Women's NCAA Sabre

I was wondering what the state of women's NCAA sabre was. Do many schools
field women's teams? My daughter has taken some sabre lessons and liked them,
but is very early on in her fencing career. I have begun to think that it may
make sense for her to fence foil for a couple of years until we see how tall
she is going to be and if she develops stylistic preferences. I think it would
be hard to fence sabre and switch to foil or epee later rather than the other
way around. On the other hand, if sabre is equally represented among the other
weapons and she is insistent, I will just let her go for it.

I am curious about your thoughts.

Joel Solomon

PS: Way to go, Keeth Smart!

In article <20030328112803.28091.00000048@mb-cj.aol.com>,
solomander@aol.comantispam (Joel Solomon) writes:

>
>I was wondering what the state of women's NCAA sabre was. Do many schools
>field women's teams? My daughter has taken some sabre lessons and liked
>them,
>but is very early on in her fencing career. I have begun to think that it
>may
>make sense for her to fence foil for a couple of years until we see how tall
>she is going to be and if she develops stylistic preferences. I think it
>would
>be hard to fence sabre and switch to foil or epee later rather than the other
>way around. On the other hand, if sabre is equally represented among the
>other
>weapons and she is insistent, I will just let her go for it.
>

All NCAA colleges with Women's Fencing Teams have Sabre. And there are more
schools with Women's Varsity Teams than Men's Varsity Teams. Cornell and Tufts
for example.

For a short while, it will be easier to compete in W. Sabre than Foil or Epee
because there are fewer people starting out in Sabre although that window is
closing rapidly.

Besides, don't stifle her dreams. Let her fence the real weapon.

Remember:

Foil is an art,
Epee is a science, but
Sabre is a romance.

Once you start, how can you fence anything else?

Bill Hall
(Started fencing Sabre in 1953)

In article <20030328112803.28091.00000048@mb-cj.aol.com>,
solomander@aol.comantispam (Joel Solomon) writes:

>
>I was wondering what the state of women's NCAA sabre was. Do many schools
>field women's teams? My daughter has taken some sabre lessons and liked
>them,
>but is very early on in her fencing career. I have begun to think that it
>may
>make sense for her to fence foil for a couple of years until we see how tall
>she is going to be and if she develops stylistic preferences. I think it
>would
>be hard to fence sabre and switch to foil or epee later rather than the other
>way around. On the other hand, if sabre is equally represented among the
>other
>weapons and she is insistent, I will just let her go for it.
>

All NCAA colleges with Women's Fencing Teams have Sabre. And there are more
schools with Women's Varsity Teams than Men's Varsity Teams. Cornell and Tufts
for example.

For a short while, it will be easier to compete in W. Sabre than Foil or Epee
because there are fewer people starting out in Sabre although that window is
closing rapidly.

Besides, don't stifle her dreams. Let her fence the real weapon.

Remember:

Foil is an art,
Epee is a science, but
Sabre is a romance.

Once you start, how can you fence anything else?

Bill Hall
(Started fencing Sabre in 1953)

> Foil is an art,
> Epee is a science, but
> Sabre is a romance.

I beg to differ! surely sabre is for those new fencers who have so much
trouble hitting with the point that no other weapon coaches will take them?
;-)

> Foil is an art,
> Epee is a science, but
> Sabre is a romance.

I beg to differ! surely sabre is for those new fencers who have so much
trouble hitting with the point that no other weapon coaches will take them?
;-)

In article <20030328113958.14527.00001114@mb-cc.aol.com>,
fencerbill@aol.com (Fencerbill) wrote:

>
> All NCAA colleges with Women's Fencing Teams have Sabre. And there are more
> schools with Women's Varsity Teams than Men's Varsity Teams. Cornell and Tufts
> for example.
>
> For a short while, it will be easier to compete in W. Sabre than Foil or Epee
> because there are fewer people starting out in Sabre although that window is
> closing rapidly.
>
> Besides, don't stifle her dreams. Let her fence the real weapon.
>
> Remember:
>
> Foil is an art,
> Epee is a science, but
> Sabre is a romance.
>


Well, if sabre is romance, it must be listed in the "S&M" department. My
wife had to explain to her mother how she'd gotten all bruised up when
we started dating (we'd met in a sabre class).

