I fenced for 5 years (foil), trained by 2 great Maître d'Armes. And then, in 1986, I stopped. Now, after more than 2 decades of whirlwind, at age 50, I have been bitten by the bug again. My 12 year old daughter took up fencing at her school, and I went to see how she was doing. I met the instructor, he has a small friendly club, would I like to join? Well, why not; it's been a long time, but let's give it a try. And BAM! The moves, the sounds, the etiquette, the weapons, the lessons, the exercises, the study, the practice, the bouts, ah the bouts! This sacred and unique privilege of legitimately (and safely) going at another human being with blade in hand - all that reentered the inner place it used to dwell in my mind but had been vacated from by other existential tenants. Flooding me with all those dormant reflexes, in thought as in action, invading, hell - rudely intruding every aspect of my daily activities (have you ever realized that paying with a dollar bill taken from your wallet will most often require that your right hand goes from pronation to supination? - that is the kind of nonsense I have to live with now), and reactivating a whole lot of what was once my twenties. It's totally irrational, like falling in love, a form of mental, emotional, physical possession. And I'm in again. Deep...
Sorry about that.
I guess I was just trying to say hello, I'm new to this forum, I fenced a long time ago and now I'm back at it. I'm afraid I don't have much to contribute but I'll be around often, gathering lore to feed my phoenix sword.
__________________ When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."
... And BAM! The moves, the sounds, the etiquette, the weapons, the lessons, the exercises, the study, the practice, the bouts, ah the bouts! This sacred and unique privilege of legitimately (and safely) going at another human being with blade in hand ...
Bazul
Happy for you. Enjoy!
__________________ No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett
__________________ In Flanders fields the poppies grow - Between the crosses, row on row, - That mark our place, and in the sky, - The larks, still bravely singing, fly, - Scarce heard amid the guns below. ~John McCrae
Okay--so it's not just me--fencing is really addictive!
__________________ The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity...for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing. ----Unknown
you should have many years of enjoyment ahead of you. I suggest you not give up foil, as it is MUCH more more fun and MUCH better exercise than epee. You can always fence epee when you're old.
you should have many years of enjoyment ahead of you. I suggest you not give up foil, as it is MUCH more more fun and MUCH better exercise than epee. You can always fence epee when you're old.
Ah, the smell of feud!
The will to spark - the subtle attack!
Parry:
I was wondering how viable a plan would it be to do both? Can you epee one night and foil the other? Wouldn't one training interfere with the other and you end up not doing your best in neither? As for your last sentence, well, I think that it is it.
Riposte:
Besides, like I said on another thread, there is a "kid in candy store" aspect for a former foil to go epee: ya, you can do that, and that, and that too, and... hell what was that? This "anything goes" would probably have felt more like sacrilege when I was a foil addict, sorry: adept, but now I only feel delinquent and get a real kick out of it. And isn't that what much of it is all about?
According to my Maestro you can do both foil and epee as long as you can readily identify and adapt to the differences. According to him, since they are both point weapons and utilized the same for scoring, the biggest obstacle is normally the change in target areas, the presence/absence of ROW, and the difference in parry styles(holding versus releasing). He tells me that if you can make these distinctions as soon as you pick up each weapon, that not only can you do both, but that each will actaully help with the other.
__________________ The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity...for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing. ----Unknown
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