A foil is one of the three weapons used in fencing, with the epee and the sabre, all of them made of metal. In fencing, the foil player is considered the most skilful, because the foil is the most tecnical of the three swords and it needs more mental and physical skills for its movements (parry and riposte) and a better hability and speed.
A foil is a long and flexible sword and it has a rectangular blade. It usually doesn’t have any arch in the grip. The different kinds of foils are: italian, spanish, french, rose foil and shell foil.
Foil appears in the XVII century as an inoffensive weapon with a flexible blade decorated on the top with a flower button. The minimum longness of a foil blade is 90 cm and for the sabre 88, making the total longness of 110 cm and 105 for the sabre. The maximum weight has to be under 500 grams for the foil and under 750 for the other two swords.
Nowadays, the foil is just used to play sport and to touch the rival with the top of the blade. The target area for the foil players is just the torso, and we’re not getting a “touchè” if we hit the sides of the head. A valid “touchè” is when we hit with the top of the blade the opponent but not with the sides of the blades like for the sabre.
As curiosity, we can tell that the fencing is the only Olympic sport of spanish origin and to play it, the player needs a mix of good skills. For this it is recommended to pratice it from the young age to the old one. The young people use their speed and reflex and the adults their intelligence and self-control.
The parts of the foil are: the blade, the bellguard, the soket, the grip, the washer and the nut.
The foil player’s name is “foilman”. When a foilman touch his opponent, he gets a point.
