FENCING LINKS
If you’re looking for a resource to help you extend your knowledge of fencing, then you’ve found it. Here you’ll find virtually anything that you need in fencing and all things that are related to fencing.
These fencing links are organized into categories. In the list you’ll find a lot of information related to important fencing resources, both national and international.
This post is intended to be a living resource, kind of a work in progress where the information is constantly updated and we will continue adding relevant links. This current list is not complete and by definition will never be, so if you find a resource that is not mentioned here, please comment! We’ll include it in one of the updates, of course with a full acknowledgement of you as the contributor.
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Fencing Organizations
Federation Internationale D’Escrime (FIE)
English website is http://www.fie.org.
FIE is a governing body of international fencing. Here you will find a lot of useful information about international competitions, both future and historical results, ratings of athletes in any category as well as national teams, a link to the online edition of International “Escrime” magazine (the official magazine of FIE), different news and more. Definitely a site to bookmark.
FIE recently revamped their website and it looks much better with great pictures!
US Fencing Association (USFA)
USFA is the governing body of US fencing. On this web site you can find a lot of information on national level events and competitions, such as national championships and the North America Cup, as well as all relevant manuals and documents related to the sport of fencing. If you are new to the sport but becoming seriously interested in it – bookmark this site and visit often.
US Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA)
USFCA is an organization that strives to provide resources, education, training and certificates to US fencing coaches. Frankly, this site is not the easiest and most convenient one on the web, and most likely the novice fencer or the parent of a novice fencer won’t find this site very useful. Nevertheless, once you or your child would like to start attending USFA sanctioned events, inevitably you will need this site.
South Texas Division of USFA
Every US area belongs to some US fencing division. TFA is in the South Texas Division of USFA. The USFA website provides a list of all its divisions and the links to their respective websites.
https://www.southtexasdivision.net/
Important International Fencing Resources
In addition to FIE there are several important sites that provide useful information about fencing. While some are too advanced for novice fencers, knowing their existence will not hurt.
YouTube Channel of FIE
https://www.youtube.com/user/FIEvideo
This is by far the most important fencing video channel on the web! All of the highest level international fencing tournaments (for example, Senior World Fencing Championships or Cadet and Junior World Fencing Championships) are live streamed here and then archived. This is a treasure for any fencer and a fantastic and necessary tool to learn fencing and improve one’s game. My advice – purchase Roku and have your children watch this channel instead of Pokemon on Sunday mornings, while you are still asleep. Double win.
Asian Fencing Confederation
Similar to European Fencing Confederation, Asia has its own. With Asia becoming more and more of a fencing superpower with World and Olympic champions coming from the region, it is interesting to learn about fencing from their point of view. Like its European counterpart, the site has links to its member nation’s federations.
Pan American Fencing Confederation
To judge yourself how popular the fencing is on our continent, try to search for “Pan American Fencing Confederation” on Google. Tell me what you find!
Fencing Equipment
There are many fencing equipment vendors, both in the USA and abroad. As we reside in the US, the most make sense to specify US vendors. While it is impossible to provide all of the vendors, here we’ve compiled a list of vendors we deal with and for which we can make a personal recommendation based on our own experience. This does not mean that others aren’t good – all it means we don’t have any experience with them.
Unlike traditional sports such as basketball, baseball and tennis, fencing equipment cannot be purchased in your regular sport shop or sport department in the neighborhood mall. In some big metropolitan areas there might be some fencing shops, and if you happen to live in one then you are lucky that you can go and buy your fencing gear in a brick-and-mortar shop. If not, you are probably bound to one of the online options.
It is important to note that while some vendors below manufactur and sell their own brands, they also carry additional world famous fencing brands, while not all of them, definitely some. So you have quite a variety of options at each vendor below.
Absolute Fencing Gear
http://www.absolutefencinggear.com
One of the largest fencing equipment companies in the US. Their website is very easy to navigate and it’s easy to see the prices and information. Most of the equipment at AFM was purchased at Absolute Fencing and we are quite happy with them. They are located in New Jersey.
The Fencing Post
Another reputable fencing equipment company. Located in Southern California, they have developed quite a good reputation for how they handle their weapon orders. Quite a lot of fencing weapons are ordered from them by the people here at AFM.
Fencing.net
This is a fencing equipment company from Atlanta, Georgia. We have ordered few items from them and were very happy with the purchase. However, they are most famous for two exceptional resources that they manage – the fencing forum and the fencing blog.
