F is for Fencing

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

Fencing has been an Olympic sport since 1896 although of course people have been fighting with swords for thousands of years.  It was used for military training before gradually transitioning to a sport around the 15th Century.  

There are 3 events using the 3 different types of sword  epee, foil and sabre.  It's all quite sophisticated with different techniques for each sword type and a range of equipment needed including of course in this modern age electronic equipment that can detect when an opponent is hit. 

It always seemed to me to be quite an elite sport due to the expensive equipment required but it's definitely become more widespread - the school I worked at ran an after school fencing club and there are clubs all over the country.

It's not a sport that's ever appealed to me though and having to wear one of these would not help change my mind.

Of course I probably should have written about Football for F as it's such a national sport in the UK.  Not that we're so spectacular at it.  We seem to bask in the glory of the 1966 World Cup and fail to accept that we need to do better to emulate that performance.  With two sons who enjoy football it's hard to get away from it in my house.

As for other F sports there is Footbag which involves kicking a Footbag (or Hacky Sack) over a net.  A sort of combination of football, volleyball and tennis.

There are various freestyle sports and of course fishing.  And then there are Flying Disc sports which not only include standard things like discus but also games such as Flutterguts which is basically dodgeball played with a frisbee.

Then there is Floorball, which is a form of Hockey and Flyak which is a different design of a Kayak involving hydrofoils.

But the prize for the daftest F sport has to go to Ferret Legging.  This involved trapping a Ferret down trouser legs so can also be considered as an endurance sport as the world record is 5 hours and 30 minutes!  I don't recommend trying it at home, ferrets have sharp teeth!

Fortunately I've never sustained any sporting injuries due to animals but I have been on the wrong end of both a rounders bat and a hockey stick in my youth.  Sport can be a risky thing.  What about you?  Any sporting injuries?