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Originally Posted by Slim Thanks for the explaination James. If it's already pretty clear he is always going to have a height disadvantage (I'm 5'7", my wife is 5'0", and he's probably not going to get past 5'6" if he is lucky), won't he have to just make these adjustments part of his normal style since he will almost always be facing larger opponents? Will he really ever have to un-train himself? It seems like the height ratio between he and the other fencers will probably never change much.
Slim |
Well, that's a training decision that you, he and his coach (who apparently has the intellect of a bag of broken hammers) have to figure out.
The answer is that he may depending on what techniques he uses to overcome that disadvantage and what the size difference is. The reach difference between a 6'5" fencer and a 5'10" fencer is not as great as the difference between a pre-pubescent 10 year old male and a pubescent 12 year old male. The physical size difference is one relatively constant factor, but the development of muscles and reflexes is something likely to even out over time.
Let's take the parry riposte issue for example. The current way to make that work is for your son to take a step on the riposte in order to make up the tempo difference. So the requirement is going to be to teach and emphasise attacks with opposition in foil. Basically, bigger, harder, faster, parries. Technically this is going to require him to learn and master a first intention game since second intention (feint disengage) isn't possible for him to do with huge parries.
Your opponent learns this behaviour so what does he do?
Your opponent disengages your son's huge parry and he's pooched. Maybe your son pulls distance and tries another parry. Enter marching attack.
Your opponent pulls distance and now your son is hooped. What does your son do to compensate? He takes another step and closes the distance again, or he fleches but now the opponent has enough space to remise into your son and get the one light.
All this time you're working actions that are technically sketchy in order to make up for a physical weakness. As time goes on and your son is able to fence on more equal physical footing, he's got all these bad habits that he's picked up trying to beat kids that are bigger, stronger and faster then him instead of working the basics and refining the motions. It's the short-term gain, long-term pain kind of problem everyone above is talking about.
A much better way would be for your son to continue to fence with fewer and fewer mistakes. Any big opportunities available he certainly takes advantage of, but the focus is not on fighting your opponent's strength but rather getting them to make a mistake that you then capitalise on.
If you want my training advice as a coach, I would encourage your son to continue fencing the bigger guys. If he's up for it. I'd encourage him to fence u15, u17 and open. Basically, I'd get him to fence in competition as often as he possibly could. BUT, it would have to be fun, he would have to keep a journal of what worked and what didn't and we'd spend class time drilling and working refinements in technique. Specifically, footwork and blade deceptions, working on teasing the opponent out of position, taking the attack smoothly home and parry-riposting any post-light actions. In short, the basics. I would not be working how to beat taller opponents per se, but rather teaching habits that give your son advantage in the future and let him fence a technical game.
The real secret to beating those tall viking like guys is to know their habits beforehand and take advantage of them in the bout. The whole purpose of your son losing in this context is for your son to build up intel on the other guys on the circuit and learn the proper way to take advantage of their weaknesses. As well, your son keeps learning how to see what is an opportunity and how to safely take advantage of it.
Just my $.02 CAD.
James.
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