A young fencer waits for the signal from the referee, called a president, to continue play during a bout at the Saskatchewan Provincial Fencing Tournament at the Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse in Prince Albert on Apr. 6, 2025. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By Logan Lehmann

Fencing

En garde: Fencing provincials attracts large crowd to Prince Albert

Apr 6, 2025 | 6:42 PM

Roughly 80 of the provinces best fencers were in Prince Albert over the weekend as the city hosted the Saskatchewan Provincial Fencing Tournament for the first time ever.

The event was hosted by the Prince Albert Northern Knights Fencing Club and was held in the gymnasium at the Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse. The tournament welcomed athletes of all ages from communities across Saskatchewan, including Swift Current, Regina, Saskatoon, Asquith and Melfort.

The clubs president Marcia Coulic-Salahub is a competitor herself and has been at the sport for five years. She said the sport was a family affair, leading her to giving it a try.

“My boys fenced for many, many years and then they needed a beginner coach. So, I started coaching and then I thought, well, if I’m coaching, maybe I should learn to actually fence,” she said.

A pair of young fencers go at it on the piste, or path, during the Saskatchewan Provincial Fencing Tournament at the Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse in Prince Albert on Apr. 6, 2025. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

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Fencing is one of the oldest Olympics sports, being a regular event at the games since 1896.

A fencing match, or bout, is played between two people who try to land a hit, or a touche, on their opponent with one of three types of swords: a foil, sabre, or épée. A point is scored when a player lands a touche and to win, a player must reach 15 points on their opponent before the time is up. A player can also win if they have more points than their opponent when the clock hits zero. Bouts are divided into three three-minute periods with a one-minute break in between each period.

Two fencers take jabs at one another during a bout at the Saskatchewan Provincial Fencing Tournament at the Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse in Prince Albert on Apr. 6, 2025. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

Coulic-Salahub explained that the different sword types determine where on the body a person can be hit, and which way a point can be scored.

For example, a person using an épée must stab their opponent with the tip of the sword on any part of their body, excluding the back of the head. Meanwhile, someone using a sabre can use the whole blade and must use a slashing motion to hit their opponent anywhere from the torso up. People using a foil must stab their opponent like they would using an épée but instead of the whole body being in play, only the torso can be hit.

“[The foil] does not include the arms, and it doesn’t include your mask or your head, so it’s more for beginners. Foil is where we start most of the kids because all the footwork is pretty much the same for all three weapons. From there as you get more developed into fencing, if you’re more of an épée then we’ll start you on there or if you really want to learn a different weapon, we definitely try to help.”

Following the provincial tournament, Coulic-Salahub said nationals are next up on the schedule where some of the athletes competing from this weekend are set to compete.

“I know a lot of people from Saskatoon will be going. I believe there might be one of our PA fencers, but I haven’t heard.”

The 2025 National Fencing Championships are set for May 16-19 in St. Catharines, Ont.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

On Bluesky: @loganlehmann.bsky.social