Shoes!

Hiya! Sorry for asking so many questions, but I'm new! Hehe Ok...for fencing you wear speical shoes, ne? Well, my mom doesn't want to buy them (or anything) for fencing until she knows I'm really into it! So what type of shoes are ok? For the 1st lesson I wore pretty new tennis shoes.. but they were flat, and I found it hard to go into a lunge.. I have another pair, of fairly old, and really worn ones which have barely any traction left, and are just flat. What pair would be better? Thank you so much!

[MikeHarm]

I wear a pear of Adidas wrestling shoes with a heel cup myself. They're cheaper than fencing shoes, I don't have to mail order them and they work really good for me. Also, they look good.

Mike

[Rick]

When I first started, I always wore Nike cross-trainers, which pretty much resemble tennis shoes. And they are indeed kind of flat. But it felt pretty okay. I still use tennis shoes every now and then since we practice mostly on hardwood floors and fencing shoes don't offer much traction.
Stick with the tennis shoes for now.
And your mom is right for not investing on fencing shoes until you're really into it. Good fencing shoes are expensive. There are cheaply priced shoes out there -- but you get what you pay for.
I bought a pair of Adidas Adistar shoes about one year after I started. I pretty much knew I was going to be doing this for a long time, at that point.
Once you're ready, check out thefencingpost.com and the adidas/thestore website -- good deals are always abound.

[damianip]

The things to look for in a shoe to be used for fencing (which is not a fencing shoe) are:

Low profile (less strain and roll on the back ankle)

A sole which doesn't protrude much beyond the last. Again, lessening the roll and less to catch as you gracefully skim the strip with highly efficient footwork.

Good cushioning in the heel.

Good traction.

Shoes that I have used or have seen others use with good success before investing in fencing shoes:

Tennis shoes (particularly the low profile Adidas)
Indoor soccer shoes (Adidas Nova Sambas, Adidas Sambas, Diadora Azzurri, etc.)
Squash shoes (Head C.Tech Sonic, my favorites)

That said, I think well fitted fencing shoes will make a noticeable improvement in your strip speed and confidence. Last year I broke down and finally bought a pair of Adistars. I feel more stable on the strip, but now I constantly worry about wearing them out.

Paolo

[Rapier9mm]

i use some indoor court shoes (tennis/squash type of deals i think)
I'm gonna get a heel cup i think on the reccomendation of my mate who swears by it.
But otherwise I'm not going to buy fencing shoes until i get to a suppliers or something (hehehe hopefully if i get to a world championships or something. =Þ)

[belligerent_sorceress]

Our team swears by Adidas Sambas. They're an indoor soccer shoe with a light sole, nice support, and good grip- compared to the clunky running shoes I wore before, it feels like skimming on air. Sambas are pretty inexpensive too- only about 40 bucks or so. I've worn mine when I'm not fencing, too (except that they're getting really smelly realy fast!), 'cause they're the most comfortable sneaks I've ever owned.

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Melissa

"You can beat me, you can bind me, but you can't touch me!

[alessandro]

Fencing shoes are pretty expensive, so i recomend that u buy a pair of volley ball shoes, and a pair of heel cups, that will do pretty well.
Keep on fencing!
-AleX

[Foil Girl]

I'm using wrestling shoes also at the moment, but I've had trouble with the bottom being torn up, even though they're a good pair of shoes. If you're going to use wrestling shoes... I'd say at least get inserts or something to cushion your heel in a lunge.

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-Foil Girl
"If you don't have fun, you've already lost"

[foiled again]

Adidas now makes the Sambas in several forms. The classic is about $45-49. They also have a millenium version which has extra cushion and feels very nice. That one runs $64.

foiled again

[foiled again]

Almost forgot, the millenium Sambas come in white or black. I'm not big on white shoes but the white ones were pretty cool.

foiled again

[foiled again]

Almost forgot, the millenium Sambas come in white or black. I'm not big on white shoes but the white ones were pretty cool.

foiled again

[Lumberg]

To FencingQueen4,
Tennis shoes are fine. You don't want to wear slippery shoes while fencing. As long as you are not wearing running shoes.
To others talking about Adidas Sambas,
I've been through a couple pairs of Sambas (to the point where I wore through the sole and some of the stripes fell off). I just bought a pair of Adidas Copa Indoor which are twice as comfortable (the toe section has a different shape and the leather is softer) but it's about twice as expensive as the Sambas. They are kind of hard to find and I saw these at an "only soccer equipment" store.

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Lumberg.
"...yeah...did you get the memo about the TPS reports?"

[latenight]

I have to be the odd man out again. I wear adidas equipments to all comps that have decent strips. I wear a pair of star fighters to places that just tape up a strip on a gym floor. The adidas are much better as far as feel of the strip and comfort. However they have little traction on a dusty gym floor. In those cases, I use my old star fighters which stick to the floor better. As for other alternatives, they all seem to make me more prone to ankle injury, which I already have a tendency toward due to old hockey injuries. There are some cheap fencing shoes out there, You just have to look around.

[This message has been edited by latenight (edited 01-15-2001).]

Ok.. I don't think I'm wearing the right shoe.. because I don't think my shoes are tennis shoes... I tried to look them up at reebok.com cause that's the brand.. they are DMX6. There they kind that you lace up, then a zipper comefrom the bottom up so only the tied ends are hanging out. Hey, I got these for basketball! LoL They are not flat souled..! Ekk.. ¬.¬ I have my next lesson soon, so I don't think I'll be able to get new shoes by then! ;-; But thanks for all the advice, I'll be shopping with my mom next weekend!

[Lumberg]

Yes, it sounds like you have a pair of basketball shoes. However, that's fine for beginning fencing.
The main thing you should be concentrating on is learning to fence. It's not until you get into intermediate fencing that you may want to consider getting fencing shoes.

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Lumberg.
"...yeah...did you get the memo about the TPS reports?"

[Arturo]

Blue gauntlet has a pair of fencing shoes for about $60.00 "victory" they are called. I owned a pair of those shoes and they lasted me for a year and 1/2, and I gave them to my coach and he still uses them. I then bought a pair of $120.00 addidas blue stripe and they died in less than a year.

go for the BG shoes.

[Papa Blue]

Eh?

You had a pair of Cheap Chinese Slave Shoes last for a year and a half?

Does anyone else think that's funny?

Papa John

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Shut up and do footwork!

[introspective]

okay, i'll do my footwork, but in what shoes?