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The International Olympic Committee recently introduced a consensus statement on recommendations for outdoor sports in the heat. However, indoor sports such as fencing whereby athletes are required to wear full body protective clothing when competing have received no recommendations. Such scenarios could cause high thermoregulatory demands particularly as competition progresses into latter rounds (direct elimination; DE). Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the thermoregulatory responses of épée fencing across different phases of competition (Poule and DE). Seven well-trained fencers competed in a simulated competition comprising of seven Poule and seven DE fights. Gastrointestinal temperature (Tgast), skin temperature (Tskin), mask temperature (Tmask), heart rate (HR), thermal sensation, differentiated ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and movement characteristics were collected for all fights. There was a moderate thermoregulatory demand during Poule rounds shown by post-fight Tgast (38.1 ± 0.4°C), Tskin (34.4 ± 0.7°C), and thermal sensation ratings (6 ± 1). A greater thermoregulatory and perceptual demand observed during DE rounds evidenced by Tgast (38.7 ± 0.3°C post fight), Tskin (35.1 ± 0.7°C), thermal sensation (7 ± 1), increases in Tmask across DE rounds (~1.1°C), and RPE (~15). Furthermore, a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in distance covered from DE 1 to DE 7 suggests a thermoregulatory based impact on performance. This is the first study demonstrating the thermoregulatory demands of épée fencing, highlighting the need to develop heat exertion guidelines within fencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oldest known European fight book, Royal Armouries MS I.33 has puzzled scholars and sword fighting enthusiasts alike with its occasionally strange looking illustrations. This paper argues that some of them contain multiple view planes or perspectives 'folded' into one, as it also occurs elsewhere in contemporary Gothic manuscript painting. To the modern observer who has no first-hand experience of the type of sword fighting depicted, these specialised drawing conventions are difficult to identify and, consequently, to decode. By comparing ostensibly similar situations as they are illustrated in later fight books that employ different artistic means, this paper suggests a new way of looking at I.33's illustrations that could be relevant beyond the examples discussed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the changes to the intellectual classification of fencing. The authors of fencing treatises attempted to shift the perception of fencing from its long held violent connotations and towards a more elevated and legitimate practice. This change was prompted by multiple factors, key amongst them were the proliferation of print, the rise of the duel, and courtesy books, such as Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier. These factors allowed fencing to be reconceived with new methods and to reach a wider audience. However, to appeal to a larger and increasingly educated audience, early modern fencing treatises adopted new pedagogical tools and made efforts to legitimise fencing, elevating their new methods above fencing’s violent nature. To achieve this elevation, authors of fencing treatises attempted to raise fencing’s intellectual standing through the application of the trivium and later geometry and humanistic learning, in order to reposition fencing as a practice worthy of gentlemanly study. In this paper, I outline the process of this change and argue that, despite concerted effort to intellectualise fencing, as a means to obtain legitimacy, attempts were never wholly successful, due to an inability to completely separate conceptions of violence from the new science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study demonstrates how Turkey's first two female athletes, Halet Çambel and Suat Fetgeri Aşeni, served to promote policies of a new modern woman image in the Olympic games during the early republican period. Çambel and Aşeni, Olympians in the fencing competition at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, were the most accomplished Turkish female athletes. Review of the daily newspapers and sports magazines of the period has allowed identification of the modern women's policy of the early republican period and the performance styles of the two athletes in the Olympics. The daily newspapers Tan, Ulus, Haber, Açık Söz, Akşam, Son Posta, Yeni Asır and Cumhuriyet from 1 August to 31 August 1936, as well as the periodicals of the sports magazines Top and Türk Spor Kurumu from 1 July to 30 September 1936, were reviewed for this purpose. As a result, the female Olympians appeared to receive merely coverage in sports bulletins as anticipated by the early republican era's modern women's policies. This endeavour, however, parallels the policies of the early republican period, which sought to retain a women's image that preserved their traditional identity within the nation-state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes a final scene from William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" wherein the young courtier Ostricke restates the King Claudius' proposed wager that Hamlet will win a fencing match against Laertes. Topics include the failure to satisfactorily explained wager's terms and difficulties in the scene, an analysis of swordman Leartes' odds to Alexander Dyce's insights, and comments on two weapons used in the scene.

