Fencing courses for kids
Fencing can be divided into three related competitive combat sports being the foil, the épée, and the sabre. Points are earned when a weapon makes contact with an opponent. However, each of the three types of fencing use a different weapon and have different rules, so most competitive fencers choose to specialize in only one weapon.
Although the art of swordsanship was quite widespread in ancient China, modern forms of fencing rose to prominence in the 19th century as a European martial art which was later modified by both the Italian school and French school.
Fencing was one of the first sports to be played in the Olympics and wins in Olympic medals have often coincided with the re-emergence of the popularity of fencing across Asia – for example, the 2008 Olympic Games gold medal win by Chinese sabre fencer Zhong Man, the 2020 Tokyo Games gold medal win by foil fencer Cheung Ka-long from Hong Kong, and the 2020 Tokyo Games gold medal win by the sabre fencing team from South Korea.
Typically children must be at least 7 years of age to learn fencing given the demands of balance and hand-eye co-ordination but the average age of beginning is closer to 9 years.
The benefits of fencing for children include
- having pure and simple fun, and being mentally engaged
- encouraging an active lifestyle which establishes healthy practices for adulthood
- enhancing cognitive development
- physical benefits such as strength and flexibility particularly in the legs, core and dominant arm/wrist and cardiovascular benefits given the footwork
- encouraging critical thinking and focus
- learning how to deal with success and rebound from failure, and build character when participating at the level of competitive fencing
- aiding stress management
- building self-confidence
- improving social skills when fencing in teams or as part of a club