Fencing

Fencing has been contested at every modern Olympic games since 1896.  Women's events were added in 1924.  Today, there are three forms of Olympic fencing:  epee, foil, and saber.  Cutting Edge Fencing Center developed a short class for us to be able to experience all three forms.  But first, we had to don our protective gear, including plastic chest plates.

Also known as Xena bras

After learning to hold the equipment and practicing some basic walking techniques, we began with foil.  The foil is a light thrusting weapon, and your target is limited to the torso.  Double touches are not allowed.  We learned to thrust at each other, and to deflect our opponents' attacks.

Next up was saber, which is a light cutting and thrusting weapon.  The target area is anything above the waist, except the back of the head and hands.  Points can only be scored if you have the right of way:  first one competitor attacks, then the other.  For saber we donned jackets and gloves that would give off an electrical signal if a touch was scored.

Finally, we tried out epee.  Like foil, epee is a thrusting weapon, but it is much heavier, and the target area is the entire body.  There is no right of way in epee.  After being able to score a point in saber with a slashing motion, it was harder to only get points in epee for a thrust.  Cutting Edge set up a little mini-tournament for us, and we all found that we favored different events.  Thanks, Cutting Edge.

Wrestling

Wrestling was introduced in the ancient Olympic Games in 708 BC, and was a focus of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.  Women's wrestling was added in 2004.  In February 2013, the IOC voted to remove wrestling from the Olympic program, but in September of that year they voted to re-add wrestling.

Men compete in both Greco-Roman wrestling and Freestyle, while women only compete in Freestyle.  The major difference is that Freestyle allows the use of the wrestler's or opponent's legs for defense or offense.  The ultimate goal is to throw and pin your opponent to the mat, resulting in an immediate win.  The US is very successful in Olympic wrestling, as are the former Soviet Union and Japan.

Green B. Trimble Technical High School has both men's and women's wrestling, and the coach and team were generous enough to let us join one of their practices.  We weighed in and did some warm up exercises, and practiced some techniques.  Flexibility is a major component of wrestling, to allow you to escape an opponent's grip, or to grab your opponent.  We were very impressed with the flexibility of the wrestlers.

After learning some techniques, we paired up with each other or with members of the team.  We had a lot of fun throwing and pinning each other.

M has L flipped backwards

L was a huge fan of the leg-lace

R and J wrestling

R doesn't seem to concerned with L's hold on her.

L is about to win the count-out

M working with a Trimble Tech wrestler

Practice lasted a couple hours, and afterwards we re-weighed ourselves.  We all lost a few pounds during the workout.  We also learned a lot about wrestling, and had a great time.  Thank you, Trimble Tech.  Go Bulldogs!