“Fight on all occasions.”

Definitely one of the highlight of the trip was visiting Salle d’Armes Coudurier, the oldest active fencing salle in Paris, founded in 1886.

I learned about this place originally from my buddy Pat Bratton. I was hesitant to go, primarily cause I didn’t think my French was strong enough to communicate with folks well but I reminded myself that fencing was a universal language.

I went and I’m really glad I did. Had an absolute blast.

Retaining the Magic of Traditional Fencing

The salle itself is magical. It’s tiny and old, and really has that vintage fencing salle aura one would expect from the 19th Century. The walls are line with foils, epees, sabers, masks, old vintage fencing gear, weapons and armor, and vintage fencing art. If you want atmosphere in your fencing experience, this is the place.

The pistes are very narrow, and look to be cork wrapped in leather. Everything is so cramped that knocking weapons off the wall and needing to pause so folks can move behind you to and from the locker room is a regular occurrence.

If you are at all into classical or traditional fencing, you should swing by the salle in Paris if you can. It’s worth it just to look at it.

The school teaches traditional French fencing with the foil, epee and saber (so how fencing was done before electric scoring). Most of the folks there focused on the foil (fleuret, in French).

They had a few Italian foils, which I’m more used to, but they were antiques and I would’ve felt awful if I broke them, so I used one of their modern French foils. First time using a French foil in like 15+ years, ha.

Working with the Maître

Maître Jean-Pierre Pinel de la Taule was great to work with. Very kind and patient, despite the slight language barrier. I understand enough French to have very basic interactions but not much beyond that. Fortunately, the students there knew plenty of English and could translate between us when we were having more in-depth conversations.

Just as fortunate, the language of fencing is pretty universal, so taking lessons was not a problem at all.

The lessons with Maître Pinel were fun and went well. Fencing is fencing, at the end of the day. By the end of the three days there I had picked up enough French fencing terminology — battement, désengagement, changement, tiroir (no idea if I’m getting the spelling down). He gives everyone a lesson with their dominant hand and then their non-dominant hand. And despite the lightness of the foil, my left arm was on fire by the end of those simple 10 minute lessons.

He also had very kind things to say about my fencing. Hard not to feel good when your fencing is described as “elegant and efficient.”

He did allow me to snag video of our lesson, though he had me put the camera in the corner. So it’s not the best angle. It’s closer to traditional fencing ASMR than a learning video for y’all, but enjoy just the same. Was glad I could get any vid while I was there.

Home Away From Home

The fencers there were also very warm and welcoming. Lots of talent there of various experience levels. As soon as I got the floor, Maître Pinel threw folks at me to fence. The fencers there were eager to chat and play, and explained the cultural norms of their school (such as letting the opponent get one more touch in after you’ve beaten them, aka “La Votre“, etc.).

I also learned the hard way that when they say “10 more?” they mean “first to 10 touches” and not “10 touches total.” And since we’re fencing by traditional rules, there’s right of away, so off-target touches don’t count. Those 10 touches could end up like 30 passes if targeting was off. 😂😂

It was really fun to fence folks from an entirely different country, let alone school or system. It was great practice for learning to read the opponent and create a game plan there on the spot. It was also cool to just talk shop with new faces and leave my comfort zone a little bit at the same time felt 100% at home there.

Bonding and Making New Friends

It was also interesting to compare how their school is run with what I do at Boston Academie d’Armes. Basically, everyone gets a couple of short 1:1 lessons with the master and the rest of the time is pickups. You stay as long as you like and leave when you’re done.

Most of the folks there knew enough English to have convos with. Most were really intrigued by how I even heard of there little salle in the corner of the world. It was cool to bond and make friends over a shared interest of traditional fencing.

All in all it was a great experience and I’ll def drop by again next time I’m in town!