Bout length

[ravana83]

As a high school fencer in NJ, all the fencing I have done is 5 touch bouts. I know that in college and real fencing the bouts are 15 points long. Do you think that longer bouts directly lead to the better fencer having an advantage due to less luck? Also, how can I transition succesfully? I have been trying to fence 15 point bouts but I notice that after the first about 10 points the opponents can almost read my thoughts and actions quite easily.

[Purple Fencer]

Originally posted by ravana83:
<STRONG>As a high school fencer in NJ, all the fencing I have done is 5 touch bouts. I know that in college and real fencing the bouts are 15 points long. Do you think that longer bouts directly lead to the better fencer having an advantage due to less luck? Also, how can I transition succesfully? I have been trying to fence 15 point bouts but I notice that after the first about 10 points the opponents can almost read my thoughts and actions quite easily.</STRONG>

Actually , that's not quite right. A fencing tournament (individual events, not teams) usually has two rounds, the first is pools, -- those are the 5 touch bouts you're currently fencing, and you'll only do them against a small number of people. Their purpose is to seed the entire competitive field into the direct elimination round, and THOSE are the 15 touch bouts.

As far as your other question, that's hard to say. Beginners will tend to do the same thing tactically in a DE as they would in a pool. Once you get more experience, you'll find that the longer length of a DE gives you - and your opponent - much more time to figure out the other side. That's probably why you're hitting a wall at 10 points...your opponent's figured out something you're doing or are liable to fall for and is taking advantage of it.

Just keep plugging away. It'll come to you. It took me about a full season for anything to start coming together, and it wasn't until Nationals this year that I started getting better at DE tactics.

Keep in mind - in DE - that if you can finish your opponent off in the first 3 minute period, so much the better. That one minute break between periods usually translates into a change in tactics by the guy who's losing. You need to be prepared for it.

[swordsen]

That is exactly the purpose of the 15 touch bout. To reduce the lucky couple of touches factor.
As for your problem with the opponent figureing out what you are doing, that will come with practice. You need to change the pace abit from your 5 touch bouts. It will come.