Instinctive or "Planned" fencing?

[Gav]

Strategy is your high level plan. It's what you form when scout your opponent (or just think through what's likely to come up).
Tactics are the low-level things you do moment by moment.

Neither exists in the absence of the other.

I really don't think this is that difficult a concept to grasp.

So my strategy may consist of a number of plans consisting of tactics. I might say I will try x, y and z, but if not it's a, b and c. However on the piste I must react to what I see going on. If that means I do f I do f.

Does that mean I discard my strategy? Maybe, maybe not. There's no hard and fast rules for this. In fact there's so many variables I'd have to write a book to lay down what I think are general concepts*. You need to decide what works for you.

*and there's so many books on these general ideas that I feel it's pointless reinventing the wheel.

[Allen Evans]

Interesting. I contrast some of these statements with comments by both the Women's Foil coach (Mike Pederson) and the Women's Saber coach (Ed Korfanty) who have mentioned that part of what they do to prepare for high level competitions is to study-- in great detail -- the opponent's they were going to face and develop tactics to use against them. I know that the past Men's Epee coach (Paul Soter) was famous for a while for a stack of index cards on which he profiled top fencers, along with actions that were successful against them.

I can't help but think that they are on to something.

[TBean]

There does, however, come a time that you actively decide to execute a specific action. This should be happening in practice all the time - you are never going to learn how to effectively use an eight-bind unless you actively decide to set-up and execute that action. This type of thinking then begins to carry-over to tournament bouting where you find yourself doing the same thing.

Knowing my own strengths and weaknesses is great - but there is planning within that, as well as using intuition. If my strength is a yielding four parry, then I best also know how to get my opponent to the point where I can execute that parry - I cannot just hope my opponent will play into my strength. Intuition comes in when my opponent does something unforeseen in my set-up, and I have the ability to take the parry six instead of the yielding four.

There are also the times it is just too fast to see - you react without really analyzing the actions - that is good training, and it can save your butt.

[peterlista]

I really don't think this is that difficult a concept to grasp.

No one said anything about this being a difficult concept to grasp, we are just looking at the tactics behind our fencing actions on the strip.

Knowing my own strengths and weaknesses is great - but there is planning within that, as well as using intuition. If my strength is a yielding four parry, then I best also know how to get my opponent to the point where I can execute that parry - I cannot just hope my opponent will play into my strength.

[...]

There are also the times it is just too fast to see - you react without really analyzing the actions - that is good training, and it can save your butt.

And once again, I definitely think that it is important to know your strengths and then "force" your opponent to play into your strengths on the strip. I know that in practice, my coach will often just practice one action against me... this is for both of our benefits, she can practice a specific part of her game and it exposes me to different ways to react to that specific action.

As for the second part of your post, I agree completely. That's why we do drills and practice, so that we have the muscle memory to react when we need to.

[Inquartata]

Neither exists in the absence of the other.

Just because it doesn't for you doesn't mean it doesn't for anyone.

I really don't think this is that difficult a concept to grasp.

No, just difficult to swallow.

What's with this need to believe that there are universals, that X always is, or Y must be, in all cases, for all fencers?

Again, I do not "always" plan, I do not "always have elements of both", and I do not always have a "strategy. Sometimes, especially in practice bouts, I am almost entirely reactive, not even having tactics. Certainly I feel that I can do one without the other. I suspect that I am not alone. ( Note that this is not the samew as asserting that everyone does it, always. )