Fencing In Schools
Framework & Resources
Team Competition Formats
FORMAT 1 - Direct Elimination without preliminary round
Teams are drawn by lot into a knock-out tableau. Matches are "sudden-death".
Advantages - very easy to organise and for participants to understand. Relatively quick with small numbers of teams.
Disadvantages - original draw may see the two strongest teams drawn together in the first round. Teams knocked out in first round don't participate for long.
FORMAT 2 - Direct Elimination with preliminary round.
Teams are grouped into poules of 3-5 and fight each other on a round robin basis. Either all teams are promoted to the direct elimination phase, or only the top 1 or 2 teams from each poule. The knock-out tableau is seeded based on the results of the poule round.
Advantages - a fairer system and one that allows for a lot of fencing for all participants
Disadvantages - can take a long time, and is more complex to organise.
For round 1, teams are drawn against each other by lot. 1 point is awarded for a team victory and 0 points for a loss.
In the second round, teams on 1 point are drawn against each other by lot, as are teams on 0 points. In each successive round, teams are drawn against an opponent on the same number of points as they are.
The competition ends either after a preset number of rounds, or once one team emerges as an uncatchable winner (ie they are the only team left that has won all their matches). At the end, teams on the same number of match points can be separated by individual bouts won, or by indicators (hits scored - hits received)
Advantages - every participant gets an equal amount of fencing, and the structure suits fixed timescales
Disadvantages - can be hard work for the organiser until experienced with the format. Lacks the drama of semi-final and finals matches
All teams fight all the other teams, with places being decided firstly on match victories, and ties being separated on individual bouts or indicators (hits scored - hits received)
Advantages - very fair system when only a small number of teams are involved. All participants gets an equal amount of fencing.
Disadvantages - time/resources required increases exponentially as more teams are involved.
Team Match Formats
Within a given competition format, there are several different match formats which can be selected to suit the age of competitors, the number of teams and the time and space available.
Fencing teams are normally composed of 3 fencers. Up to 13/14 yrs these can be single or mixed gender. A fourth fencer can be used as a substitute.
Over 14yrs it is more usual to have single gender teams, although sometimes when numbers are small, genders can be mixed up to adult level.
Match Format A - All fight all to 9 fights
With three fencers on each team, if each team member fights each opposing team member, there will be a total of nine fights, the match being decided on the best of nine. If time is limited, the match can be brought to an end once one team has scored 5 victories. Individual bouts are normally to 5 hits in a time limit of 3 minutes, although it may be appropriate to reduce the number of hits to 4 or even 3 with very young children. Alternatively, the time limit per bout can be reduced. If piste space is available, the match can be spread across two pistes.
Match Format B - One fights one to 3 fights
Each of three fencers on each team fights just a single opponent, to the best of 3 bouts. Each bout is to 5 hits with a 3 minute time limit. This abbreviated format has the advantage of getting through matches very quickly although at the expense of fencing time for the competitors. Suitable for competitions where time is very short, or as a play-off to decide the winner from two otherwise equal teams.
Three fencers fight a single bout to 45 hits, with the fencers at each end changing as each multiple of 5 points is reached. For example, the first pair would fence until the score reached, say, 5-3 or 3 minutes elapsed. Then the fencers would change, but the score would continue from that point, until one team reached 10, or another 3 minutes elapses. The fencers change again, continuing until one side has 15 etc etc.
With 9 combinations of fencers, the winner is either the team that reaches 45 first, or the team with the highest score when all nine 3 minute bouts have finished. For speed, this can be reduced to multiples of 4 (total 36 hits) or multiples of 3 (total 27 hits)
For a reference table to pick the best format based on the number of teams, number of pistes, and time available, click here