From time to time visioning has been mentioned in this blog, so it is time to review and add to what we know about this skill. Visioning is imagining the situation, the techniques and tactics, the opponent, the strip, and your and your opponent’s actions. Visioning is commonly used by…
QUESTION – what are the three standard hand positions applicable to all weapons? ANSWER – pronation (fingernails down), supination (fingernails up), and middle (thumb up)
QUESTION – what are the zones of the strip? ANSWER – the box between the on guard lines, the two maneuvering areas between the box and the warning area, and the two warning areas.
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…
QUESTION – what are the basic parries in each weapon? And what lines do they defend? ANSWER – FOIL AND EPEE – 6th outside high line, 4th inside high line, 7th inside low line, 8th outside low line ANSWER – SABRE – 3rd outside high line, 5th head and high…
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…
If you have been around fencing for any length of time, you have heard a specific action, let’s say a disengage, described as either a strategy, tactic, or technique. Two of the three choices here for a disengage are wrong. Do you know which ones? If you have been around…
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…
What do you do? The first, and possibly least often considered step, is to determine if you can attack. The key element here is whether or not you have the initiative and whether the rules and referees recognize that initiative. Initiative belongs to the individual who moves first. For example,…