Sabre is the fencing weapon that scores with the edge of the blade as well as the point, anywhere above the hips except the hands. A beginner's first skills are the same as in any weapon: the en garde stance, stepping forward and back, the lunge, and simple attacks and parries. What makes sabre its own sport is speed, cuts, and a rule called right of way that decides who scores when both fencers hit at once. This guide describes sabre in general; how each class runs is up to the coach.
What sabre is
In sabre, touches with the cutting edge, the flat or the back of the blade all count, as well as thrusts with the point. The target is the body above a line across the tops of the hip bones: the torso, the arms and the head, but not the hands. Touches are scored electrically in competition: the fencer wears a conductive jacket called a lamé over the target, and the mask is conductive too. Sabre, foil and épée compares it with the other two weapons, and explains why our club teaches it.
The stance: en garde
En garde is the position a fencer takes before fencing starts. The feet are about shoulder-width apart, at an angle to each other, front foot pointing at the opponent; the knees are bent, the weight between the feet, the sword arm in front. Every movement starts from here and returns here, so beginners spend a lot of time on it.
Footwork: advance, retreat and the lunge
- Advance: a step towards the opponent, front foot first.
- Retreat: a step back, back foot first.
- Lunge: the most common attack. The fencer pushes off the back leg, which generally stays in place, and reaches forward on the front leg with the blade arm extended.
- Recover: the return to en garde after the lunge.
Footwork is where most of the work is in the first weeks. Distance, how close you are to your partner, decides almost everything in a bout, and you control distance with your feet.
The blade: attack, parry and riposte
- Attack: a movement by which a fencer tries to score. In sabre, the fencer who attacks first gets right of way.
- Parry: a defence that blocks the opponent's blade.
- Riposte: the defender's attack straight after a successful parry.
- Beat: a sharp tap on the opponent's blade, to start an attack or provoke a reaction.
- Point in line: the arm held straight with the point at the opponent, out of reach; a fencer in this position has right of way until the opponent clears the blade with a beat.
These definitions follow USA Fencing's glossary. Fencing terms for parents explains the rest of the words you will hear.
Right of way, in one paragraph
When both sabre fencers hit at about the same time, the referee gives the point to the one who had right of way, or to neither if neither clearly had it. Roughly: the fencer who starts a proper attack first has it, and the other must parry or make the attack miss before answering. That is why a beginner learns to attack with intent and to defend before hitting back, and not only to hit.
Rules that are special to sabre
- No running attacks. The running attack called the flèche is forbidden in sabre, and so is any forward move in which the back foot passes the front foot. Sabre fencers use a fast lunge instead, and USA Fencing's glossary names a sabre-only action, the flunge, a cross between a lunge and a flèche.
- No touching with the guard. A hit with the hand guard does not count.
Both come from the USA Fencing Rules for Competition, October 2026, t.96 and t.101. Fencing rules for beginners explains how a whole bout runs.
How long it takes
The basics can be learned in the first classes; making them fast, accurate and well timed against a partner who is thinking too takes years. Is fencing hard to learn? gives an honest timeline. In the first weeks, slow and correct beats fast and sloppy.
Starting sabre at our club
Children start from age 4, in groups by age, and adults from 19 on Wednesday evenings. The first class is free, and we lend the mask, jacket, glove and blade, free for the whole first month; after that it is $40 a month to rent, or your own. Every fencer trains in full protective equipment. Coach Pasha, an Olympian in sabre, runs every newcomer's first class himself. Your child's first fencing class, step by step walks through the day.
Call Coach Pasha at (408) 592-1244. If he is on the strip, leave a voicemail: he calls back within 24 hours. Or leave your number and he calls you.