The media portrayals of sportswomen especially Black and Muslim women tend to be monolithic, focusing only on oppression of the body and the barriers they face for entry into sport. Using the fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad as a case study, with an eye toward transnational feminism, this multimodal discourse analysis study found her social media representation provides complex insight into what it means to Black, Muslim, and a woman in a traditionally white and elitist sport. Muhammad seems to typify the many contradictory images one associates with white, Western sportswomen on social media; combining empowerment and commodification while leaving out one of the main visages often epitomized with it, the sexualization of the sportswomen form. As more scholars study sportswomen's presence on social media and their activism, how athletes use these digital spaces to construct their identity is sure to have implications for how researchers also study collegiate athletes' use of marketing and branding in the new era of name, image, and likeness. As Muhammad shows, sportswomen who historically have been exploited by the big business of sport because they are Black or Muslim, can now be assured a space for economic empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fencing is growing rapidly in popularity and competitiveness with fencers beginning at a younger age and competing in more tournaments. Even though fencing has a low risk of time-loss injury, fencers are inevitably going to experience injuries if proper athletic training and prevention does not occur. We aim to describe and compare the lower extremity injuries experienced by fencers that have trained at the highest level in the sport. We hypothesized that athletes who fenced longer would suffer more knee and hip injuries and report lower IKDC and HOS scores. This is an epidemiology study distributed to members of the U.S. national team and Olympic team from 1980 to 2018. The electronic survey included questions regarding age, weapon, number of years fencing, number of national and Olympic teams, injuries on the dominant and nondominant hip and knee, time missed due to injury, and methods for treatment. The survey also included the International Knee Demographic Committee (IKDC) and Hip Outcome Score (HOS). There were 153 national team members between July 1980 and July 2018, 110 with contact information. A total of 77 athletes submitted the survey, consisting of 30 females and 47 males. Female fencers had more hip injuries and lower IKDC and HOS scores than their male counterparts. In total, there were 71 injuries to the dominant (front) knee and 28 injuries to the nondominant (back) knee. There were 32 dominant hip injuries and 5 nondominant hip injuries. Saber fencers reported the most dominant and nondominant hip and knee injuries. The intense, repetitive and asymmetrical movements involved in fencing affect the weight bearing leg and the nondominant leg in all weapons. Special attention should be paid to female fencers as they experience more hip and knee injuries resulting in impaired joint function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aimed to provide a more holistic analysis of stressful experiences in sport by examining how stress appraisal, coping and emotion are dynamically inter-related constructs and the extent to which their dynamic relationship is associated with objective performance. Based on process-oriented methods, two studies were conducted with elite athletes in order to investigate the dynamic relationship between these constructs and performance in highly demanding sport situations (Study 1: simulated competitive fencing matches during a training session; Study 2: real-life competitive fencing matches during an international competition). The results of the random coefficient regression models emphasise the dynamic nature of the relationship between stress appraisal, coping behaviour, emotion and objective performance over the course of fencing matches. They allowed identification of additional mediating effects of coping and emotion within dynamic relationships between stress appraisal and performance. These studies contribute to a deeper understanding of psychological adaptation in performance environments. