Bugaboos

[sabreuse]

With all due respect to the person with this screen name...

The topic on handedness sparked this topic for me. There are two things that I encounter in fencing that realy push my buttons. I go into the bout with a feeling of dread and fence much below my normal ability. One is left-handed fencers and the other is big, tall, and/or really strong fencers.

The left-handed thing has been thoroughly explored in the other topic. I want to know how to deal with the other one. The fencers that can reach around my parry (I'm 5'4") or push through it to pin my weapon while they score a touch (as a remise, my riposte is out of time because I takes too long to disentangle my weapon). Or the ones where their beat-attack just about knocks my weapon out of my hand. After a couple of points against me I just get demoralized and wait for the pain (i.e., the rest of the bout) to be over.

Any advice?

[Gav]

Can't stress this enough - learn infighting. If your short then trying to hit from long distance on someone who has a really long reach probably won't work.

Vary your distance. Try and mess up their distance so that they step too close and then you can launch a riposte or even your own attack. Also never attack body without opposition. Someone taller could stop hit you every time.

You can also try 2nd intention. The trick is to make it all look convincing and then catch them when they make a mistake. If you are worried about strong parries let them use strong parries and then sucker him with a counter parry or a disengage.

All the same I wouldn't get hung up on the whole height difference. After all when you get close you're going be the same [blade]distance away. Always keep cool and stick to what you know.

[This message has been edited by Gav (edited 12-10-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Gav (edited 12-12-2000).]

[FencerInUS]

Passata Soto. my 2 bits

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F.I.US.
Parry, THEN riposte
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[Christopher J Umbs]

Have you thought about using a number 4 blade instead of a number 5? That will allow you to infight quicker from a closer distance where you can turn their reach against them.

Chris

[Gabriel]

fyi, fencerin us, it's called a passa de soto. it's nothing to be afraid of, just don't get too close

[Arturo]

see below
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[This message has been edited by Arturo (edited 12-11-2000).]

[Arturo]

distance, distance, distance. That's the name of the game. Even if you are not as tall as the opponent, right of way will protect you. How tall an opponenet is should only really matter in Epee in which you dont have right of way to protect you from a counterattack.
If you are having problems with you attacks againgst stroner opponents work on your disengages and fence absence of blade. If you are getting tangled when you parry you are either not parring properly(most likely), or have your distance wrong(take a step back when you parry).

When they push trough is definitely a distance proble. You are probably parring too close to your body or are not retreating (you probably feel that if you take a step back you won't be able to reach them in time) in that case work on your lunge.

Make your lunge longer and faster. that way you can fence from further away and be able to hit them from longer distances. They will probably not expect you to be able to hit them that far out.



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When you parry, riposte

[Bugaboo]

I have nothing to add. But I felt compelled to post something under my name.

[FencerInUS]

I knew I spelled that wrong oh well, you knew what I meant

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F.I.US.
Parry, THEN riposte
--)--------

[sabreuse]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I was all set to use them against the big guy in my club tonight but he decided to fence foil instead. I'll get him next time.

I did get some small satisfaction a few weeks ago. The big guy in our club had to fence someone who was even taller (this other guy had to be about 7 feet tall). Our guy was complaining about how hard it is to fence someone so tall. Yeah, tell me about it. I fenced the same guy and felt really proud of the six touches I scored. I could parry him fine but for some reason my riposte kept hitting him in the hip. His target area started about a foot higher than I was used to.

[Lumberg]

If you are expecting hard beats, then disengage and attack. There is nothing in the rule books that says you have to receive a beat when you see it coming. From watching A-level sabre fencing, I see a lot of competitors drop their arm quickly to avoid a cut to the arm. They also draw that type of attack by extending their arm. I guess it would be better to see it than read it. It is performed very fast.
Secondly, as a 5'6" person, I face taller fencers often. Watch other short fencers (who are good) and see what they do against tall fencers. They make up for size with timing and distance.


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Lumberg.
"...yeah...did you get the memo about the TPS reports?"

[This message has been edited by Lumberg (edited 12-12-2000).]

[Cutter]

I watched an interesting bout recently between David and Goliath. David a very small 13 year old and Goliath, a very tall adult. The 13 year old at first was having a hard time dealing with the guy's reach but after a couple of touches sizing his opponent up so to speak, he began to use speed and distance and won the bout 15-6. Usually, someone who depends on their size and strength to win rely on those two things to do so. They will have a harder time with distance if used properly, wait for that lunge to start and big jump back to get out of the way of the reach. This will usually cause you opponant to overreach on their attack throwing off balance and delay in recovery, then just move in for the kill.



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Cutter
Reach out and "touch" someone.

[HilandDoug]

Specifically, a well executed second intention should do the trick. While refereeing a bout recently between a fencer who is 5'4" vs. one who is 6'5", I watched as the taller of the 2 scored the first 5 touches of the bout (DE) by counterattacking only. At the break, the shorter fencer's coach gave him the second intention speech, and the shorter fencer used it to overcome reach, winning the hard fought bout 15-14. What he did was to attack short to draw the parry-riposte, recover fast so as not to be hit, then quickly do it again, but recover forward into the riposte (which was the exact same one he induced his opponent to show him) and deliver a fast counter-riposte for the touch. The shorter fencer's coach had to keep yelling at him as a reminder to keep doing it, but he was successful.