The Three Musketeers. This being the case, before describing the benefits your child may derive from the practice of fencing, I should do well to provide you with a bit of background so that you may better evaluate my assertions. Fencing is a martial art that developed in Europe between the late 15th century and the middle of the 18th, and concerns the use of the sword in personal combat. The emergence of fencing coincides with the decline of the feudal knight and the appearance of the bourgeois genleman. It is important to remember that fencing is emphatically not a military art.
Today there are two quite distinct philosophies in fencing.
This high-tech game bears only the most vestigial resemblance to an actual duel, being solely and exclusively concerned with fencing as an athletic contest. It can rightly be considered an art in that one strives to creatively execute highly specialized skills with an unusual degree of ability and in accordance with established aesthetic standards. Fencing is a science, too, in that it concerns a systematized body of knowledge demonstrating the operation of general laws. As a life-long recreation it provides the practitioner with relaxation, fellowship, enjoyment and a refreshment of body, mind and spirit. But fencing also produces a mens sana in addition to a corpore sano, improving concentration, sensitivity, responsiveness, decisiveness and overall mental acuity and flexibility.