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the design of effective coping interventions to support the learning of performance-related coping skills and the attainment of performance goals among individuals in highly demanding environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illegal grazing and the fencing of land by livestock owners, elites and non-elites alike is endemic in Namibia. Fencing violates the Communal Land Reform Act of 2002. Court cases are held to stop the illegal use of land. The institutions that according to the Act have the authority to stop these practices do not perform accordingly and their authorities frequently overlap. The legal battle to remove fences or stop illegal grazing evolves as more than a struggle for justice. The case unfolds as an ontological struggle between actors, their institutions and respective policies and discourses, pivoting on conflicting visions of modernities and interpretations of the meaning of land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the history of labour relations within Namibia's agricultural sector, with specific emphasis on the karakul sheep industry. It examines debates concerning shortages of shepherds and the increasing efforts on the part of (white) sheep farmers in southern Namibia to import contract labourers from northern Namibia and southern Angola. The ability of local Nama labourers in southern Namibia to desert abusive employers and return to reserves (albeit overcrowded) caused farmers to rely increasingly, from the late 1930s, on migrant shepherds, with illegally recruited Angolans rising in importance – making up over 40 per cent of total recruits throughout the mid 20th century. The reopening of Namibia's mines and industries after the Second World War, alongside increased Portuguese recruitment of Angolans from Cunene province for their own karakul industry (founded with smuggled rams), caused white farmers to change strategy abruptly from the mid 1950s. With heavy subsidies from the South West Africa Administration, farmers invested in labour-saving technological improvements on the sheep farms themselves, particularly jackal-proof fencing, transforming a shepherd-intensive industry into a near shepherdless one in less than a decade. This, along with the development of homeland structures, gave white farmers the leverage to reinvigorate informal, ad hoc labour hire. Using Namibian, Angolan and South African sources, this article reconstructs the transnational political economy of labour in Namibia's sheep-farming sector, and it considers how transformations in agricultural technology restructures labour hire, often away from 'formal' contract waged labour towards other forms of exploitative labour relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grazing exclusion (GE) is one of the most common ways to restore degraded grasslands. However, the effects of GE on grassland community characteristics and carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage remain unclear, especially in deserts. To further assess the effects of GE on plant and soil properties in arid and semiarid deserts, the community biomass, diversity, and ecosystem C and N contents and storage were determined from GE (6 years) plots and adjacent freely grazed (FG) plots in sagebrush deserts, which are vital spring-autumn pastures in Xinjiang, China. The results revealed that GE had surprisingly dissimilar influences on the plant community and soil properties in both regions. In the semiarid desert, the richness index, diversity index, and evenness index in the GE plot decreased by 41.9, 70.1, and 54.9% compared to those in the FG plot. In the arid desert, the average height, total coverage, and above- and belowground biomass in the GE plot increased by 55.1, 157.1, 207.3, and 322.2% (p < 0.05), respectively, compared to those in the FG plot. However, GE had no significant effect on above- or belowground biomass in the semiarid desert. In addition, in the semiarid region, GE not only decreased the SOC (top 70 cm soil) and STN (top 100 cm soil) concentrations but also significantly decreased the total SOC and STN storage in the top 100 cm of soil by 43.5 and 39.1% (p < 0.05), respectively, and the ecosystem C and N storage in the GE plot decreased significantly, by 39.1 and 36.7%, respectively, compared to that in the FG plot. These findings indicate that GE is an effective approach to improving desert productivity in sagebrush desert ecosystems, especially in arid regions, but may not be beneficial for diversity maintenance or C and N sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies showed that motor asymmetries are reduced in left-handers and after a long-term fencing training in right-handers. Interestingly, left-handed athletes are substantially over-represented in elite fencing. These findings have been speculatively explained by imbalance in experience of fighting opposite handedness opponents resulted from skewed distribution of handedness, i.e. lefties encounter more righties than righties encounter lefties. Whereas these assumptions could be accurate, the underlying mechanisms remain ambiguous. In this study, we investigated effects of fencing training on motor performance and asymmetry with respect to handedness. We compared fencing performance of left- and right-handed fencers in both training and combat conditions. In the combat condition, left-handers won seven out of twelve matches consisted of twelve bouts each. They also showed a significantly longer hit detection time, a measure indicating better quality of fencing attack. In the training condition, left-handed fencers completed fencing board tests significantly faster than right-handers. These findings provide additional factor of superior motor performance to be considered when interpreting over-representation of lefties in elite fencing. Furthermore, our left-handers