Different swords with different styles, to be sure, but Konter and Laslavic share the same passion for this romantic yet demanding sport - a heady blend of gentility and sudden violence. The Savannah Country Day students head to Boston this weekend to cross blades with their peers in the U.S. Nationals of the Junior Olympics. For Konter, who's only got a year of swashbuckling under his belt, it'll be his first big meet. There are three sets of rules for the three swords of fencing - foil, sabre, and epee. You can only score by stabbing with the tip, and its only target area is the chest.
All fencers begin on foil.
The sabre is a curved sword that slashes as well as stabs. Its repertoire of attacks and parries comes from old military drills for cavalrymen. Its target area is anywhere above the waist, including the head. The epee looks like the foil, and like the foil, is a stabbing weapon. But the epee can legally strike anywhere on the opponent's body, including the hand, wrist, ankle - and groin.