Its been ages since i've been on a forum, so my apologies in advance for any idiotic or impolite things I do. Please tell me when i've been a twit.
That being said, I hope this is the right place to ask for help.
I'm a smaller fencer (a terrifying 5') and while I'm generally okay when I can infight, unfortunately, the most of the other fencers in my club aren't tall enough for that to be effective. My main problem lies with them being a lot stronger than me. There is one kid in particular (he is of the tall variety) who will muscle his way out of a parry or beat. Also, his advance is equivalent to two of my retreats, and once he beats or parries me, my blade is too far out of the way to do me any good. Often a beat or parry from him will literally hurt my hand, and often he ends up disarming me. What's worse is that I'm not weak, so I don't think my own strength is an issue.
Ok, from your profile, you claim to be a foilist with 5 years experience, so I'll make a couple of assumptions as to what you can and can't do.
First, it doesn't matter if the guy muscles his way out of a parry or beat, as long as you actually make contact with the blade (to put it very simplistically) so don't worry about that. Next, his beats. If they're as strong as you make them out to be, then there's a fair chance they'll also be telegraphed, so you can easily just disengage or pull your arm back, or cut over. Whatever, you should still be able to avoid the beat UNLESS he's got good technique at it, which very few fencers I've seen actually have.
As for the size of his steps - use them against him, cos he'll be unbalanced while he's making them, so a stop-hit or any attack on prep would be a good idea, and even if it actually doesn't land, you'll be likely to be at in-fighting distance anyway, depending on how you do the stop hit/AIP.
There is also the option of just fencing with absence of blade more often.
Or toy with his distance and confuse him into not attacking you.
Or you could use any one of the pris-de-fere options available if he likes to keep his weapon out.
Thanks for the advice! I'll give it a whirl when I fence on Saturday. I think a lot of my problem too just stems from the fact that, being an SCA fencer, he tends to do things that throw me for a loop. I'll have to work on avoiding the blade. Somehow I always manage to find myself with the tip of my blade on the ground.
Also, saying I have 5 years of fencing probably makes me sound like a better fencer than I actually am. I switched schools three times, so my training's been all over the place.
Inquartata -
I would be ashamed to call myself a linguistics major if I couldn't write in Standard English. :-P. Of course, having said that, I'll probably end up typing something really dumb and having my words used against me. Oh well.
Next, his beats. If they're as strong as you make them out to be, then there's a fair chance they'll also be telegraphed, so you can easily just disengage or pull your arm back, or cut over. Whatever, you should still be able to avoid the beat UNLESS he's got good technique at it, which very few fencers I've seen actually have.
I'm a new fencer also and I can vouch for this as well. My practice partner likes to beat just to mess with people and if I disengage it completely throws him off. I get a touch almost every time.
Good point *pun, hahah*. I have tried disengaging with him, so I'm guessing my fault is probably with my distance. I used to be terrific at it, but being in a college club of 6 fencers tends to lead to sloppy drilling. I'm going to Edinburgh in the fall, so hopefully some more formal instruction will be beneficial. We spend half of our time joking about whether or not headbutts should be legal under certain circumstances.
You're near Philly... take some trips down to FAP. It's a very strong club.
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Well, first of all, i'll have to convince myself that I have the time/funds to go to a non-collegiate club. Scotland's going to empty my bank account pretty quickly. Thanks for the suggestion though!
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