Leon Paul USA
Leon Paul is very famous and innovative fencing equipment manufacturer that is headquartered in London, UK where they also manufacture all their equipment. They have a subsidiary in USA, which you’ll find linked here. They sell (surprise!) Leon Paul’s fencing gear. While typically nobody will question their quality, their prices are typically on a higher end. Many highly competitive fencers like Leon Paul for many reasons despite the price.
In addition, in my opinion they probably have the best website out there, including video reviews, great articles and completely different level of items specifications and descriptions. The most 21st century fencing online shopping experience, far more than their rivals. Classic.
Again, you might have heard from other parents or from your fencing coaches about additional online stores, and if you like and trust their recommendation – by all means explore other opportunities.
Fencing Forum
The most popular fencing forum in the USA (not sure whether this holds for the world as well, if yes – let us know!). You’ll find a lot of discussions here are on different fencing related topics and in general it is a good thing to check it once in a while.
AskFred
Fencing Results and Events Database. All domestic (though not only) fencing competitions, except for national level championships and NAC’s, are run on this website. It is easy to navigate, easy to check historic results, easy to find fencing tournaments and competitions, different clinics and camps. Mostly centered on the US.
Many fencing organizations, companies, teams and fencing athletes have their own Facebook pages and try to update their fans with a lot of information; from fun stuff to announcements to useful articles and facts. Find those you want to follow and like their pages. Fencing is not pop culture, so you will not find thousands of followers and fans, and your participation on social media will mostly count and definitely will be noticed. Same applies to Twitter.
Blogs and Resources from Influencers in the Fencing World
As we wrote above fencing is not a mainstream sport, so good fencing blogs are a rarity. Here we would like to mention the top 6 that we constantly read and recommend to all. Interesting enough, in fencing you wouldn’t find a really great blogs that you can find almost in any other mainstream sports, and this creates both a void and an opportunity.
1. Better Fencer
Better Fencer is the most comprehensive fencing blog in a very small fencing blogosphere. Managed by Olympic Silver Medalist Jason Rogers (Beijing 2008, Men’s Sabre Team) it publishes about 2-3 articles each month, and every one of these posts is a fantastic treasure for fencer of any level. Being one of the international level elite fencers, Jason knows first hand what does it take to have a dream and work hard towards making it a reality.
2. Fencing University
https://fencinguniversity.org/
This website is a platform that Tim Morehouse created to promote fencing in the US and his organization Fencing in The Schools. In particular, they have a great blog that promises to become a major source of fencing related articles. Given Tim’s unstoppable power we believe this blog will become one of the key educational platforms in fencing.
3. The Fencing Coach
A blog led by Damien Lehfeld, is a good source of coaching and parental advice and insights. Sometimes Damien has a quirky sense of humor (or rather it should be “has not” 
), but his observations and revelations are oftentimes just great.
4. Sabre Coach Kate
https://sabrecoachkate.wordpress.com/
This blog is a personal blog of coach Kate Sierra from the Cutting Edge Fencing Club in Texas. Sometimes you will see some really good material here.
5. Race Imboden’s Personal Blog
http://www.havefoilwilltravel.com/
Given Race’s competitive fencing career, him being World #1 ranked fencer (at the time of this writing), and a busy model, it is not a surprise he finds very little time to write his blog – so don’t expect a ton of content, but do expect great content when it’s there. This blog is a mixture of fencing, fashion and musing, and the fencing part is good.
6. Fencing.net Blog
Fencing.net one of the best fencing resources out there. There are two valuable assets they feature – a fencing forum (http://www.fencing.net/forums/) and the blog, which appears on their first page as a “News” category. This is a must to sign up for any fencer and their parent.
7. A Nice Bonus – West Coast Fencing Archive
http://www.westcoastfencingarchive.com/
This relatively new fencing resource, which has gained a lot of popularity, because it tries to resurrect the history of fencing here, on the West Pacific Coast (and hopefully later on they will expand their reach). It’s called West Coast Fencing Archive and you will find a lot of interesting fencing articles, stories, and memorabilia from the beginning of last century. A really nice bonus for fencing aficionados.
8. AFM Blog
https://academyoffencingmasters.com/blog/
Our blog is primarily targeted toward fencing parents. Here we strive to describe a lot of topics related to fencing, to provide as much useful information as possible in areas such as sports parenting, coaching, health, rules and regulations, fencing trends, different fencing related questions and more.