The remise disease?

[foilz]

I'm infected.

I'm working very hard to perfect a soft, relaxed, forward and backward movement, up and down the strip, just like you. Despite that, I have this weird tendency to hang in there and look for the opportunity to pop in a quick hit.

My coach is tearing his hair out. I'm the Remise-R-Us poster child in our club. It's getting bad.

Curiously, my remises are getting better. Once they were sloppy and ugly, if not downright dangerous. Now they are elegant and effective, possibly 60% of the time.

But I don't like being a remiser, based on the flak I'm getting. My plan is to fence soft, and fall in love with the ease and comfort of distance, offensively and defensively.

At this point, I don't know what to do. People say I should become an epeeist. Is this the answer?

I have a pretty good reach and lunge, if I remember to use it effectively. But the blood of a cheap hit makes me do strange things.

Some of you must have ideas about this. Please let me know.

[Epeecurean]

Nothing wrong with remising -- if you can pull it off without getting hit. In fact, you should purposely set up a remise touch when you know that your opponent's riposte is delayed or slow, or compound in nature. In doing this it's a good idea to do a parry after your remise so it is just a one-light phrase.

[Alan]

At this point, I don't know what to do. People say I should become an epeeist. Is this the answer?

Well if the broken foil test timings are kept, you'd better continue in Foilepee.

You may even become very good if you are a Remise specialist.

Fortunatly, it seems that a vast majority of foilists and foil trainers (and even 3 foil federations ) are against these broken test timings and that they will not be kept.

[Genjuro]

Maybe you can practise this in the form of a training bout, where you try to score points (at your normal fencing speed) by going for a parry counter-riposte. You can do this from a practice distance, and then (to make it more realistic) combine it with some footwork/distance playing games.
It sounds to me that you have developed a automatism, which is quite effective in practice, but tactically a dead end.

Ideally, you should decide the moment that your attack is parried, to either go back and parry your opponents riposte or, if he's not giving an immediate riposte, go and make a remise/reprise/redoublemant. If your fast enough, you can come back to your engarde position to catch the (delayed) reposte.

Hope this helps!

[Mr Epee]

At this point, I don't know what to do. People say I should become an epeeist. Is this the answer?

Yes! Yes, it is.


This is the only intelligent thing to do.

Seriously though, fencing epee you will still need to have control over your natural tendencies to succeed.

[Joe biebel]

While there is nothing wrong with remising, if you are trying to do something else and you just keep doing it, it can be most frustrating. One of the tactics I have employed with students is to "force" them to use the actions from the lesson. Whoever is directing, (even self-directed bouts) is required to discount hits not made in a certain way. We have also used this tactic to work on eliminating "remising at the drop of a hat" with some good result. It works something like this. Fencer "A" makes an advance lunge, remise. Fencer "B" makes a retreat and a parry/reposte. One light valid for "A". No Touch! Remise is not an option. On the other side of the coin, a couter-reposte by fencer "A" counts as 2 points. When even "one light" exchanges are thrown out (in some cases we will even count a touch made with a remise against the person scoring if they are just not getting it) this will eventually get the attention of the fencer.

A good remise is essential, but even with the new timings, I think it should be a surprise rather than the rule. If done with any predictability or consistancy any strong fencer will make it work against you. This is an important concept for any movement, not just the remise.

The point I am trying to make is to take away (in training) the positive reinforcement and maybe even give negative reinforcement to behavior (movements, tactics, etc.) that are not desired at the moment. It is important to have a plan when training, especially during bouting. Here is what I am going to do. Here is the tactic I will employ. Generally speaking, the task I will give myself or a student is to use a particular technique or tactic that they currently don't do well. We will then apply the same "logic" and scoring rules that I was describing for the remise scenario. The stuff you already have down pat needs very little work. This concept is used to help you move on to the other aspects of fencing.

Joe Biebel

[Zilverzmurfen]

People say I should become an epeeist. Is this the answer?

Whatever the question is, épée is always the answer!

[sabrebelle]

Regardless of the action (in this case, a remise) if you are using primarily one action in practice, and you've gotten pretty good at it, it's time to move on. Practice is for learning and perfecting a variety of actions that you can bring together in competition. If you are better at one action than anything else (and continue using it), then you are just wasting practice time. Move on to something else, and then come back to the remise when your other skills have caught up.

Remember, it takes practice (and often negative reinforcement) to train your body and mind to do things contrary to habit, but that skill is an essential part of becoming a better fencer.

I find that lessons and focused bouting/drills (concentrating on other skills) interspersed with some free bouting (to remind you of all your skills) is a good way to train out bad habits (including using the same action over and over, no matter how many touches you can score). It's not the points you score in practice that count....

[achilleus]

Foilz,

Joe Biebel had some excellent training advice above, so I'll just add, do you want to become a one hit wonder? Such fencers can do well in locally in the short run, but never really learn how to fence and plateau very early.

So, ask yourself, which do you want to be a fencer or a one hit wonder?

[InweCiryatan]

No no no! What ever you do don't let the epeeists brainwash you. They snagged my best friend

[Elemental]

Whatever the question is, épée is always the answer!

Even if the question is "what is the worst weapon"

[Alain]

Épée is the simplest (and, therefore [in my opinion] hardest) weapon - a quick and neat remise (or redouble) can be a good answer to a good defense. But it depends what level you're fencing at; even as an épéeist, I still score a good few hits with counter-riposte.

Whichever weapon you're practising: if circumstances permit, then a remise/redouble would be nothing more than common sense - the quickest way to score a hit. And although these moves are more associated with épée, the new timings mean that the same (well-executed) move is likely to work just as well in the other weapons.

Although I must commend Joe B for looking at developing other moves, I still think that you should bear in mind that against less tactically/technically-proficient opponents, a remise/redouble will get you the point. But, once again, you should always look ahead - be prepared for a deeper parry, or a delayed riposte, etc... whatever your opponent throws back at you, a good fencer will be able to take it in their stride and still score the hit.

Besides, in épée, there's a lot less arguing. So there

[counter riposte]

Remember, a remise by simple definition is always out of tempo and does not have the right of way. Especially in foil or sabre. To gain the touch, it is usually a one light action or your remise lands before your opponent's remise.

Think of it like... "Oh no, I missed my first attack.... remise, remise, remise....." Not good in terms of technique, but effective for newbee fencers.

In epee, the remise is actually to your advantage, because if you miss your first attack; the distance has already closed. The remise then beats out the riposte, resulting in one light.

Some coaches will actually beat the remise into you for epee, for the name of the game is to get your touch to land 1/40th of a second faster than your opponent.

My two cents: Try epee and see if you like it. You don't have to give up your foil (or your screen name), and in fact foil can still be an excellent training ground. By doing so, you allow yourself to experience more aspects of the game than doing foil alone. Further, you get to compete in two weapons at tournaments instead of just one, which makes traveling to a distant tournament (such as Nationals) worth the trip.

Good Luck!