About the Sport of Olympic Fencing

Known as "the physical game of chess," Olympic sport fencing provides a tremendous physical and mental workout for students of all ages and athletic ability. As one of the safest sports, fencing makes fitness fun!

It builds muscle strength, provides greater cardiovascular workouts, and improves endurance, coordination, and speed. VAF is a place where those who are just starting to learn fencing can do so in a safe, friendly, and fun environment. At the same time, VAF is a place where more experienced and competitive fenders can receive the highest level of training offered in the U.S.

Our introductory courses primarily utilize the foil, the light thrusting sword, but also introduce the sabre (the modern equivalent of the cavalry sword) and the epee (the modern equivalent of the rapier). At the end of the course, students will be able to fence matches with each other.

About Historical Swordsmanship

Explore the sword arts the way they were originally practice on dueling grounds and battlefields of the Middle Ages and Renaissance!

Historical swordsmanship recreates the techniques used by fencers who lived before the modern sport was created, brining those fighting arts to life in a safe and fun environment. Students gain fitness, coordination, reflexes, and endurance, as well as learning about the chivalric history of these knightly arts.

In our introductory classes, students will learn the rapier (a dueling weapon of the Renaissance) and the two-handed sword (a knightly Medieval sword). Practice swords used in the class are the bamboo shinai and the foil. By the end of the course, students will understand the different styles of swordsmanship used throughout history and be able to fence bouts with each other.