Thursday, January 5, 2023

Fencing: A Sport of Finiteness and Rapid Response

Passata Soto
The "Night Thrust"

Fencing is a great sport for finiteness and rapid response. Someone I know asked if I would go fencing with them (actually two people), because I still go occasionally, and I was delighted (Its hard to find fencers because its not a common sport. NMU has an alumni club or something but I never made it there yet. I go other places when I do but have a plan to make it someday. ). I have fenced off and on throughout the years with foil, sabre, and epee. Compared to the really good guys that show up 3X a week for years on end, I'm a moving swiss cheese target! However, sometimes I land a few good swashbucklers in there and usually by the end of the bout I will be asked to play again (...even if just to be a moving target. Basically, your good enough to be worth beating consistently. 🤷🤺 btw...fencing actually does hurt even with the padding on. Once I came back with multiple welts on my arms and chest. Sabre is my favorite because it is free flowing and there is a little pain when you get hit so its a great motivator! ...I also love inspiring videos...from beginning to end. 😏)

Anyway, what I like about the sport of fencing is that it is quick and it requires excellent conditioning and hand eye coordination. Reactions are almost instantaneous and sometimes bouts are won with no more play area than a few inches. You can't beat the finiteness of a sharp point. You will likely develop very strong cardiovascular fitness as well. One drawback is the repetitiveness of the sport from lunges. That will require weight training regularly to balance muscle usage and development. As a bonus fencing is a classy sport. Its a beautiful and goes back in history a long way making it more of a cross generational and cross era connection (Sticks/spears in ancient times and light sabers in Star Trek). 

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