Secret Weapons

[Jous]

No, I don't mean secret sabers, foils, or epees. I'm talking secret moves or techniques that you perform in matches. Do you have any? "Perfect" versions of already existing/known and used by many others don't count.

I have one that I personally invented for saber, but I'm not going to tell it since I know for a fact there are at least 5 members of my club on these boards who will probably know who I am...thus ruining it for me >_<. And that would be bad, because it's gotten me out of jams. It's reletively easy to perform, but also reletively difficult to set up so I use it as a last resort mostly.

I can understand if none of you want to tell your moves for reasons like mine.....but for those who do, let's hear them:

[picojeff]

I like the feint hand, go for the toe with a lunge, and smoothly roll over the lunge into a fleche to the arm/body. It's no secret, but I hit even the greatest fencers with it now and then.

The real secret is how to do it without blowing out your knee!

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

I think this topic was started a long time ago elsewhere. Look back and you will find one.

Basically, it's the same thing, a beginning fencer looking for some more tricks so he comes to fencing.net for free advice to use the next time he goes fencing.

Here's one, change your name to a Russian name. Talk with a fake Russian accent to the director as he tries to pronounce your name correctly. Then, do some hokey-looking calisthetics to warm up that looks like something you learned in a Soviet training camp. Count in Russian from one to four while doing stretches and calisthetics. Top if off by stenciling RUS under your fake Russian last name on the back of your lame.

[Peach]

I like to limp on strip looking elderly and plead with my opponents to take mercy on me. It doesn't work very well any more. Maybe I'll have to stop dyeing my hair.

[Craig]

Tell me your secrets. I won't tell you mine because then someone might beat me... :

Why did you start this topic then if you weren't going to share?

[Talyn]

I know some people who try to psych out their opponent by copying their opponents fencing but with exagerated gestures.

For Example.

Fencer A feints and misses

Fencer B runs away and extends his arm while bouncing up and down on his feet alterantively like an idiot I've seen it get to people

[bjacobs]

I sometimes put my, err, lack of height to use by dropping down to a low squat with either a parry riposte or counter-attack. It completely displaces my target.

[Wizardly]

I like to tell people who ask questions like this exactly what I want them to do. They then go and think they've got this killer move after having practiced it a week only to find that it has no hope of working against me. Something else, I buy a glove for my off hand and wear it until I'm read to hook up. With any luck they don't notice I've switched hands before the bout. And let's not forget the ultimate in secret weaponry: the male chest-protector...love when the tip just bounces off. Even better if you can get one that enhances your pecs. If you really want to mess with your opponent, pretend to sacrifice an animal before the tournament and coat your blade with its "blood." Oh yeah, I also love to totally BS people, like I'm doing to you now.

Seriously though, why ask if you weren't going to share? You show me yours and I'll show you mine.

Okay, okay, I'll give you something you can actually use. Ya know that trick where you touch a wall and then pretend to shrink your arm and can't touch it, then you shake it out and you can miraculously touch it again? There's a lesson here: don't let your opponent know how long your attack really is, particularly against hyper-defensive fencers who retreat every time your heart pumps.

[Peregrine]

I will do some probing attacks just to see what sort of parry my opponent likes to use (circle-six, four-six-four, etc.). If it's somewhat consistant, I'll do a straight-on attack with that in mind. It's good for one point on each opponent, one.
Another one I like is go over their blade and lunge with a dis-engage back to the side I was on initially.

[Chobes]

one of my favorites is just to start the bout with an extremely fast attack and hit. just attack as fast as you can like your life depends on it and hit them, and they never seem to parry it fast enough. makes them sloppier on the next round cause they are mad they got hit by a simple attack

Another is to retreat a couple times as the bout begins, then all of a sudden advance, balestra lunge disengage and hit the shoulder. it shocks them when you all of a sudden lunge at them and stomp at them with a balestra after starting off retreating

~Chobes~

[Catlady]

Originally posted by Peach
I like to limp on strip looking elderly and plead with my opponents to take mercy on me. It doesn't work very well any more. Maybe I'll have to stop dyeing my hair.

Yes. I can't pull off old age yet, but I certainly try to look non-threatening in hopes I can lull them into complacency and they won't be able to make up the points by the time they realize I'm not as incompetent as I look.

Way back when, my coach tried to teach us all how to put on our masks smoothly, with one hand so as not to look stupid in front of our opponents--due to my glasses I have to use two hands and even then don't do it too smoothly--and it dawned on me, why would I want to convince them of my competence, I want to psych them out.