--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

In article <20030328113958.14527.00001114@mb-cc.aol.com>,
fencerbill@aol.com (Fencerbill) wrote:

>
> All NCAA colleges with Women's Fencing Teams have Sabre. And there are more
> schools with Women's Varsity Teams than Men's Varsity Teams. Cornell and Tufts
> for example.
>
> For a short while, it will be easier to compete in W. Sabre than Foil or Epee
> because there are fewer people starting out in Sabre although that window is
> closing rapidly.
>
> Besides, don't stifle her dreams. Let her fence the real weapon.
>
> Remember:
>
> Foil is an art,
> Epee is a science, but
> Sabre is a romance.
>


Well, if sabre is romance, it must be listed in the "S&M" department. My
wife had to explain to her mother how she'd gotten all bruised up when
we started dating (we'd met in a sabre class).

--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Sabre is theatre
Foil is art
Epee is truth




"Laura Callaghan" <lmc9@ukc.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:b62560$r4i$1@athena.ukc.ac.uk...
> > Foil is an art,
> > Epee is a science, but
> > Sabre is a romance.
>
> I beg to differ! surely sabre is for those new fencers who have so much
> trouble hitting with the point that no other weapon coaches will take
them?
> ;-)
>
>

Sabre is theatre
Foil is art
Epee is truth




"Laura Callaghan" <lmc9@ukc.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:b62560$r4i$1@athena.ukc.ac.uk...
> > Foil is an art,
> > Epee is a science, but
> > Sabre is a romance.
>
> I beg to differ! surely sabre is for those new fencers who have so much
> trouble hitting with the point that no other weapon coaches will take
them?
> ;-)
>
>

fencerbill@aol.com (Fencerbill) wrote in message news:<20030328113958.14527.00001114@mb-cc.aol.com>...
>
> All NCAA colleges with Women's Fencing Teams have Sabre. And there are more
> schools with Women's Varsity Teams than Men's Varsity Teams. Cornell and Tufts
> for example.
>
> For a short while, it will be easier to compete in W. Sabre than Foil or Epee
> because there are fewer people starting out in Sabre although that window is
> closing rapidly.
>
> Besides, don't stifle her dreams. Let her fence the real weapon.
>
> Remember:
>
> Foil is an art,
> Epee is a science, but
> Sabre is a romance.
>
> Once you start, how can you fence anything else?
>
> Bill Hall
> (Started fencing Sabre in 1953)

Right on, Bill! Sabre is for people who, when they pick up that
weapon for the first time, can't imagine wanting to do anything else.

Anyway, if the girl likes it, why fight it? The weapon chooses the
fencer. If you've ever seen my epeeist daughter pretending to fence
sabre, you'd have convulsions. It's the expression of disgust on her
face which is the hardest to handle.

Besides which, the idea of trying to tell MY kid which weapon she
should fence makes me squirm.

--Delia

fencerbill@aol.com (Fencerbill) wrote in message news:<20030328113958.14527.00001114@mb-cc.aol.com>...
>
> All NCAA colleges with Women's Fencing Teams have Sabre. And there are more
> schools with Women's Varsity Teams than Men's Varsity Teams. Cornell and Tufts
> for example.
>
> For a short while, it will be easier to compete in W. Sabre than Foil or Epee
> because there are fewer people starting out in Sabre although that window is
> closing rapidly.
>
> Besides, don't stifle her dreams. Let her fence the real weapon.
>
> Remember:
>
> Foil is an art,
> Epee is a science, but
> Sabre is a romance.
>
> Once you start, how can you fence anything else?
>
> Bill Hall
> (Started fencing Sabre in 1953)

Right on, Bill! Sabre is for people who, when they pick up that
weapon for the first time, can't imagine wanting to do anything else.

Anyway, if the girl likes it, why fight it? The weapon chooses the
fencer. If you've ever seen my epeeist daughter pretending to fence
sabre, you'd have convulsions. It's the expression of disgust on her
face which is the hardest to handle.

