epee fencers who fence foil

[big poppa]

Eighty percent of the fencers in my club fence epee(the dark side of the force lives in my club like a mutha).Once in a while they lower themselves and fence foil. The strange thing is they are quite good ,in fact the club master has been known to make poor foilists fence eppe for a while. What do you guys think about epee fencers who fence foil.

[darius]

I think they're out of their league...

Actually, fencing a good epeeist in foil can be quite frustrating -- the best epeeist in my club has no bones or joints in his arm, which he can bend in ten places to hit you anywhere. He's also phenomenal at displacing target -- right of way only matters if you can hit.

Trick is to show them your wrist, wait 'till they start salivating over your small bellguard, and then...

darius

[big poppa]

Darius: thanks for the joke about the wrist and bell guard. I laughed out loud at work when i read it , now my use of the internet is limited(so they think).

[flik]

Epeeists fence foil only as a hobby, to amuse themselves occasionally when the spirit moves them
That damned right of way thingy pisses me off now, but if the counter attack lands in tempo or you get out of the way...

darius,
foilists that continually bait me by showing me their wrist generally get their wrist hit! Moral victories are often sweeter than beating the other fencer.

Take an average geginning epeeist and have her/him fence foil, and I think they will have slightly better point control than the average beginning foilist. This is NOT implying that foilists don't have the point control, merely saying that epeeists must often target smaller areas than foilists. I'm not trying to start a war here.

[darius]

Jeremy, you get hit a lot by average beginning epeeists?

darius

[robbie]

The problem with epeeist fencing foil is they forget where the freakin target is! I have enough bruises on my arm and thighs to apply for disability!

Speaking of epeeist ... what is the deal? everyone seems to be going epee lately. There are so few foilists at clubs to fence anymore.

[flik]

robbie,
wish i had your problem. there aren't enough epeeists out here, though it is getting better. still too many foilists though!
some of us may forget the target when we fence foil, others remember it and hit you on the toe anyway just to piss you off and get your mind off your fencing. if you're distracted we don't have to worry about that damned right of way thingy.

darius,
just said they'd have better point control... didn't say i'd let them hit me.

[Gavin.com]

Well, let me come at the issue from another angle. I've been fencing foil exclusively for some time & have recently been fencing Epee "for fun". Bad habits do tend to carry across still (i.e. getting hit on the wrist / arm in epee, doing out-of-time attacks in foil), but there are some benefits.

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I've found my distance control has improved greatly since doing more epee (as has my attack speed).

As for which is the better weapon? I love them both.

That's my two bits worth!

Cheers


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Fortune favours the brave!

[JWS]

I suppose I'm an "average beginning epeeist" who occasionally fences foil and saber--The chief reason I do that is because there are not many epeeists in my club, so rather than not fence at all, I fence in the other two weapons. It's fun to hit the foil guys on the wrist and arm--They think they are getting away with something but all you epeeists out there know that they aren't.
After I fence foil and saber with them, I can usually cajole them into a little epee with me.

[Dennis Crews]

Wow, John,
No epeeists up there? I went to Wales on Monday night, and I was the only foil there. Everyone was epee!

I think epeeists, aside from priority, tend to be more direct in foil. There are many things that foilists can get away with that, if done in epee, will only get you hit on the arm.

DC

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Tell me again what the pointy end is for...

[fred]

I, too, have been forced to take up the oversize poker due to a preponderance of epee fencers in my club. When i can convince one to fence foil, one thing I notice is that they have excellent point control. I actually think that mixing epee in there can be helpful to a foilist.

Foil fencers can actually make great Epee fencers.
If you look at one of the top men's foil fencers (Sean McClain) who is an incredible foil fencer. His only National Title however is in Epee. So I really do not get the point of this Topic, a fencer is a fencer. Other then target area the only difference in the game is the timing.

[big poppa]

too many damn epeeists in the world anyway, im about to become one .Will i lose my foil ablity? tune in next week

[JWS]

McGinty is right. I've seen more than a few good foil fencers pick up an epee and do quite well with it right off the bat and vice versa(actually most epee fencers have training in foil since that's the weapon most people start in)

[robbie]

Okay, how is this for insight? ...

The reason one type of fencer does better when going over is because they have had time/training for awhile on the first weapon.
Breaking it down ...
You have a difficult time starting out on foil/epee because you've had no experience. You get training. You get experience. However, you remember the follies and difficulties of getting started. Now that you have experience, you try the other weapon.

Is it easier? SUUUURE. You're not actively thinking about footwork, point control, when do I beat? when do I parry? when do I attack? (you get the point). You've trained long enough, certain things just flow.

Does that make sense? it does to me ... but I live in my own little world with its own little party.

[This message has been edited by robbie (edited 07-27-2000).]