If in doubt, watch

It's been a hard week this week and by the time I got to the salle for the weekly session I was feeling distinctly jaded and hardly had the energy to keep my eyes open, let alone fence. As it happens I was able to observe some fights from the vantage of the sidelines and found that yet again this is a very instructional use of time. The third person viewpoint is really a good way of recognising other fencer's habit patterns and giveaways; turning that to your advantage is another trick entirely!