Welcome to Historical Fencing

A couple of months ago I had my first chance to fence a bunch of people I didn’t know since moving to New York State at Fecht Yeah. It went well, and in the time since I’ve been thinking about some of the perspective shifts I’ve had since I started fencing in 2016. A large part of my training history has involved book and source study with the goal of helping others, and only in the last few years have I gotten the chance to focus purely on developing my own fencing.

I’m not currently coaching, but it feels like the easiest way to express some of my perspective changes over the last six years is to write as though I were explaining fencing to a brand-new fencer, or someone getting ready for their first training session - sort of like a “pre-class orientation.”

The highlights are:

* Fencing Should Be Understood as a Skill, Not As Intellectual Knowledge * Techniques Matter, But Not How Most Beginners Think They Do * Athleticism is a Critically Important Fundamental * Thinking Of Skills As “Fundamental” And “Compound” Is Usually More Helpful Than “Beginner” or “Advanced” * There’s a Place for Intellectual Knowledge in Fencing, Too

Article is available at: [https://hemaisok.blogspot.com/2022/10/welcome-to-historical-fencing.html](https://hemaisok.blogspot.com/2022/10/welcome-to-historical-fencing.html)