were less lateralized, which could explain that superior motor performance. This idea is consistent with previous findings of reduced asymmetry in right-handed fencers when comparing to non-athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine the physiological demands of epée fencing performance. Eight elite male epée fencers competed in a competition consisting of 7 Poule and 7 Direct Elimination (DE) fights. Core temperature (TC), heart rate (HR), movement patterns, training load, and differentiated ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were collected for all Poule and DE fights. Expired gas, and energy expenditure (EE) were measured using breath-by-breath gas analysis during selected fights, along with blood lactate concentration. Maximal HR and RPE were greater in DE than Poule fights. There was a tendency for greater increases in TC in DE compared to Poule fights (p = 0.052). Blood lactate concentration decreased during the competition from Poule to DE suggesting reliance on phosphocreatine and aerobic energy sources during fencing. High oxygen consumption (~50 ml.kg−1.min−1) and EE (~13 kcal.min−1) were recorded in both Poule and DE. Fencers covered 3 times more distance in DE than Poule fights. High training load scores were also recorded. This is the first study to show an increased physiological strain, with high aerobic and anaerobic demands, as fencing competition progressed from Poule to DE. Additionally, there was a considerable energy demand exhibited during epée competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear structures include fences, roads, railways, canalised water ways and power lines, all man-made. Fencing as a way of managing livestock began in the late 1800s, and by the early twentieth century was almost fully implemented throughout the Karoo sensu lato. The advent of these fences, and now in many instances, ‘game proof’ (∼2 m high) and electric fences have impacted native flora and fauna in various ways. Roads influence the quality and quantity of vegetation along corridors throughout the Karoo, with impacts on wildlife through increased mortality, but also provide foraging opportunities. Road-side structures, such as transmission poles, offer nest sites and perches in otherwise treeless landscapes, benefiting certain avifauna. Railway lines create similar corridors, carrying ungrazed vegetation along them. Their associated structures - culverts and (historically) steel frame bridges - provide nest sites for birds and some mammals. Transmission cables and pylons along power lines have mixed benefits to conservation, providing bird nest and perch sites, but can also cause bird mortalities. Unquestionably, these linear structures have had marked effects on the biota of the Karoo, through their effects on wildlife and livestock movement and mortality, plant demography and the spread of native and alien species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores a lost historical connection between literature and the fighting arts over the shared ground oftempo. I illuminate a historically particular model oftempoas antagonistic rhythm of movement, and show how it is central to Castiglione’s understanding of courtiership. Castiglione draws from contemporary fencing pedagogy such as that of Pietro Monte and Antonio Manciolino both on a thematic and a structural level. Thematically, Castiglione uses fencing to illustrate larger points about comely dissimulation. Structurally, the fencing technique of the feint drives Castiglione’s pacing and his conceptualization ofsprezzaturaas artful, practised spontaneity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several national parks on the African continent have been fenced to mitigate human–wildlife conflict, but the effectiveness of different fencing strategies seems to vary between regions. Here, we assessed the effectiveness of electro-fencing for restricting movement patterns of several wild ungulates in Akagera National Park (NP), Rwanda. Following the turmoil of the Rwandan genocide and civil war (1991–1995), large numbers of returning war refugees brought about an increasing pressure on land use, after which considerable parts of the western Akagera NP and adjacent Mutara Game Reserve were degazetted, followed by the construction of an electric fence in 2013 and a helicopter-based game-drive of ungulates into the modern park. We conducted distance sampling of wildlife and domestic livestock in the Uruhita plain – now no longer part of Akagera NP but bordering the modern Akagera NP to the west – for extended periods of time (2010–2015) before and after fencing. For abundant species population densities could be calculated, whereas for other species encounter frequencies are reported. We report on continuously high cattle densities, and increasing encounter frequencies of sheep/goats in the Uruhita plain. We found decreasing densities of zebra (Equus quagga) and decreasing encounter frequencies of waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), stagnant encounter frequencies in the case of topi (Damaliscus lunatus jimela) and stagnant densities of impala (Aepyceros melampus). The latter species can jump fences, and we argue that competitive release and reduced predation may