The parry is a complex activity that can be described in a number of ways. Barbasetti defined the parry conceptually as an action which is aimed to defeat the opponent’s attack. That has come to be interpreted as a specific family of blade actions – blade contact by the blade…
(18) Question – what does the parry prepare? ANSWER – the riposte.
Question – from the referee’s perspective what is the difference between a beat and a parry?Answer – a beat is an offensive action that strikes the opponent’s blade on the outer two-thirds of its length from the guard. A parry is an action that defeats the opponent’s by interposing the inner one-third…
QUESTION – what is an invitation? ANSWER – a movement to create an apparent, but false, opportunity to draw an opponent’s attack or counterattack.
QUESTION – what is a first intention action? ANSWER – an attack or riposte executed to hit the opponent in one or multiple tempos of continuous attacking action.
QUESTION – what is preparation? ANSWER – any actions taken to create the conditions for a successful final action of an attack or counterattack
I have addressed distance a number of times over the years in this blog. Today I am going to summarize my current thinking and suggest how distance interfaces with tactics. First – distance is often defined in terms of how far one fencer is from another on the piste. The…
In modern fencing we typically classify fencing actions as offense, defense, and counteroffense. The objective of offense is to hit – it includes the simple and compound attacks, the attacks on the blade and takings of the blade, the riposte, and the renewals of the attack. Defense attempts to prevent…
Parries form the preparation for a successful riposte. As a result the selection of the parry makes a significant difference to the progress of a bout, the final score, and to your indicators, just like the preparation of any successful attack does. The same basic rules apply to the parry…
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…