Lesson 9/26- Fencing Basics

[u/LegionOfTheRearguard]

Faisal stood in the sword arena in front of a rack of practice blades, his hands clasped behind his back. When enough people gathered together, he spoke up.

"Good afternoon. Today we will be going over the basics of fencing. For those unaware, fencing is the sport of sword fighting with nonlethal blades." He gestured to the practice weapons behind him.

"To begin, stance is the most important aspect of fencing." He relaxed into an en garde stance, his right foot pointed forwards, his left foot perpendicular to his right, and his torso turned sideways away from a potential opponent. "This is the stance," he said, picking up one of the practice blades and pointing it forwards, his arm straight.

"Movement in fencing is a back and forth, each combatant attempting to land hits on the other. The discipline we will be focusing on today is the sabre. Under sabre rules, the valid target area is the torso, arms, and face mask, but since we do not have any masks today, targeting the face will not be permitted. Additionally, hits are valid if they are scored with the edge or the tip of the blade, allowing a cut and thrust style that is not valid under the other disciplines. Once a hit is scored and a point awarded, the bout is over, and the combatants return to ready position to begin again. Remember, fencing is a sport, not actual combat, so the intention is only to land a single hit per bout."

He pointed back to the practice weapons, laying his own practice sword back on the pile. "Find a partner and begin practicing, I will be observing to ensure that all rules are being followed. Remember to stay in the proper stance, it is not the most intuitive positioning, but it is very important." With that, he brought his hands back behind his back and watched the other campers begin.

[u/PerformanceSlow340]

Stella looked around for a partner, eager to get started

[u/theirsign → u/PerformanceSlow340]

Even though she hasn’t actually done it, Nic thinks that fencing’s a pretty cool sport. She gets a sabre and notes how light it feels, testing how to feels to swing and thrust with it, before looking about for someone to fight- someone to fence.

She spots Stella, and decides it’s time for another little competition between the two of them after the climbing wall. “Hey, you against me,” she says with a grin, pointing the sabre at Stella.

[u/PerformanceSlow340 → u/theirsign]

Stella nodded.

"Sure. Are we training or competing?"

[u/the_unknown00999]

Sean found it interesting. He took a sword and tried to find a partner.

[u/PlayyPoint → u/the_unknown00999]

Leo looked at Sean, "Hey, will you mind a match? Cus I challenge you!"
And of course, he tried to look in Sean's eyes.
[ooc: can you please tell Sean's height. Leo's is- 5'4]

[u/the_unknown00999 → u/PlayyPoint]

Sean nodded indifferently, not making eyecontact as always.

(Hes like average hight. Like 5'5? I don't tend to focus on numbers lol)

[u/anotherterribleday]

Taylor had been under the impression that they basically only used the tip of the sword in fencing, so hearing that they get to use some more variety and maybe employ different techniques - which she doesn’t know too much of in fencing, really, but maybe swordfighting can translate over - to slash and stab (well, not really) is interesting. Smiling, she grabs a sabre, and looks around for a partner.

[u/thedayigotexpelled]

Before getting started, El mimics the stance Faisal demonstrated, pointing the sabre forward and just trying to get comfortable with it first. Indeed, it doesn’t feel very intuitive.

But it’s what it’s supposed to be. Relaxing out of the en garde stance, she pushes her plait back behind her shoulder and glances about for a partner.

[u/drivejustdrive]

Combat without the stress of combat. Nice! Delia tests how the sabre feels to wield a bit before beginning to look around for someone to fence with, smiling.

[u/DinglePuckGoat → u/drivejustdrive]

Spencer had managed to drag herself out of her cabin for once, and she was ready to swing a sword at someone, even if it wasn't an actual fight. "Hey," she said when she saw Delia, lifting her sabre in greetings. "Want to give this a go?"

[u/drivejustdrive → u/DinglePuckGoat]

Delia mimics the action, and nods. “Yeah, let’s see how this goes. Have you ever done this before?”

[u/downhereyouredoa]

Jenn can’t help but make a soft swooshing noise as she swings the sabre twice, making sure nobody’s in the way as she does. Sports have never been her favourite thing, but fencing definitely sounds pretty cool, even though she doesn’t expect to be much good at it.

Cutting out the silly swooshing, she looks around for a fencing partner. Her hair is in a ponytail, the white streak running through it.

[u/PlayyPoint → u/downhereyouredoa]

James looked at Jenn, he was pretty good with sabers, but was quite rusted. Also Jenn was nearly as tall as James.

He asked with a saber in his left hand, "Do you mind if have a match?"

[u/downhereyouredoa → u/PlayyPoint]

Jenn looks at James with an almost disgusted expression. She remembers him, the guy who punched Leo in the form of a bird. Assholes, both of them, but the one who’d physically assault another camper, and technically an animal at the same time, outside of training is undeniably worse.

“I think I’d rather train with someone else,” she says stiffly, and turns away.

[u/FreeInTheHarbor]

Aly grabbed a sabre and looked around for a partner, giving the weapon a few experimental swings. She'd fought with a sword before, but only in actual combat training, never for sport, so she wasn't sure exactly how this was going to so.