Picking a Fencing Mask

Video Transcript

"The first piece you're probably going to want to buy is your mask. Masks have to pass certain conditions to be regulation. Those are a little bit stronger. And they also cost a little bit more, so you'll want to decide before you purchase whether you're buying gear that you want fence in competitively, or if you're buying practice gear that you'll use before you get to a level where you want to purchase that equipment. You might want to borrow it from your club, or you might want to wait until a later date before you invest. Masks, like I said, great to buy, because I don't like using other peoples masks. You want to make sure that your mask fits snugly, but not too tightly. Really important is that this, which is called the bib, doesn't leave a lot of room between you--it needs to cover all of your neck, and make sure that there are no gaps where foils can slip through, because as you can imagine that can be quite uncomfortable and kind of dangerous. Also, masks are moldable, so don't be afraid when you get a new mask--when you get a brand new mask especially--to push on it, to make it fit your head. They're designed to be moldable that way. It also helps you achieve that custom fit that you're probably looking for. You need to know how to measure for a mask. They come in different sizes, sometimes by numbers, usually by small, medium, large. And what you want to do is measure the circumference of your head vertically, so that means you take a measurer like this, and you want to pull it around, under your chin, over your head, and have it touch your ears, through the center of your ears, as you come around your head, and see where that ends up. And if I reach here, I can see that I am about twenty three and a half to twenty-four inches, so I would take something like that and check a sizing chart. I know I got this one on fencing.net, and there's a chart that'll translate all of that for me. So, that translates to a medium, actually. So I'm a medium helmet. It's a good idea to get that fit ahead of time. Even though they're moldable, it's important to get the right size."