foil parry practice

[Bryan J. Maloney]

hmslion@aol.com (HMS Lion) nattered on
thusnews:20040204215957.22659.00000950@mb-m19.aol.com:

> right through your lungs. That's why duels were fought to first,
> second, or third blood, depending on the gravity of the offense

When and where?

[Bryan J. Maloney]

Zebee Johnstone <zebee@zip.com.au> nattered on
thusnews:slrnc23e2m.lt7.zebee@zeus.zipworld.com.au :

> Plus there are plenty of accounts of people with quite serious wounds
> just keeping on going. I've had 3" of metal in my leg and it didn't
> slow me down much, and I'm no macho man.

[cbigam@somewhereelse.nucleus.com]

HMS Lion <hmslion@aol.com> wrote:

(snipped)
> As a consequence, a point system for epee is not appropriate - though a return
> to the classic one-touch bout could be justified.

I could argue here, that a point system for any form of dueling is not
appropriate. However; modern foil, epee, and sabre are not dueling. They're
all sports! If you MUST duel for authenticity's sake, then join the SCA
or form a new sport.

Don't get me wrong--I love fencing, and I have a fascination with
classical swordplay. I just don't see that there's enough similarity
between them anymore to argue (endlessly!) over which form of modern
fencing and scoring is closest to "correct."

OK, that's all.
Colin

[Trim Plus Expert]

In fact I am moving a lot,
I began with foil and do a lot of saber so when I fence epee I can't slow
down, however that doesn't mean I double touch often, when I am beign
counter attacked or just attack i prefer driving of my opponent blade then
have a hit rather than double touch i prefer beign touched alone. I know a
fencer who as soon as he get 1 point of avantage only do double touch and
menage to win. But you almost cannot get the advantage cos he always touch
you at the same time. Lot of fencer have trouble with him but not me. I try
to have only one light hit, always. I remember last match i meet him. It
goes 5-1 for me but he beaten the guy who eliminated me 15-6 his match was
like this : 1-1,2-2,3-3,4-4,5-5,6-5,7-6,8-7,9-8,10-9, like this to 15 .
One of the more boring match i never seen.

Agleos


"Jonathan Jefferies" <jonathanjefferies@alamedanet.net> a écrit dans le
message de news:402196d7$0$32589$2c56edd9@news.cablerocket.co m...
> Trim Plus Expert wrote:
> > I should
> > But foil is good, epee too, like it was 30 years ago,
> > you know all that whackin' now, it makes the right of way hmmm .... I
mean
> > that there are many double hit now, too much so something should be
done.
> >
> > A mix of epee and foil would be nice we could call it hmmm ... don't
know
> >
> > Agleos
>
> A sabreur of my acquaintance, lovely Rita Cooms, once commented that
> epee was like two preying mantises staring each other down.
> The first one that blinked loses.
> That may have been true in days past but today the
> younger set particularly the top level epeeists move.
> Hey that's true even in the veterans, just watch John Moreau
> or better yet try fencing him. And if you're moving a lot
> then the possibilities of a double touch are greatly increased.
>
> I suspect that based on the tenor and subject of a number of
> posts that you guys are just letting getting old get to you! =
>
> J.
>

[Graynor]

Harold Buck at no_one_knows@attbi.com wrote on 2/4/04 09:43:

> If anyone *really* cared, they could look into putting a sensor on the
> weapon arm of each person and on their hip to determine electronically
> who began extending first and whether the arm had been withdrawn,
> allowing the other person to take over right of way. They could also
> have the system detect parries based on blade contact. With some
> work--and a lot of money--you could eliminate most of the work for foil
> referees, limiting them mostly to giving out cards and saying "Fence!"


*shudder* You MUST be joking. Just the thought of that sends me in to a
panic, remembering the "bad old days" of sabre captuers and their little
constantly malfunctioning accelerometers. You know, the ones designed to
know when you were actually moving your arm...

Cheers,
David Sierra

To reply off-list remove NOSPAM from address

[Byrocat]

Sara,

Here's a suggestion to verify if your parries are being made properly: use a
mirror and a friend.

Work through the parries in order, concentrating on position (especially
controlling the point so that it's inward of your hand -- opponent's blade
will be deflected outwards on a completed parry.) Hand should generally be
at the outline of your body - minimum distance needed to have your
opponent's blade miss you. (Conservation of energy -- yours)

For foil, the basic four are best -- quarte, sixte, septime and octave. Work
one side, always starting from sixte and returning there; then going from
quarte.

Once you feel really comfortable, your friend now stands in front of you
(back to the mirror, covering your reflection) and starts calling parry
positions at random (yes, just like Simon says). Their other job is to
visually check your position from their perspective but only quickly (too
far! not enough! good!)

Next step is to do a variation on the Grand Salute. Instead of calling the
shots, you now go back and forth parry-riposte-parry-riposte, slowly at
first and then picking up the pace. No motion of the bodies, pure arm
motion.

Sorry if it sounds stilted -- I learned under a student of Roger Crosnier.
Big emphasis on repetition to nail down the body's actions and reactions.

The really down part is that I have three left feet -- doing things with a
rhythm is almost impossible for me unless I'm trying to do something without
rhythm -- nicke an animated metronome.

"Sara Stearns" <frankitamonkita at nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bvaiov011n8@enews2.newsguy.com...
> I'm only in my first year in fencing and I'm having trouble with my
parry's.
> Does anyone have any suggestions, as far as drills and such go, how I
could
> improve my defensive skills?
> Thanks!
> Sara
>
>

[Zebee Johnstone]

In rec.sport.fencing on Sat, 21 Feb 2004 00:05:02 -0500
Byrocat <strikemaster2000@yahoo.ca> wrote:
> Sara,
>
> Here's a suggestion to verify if your parries are being made properly: use a
> mirror and a friend.
>
> Work through the parries in order, concentrating on position (especially
> controlling the point so that it's inward of your hand -- opponent's blade
> will be deflected outwards on a completed parry.) Hand should generally be

Be careful though.... the more inwards the point, the easier it is for
the opponent to come around the side and go past your blade.

Zebee