be the prime factors leading impala to (temporarily) exploit grasslands outside the modern national park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOPG) brought with it detailed legacy plans aiming to ‘Inspire a Generation’. The idea that hosting a sports mega-event will encourage the host population to engage in more physical activity is commonly used by governments to justify the large investments they make. The aim of this research paper was to investigate the impact that hosting the 2012 Games had on grass-root sports participation within the host nation. This paper focuses on two non-traditional English sports, Fencing and Judo and investigated the changes in mass sports participation. The membership rate analysis of our sample highlighted an overall increase in participation between 2007 and 2013, in both Judo and Fencing. The data gathered from the interviews with the head office staff at the National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and local club coaches suggested that the grass-root participation programmes were the most effective way of increasing participation, rather than the reliance, solely on the inspiration effect from hosting the LOPG itself. The study highlighted the importance of strengthening communication between local voluntary clubs and the NGB, to ensure sports could promote themselves and capitalise on this global sporting phenomenon, which provided unprecedented media coverage and opportunities for these non-traditional sports. This case study provides initial results relating to the effect that a major international multi-sport event can have in the development of non-traditional sports in the host population, in terms of membership variations, participation programmes and organisational dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has a distinctive position with regard to its geography and history among Muslim countries. Particular features are its secular system and far reaching modernization processes particularly with respect to the ‘emancipation’ of women. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze sport and body politics as part of the modernization processes in Turkey and to explore in particular the multiple roles of different groups of women in the reforms initiated by the Turkish Governments. A focus will be on the intersecting influences of gender and social class. The famous archaeologist Halet Çambel will be used as an example of the ‘modern’ woman who embodied reformist ideologies. Çambel was the daughter of an elite family; she was born in Berlin where her father was an attaché at the Turkey embassy. She studied in France and participated in the Olympic Games in 1936. She and another Turkish fencer were the first women from a Muslim country to participate in the Olympic Games. Later she became the most famous archaeologist in Turkey and she stayed physically active all her life. In particular, horse riding became a favourite activity as she travelled to archaeological sites on horseback. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined the trajectories and within-person synergies of psychological processes during the final stages of matches. A process-oriented approach was used with nine women elite fencers during an international competition. Multiple assessments of perceived control, threat and challenge appraisals, problem- and emotion-focused coping, positive and negative affects were completed after each touches using video recall method. Multilevel growth curve analyses (MGCAs) indicated that winning and losing matches were each characterised by distinct psychological processes. Specifically, perceived control, challenge appraisal, problem- and emotion-focused coping, and positive affects increased linearly and threat appraisal decreased linearly for wining matches, whereas negative affects increased linearly for losing matches. Regarding the within-person synergies of psychological processes, MGCAs indicated that (1) perceived control and challenge appraisal were significantly associated with problem- and emotion-focused coping for losing matches, the strength of these associations remaining consistent across touches; (2) problem-focused coping was significantly associated with negative affects whereas emotion-focused coping was significantly associated with positive affects for winning matches, the strength of these associations remaining consistent across touches; and (3) problem- and emotion-focused coping were significantly associated with negative affects for losing matches, the linear trajectory of negative affects accelerating at times when athletes had higher levels of emotion-focused coping. Overall, this study provided insights into transactional processes during competition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of stimulus change timing on reaction response time parameters, horizontal velocity of the centre of mass (CM) and precision during offensive actions in fencing. Twelve fencers from the Spanish National Foil Team were included in the study. Two 500 Hz force plates were used to register the horizontal component of the reaction force while a 3D video camera set at 250 Hz recorded the spatial position of 11 body markers and a projector connected to a programmed