The federal court dismissed the case yesterday. In my opinion, the decision dismissing the case is exactly the type of decision that anyone with legal training would expect in all these cases brought by FFO attorneys and members like Jason Liu.
People might think of me as a bit of an oddball, or probably consider me insane. I do not only fence épée, foil, and sabre. I fence with all three as a right- and left-hander. Despite being a right-hander, I had to fence left-handed for a while due to an injury. I kept fencing left-handed every now in then during training after recovery. Circumstances forced me to train left-handed again, and compete left-handed too. I figured it might be interesting to share my story.
I got diagnosed with tennis arm in the fall of 2024. The reason was overuse during two weeks of fencing camp, in which I additionally took up foil and sabre alongside épée. My options were to quit at the start of the season or go left-handed, so I went left.
I bought some parts, converted one of my épée's to left, and ordered a left-handed foil and sabre. I also got left- handed gloves and a left-handed plastron, but kept using my right-handed uniform and e-vests. I skipped competitions for a while, but went to every single training and took all my lessons left-handed. I also got in a good four hours of sparring every week.
I trained like this for a couple of months and went to physiotherapy. Once my right arm started to recover in the spring 2025, I took lessons right-handed again. I alternated between right and left during sparring. At some point, I walked around with four cables in my uniform, so I could hot-swap between hands and weapons. I took up tournaments again right-handed in all three weapons, with moderate success at local competions. I kept fencing left-handed on and off in the club to alleviate my right arm. The tennis arm symptons disappeared in the summer of 2025.
I went into overdrive in the fall of 2026. I did competitions almost every weekend up until now, with all weapons. I think the left-handed fencing greatly benefitted me, both physically and mentally. But I started training left-handed less regularly and focused on improving right-handed. About four weeks ago, I noticed my right arm was starting to exhibit tennis arm symptoms again, at the end of a tournament in which I fenced all weapons. It was the fourth weekend of tournaments in a row. I decided to do my lessons right-handed, but sparred left-handed almost exclusively for two weeks.
Then the most recent tournament came, which took place last weekend. First day: épée. Second day: sabre. I had registered for both. The pool went extremely well, but I got difficulties with an opponent in the DE - who had crazy strong beats and parry's - and lost. My arm started hurt afterwards, and I was actually glad I did not have to fence another DE. But I got a bit worried about the sabre tournament the next day. I figured I could fence it left-handed. I always put a left-handed weapon, plastron and glove in my tournament bag, just in case... Luckily, I could borrow a left-handed sabre vest from one of the men (who were already finished before we started). My trainer did a quick left-handed lesson with me to prepare. Pool went surprisingly well. First opponent in DE withdrew for medical reasons, beat the second one 15/9, and lost the third 0/15 (really great left-handed fencer, no chance). Ended up third place anyways. My trainer was in a state of pure disbelief. Said he didn't think I would get that far. Admittedly, it wasn't the strongest tournament, but still rather high-level. Probably my biggest achievement so far, in the light of the circumstances.
I still have a marathon tournament ahead of me this weekend (all weapons, three days, ca 75 bouts to 5). I will participate, but fence the whole tournament left-handed. My new left-handed uniform arrived today, and I already built a spare left-handed foil and sabre. Will build the spare épée tomorrow. I had been considering getting left-handed gear for a while now, but figured it was a ridiculous investment. However, my club does not have it available, I hate having to find equipment on the spot, and I could afford the expense. High-quality gear lasts a long time anyways. Really curious to see how it goes.
I actually enjoy being able to fence both right- and left-handed (provided that my right arm functions normally). I am not a world class fencer, and I have absolutely no aspirations to be, but I am not bad either. I just love sparring and competing. Fencing left-handed has started to grow on me again and I'm thinking of doing more ambidextrous fencing once my right arm recovers again. I have literally nothing to lose at training and tournaments. I do both for fun. I would love to become that woman who fenced right-handed in the pool, and suddenly shows up left-handed in the DE (or vice versa).
