coupe technique

[glowstix]

unfortunately, due to circumstances at my club(s), i still have to fence foil against my will and this week i was working on some "moves" and i tried a feint attack into 4 (me being lefty against a righty) and did a coupe over the blade and hit into 6. it kinda looked like a chest flick at times but then again not really. i then realised that my coupe technique is probably not that good.

so what is the technique of a proper coupe?? i had been doing it from the wrist with some forearm motion but it ends up looking like a bad flick..help!! (of course all of this can be avoided if i could just stop foil altogether but i can't )

[WhipLash]

i may be wrong, but i learnt to do it with the fingers. pull thumb back and push index forward. blade rises, then push thumb forwards and pull index back and blade will drop. i think it's faster this way, and more accurate since wrist isn't moving

[VERITAS]

Oddly enough, I thought that the coupe was indeed all from the fingers with little aid from the wrist. I recently learned that another way is in some respects superior. By using the whole arm from the elbow to pull back, you can keep the blade in a good position pointing at the opponent, and can be just as fast.
An essential element of any coupe variant that I have learned is always to extend as you come down the other side of opponent's blade with an immediate attack (or feint) for best suprise value.

Also, coupes can be done with downward grazing or expulsion for a really scary attack/really effective feint.

[Larrison]

Hmm.. years ago I was taught to do coupe by going on guard, and then tracing a vertical line with the tip of the blade (foil) straight and back to on guard -- but without moving the forearm and if possible, without moving the wrist. The idea was to focus on fingerwork, and active control of the point, without needing to use the hand. We did slowly at first, from on guard to point about 45 deg up in the air, and then slowly back down, and then successively more quickly. If you have a fencing dummy that has an arm, or blade out in roughly on guard position, its really useful to coupe around that.

In a bout, you'll typically put more hand and forearm/ elbow into it, but the quickness comes from the finger control. With a orthopedic grip (like the Belgian I use) its harder to do with finger control, but you still want to do it with the fingers and hand, instead of the elbow and forearm.

We'd do it in onguard, then in an extended straight arm, and then in a lunge. And finally, in a combination of other movements -- coupe/ disengage/ lunge, or extend/ parry 6/ extend/ coupe/ lunge, etc.

It's a tough move to make consistently and well, and with many fencers coming on guard with a hard wrist, and their weapon's point aimed somewhere over my shoulder, not one I use often any more. But with someone who has a lower point style or in a more complex action it is useful.

[Greg]

It also is more effective against a relatively low blade position in 6 or 4 by your opponent rather than a traditional eye level position.

[keith]

It also is more effective against a relatively low blade position in 6 or 4 by your opponent rather than a traditional eye level position.

but the coupe can be performed from any line to any line - everyone starts with coupes from a sixte or quarte engagement into the high lines but it can just as easily, and more suprisingly, be performed as a low line action.

A coupe from a quarte engagement delivered into octave is often quite effective (but since it is brilliant for drawing a counter attack a small amount of attention needs to be paid to the old hand before feet thing).