stopwatch projected a moving target (stimulus) on a screen. When the circle (target) appeared in the centre of the plastron, fencers had to execute a step-forward-lunge as fast as possible, trying to touch the circle with the tip of the foil. During the lunge, the position of the target could randomly shift or not to three different positions. The stimulus change was performed randomly at four different times with a progressive delay. The results show that target changes did not have any effect when they occurred at the beginning of the movement sequence. However, when the target change was delayed, reaction and movement times increased and the technical execution of the lunge changed, leading to more errors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The jackal is renowned for its cleverness in predating on livestock. Jackal hunting became an institutionalised practice at a time when most of Namibia’s agricultural lands were fenced under the colonial administration. By keeping the socio-ecological history of colonialism in mind, this paper introduces hunting in southern Namibia as a game of territoriality in which the jackal and the hunter always try to outmaneuver each other. Jackal hunting is also analysed as a site for social and racial differentiation, cultural capital and an embodied practice that illustrates the many contradictions embedded in the postcolonial scheme for community development through biodiversity conservation. Together these considerations attempt to introduce rural postcolonial Namibia as a biopolitical landscape in which the logics of power are shown to be manifest in the technologies involved with animal governance and killing, the semiotic currencies of animality and labour, and the agency of the notorious jackal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance testing in fencing is only meaningful in combination with fast and complex movement demands for the tested athlete. Therefore, a fencing robot has been developed in cooperation with the German Fencing Federation and the national fencing team that can perform fast movements back and forth. It has 10 LED target areas distributed over its body which represent visual signals to start the fencing attack. The duration of time to hit the target area is measured. The robot′s front arm is motorized to parry expected attacks of the fencer. Through pre-defined programs, where back and forth movement of the robot, moment of visual attack signals and movement of the weapon arm are set, a realistic and reproducible combat situation is provided. Several safety measures like ultrasonic range finders and electric safety edges are installed in the front and the rear to prevent the athlete or the surrounding of a collision. The fencing robot is integrated in a complex performance test to analyze speed, endurance, tactics, and technique in elite fencers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors previously reported that asymmetrical patterns of hand preference are updated and modified by present sensorimotor conditions. They examined whether participation in long-term training in the upper extremity sport fencing might modify arm selection and performance asymmetries. Eight fencers and eight nonfencers performed reaching movements under 3 experimental conditions: (a) nonchoice right, (b) nonchoice left, and (c) choice, either right or left arm as selected by subject. The nonchoice conditions allowed assessment of potential interlimb differences in movement performance, while the choice condition allowed assessment of the frequency and pattern of arm selection across subject groups. Our findings showed that the athlete group showed substantially greater symmetry in the performance and selection measures. These findings suggest that arm selection and performance asymmetries can be altered by intense long-term practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the use of technology in teaching fencing. Topics discussed include physical education teacher education (PETE), the two phases of a fencing course which are pre-competitive and competitive, and the atmosphere of mutual respect and consideration in face-to-face competition. iPad recordings of fencing practices is suggested.

Clinical analyses have shown that injuries and pain linked specifically to fencing training/competition were prevalent in 92.8% of fencers. Patellofemoral pain is the most common chronic injury in athletic populations and females are considered to be more susceptible to this pathology. This study aimed to examine gender differences in patellofemoral contact forces during the fencing lunge. Patellofemoral contact forces were obtained from eight male and eight female club level epee fencers using an eight-camera 3D motion capture system and force platform data as they completed simulated lunges. Independent t-tests were performed on the data to determine whether gender differences in patellofemoral contact forces were present. The results show that females were associated with significantly greater patellofemoral contact force parameters in comparison with males. This suggests that female fencers may be at greater risk from patellofemoral pathology as a function of fencing training/competition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As