Besides which, the idea of trying to tell MY kid which weapon she
should fence makes me squirm.

--Delia

I am with John.

Joel
retired (and depressed) epeeist.

I am with John.

Joel
retired (and depressed) epeeist.

>I beg to differ! surely sabre is for those new fencers who have so much
>trouble hitting with the point that no other weapon coaches will take them?

oooh, booo. What's with all this stigmatism against sabre anyway? I think
it's great. Some people just havn't seen good sabre fencing. Once you see the
best at it (Smart et all), you realize it's beautiful and amazing. Well,
that's my shpeel.
BTW, I'm not dissing the other weapons. I miss foil a bit myself form when I
used to fence it, and I'm simply hopeless at epee (I don't think I have the
patience, plus I had a traumatizing experience fencing it... I still have the
dent in my shin, lol).

>I beg to differ! surely sabre is for those new fencers who have so much
>trouble hitting with the point that no other weapon coaches will take them?

oooh, booo. What's with all this stigmatism against sabre anyway? I think
it's great. Some people just havn't seen good sabre fencing. Once you see the
best at it (Smart et all), you realize it's beautiful and amazing. Well,
that's my shpeel.
BTW, I'm not dissing the other weapons. I miss foil a bit myself form when I
used to fence it, and I'm simply hopeless at epee (I don't think I have the
patience, plus I had a traumatizing experience fencing it... I still have the
dent in my shin, lol).

Winter Trail wrote:
>>I beg to differ! surely sabre is for those new fencers who have so much
>>trouble hitting with the point that no other weapon coaches will take them?
>
>
> oooh, booo. What's with all this stigmatism against sabre anyway? I think
> it's great. Some people just havn't seen good sabre fencing. Once you see the
> best at it (Smart et all), you realize it's beautiful and amazing. Well,
> that's my shpeel.
> BTW, I'm not dissing the other weapons. I miss foil a bit myself form when I
> used to fence it, and I'm simply hopeless at epee (I don't think I have the
> patience, plus I had a traumatizing experience fencing it... I still have the
> dent in my shin, lol).

In the U.S. anyway I think the stigmatism against sabre is due primarily
to the fact that most people *haven't* seen good sabre fencing.

Of course they haven't seen good epee either, but bad sabre looks much
worse than bad epee. Bad sabre also hurts people more often than bad
epee, though bad epee hurts them more severely when it does.

Sabre also tends to attract the Conan the Barbarian wannabe's, those
with more enthusiasm than discipline, and that adds to the stigma. And
the final thing is that the ones who refuse to learn that real sabre
*requires* discipline just get together with each other and hack away
and pretend they're fencing sabre. The same is true of many people who
pretend to fence foil or epee but they're not as enthusiastic or
*visible* as the one's with sabres typically.

gary hayenga

Winter Trail wrote:
>>I beg to differ! surely sabre is for those new fencers who have so much
>>trouble hitting with the point that no other weapon coaches will take them?
>
>
> oooh, booo. What's with all this stigmatism against sabre anyway? I think
> it's great. Some people just havn't seen good sabre fencing. Once you see the
> best at it (Smart et all), you realize it's beautiful and amazing. Well,
> that's my shpeel.
> BTW, I'm not dissing the other weapons. I miss foil a bit myself form when I
> used to fence it, and I'm simply hopeless at epee (I don't think I have the
> patience, plus I had a traumatizing experience fencing it... I still have the
> dent in my shin, lol).

In the U.S. anyway I think the stigmatism against sabre is due primarily
to the fact that most people *haven't* seen good sabre fencing.

Of course they haven't seen good epee either, but bad sabre looks much
worse than bad epee. Bad sabre also hurts people more often than bad
epee, though bad epee hurts them more severely when it does.

Sabre also tends to attract the Conan the Barbarian wannabe's, those
with more enthusiasm than discipline, and that adds to the stigma. And
the final thing is that the ones who refuse to learn that real sabre
*requires* discipline just get together with each other and hack away
and pretend they're fencing sabre. The same is true of many people who
pretend to fence foil or epee but they're not as enthusiastic or
*visible* as the one's with sabres typically.

gary hayenga