The Fencing Alphabet

Happy Xmas to all you readers out there and a succesful New Year as well!

A is for Awareness - pay attention to even small things
B is for Balance balance balance
C is for cutting - something you only do with a sabre
D is for Distance distance distance
E is for Experience - which you normally only get just after you needed it!
F is for Footwork which underpins everything
G is for Grace - which our fencing should have
H is for Hitting and not being hit
I is for Instinct - it comes after many years of practice
J is for Judgement - you must cultivate this to succeed
K is for Knowledge - any fight where you don't increase this hasn't been a complete success
L is for Lunge. The basic move which takes years to perfect
M is for Mobility and using all the piste
N is for New - there is always something new to find in fencing
O is for Opportunity - watch out for them at all times
P is for Practice practice practice
Q is for Quiet reflection - something you should attempt after every match or lesson
R is for Respect, for the sport, your opponent and the President
S is for Spirit - every good move should have it
T is for Timing or Thrusting which you do with a foil and epee
U is for Using your opponent's strengths against them
V is for Variety - something all fencers should have in their game
W is for Winning, which is nice, but isn't everything
X is for messing up alphabets
Y is for Youth and enthusiasm; usually defeated by age and cunning!
Z is for Zanshin or 'Lingering Mind'. Really good fencers have it!

Momentum is your Enemy - Balance is your Friend

Last night my Coach and I gave a foil lesson on reacting to a defender's response. (We did the lesson initially for Foil then applied it later to Epee). The basic premise was that you stepped in to engage your partners blade in sixte and they had the choice of two reactions: a) they left their blade still so you attacked down it with coule or b) they evaded your blade with a counter-disengage returning to sixte, whereupon you then beat their blade and attacked with fleche. The objective of the lesson was to be able to execute a brief pause after your initial engagement before selecting and executing the right attack in response to their action. Most of the students contented themselves with mastering the blade work of the two techniques which is a fine ambition but the essential thing that really determines success and failure is your balance and control of your momentum.
When you step forward and engage with your legs too straight and your feet too close together your centre of balance invariably sways over and beyond your front knee. From here you will be unable to execute a controlled attack and will end up in a sort of falling over type effort as you desperately stick your arm out. Conversely, if you have your feet too far apart you will be unable to complete the final lunge as you are already nearly completely lunged anyway. As usual in fencing the ideal is a half way position with the legs bent, weight sunk through the hips and the feet slightly more than shoulder width apart. If you can maintain this position you should be able to control your momentum effectively, pausing before executing the correct attack.
This is a classic example of a circumstance where the attention is drawn to the obvious aspects of the technique (the blade work) when the secret is really in the less obvious aspects (the footwork and balance). In Japanese martial arts this known as discerning the omote and ura of a technique or the 'hidden side' and the 'front side'. All fencing techniques should be examined in this way as there is always something to be discovered behind even the simplest move.

Xmas Quiz

I usually put together a Xmas quiz for my Saturday club, so I thought I'd put it on here as well. Might get you pondering...
1. Ferailleur is a fencing term for what?
a) A type of foil guard b) a clumsy fencer who relies on brute force c) a leaping
footwork movement
2. Who is the current British Women’s Foil Champion ?
a) Martina Emmanuel b) Liz Bryant c) Anna Bentley
3. Which fencing master patented the ‘Mysterious Circle’?
a) Gerard Thibaust b) Andrew Sowerby c) Domenico Angelo
4. A ‘fluking iron’ is a derogatory term for what?
a) A foil b) An epee c) A German duelling sword
5. What would you be doing if you were carrying out an impetinata?
a) Leaping backward b) striking the ground lightly with your front foot
b) leaping forward
6. Which Shakespearean play features a duel between Mercutio and Tybalt?
a) The Merchant of Venice b) Romeo and Juliet c) Hamlet
7. What does ‘Zorro’ translate as?
a) The Wolf b) The Fox c) The Shadow
8. What is a ‘Zweyhander’?
a) a left handed fencer b) a two handed sword c) a Dutch fencer
9. Which of these is an attack?
a) a Froissement b) a contre-parade c) a counter pass
10. What is a ‘Klopffechter’?
a) an itinerant German fencer from the 16th century b) a poor fencer c) a type of
parrying dagger
11. Fencer A fleches at Fencer B who does not parry but ducks and hits with a stop
hit. Fencer A follows B down and hits to the back. Who gets the point?
a) Neither, the hits are simultaneous b) Fencer A c) Fencer B
12. If you forget your plastron can you fence at your club?
a) Yes, as long as you don’t fence electric b) yes as long as you don’t get hit
c) No
13. Fencer A beats the blade of Fencer B aggressively causing them to drop their
foil and then lunges and hits on target. Should a hit be awarded?
a) No b) Yes c) Yes, but only if the hit was made before the foil was dropped
14. What is a ‘schlager’?
a) a type of beer b) a type of sword c) a type of parry
15. Which guard position is in the low line under the sword arm on a left hander?
a) octave b) septime c) tierce
16. Name the missing Musketeer (not counting D’Artagnan). Porthos... Athos...and?
a) Arromanche b) Aramis c) Avalanche
17. Which is not true of the Chevalier d’Eon?
a) he dressed as a woman b) he was a spy for Louis XV c) he was killed in a
duel with Angelo
18. You take off your mask between hits during a fight. Can you be penalised?
a) yes, if you have been warned already by the President b) no c)
it is down to the discretion of the President
19. What is passivity?
a) a weak grip b) a penalty where one or both fencers show no willingness to
fight
c) not scoring a point during a fight
20. What phrase bests describes the philosophy of foil?
a) to hit and not be hit b) hit at all costs c) don’t get hit at all

Enjoy!

Reflections

It's been a bit quiet on here lately but I have been reflecting away in the background about what to write. My energies have recently been taken up with epee and the recent club competition where I probably ended up in the right place in the final placings according to my current ability with the weapon. I did glean a lot of experience from it such as:
It's difficult to de-program 20 years of foil experience in a few months - and I'm not sure I'd want to completely do this anyway!
There are common techniques that are effective between foil and epee and they are circular sixte parries with ripostes made in opposition, binds, fleches with binds
There are bound to be more when I think about it some more
I really need to get my arm out and leave it there when fencing epee, there is no need to feint and disengage, particularly whilst flecheing
I still need to remain calmer in the face of frustration, but as Abi pointed out to me, it's ok to get annoyed with myself as it shows I love what I do
What I do need to do is emotionally leave a fight behind and move onto the next one
The only person who puts pressure on you - is you!
As part of my epee experience I've been getting some great advice from people recently as well, which is where some of the insights above have come from. So thanks to everyone who has taken the time to pass on their thoughts, it is greatly appreciated. I suppose some people would say I think too much about fencing but I personally don't think you can ever over analyse things if you want to learn. Over train yes, over-analyse no.