a self-employed sports consultant, I was overwhelmed when three of the athletes I work with were selected for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Working in a minority sport, I knew there would not be scope for me to attend to every step of the way; but like all good sports consultants, I was committed to doing the best I could to ensure these athletes performed at their peak when required. This paper follows my journey as performance coach with one Olympic athlete and the National coach, reviewing practice along the way through interviews, conferences, research, journal entries and the social media. It has led me to what some will see as a surprising conclusion; namely, that most sports science is not used in a functional way. Although my analysis is qualitative, I hope this account of what I did or observed will help us to rethink strategies going forward to Rio 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study was to test the effect that changing targets during a simple long lunge attack in fencing exerts on the temporal parameters of the reaction response, the execution speed, and the precision and the coordination of the movement pattern. Thirty fencers with more than 10 years of experience participated in this study. Two force platforms were used to record the horizontal components of the reaction forces and thereby to determine the beginning of the movement. A three-dimensional (3D) system recorded the spatial positions of the 9 markers situated on the fencer plus the epee, while a moving target was projected on a screen, enabling the control of the target change. The results indicated that when a target change is provoked the reaction time (RT), movement time (MT), and the time used in the acceleration phase of the centre of mass (CM) increases significantly with respect to the attack executed with a straight thrust. The speed and horizontal distance reached by the CM at the end of the acceleration phase (VX(CM)and SX(CM), respectively) significantly decreased, while the errors increased. However, the temporal sequence of the movement pattern did not appreciably change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ergogenic effect of caffeine on sports performance focuses predominantly on endurance sports (Doherty & Smith, 2004) with little research on intermittent high intensity sports. This study aimed to explore the effect of caffeine ingestion on skill maintenance following fencing simulated exercise. Eleven competitive fencers participated (four female; seven male; age 33 ± 6.5 years). Following a maximal test to exhaustion, fencers completed two trials assessing accuracy and reaction times (Stroop test) before and after a fatiguing protocol designed to simulate the demands of a fencing competition. Skill testing involved 30 lunges to hit a target. 500 ml placebo or 3 mg · kg−1caffeine supplemented drink was administered after the initial reaction and skill tests in a single-blind crossover design. The fatiguing protocol involved simulating six fights with 6-minute rests between each. Fencers rated their perceived exertion (arm, legs, overall) using the Borg scale. There was no overall effect of caffeine on total skill score (P = 0.40), however there was a tendency for fewer misses with caffeine (P = 0.10). Caffeine had no effect on the Stroop Test. Caffeine produced significantly lower perceived fatigue for overall (P < 0.01). These results provide some support for caffeine producing maintenance of skill and reducing perceived fatigue during fencing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper recounts the pioneering roles played by Frank B. Gilbreth and Walter C. Camp in using motion pictures to chart the swings of early twentieth-century golf champions. Drawing on personal correspondence between Gilbreth and Camp, and rarely accessed published materials, it reveals the heretofore untold events leading to the publication of the first motion studies of golf. Together Gilbreth and Camp – the ‘Father of Motion Study’ and the ‘Dean of American Sports’ – combined their talents to influence the world of golf in a manner that is yet evident today. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Royal Armouries MS I.33 is the oldest known surviving manual of swordplay, dating to around 1320. The manuscript is in generally good condition considering it has made its way through raided monasteries, ducal libraries, and likely a soldier's kit bag over its 700-year life. But has it survived this journey completely intact? A closer look reveals compelling evidence to suggest that portions of this important manuscript may, in fact, be missing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an earlier issue, Dr. Timothy Dawson suggested that the fighting techniques found in Royal Armouries MS I.33 may have been influenced by earlier Byzantine sword and shield combat. For evidence, he cites a series of 9th-century ivory carvings depicting similar positions found in I.33. This article is a response to Dr. Dawson's, in which it is argued that there is ample evidence for similar combat positions being found in Western Europe that both pre-date and are contemporary with I.33. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]