Which weapon has most lefty advantage?

[Chafunkta]

I know this poll is going to be extremely biased, since not everybody fences all three weapons (more to the point, I don't fence sabre), but I can't help but be a little interested.

So which weapon presents the most advantage to a lefty?

For the most advantage, I'd have to pick foil, since that arm always gets in the way of a high line repost, and can even be there for a thrust to the flank.

Epee I can deal with them because I can hit that arm that was previously in the way. Sabre I would suspect the same deal.

This is all coming from a righty (which I am) to lefty standpoint.

[RoninX]

Its gotta be foil because of the target coverage. Not that its terribly difficult to deal with, I just it just forces a larger change in tactics. When fencing epee I often don't even conciously notice a person is a lefty until we go to shake hands at the end of the bout.

[Purple Fencer]

Gotta agree with foil here...arm in the way.

Epee and sabre, not so much....plus there's the same distance between targets...no so in foil if you're short and going against someone tall.

[D'Art]

Whichever one I have in my hand at that particular moment

[wheeringa]

You knew it was coming........the poll is flawed. A lefty may have an advantage against a righty, from the rightys point of view but if you turn around and look at the leftys point of view they will have exactly the same problems the righty will be encountering. I would say the only advantage a lefty has (in any weapon) is a psycological advantage because there are less of them and so rightys have less experience fencing them.

[RoninX]

so.... how does that make this poll flawed?

[D'Art]

I agree with Mr X. A phsycological advantage is still an advantage.....

[eac]

Originally Posted by wheeringa

You knew it was coming........the poll is flawed. A lefty may have an advantage against a righty, from the rightys point of view but if you turn around and look at the leftys point of view they will have exactly the same problems the righty will be encountering. I would say the only advantage a lefty has (in any weapon) is a psycological advantage because there are less of them and so rightys have less experience fencing them.

I wouldn't exactly call it a psychological advantage; I'd call it an experience advantage. Lefties have more experience righty-lefty than righties do righty-lefty, and most matchups involving lefties are righty-lefty, so in most matchups the lefty has more experience with the current situation; furthermore, lefties have the same experience lefty-lefty that lefties do, so that's a break-even. So, in 80% of their matches, lefties have an experience advantage.

And, the experience advantage is larger the more different the situation is. So, the question is asking "In which weapon is the righty-lefty matchup the most different from righty-righty?"

[begin crackpot theory]
I think this effect doesn't directly account for the ridiculous numbers of lefties at the top level-- at the top level, there are ridiculous numbers of lefties, so both lefties and righties are quite used to fencing them. No, I think it's a spring-birthday effect. In top-level soccer, there are a significantly disproportionate number of people born in the spring. This is because the age cutoffs are usually at the year, so kids born in the spring are generally larger and stronger than the rest of the kids in their age bracket. Generally larger and stronger kids in each age bracket do better, and are therefore encouraged to continue working on and playing soccer. People who play a lot of soccer get a lot better at soccer, thus there are more spring kids at the top.

Similarly, in fencing, lefties do well as kids, are encouraged to fence because of their advantage, and more of them continue to the top.

[Mr Epee]

Originally Posted by eac

I think this effect doesn't directly account for the ridiculous numbers of lefties at the top level-- at the top level, there are ridiculous numbers of lefties, so both lefties and righties are quite used to fencing them. No, I think it's a spring-birthday effect. In top-level soccer, there are a significantly disproportionate number of people born in the spring. This is because the age cutoffs are usually at the year, so kids born in the spring are generally larger and stronger than the rest of the kids in their age bracket. Generally larger and stronger kids in each age bracket do better, and are therefore encouraged to continue working on and playing soccer. People who play a lot of soccer get a lot better at soccer, thus there are more spring kids at the top.

Similarly, in fencing, lefties do well as kids, are encouraged to fence because of their advantage, and more of them continue to the top.

This analysis is spot on. Nicely done.

[noodle]

i said sabre just to be different.

[telkanuru]

I said foil due to new timings making the lefty-righty thing harder, but in epee I don't see what all the fuss is all about. Lefties in my experience tend to be tactically and technically weaker on the whole because they are used to people freaking out about their physical difference. Control the 6-line and win. I frequently do not notice someone is a lefty until after I fence them. It's just something I subconciously process and deal with.

[noodle]

Originally Posted by telkanuru

I said foil due to new timings making the lefty-righty thing harder, but in epee I don't see what all the fuss is all about. Lefties in my experience tend to be tactically and technically weaker on the whole because they are used to people freaking out about their physical difference. Control the 6-line and win. I frequently do not notice someone is a lefty until after I fence them. It's just something I subconciously process and deal with.

i fence against lefties just fine because i'm used to it. i don't really notice a difference in any weapon.

[Chafunkta]

And... the results are in!!

Yea, I guess this was a stupid question...

[AllenJ]

it has nothing to do with the weapon, just the two people using them.

[Feraud]

I find when fencing leftie epeeists that the outside of their arm is much more exposed to the angle of my weapon but it's harder to make opposition parries against them.

It would be interesting to see a real statistical analysis, how many of the world’s top 20 fencers in each weapon are left-handed?

My guess is Foil, since the body is target. In Epee the predominance of hits to the hand and arm negates the advantage of handedness.

[Captain Hook]

The left handed corkscrew

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Sabre, do to the smaller number of fencers actually fencing sabre.

Fewer fencers = fewer lefties.

Fewer lefties = bigger left handed advantage.

[eac]

Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken!

Sabre, do to the smaller number of fencers actually fencing sabre.

Fewer fencers = fewer lefties.

Fewer lefties = bigger left handed advantage.

Uh, no. The percentage of lefties you fence has nothing to do with the number of fencers there are, unless you are in a pool of fencers so small that there is some probability that there are no lefties period, which pretty much only happens in small clubs.

Furthermore, if, as all the saberists claim, there is little difference in saber fencing lefty-righty compared to righty-righty, the percentages wouldn't matter anyway, since there isn't enough of a difference to matter.

[NetJackal]

no difference

[seven6ty]

Yeah, I have to say that they're all about the same for me from what I've noticed so far.