

Do your ears hurt from the noise the hit makes or the mask hitting your head? A properly fiited mask with more padding would help with both I imagine.

[tonybogdan]

usually not..

however one time at fencing practice my 2 friends were fencing epee and i don't know what happened but one of them flicked each other over the mask, the epee went all the way behind the mask, past the long strip that holds the mask to the back of your head, and the tip flicked him in the back of the neck, somehow managing to make the back of his head bleed ;x

[MikeDeadly]

Yes, my bell gets rung all the time. Since Im a lefty I get whacked on the left side of my mask all the time when fencing righties. I imagine if it keeps up for years on end I may go deaf in my left ear sooner or later. It always reminds me of a quote from Black Hawk Down, "I can hear bells ringin".
-Mike

[Inquartata]

Bah. The question assumes that I ever get hit. Point is moot.

[fixxmyweapon]

if they hit you in the mask and it creates a spark, it tends to smell funny...that's about it. unless you totally don't expect it and your head pops back. that's always amusing to see happen. i mean, awful...just awful... :P

[keropie]

Depends on the mask, the fit, the hit, etc., and mostly on how often it happens. More than one fencing coach has some amount of hearing loss from being hit in the head over and over and over. And from what I understand, some people find especially that the Prieur masks ring a lot when they get hit. But most of this is noise, unless, as mentioned above, your head gets pushed back or you mask hits your face etc.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

The prieur masks do ring. Like a bell.

[gh02t]

I would say that's a bad thing, although I have taken some in the neck (on the mask bib) that hurt for weeks afterward.

[Chafunkta]

I hear this complaint all the time. You'll have to start working out your face muscles. Start with smiling and then quickly going to a frown. Then add on (while still smiling/frowning) looking up and down with just your eyes. There's a couple more jaw excercises but the smile/frown one will work the best. Also, do these about 2-3 minutes before you bout.

Good luck!

[Adler]

if they hit you in the mask and it creates a spark, it tends to smell funny

The LP coaching mask does that a lot its one of these reasons why i ended up selling the bloody thing. Its the only mask i have ever had a problem with head hits hurting even with a sabre pad and as a sabre coach its a fairly major problem.
And on a slightly vain note, it made me look like i'd swallowed a mellon.