4 things to know about fencing, according to Olympic fencer Kat Holmes

Kat Holmes Good Riddance [Time of Your Life] Daylight Here’s to the Night Future This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

There are actually 3 different types of fencing

FTW: How would you describe fencing to someone who has never seen it before?  There’s foil, epee and sabre. (I fence epee. So, you should only watch epee. No, I’m kidding.) Epee is actually the easiest to watch and the easiest to understand. Basically, the whole body’s target, and you hit with the tip. It’s kind of like a clicky-top pen. So, when you compress the tip, a light goes off. So, if I hit and compress that tip, a light goes off. If we both hit at the same time, we’ll both get a point. In foil, you can only hit on the chest. There’s this silver thing called a lamé you have to hit on the chest. You also hit with a point. In sabre, you hit from the waist and up, and instead of hitting with the point, you cut and slash. Foil and sabre have these complicated rules called right of way, where you have to have control of the action to score - meaning you either have to score in attack or in defense, you have to parry the blade. So, you knock the blade out of the way. You have control of the blade before you hit.

The sport has deep Olympic ties

FTW: What are important things new fans should know about Olympic fencing? How is the Olympic stage different from other stages? It’s one of the original sports to be held in the modern Olympic games. So, the premise is epee ... it comes from actual combat. You’re trying to draw blood. Foil is the court form, like what you practiced in the courts. You could only hit on the torso. The foil is much lighter. And then sabre comes from the cavalry. So, you’re on a horse. You’re slashing, and you’re cutting your sabre, and you want to kill the man but save the horse, who’s a spoil of war.

Team USA is actually really good

FTW: Tell us about Team USA and your thoughts on competing in Paris. Next to dressage, we have the most [expletive] venue at the Olympics. We’re gonna be at the Grand Palais, which is this insane old building that they’ve been tricking out. It’s gonna be an amazing venue to have a competition at.

Fencers actually wear an extension cord while competing

FTW: What kind of special equipment do you compete in? Is there a secret or weird thing you use that most people wouldn’t suspect?

This article originally appeared on For The Win: 4 things to know about fencing, according to Olympic fencer Kat Holmes