Fencing is a sport few know about. I joined it for its uniqueness and relatively untouched status . A little intro to the sport....

(Excerpt from some internet site, cuz I'm too lazy to write my own rubbish)

The noble art of fencing is a competitive, individual sport invoving skill, agility, fitness, and tatics. The name is derived from the word defence. Fencing invovles combat with three weapons: foil, epee and sabre.

The sabre was originally a heavy curved sword used by calvary soldiers. Over the centuries, the blade has become much lighter and thinner and perfectly straight. The guard completely covers the hand. The target area for sabre bouts is anywhere above the waist ( which is reminiscent of horseback days.) Points are scored with the front of the blade ( in a cutting motion) or the tip ( in a thrusting motion).

The epee is the dueling sword from days gone by. It is the same length as the foil and sabre but the blade is much thicker and is fluted ( to allow the blood to drain away!). The target in epee is the entire body but points may only be scored wih the tip of the weapon in a thrusting motion.

Since the epee was the dueling weapon, the rules were designed to corrrespond closely with the actions of a duel. For example, there is no right of way in epee- the first person to hit their opponents scores a point. The point was the weapon used by duellers to practice their art and is much lighter than the epee. Foil bouts are similar to epee - with one major difference: to encourage fencers to improve their technique, rules were introduced to enhance the skill of the fencers. These include gaining the right to attack, gaining the right to reply to an attack, and a restriction of the target area from the entire body to just the torso.

A few links to other fencing sites....

A good fencing link page

United States Fencing Association