In the initial period where I fenced left-handed only, I realised that technique - regardless of the weapon - transfers quite easily. To give a good example, my trainer teached me how to do seconde with sabre right-handed. I could easily do it left-handed during the competion without practicing it before. The change of perspective is interesting, but you get used to it pretty fast. Arm strength and point control tend to develop over time if you just keep practicing consistently. In my view, the most challenging thing about switching sides is footwork, but even that can be improved.
I am curious whether anyone has similar experiences and decided to stick to ambidextrous fencing for a longer period of time. How did it go, and are you still doing it?
Feel free to ask questions if you have them.
This jacket is less than a year old. We got both kids a set right before summer nationals. They didn't even use them at nationals because we didn't want to mess up the vibe.
Stitching hes been fraying, and we've been making repairs. This is supposed to be FIE gear.
The first picture is the clip literally ripping to shreds. Are you kidding me?
I'm only including pictures of the jacket too. This doesn't include the helmets, which both needed glue already. This doesn't include the pants, which both sets are fraying and the stitching is coming loose.
I don't know what is up with them, but I am not buying any of their gear ever again. This is nearly $2k of gear.
The worst part? I bought the cheap stuff for me. It's like $150 for the entire set. And my stuff is outlasting the fie gear?! My stuff is a year and a half old, and yeah I had to replace a piece of Velcro. But the helmet has been solid. The pants are good.
This is shameful.
Never again.
I'm even telling people that fencing isn't that expensive because your gear actually lasts a long time. I'll just have to include that you just can't buy allstar gear because it is horrible and they don't offer any warranty.
What's good? Prieur? I've been really liking my negrini glove.
It looks like I'll have to replace $2k worth of gear sooner than I thought. Maybe I'll just replace it with the cheap stuff. It lasts longer.
Does anyone have any epee body cords they recommend. I've been getting the Favero cords from Absolute. However, I seem to be replacing one every few months. Are there any that last longer?
Sarkissyan's waiting for a life sentence
Patrice looks like he is on gun point to smile for the camera.
And so much more on the fie platform looks so bad!
Hello r/fencing. This is a new account so I don’t doxx my usual Reddit username, but I’ve been around this sub for several years.
I’ve been disappointed that fencing weapon testers don’t do what I want (spot intermittent faults and measure resistance through the blade). So I’ve made my own.
It’s compact, tough enough to survive in a fencing bag, helps me keep my weapons in good condition. And it’s orange.
My club mates agree that this is a useful thing, but what do you think? I’ve made a chintzy website here http://protip-fencing.com to see if anyone else wants to buy one.
I’m around and about a bit on the UK tournament scene, so if you want to try one out then I hope we bump into one another!
My kid has 2 patches apart from the club patch. I sewed the club patch on the left arm of her FIE uniform. But its too narrow to sew the national and regional patches below it using a sewing machine and too thick and tough for me to sew it by hand.
I was looking at FIE and USA fencing rulebook. But I dint find any rules specific to placement of patches. Where else on the FIE Epee Uniform can I sew the national and regional patches so that it will be good for Local, Regional, National and Pan American fencing Youth, Junior and Cadet tournaments ?
I’m approaching college soon and I’ve been struggling with how much priority I should give fencing when choosing a school.
I started fencing later than a lot of people, but I improved quickly because of my background in other sports and it’s become a huge passion for me. My dream is not necessarily the Olympics, but I do want to see how far I can realistically take it such as national events, World Championships, and high level international competition.
The issue is that the career field I want to go into is also extremely demanding academically and time-wise. I know realistically my long-term career matters, but I also know college might be my best opportunity to train seriously and work with high level coaches.
One of the schools I am considering has a very strong fencing environment and a coach I really respect, but I am unsure whether choosing a college partly around fencing is smart or if academics and career fit should completely outweigh it.
Another thing I have been wondering honestly is whether these goals are still realistically attainable for someone in my position.
I started fencing later than a lot of high level athletes, but I improved quickly early on and I have always had a strong background in sports. I am very disciplined both academically and athletically and I am willing to work extremely hard for this.
I know reaching elite levels in fencing is incredibly difficult and not something that happens just because you are passionate, but I would genuinely like to hear honest perspectives from people with experience in the sport about what is realistic and what factors matter most from this point forward.
