The Top Ten Fencing Moves

Fencing first started in Britain in the 16th century and was used as a way of settling disputes. Unlike the modern sport, this was simply a sword fight that usually resulted in the death of one of the competitors. Fencing is now seen as more of a martial art as it encourages mental control and self defense. It was first featured as an Olympic sport in 1896 and today also features at the Paralympics. Although there are only three basic moves in fencing, each of these is modified to defend or attack different areas of the body.

  1. Lunge

    • This is the basic attack move, which involves taking a pace forward with the leading leg, usually the right for a right-handed fencer, and aiming to hit the torso of the opponent with the tip of the sword.

    Parry

    • This is the basic defence move for a lunge and involves knocking or pushing the blade of the lunger's sword away from the body. The advantage of this is that it allows the defender to go on the attack as the attacker's sword has been pushed away from a defending position.

    Riposte

    • The final basic move is an answer for the parry and essentially involves pushing back on the parryer's blade so both swords are back to their original position.

    Stab

    • As the name suggests, this is an attacking move for when your opponent is unable to defend himself and involves a basic lunge for the middle of the torso, or whatever area is convenient.

    Flunge

    • Similar to a lunge, but normally involves a leap toward a retreating opponent to give the attacker extra reach.

    On Guard

    • The starting position for fencing is also the standard defensive position. This involves the blade being at an angle in front of the fencer and allows for maximum maneuverability.

    Feint

    • Feint is a false move intended to draw the opponent into a parry leaving his body exposed. There are many ways to achieve this, and it is basically a dummy move.

    Second Intension

    • Similar to the feint, this involves a fake move to encourage a response from your opponent where you then attack when she is not in a defensive position and has left her target areas exposed.

    Remise

    • This is a term used to describe the majority of attacks and defenses in fencing that do not lead to points being scored and refers to a short series of attacks.

    Parry Numbers

    • A defense of a certain area of the body is still called a parry, but is followed by a number to indicate which area of the body has been defended. The basic idea of the parry remains the same, but will involve moving the sword in a specific direction.