- Epee - kind of like a cross between tennis and boxing. Very vibrant and interesting to watch, even if the linear playing space takes a while to get used to.
- Sabre - more like a cross between cricket and boxing. People appear to just be whacking stuff with a stick and shouting "Howzat!" at the umpire.
- Foil - I have no idea what that's about. It's like epee, only somehow more vicious and more delicate at the same time (you have a flimsier sword and you have to take turns attacking, but you're only allowed to aim for the chest and head).
I thought sabre was a bit like this, too, as all of the clips I saw on YouTube seemed to lack anything remotely resembling "interesting things". However, I am now willing to concede that I just didn't give it a proper chance. I usually only watched for the first couple of minutes before crying "this is boring!" and trying to find something more amusing, like lawn bowls.
I decided I should try to watch at least one bout the whole way through, though, and discovered that it actually gets better the longer it goes on. They spend the first three minutes or so whacking each other on the head and shouting "howzat!!" at the umpire, but after that they start doing other things - things like trying to avoid being hit by the other guy. Then it picks up a bit.
After they start using defensive moves, all of the things I read about that seemed interesting started to appear. I guess they spend the first few minutes sussing each other out by all that whacking before bringing in more interesting moves. At least, the girls do. The boys seem to spend a lot longer in the whacking phase.
So, sabre isn't entirely boring. It's not as interesting as epee, but it isn't entirely boring. (I still have no idea what foil is about).
It makes me wonder if cricket might actually be interesting if I can just sit through the first three hours of whatever it is they do.
I remain doubtful.
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