Premise 6: If the opponent’s blade is occupying the line you wish to attack (including the riposte) or counterattack, you have two choices. The first is to get to critical distance, the distance at which you can hit before the opponent can react, and then attack with a one-tempo action.…
Premise 4. No bout is over until it is over, no pool is over until it is over, no direct elimination is over until you either win or are eliminated. In this every touch is important. That seems obvious, but for many fencers it is not. Let’s take the touch.…
Third premise: The traditional view of fencing theory is that a tempo is the amount of time required to complete a simple action. Thus it is a period without a specific relationship to real time, and theoretically could be of any length. It is circular – the definition of a…
Over the years I have been a strong advocate of adherence to established fencing doctrine. That doctrine has evolved over the part 600 years and continues to evolve to codify the best way to hit an opponent within the constraints of the social context of the use of the weapon…
In earlier posts I have argued that a one tempo action can be subdivided into a start, an in-between period, and an end and that these subdivisions are what allow actions into an opponent’s tempo. This is the explanation of how a counterattack succeeds against a one tempo attack and…
How can you defeat an opponent? How can an opponent defeat you? There are a number of possibilities: (1) be faster, (2) be stronger, (3) be better known (yes, your reputation is worth touches in tight situations), (4) be taller, (5) have longer arms, (6) be more flexible, (7) know…
Recently a colleague (Chuck Alexander, a Prevot and very accomplished epee fencer) sent me a slide deck to review and comment on. As I read through the slides, I realized that it was perhaps important to review in this blog some thoughts on tempo and distance. First let me postulate…
We have all fenced bouts – there is nothing really special about it. You go out, fence until either you or your opponent get 5 touches (or 1, 10, or 15), win or lose. And then you do it again. But if that is your understanding of the bout, you…
In a previous post I provided an overview of counteroffensive actions. I think it may be worthwhile to delve deeper into the subject and look at how we can rationalize their use in the context of not giving the opponent the opportunity to score. First, lets look at the timeline…
So to start thinking about these three actions, our first question is what are they? The textbook definitions are: RIPOSTE – a riposte is the attack delivered by a fencer who has been attacked and successfully parries. I would add to this that the parry may be by blade or…