For people who balanced high level athletics with demanding majors, especially in sports without a clear professional pipeline, how did you approach this decision? Did you regret prioritizing one over the other?
Edit: Thank you for everyone’s advice I appreciate it a lot! And will keep them in mind when continuing my future.
Does anyone know the tallest professional fencer ever? This came up after a few of my friends and I were discussing if Wemby (pro basketball player who is 7'4), if trained in Epee, could theoretically dominate the scene off the fact that he's just at minimum an entire foot longer than the tallest fencer he would probably face.
I was just reviewing the 2026 NCAA Fencing Championships results. As expected, Notre Dame won both the men's and women's team titles. But what's interesting to me is the individual results: Harvard's Jessica Guo and Columbia's Sam Kumbla won national titles, and the Ivy League had 34 All-Americans. It seems like Notre Dame is a machine for team depth, while the Ivies are producing elite individual talent. For those involved in the college fencing pipeline, what's the real difference in philosophy or training between these programs? Is it recruitment, resources, or something else entirely? And for a talented junior fencer deciding between an Ivy and a program like Notre Dame, what would your advice be?
I watch all the games here: https://sportsflux.live/
Michel Sicard will be running a USFCA sanctioned Coaches training camp July 20-23 at Valhalla Fencing Club in Hackettstown NJ.
If you are a USFCA member sign up via the clinics list for only 300.00 for 4 evenings with Michel. Non USFCA members fee is 400.00
https://usfca.org/view-clinic-details/?clinicid=174
Class Synopsis: A shared culture of the practice of the sword is key to reaching high-performance. This culture is built around the understanding of the competitive situation, the scientific knowledge, the experiential knowledge and the skills that we have acquired throughout our practice as a fencer, whether as a competitor and/or as a coach. Its transmission must not lock the individual into a closed, even dogmatic culture. On the contrary, this culture must be open, thus favoring the responsibility of the fencer in his strategic and tactical choices during the combat. This clinic is 12 hours broken up into 4 sessions of 3 hours in the evening.
I’ve realized explaining fencing to people who don’t follow it is strangely difficult.
You start talking about priority, timing, distance, preparation, tactical decisions… and halfway through you realize you’ve somehow made things more confusing.
Then someone watches a bout and asks why one touch counted and the other didn’t and suddenly you’re giving a five-minute explanation.
I swear fencing makes complete sense once you understand it, but getting to that point feels impossible sometimes.
Buried in the agenda for the May 30 board meeting (https://www.usafencing.org/boardmeetings) is a slide presentation describing the proposed new event structure and points system. Key elements:
I just bought myself a backpack for easier transport but unsure whether or not thr bell guard or the blade will be damaged in any way. Any tips or recommendations? Ps. I would then also have my mask and other gear in the bag aswell
Loved his videos, no idea why he stopped. Maybe someone here knows.
I've taken a couple of private fencing lessons over the years and really enjoyed it, however I never stuck with it just because of financial circumstances. Now that I can afford it comfortably I'd love to make fencing a consistent activity.
I'm primarily interested in epee and would appreciate any thoughts on where I can go in West LA to learn the ropes and really get into fencing. I'd love to potentially compete as well down the line (I know I'm not going to the Olympics or anything, but I still think it would be fun).
From what I've seen, LAIFC, Avant Garde, Beverly Hills Fencing Club and Elite seem to be the options around here, but any personal insight would be fantastic
Hey guys. Im primarily a foilist of a little over a decade, was interested in taking some Sabre lessons so started wondering what this subs preferences are for sabre gear (not including whites ig)
The sabre club im interested in has free gear hire for lessons, im mostly a bit of a nerd about gear so im just curious as to what your guys opinions are on the best sabre gear (specifically lame, mask, glove, FIE weapon) especially if you had no strict budget, purely quality.
Any luck with Leon Paul customer service when your blade snaps? We hadn’t even fully attached the grip when it snapped at the base. Living in the US, the customs alone is 100$ (shipping another 40$) and it feels pretty wild having to spend almost the cost of the blade to get it replaced.