Most of the analyses on this blog have been based on data from the USA Fencing tournament results website. However, there are many questions that cannot be answered from this type of data, especially those trying to gauge the opinions of the fencing community. In March, I partnered with the FIE to administer a survey to fencers of every level from all over the globe to better understand how we can improve as a sport. Below, I will detail some of the most interesting findings of the survey, which was answered by over 20,000 fencers from 39 countries.
Everyone loves right-of-way
It’s a commonly debated question as to whether right-of-way weapons, like foil and saber, are better than weapons with no right-of-way, like epee. The community has spoken, and it turns out that most epee fencers actually wish that their weapon had right-of-way!
When these fencers were asked why they fence epee when they could be fencing foil instead, the most common reasons cited were:
- Lack of a right-of-way weapon club in the area
- Enjoy getting hit hard by a stiff weapon
- Parents forced them to so they could get into Harvard
Favorite blade length: #2
Although fencers are allowed to switch to #5 length blades after aging out of Y-10, it turns out that most fencers think that #2 blades are the ideal length for fencing. As fencers got older, their preference for shorter blades even increased. Below are the results, in which I asked each fencer for their age and converted it to their USA Fencing category so that it would be easier to interpret:
Favorite activity during practice
While most fencers spend about half of their time at fencing practice bouting, the vast majority (75%) actually wish they could be doing footwork instead. 19% of fencers like footwork the best, and only 6% of fencers think that bouting is the best part of practice. Maybe coaches should switch it up and make footwork take up a larger portion of class time!
Among younger fencers (under age 18), the results were even more stark. 90% like footwork the best, 9% conditioning, and only 1% think that bouting is the best part of practice!
Epee fencers are the least satisfied with their referees
Not only do epee fencers wish they had right-of-way, but they also report the highest dissatisfaction (89%) with the officiating in their weapon! Saber fencers were the most satisfied by their referees, with only 3% saying that they were not happy.
Further results
I still need to finish cleaning up this data, but I intend to release the full dataset as well as more interesting results in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
