Evening star., 1937-04-18

SS>AAso
sword" This is the only weapon gen.
orally used by woman fencers, since
the others are much heavier and call
| for technique too exhausting for
women. The foil requires the greatest
skill and while scores Of enormous
books are to be found on the technique
of this light blade, they differ only in
their exhaustiveness and in whether
they advocate the French or the
| Italian method
For nearly 500 years experts have
devoted themselves to the proper han
ding of this blade. Their work has
involved study of psychology as we'll
as anatomy and today the effective
ness of every minor movement has
been carefully surveyed. The expert
can tell you exactly why your hand
should be held with the fingernails
| downward in attempting one thrust
and why they should be to the left in
another.
There is great difference of opin-
ion on fencing technique between the
French and Italians. The Italians
use foil with crossbar at the hilt
and the attack is carried forward
with an amazing amount Of vigor
The French, on the other hand, use
foil without crossbar, hold it with
the thumb and forednger, using the
other three fingers merely to steady
| the hilt against the palm. They de-
pend for victory on highly developed
Hpfnnco GiUnrtirn 40 ot,
| touching the attacker before he can
recover his position. In the United
States most fencers favor the French
method, modifying it. however, by the
development of several strong simple
attacks and one or two complicated
ones.
The weapon which lends itself most
effectively to the French style of
fencing is the epee, or duelling sword,
stiff triangular blade identical with
the duelling rapier except for the pro-
tective button over the point. While
IN foil fencing only the torso is fair
target, a touch with the point Of the
epee on any part of the body is
legitimate. This makes the duelling
sword more difficult for the novice
and promotes caution, since the de-
fence OF ones toes and ears at the
same time requires too much attention
to plan and execute a complicated
attack
In the Olympics and in interna-
tional championships the foil titles for
years have been won usually by Ital-
ian fencers, while epee titles COM
monty go to the French. At present
the world championship for foils is
claimed jointly by Neddo and Aldo
Nadi, two Italian brothers, who are
professionals in this country. Neddo
Nadi had won the Olympic foils cham
pionship at Stockholm in 1912 and
at Antwerp in 1920 before turning
professional, and the two brothers won
first and second places in saber at
Antwerp. But that was before the
Hungarians entered the field In the
Olympics at Berlin last year the
Italians won first, second and third
places in individual epee and first
in foils. In this connection Aldo Nadi,
and Joseph Vance. American Olympic
coach, are expected to come to Wash
ington soon to give an exhibition un-
der the auspices Of the Italian Am
basSador and the Italian war veterans.
But the saber is the spectacular
weapon of the sale d'armes. With
its large basket hilt and heavy blade,
1t offers more action and speed for
the beginner, although it often teaches
him habits which must be carefully
unlearned when he goes in for the
other weapons. While the foil and
epee are effective only when direct
solid touch is made with the point
of the weapon, the saber has not only
| point, but one edge along its entire
IS inches and another along one
third Of its back. An opponent may
be thrust, hacked, sliced or tender
lied, only his legs being exempt from
scoring points. This is q survival
Of the days when sabers were the
weapons Of horsemen, and while one
was trained to do his worst to his
enemy, he must not try to cut his leg
off for fear of cruelty injuring his
horse.
The Hungarians are the outstanding
saber masters of the world today.
Not only do they habitually carry of
competitive honors, but their Olympic
opponents send teams to Budapest
for training. DR.. Sarga and his nine
duels in 48 hours gathered reams Of
publicity, but Sarga was only one
Hungarian sabreur. Small boys in
Hungary start learning to handle 4
sword as soon as they are big enough
to hold it.
| While many colleges have fencing
teams, the sport will never be q
highly popular sport In most tnstitu-
tions of learning, because while .
student may reach his prime As q
basket ball player in his junior year,
he cannot hope to top his class In
fencing until he Is nearly 40 years OF
age unless, of course. he had the
opportunities afforded the few Europ-
cans who make life work of fencing
and devotes the same time and energy
to it that nausic students do to practice.
There are fencers in Washington who
tell of practicing four hours a day for
10 or more years.
But the man who goes out for fenc-
ing has one important advantage over
those who engage in major sports, he
has sport which he will enjoy until
the day he takes to his bed for the
last time. The only part Of the human
body, according t9 many authorities.