The US Fencing Officials site has posted an update based on the latest decisions of the FIE Arbitrage Commission.
Starting now the phrase “non-correct” has been eliminated from the referee verbiage. Going forward we will use the phrase “sur la preparation” or in the preparation.
What is the personality of your fencing club? Are you workers or slackers? Do you train fencing, or play fencing? Are you an athlete building up for performance or in a rec league of sorts?
This is a post over at my blog where I talk about my views of a few types of clubs I've been at and get one coach's perspective.
The sabre is one of the three weapons of modern sport fencing, and is alternatively spelled saber in American English. The sabre differs from the other modern fencing weapons, the épée and foil, in that it is possible to score with the edge of the blade; for this reason, sabreur movements and attacks are very fast. For the other two weapons, valid touches are only scored using the point of the blade. Like foil, sabre uses the convention of right-of-way to determine who acquires the touch.
The term sabreur refers to a fencer who fences with a sabre. Sabreuse is the female equivalent.
A foil is a type of weapon used in fencing. It is the most common weapon in terms of usage in competition, and is usually the choice for elementary classes for fencing in general.
There are two varieties of foil in use today: the "dry", or nonelectric, foil; and the electrically scored foil. The components common to both varieties are the pommel, grip, guard, thumb pad, and blade. The nonelectric foil has a real tip with a blunted end that is capped with a plastic or rubber knob.
The electric foil also contains a socket underneath the guard that connects to the scoring apparatus via the body cord and a wire that runs down a channel cut into the top of the blade. The tip of the electric foil terminates in a button assembly that generally consists of a barrel, plunger, spring, and retaining screws. The circuit is a "normally closed" one, meaning that at rest there is always a complete power circuit. Depressing the tip breaks this circuit, and the scoring apparatus illuminates an appropriate light: white for hits not on the valid target area, or either red or green representing hits on the valid target area.
