A critical part of executing any technique on the strip or in drills is to simply get all of the parts moving in the right order at the right time. The need to do this applies to even the simplest of actions. When techniques are sequenced correctly, they can be…
Each year in December the Salle runs its Anniversary Tournament to celebrate our opening in a permanent location on 4 December 2004. The results from this year’s event are: FOIL – 12 December 1st – Max Kobal 2nd – Aaron Seal 3rd – Leopold Kobal 4th – Kapil Iyer 5th…
In previous blog posts we have discussed the concept of distance in some depth. In today’s post I am going to review those quickly, and then focus on the questions about distance you need to ask yourself when you are fencing. So, to quickly review: (1) Traditionally there were three…
As part of our series on fundamentals, this week we will look at the parry. In previous blog posts I have emphasized certain truths about the parry. These are worth restating to establish the context of this technique: Parries are defensive actions. They do not result in a touch being…
Continuing our series on fundamentals, this week we look at extensions. Extensions? What is an extension? Simply put an extension is the forward movement of the weapon arm with a trajectory such that the blade threatens the target with the point (all three weapons) or the cutting edge (sabre). In…
From time to time it is important to go back to fundamentals. Why? Because they are, well, fundamental. In any sport, and in the vast majority of things in life, there are core skills upon which everything else is built. You can’t go through the educational process and earn a…
Being able to do things quickly seems like a critical part of a fencer’s skill set. It is a simple thing – you just exert more effort and you will go faster, right? Actually, not so much. Speed is complicated, so let’s spend some time thinking about how to be…
For argument’s sake, let us say that you do everything right … your choice of footwork was correct for the situation, the parry is at the right distance, your riposte is correctly executed with no extra movement, timing is superb, speed is good, etc. But somehow the opponent sees what…
In the previous two posts in this series we have looked at ways to increase opponent decision making requirements and to employ second intention. This week we will look at the most basic consideration – how do you hit the opponent faster with your riposte? The reality is that ripostes,…
Last week we talked about application of basic technique to create multiple choices for the tactical execution of the riposte. This week we go back to the roots of our theory of fencing, that all fencing is about offensive or counteroffensive action. Too often fencers think that they are not…