How To Properly Hold A Sabre

Video Transcript

"JASON SHERIDAN: On behalf of Expert Village, my name is Jason Sheridan from the Sheridan Fencing Academy here in New York City, and today, we're going to demonstrate some intermediate sabre fencing. It's very important that you hold your weapon correctly. There are multiple ways to hold your sabre correctly. The very basic way, we start with the thumb opposite of curl on the guard about half an inch or so. The index finger, opposite the thumb, the other fingers curl around, like so, I'll show you without the glove on. Hold it right on the fingers. Notice that my hands aren't split open like so just here. This allows me to make cuts. I can make thrusts. I can change the position of the weapon in my hand depending on what I'm doing. Otherwise, to hold it includes holding it deep in the hand a little lower depending on what your goals are. Again, watch carefully. I'm holding it in the fingers, basic position, and depending on what I do, it changes its position in my hand, and that's key. It is not locked into place. The fingers manipulate the weapon. I can make thrusts. I can make cuts. I can make parries like so."