Envelopes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and are used to convey a wide variety of things. In this post we are talking about envelopes in fencing, specifically your tactical envelope, what it is made of, and how it is used. The concept of a tactical envelope is…
Fencing is a complicated sport. There is a lot to know – the current United States edition of the Rule Book runs to 210 pages, the Athlete’s Handbook another 143. Surely we should know all those rules and procedures? The history of the sport is long and rich. Shouldn’t we…
Recently, in conversation with my colleague, Maitre Gil Pezza, I was introduced to the idea of lost time. It reminded me that I have long had an interest in real time in fencing and in the relationship between efficient use of time and the ability to hit. So in this…
Counterattacks pose a difficult problem. You are in the midst of an attack, which means that you are committed to going forward, and suddenly the opponent attacks into your attack. Your focus is on the successful completion of the attack, not on dealing with an attempt to hit you. You…
So there you are on the strip. It is a good day in the Salle except for one thing … you parry-riposte combination isn’t working. Or more correctly it is working just often enough to keep you using it and isn’t working just often enough to keep you losing touches.…
If you ask the average beginner or intermediate fencer what the purpose of a parry is, the standard reply is “to prevent the opponent’s attack landing as a hit.” From time to time you will hear “so I will get the right of way.” At various times in my life,…
If you buy a textbook on fencing, virtually any text, you will find either drawings or pictures of fencers perform the standard sets of parries for the various weapons. There they are, in a good guard position, with their arms and weapons properly positioned at just the right angle at…
Every fencer is at some point taught that there are three distances (we teach that there are at least 5 in foil, more in sabre, and even more in epee). When our attack falls short we know that it is because the distance was not right. If we are a…
So there you are, the perfect attack into the opening line and all is well with the world because the next touch will be yours. And then you feel it – blade contact. You know what that means – parry – and that a riposte is on its way. What…
One of the most dangerous situations in a phrase (a series of blade exchanges with or without footwork in one continuous action) is when you enter into a series of attack-parry-riposte-parry-1st counterriposte-parry- 2nd counterriposte-etc. The distance often shortens; in fact it may convert from an identifiable distance to infighting at…