Fencing last night at Mannheim. AL and I.

I warmed up with about 30 minutes of rope skipping and footwork, followed by the standard drills and wall drills. I want to reintroduce wall drills into our routine--they are somewhat static, but really help my focus, both on the attack and defense.

AL and I fenced two x 3 five-touch bouts, then fenced without keeping score for about 15 minutes. I concentrated on fencing with tempo and feeling, rather than power. Up and down--fencing, like squash, IMNSHO, is a game in which slight advantages or disadvantages can result in huge scoring differentials. If you are fencing someone who is basically about your level, you can easily win 5-2 if you are consistently inside his/her tempo, or lose 5-2 if he/she gets inside your tempo. This direction is where I want I want to go with my fencing, because I think it is more effective in the long run. Not to mention more interesting.

Fairly long lesson with Alex.

1. Cut to arm with advance, cut to head with lunge. Deceive as needed, retreat and parry riposte if cut to arm is parried, pursue if opponent retreats.

2. Back edge beat, cut to bottom of arm w/advance, cut to head with lunge. Variations as above. If opponent tries to parry cut to bottom of arm with second, deceive and cut to top of arm.

3. Retreating--stop cut when arm offered, parry-riposte.

4. Attack w/ pris de fer.

Nice lesson--I felt good and enjoyed training, which was nice.