What's your point (doing)?

I'd like to talk about point control in this post. I was observing some fencing last night and it struck me that it would be a really interesting exercise if it were possible to analyse how much time the point of a fencer's foil was actually pointing at the opponent during a match. I've seen statistics for other sports on television where they give a percentage time that the ball was actually in play. In most cases it seems that the actual time the ball is in play is somewhere around 60% of the match, which seems quite poor to me - especially if you're paying money to watch.
A similar factor exists in foil fencing. The foil is a thrusting weapon therefore the only important part of the foil in scoring a hit is the point. Anything that removes the point from threatening the target area is in fact non-productive time. Even a parry is non-productive if it is not immediately followed by a riposte with the point. You may argue that a parry is productive because it prevents you getting hit; I would argue that it is preventative rather than productive as it doesn't get you anything without the riposte. So anything you do with a foil should be with the intention of placing the point on your opponent's target area. You should always as a minimum be looking to keep your point in the general direction of your opponent as you never know, they may just obligingly run onto it! Also, in moments of desperation you can stop thrust with more confidence that you may score a valid hit. So what sort of control are we talking about? Imagine you are looking at your opponent. They are in the on guard position and their body is not quite square on to you. I contend that where possible, you should keep your foil pointing at an imaginary box running across the width of their shoulders and down to the line of their hips. Obviously there may be some techniques where this may not be practical such as broken time, cut over and (possibly) flick ripostes, but in general keep your point in line. This is particularly relevant in disengage, compound and beat attacks as by removing the point from the line you jeopardise your chances of making a valid hit and are less likely to make a convincing feint in the first place. Musashi said "......when you take up the sword, in any case the idea is to kill the opponent. Even though you may catch, hit or block and opponent's slashing sword, or tie it up or obstruct it, all of these moves are opportunities for cutting an opponent down. This must be understood.... It is crucial to think of everything as an opportunity to kill. This should be given careful consideration." I think if you substitute the words "hit with the point" for "kill" this encapsulates the topic perfectly.