In this blog I will show which social media outlets and old fashioned web sites I follow to keep mup with developments are taking place in modern fencing. Most of these media are related to sabre fencing, but I also follow a few that are more generally related to fencing.
The first channel that I follow almost religiously is Sydney Sabre Center. Sydney Sabre is a well-known source of information in the sabre community for a lot of reasons. In short it is a sabre fencing club from Sydney, that is founded and directed by John Chow, and in its six years of being it has already build a rock-solid online reputation. Most well-known are their Epic Sabre Compilation video’s, which highlight the actions and movements of a specific world-class sabre fencer. The Youtube kanaal van Sydney Sabre is well worth of your attention. More video’s than their Epic Sabre Compilations can be found there. One such example are the video’s detailing the trends in refereeing in sabre. These summaries should be watched closely by all sabre fencers and referees, because they clearly show how sabre is refereed in the big international events. Furthermore, the video that I use to show what modern sabre fencing is, was also made by Sydney Sabre:
Sydney Sabre has some other things going on as well. Their blog is definitely worth your time, if you are interested in (sabre) fencing. They discuss the things trainers and fencers commonly can encounter in and around the piste and the blog thus is quite interesting for different parts of the game. To me, the most interesting blogs are the ones posted in analysis. In these blogs an effort is made to scientifically analyze or break down specific aspects of the game. Sydney Sabre also has a Facebook page. This is quite dedicated to the cliub, but every once in a while you’ll also find posts about FIE rule changes and other decisions of the FIE.
In addition to the Sydney Sabre channel, there are quite some other Youtube channels on (sabre) fencing that I follow. To me, the most important one is the FIE fencing channel, that has live streams to almost every world cup tournament and the international championships. These live streams can also be rewatched here. The channel also has interviews and human interest stories featuring the athletes, but this is not the main goal of the channel. This channel in of course not only aimed at sabre, but shows all weapons. Another channel to fit that bill is Fencing Vision. This channel often has live streams of the world cups that are not featured at the FIE fencing channel.
Another interesting channel for all weapons is Cyrus of Chaos, that features a lot of old and new competition video’s. This was one of the first Youtube channels to place bouts on Youtube and they are still placing new content. Amongst the older footage are a lot of old world cup and world championship bouts. The newer video’s are often of big American competitions, but they still feature of world cup footage.
The next channel on my list is Slicer Sabre and this channel, as can be deduced from its name, is focussed on sabre. The channel shows many facets of modern sabre fencing. They feature bout footage, but they also make analyses and compilations of different exciting moments in a match. The analyses are more than worth your time, because they show quite a lot of different techniques and tactics in sabre fencing. They also have some great analyses on the changes in sabre fencing in the past 10 to 15 years.
The final channel I want to highlight is The fencing referee. This channel creates video’s to explain refereeing for all weapons and they present teaching modules to instruct and educate referees. This channel is also very instructive for fencers, because it can teach them how referees judge what they are doing.
There are also a few web sites that I often view. The first one is the site of the Dutch federation, or KNAS (only in Dutch), to keep taps on the results of Dutch fencers in big international competitions. Of course the site also presents rules and regulations, information on the federation and much more. It’s Facebook page also regularly updates when Dutch fencers are participating in international competitions. Another Facebook page that does this very well is Nederlands Schermnieuws, that is unfortunately only in Dutch.
I also try to stay updated through the site of the FIE. The FIE posts the results of world cup and championships on its website, along with the world ranking and an overview of athletes. It also holds the official rules and regulations and it highlight the official changes to the rules. The FIE also has its own Facebook page, that will keep you updated on recent world cups and championships. It also shows very pretty fencing pictures by the official photographer of the FIE.
I also follow Better fencer and its Facebook page. This site is maintained by Jason Rogers, who won a silver medal with the United States’ sabre team at the Beijing Olympics. On his site he gives pointers on several different subjects, amongst which are mental training, how to train and more such subjects.
Finally I want to point out Fencing Worldwide, which gives live results to many international competitions. The final results of past tournaments can also be found here.
