Small build

[rdg]

Tall people will generally have an advantage in knowing which strip to report to for pools and DE's.

LOL. What a great reply. One time - in epee - I thought I was about the right hieght at all of 5'-10', when I realized I was looking at the DE assignments, while standing on a 1 foot step.

When I stepped down it was all armpits!

So..... Having shared that, I don't think height is much less of an advantage in women epee. Maybe I am wrong. But some pretty short women do OK or better.

Also, long, tall fencers can reach a long way, but some of them take quiet a while to get back to their on guard positions, which gives a piranna a chance to attack.

Sam

[Medinilla]

well i am 1, 71 cm, which is short.
In my experience being short has as everything its good and bad things.
Good things: good balance, due to low center of gravity, quick feet, fast, good for stop hits, my passata de sotto works pretty well, attacks to the low lines, which a lot of people have problems parrying, and of course smaller target area.
Bad things: shorter arm extension, somehow sometimes a bit suicidal against blades in point in line, less fear effect on the opponent, among others...

[piste off]

I actually think height is less important in epee than weight.

Epee requires a lot of change in direction, which is much harder to do if you are 220bs than if you are 175lbs. A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and it takes a lot more energy to stop and redirect the higher weight.

If you look at the top epeeists over the last 3 decades, a large number of them fall into the 6'0 - 6'3" height range. Weight-wise, the range is 170-180lbs give or take a few. I can think of a number of great short epeeists, but very few heavy ones. And no, "target size" has virtually nothing to do with it.

There are exceptions, but those are the norm from what I have seen. The exceptions tend to have adapted their game accordingly.

Rick

[c3l2vantes]

Originally Posted by piste off

I actually think height is less important in epee than weight.

Epee requires a lot of change in direction, which is much harder to do if you are 220bs than if you are 175lbs. A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and it takes a lot more energy to stop and redirect the higher weight.

Rick

being 5'10" and 145lbs (i know...dead sexy) i have to say being of average (american) hieght i dont really notice a bif difference either way, but i can tell a huge diff between my manuvering skills vs bigger peoples. i love being skinny because when i line my shoulder up with people they have about....
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this much of me to try and hit. being a twig helps me quite a bit

[seak]

I am currently working on a theory that being short is in fact the biggest disadvantage in foil, since the timing change.

Of the 3 weapons it's the only one in which the arm isn't valid target. This negates the whole basically the same distance from wrist to wrist thing.

Yes right of way gives you some protection, but with the shorter lock out times now in force it's become a lot easier to lock someone out as they're trying to overcome your opponents reach advantage.

Yeah a small torso (esp a skinny torso) is an advantage but I know far to many people who are just all arms and legs and no torso and also tall

Shrug really being tall is an advantage but there are ways to combat it in all the weapons.

[samh]

There is a two word answer to the idea that you need to be skinny to do well in epee: Meelis Loit. I don't think he competes anymore but he was a great Estonian fencer and was huuuge. Once, I heard a story about him breaking a raised piste by jumping up and down on it to celebrate a touch. Also Wang Lei is a pretty big guy but he seems to do ok for himself.

[leftyboy]

Originally Posted by c3l2vantes

being 5'10" and 145lbs (i know...dead sexy) i have to say being of average (american) hieght i dont really notice a bif difference either way, but i can tell a huge diff between my manuvering skills vs bigger peoples. i love being skinny because when i line my shoulder up with people they have about....
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this much of me to try and hit. being a twig helps me quite a bit

Maybe I should try epee. I'm 6'2" at 130lbs.

[Zasha]

it depends on what you do with your build rather than what it actually is.
i'm an NCAA fencer, and can give you examples from the mid-atlantic/south regionals.

kristin howell (temple) is over six feet tall. anastasia ferdman (psu) is maybe five feet. yesterday howell took third and ferdman took first. this is women's epee.

there are advantages and disadvantages to each height extreme.

[gatsby]

Originally Posted by leftyboy

Maybe I should try epee. I'm 6'2" at 130lbs.

so im about 5 pounds lighter than you...but more than half a foot shorter. and i thought i was sort of skinny too =[

ever consider becoming a dior homme model?

[AdamH]

In MF, being average height (5'10) probably forces someone to have to be a more 'complete' fencer in having to deal with people at opposite ends of the spectrum.

If I woke up as Tom Hanks, tomorrow, and was given the choice it would either be a height of 5'2 with no torso to fence MF or 7'4 with monkey arms to fence ME. And I'd probably want to be fencing MF.

No special reason other than it would make training simpler as the opposition could mostly be dealt with in the same way. But then that would probably take a lot of the fun out of it.

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by seak

I am currently working on a theory that being short is in fact the biggest disadvantage in foil, since the timing change.

Of the 3 weapons it's the only one in which the arm isn't valid target. This negates the whole basically the same distance from wrist to wrist thing.

Yes right of way gives you some protection, but with the shorter lock out times now in force it's become a lot easier to lock someone out as they're trying to overcome your opponents reach advantage.

Yeah a small torso (esp a skinny torso) is an advantage but I know far to many people who are just all arms and legs and no torso and also tall

Shrug really being tall is an advantage but there are ways to combat it in all the weapons.

I've heard this theory several times, and it sounds good, but I disagree with it entirely in practice. Right of way is a HUGE amount of protection. Even if one fencer is a foot taller than another, a foot is not very difficult to cross in an extremely short period of time. Meanwhile, the shorter fencer has less target to protect and therefore can have very challenging counterrattacks if performed correctly.

I still think that height is a distinct advantage in foil, it's just much less than in epee. If I hook up against someone shorter than me in epee, there are some actions which they just can't do if they're near my level. That's not the case in C and above foil.