[thyme_daniels]

i don't really think it is much of a secret, or very impressive, but i like to run people off the strip. not literally, but i have a fair defensive game, so i force people to take action, and i hit them.

[MyraTrue]

Well... I rolled my ankle, had the thing iced and taped and laced into a massive ankle support, and I won an awful lot more bouts then. I don't know if I stopped trying anything tricky, or they thought the cripple couldn't do anything. I like people to think I'm cripple.

Myra

[wflaschka]

One of my bread-and-butter touches: Lunge, immediate remise. It's fun!

Press the opponent backwards, to get them tired of retreating. If you can make them feel excited about it, all the better. When they stop retreating, lunge with a half-extended arm. They're close, but they don't feel it yet. Let them take the parry. Then fully extend the arm and lean forward with the remise.

This trick goes against fencing dogma in almost every way. But if the distance is right (and especially if the other fencer doesn't riposte directly) it's easy and fun.

Sometimes I use lunge+remise even when I'm out of distance. The weird double-extension puts the fear on people and keeps them away from me.

[Talyn]

Well... I rolled my ankle, had the thing iced and taped and laced into a massive ankle support, and I won an awful lot more bouts then. I don't know if I stopped trying anything tricky, or they thought the cripple couldn't do anything. I like people to think I'm cripple.

LOL

Once i was in a bout where this guy did a really fast advance lunge while the ref said are you ready? and luckily this ref didn't say fence immediately so when he hit me EVERYONE just stared at him It must have been sooo humiliating.

[Epeecurean]

I find that lots of fencers come en guard physically but aren't mentally en guard when the director says "Ready? Fence!". You can exploit this to great effect if you know how, and I'm here to tell you. (whispering) The secret is to lull your opponent as much as possible in the moments ahead of the director's call to "Fence!".

Think of it this way, fencing requires supreme focus and concentration, and fencers will look for ways to spare their mental energy for the most critical points in a bout, i.e. when a phrase is playing out and the distance between fencers is closing rapidly. In the bout, after the director calls "Halt!" for one reason or another, be it a touch or to recenter the fencers on the piste, your opponent will be taking a mental break. Play as though you are doing this too and even extend the break a bit longer than your opponent does: pull up your socks, wipe your face, whatever.

The director will then call "en guard". The key thing now is that you have to be the last one to come en guard. And when you do come en guard, do it in a relaxed manner. The director calls "Ready?", you remain relaxed - almost lazy. You want to give your opponent the impression that when the director calls "Fence!", the two of you will ease back into the bout, take a couple of slow steps towards each other, find each other's distance and then resume the bout in earnest.

By taking a long time to come back en guard, the director is likely to call "Ready? Fence!" sooner than he otherwise would. He wants to get on with the bout probably more than anyone else. Though directors should vary the time somewhat between "Ready?" and "Fence!", you'll find that usually they fall into a certain rhythm. Not "ready-fence!" all at once, or a long drawn-out "ready......................fence", but "Ready?"-slight pause-"Fence!". You must anticipate and attack at precisely the moment he calls "Fence!" -- shoot out like a sprinter off the starting blocks. I do a balestra-lunge or fast-advance-lunge to the thigh or foot, targets which are closer and perhaps more unexpected. I'm not sure how or if this can be translated into foil or saber.

This isn't a move to do more than once in a 5-touch bout or twice in a 15-touch bout but there are good odds that it will get you a touch and possibly more. If successful, the element of surprise is so jarring on your opponent that you can usually build on that touch with one or two follow-up touches. The next step is to fleche or advance-passe off the en guard line to provoke a fast counter-attack / attack-in-preparation (they are jittery now and likely will do it too soon and out of distance) and then take their blade. A combination of these moves can have a devastating psychological impact on your opponent.

Quite a lengthy explanation but it's the details that can make the difference!

[Peach]

When learning to referee, I was taught not to be too predictable in the rhythm of "ready-fence," because a lot of people try to time the referee's command. When I say, instead, "Ready . . . " and pause for half a second, some people literally fall off the on-guard line because they're trying to start fast.

[DangerMouse]

Here's one that I've never used, but a guy at the club I used to fence at would use it...

Pressure your opponent towards the end of the strip. Let loose a cloud of poisonous gas and retreat, forcing your opponent to move through it to chase you

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

Two bean burritos.

[jeff]

A story related to the 'Ready?-Fence!' trick: During the Dark Ages of sabre (1970s, fleche or running attacks, dry, no coin toss) there were a lot of repeated double actions. On the command 'Fence!' both guys would attack each other at the same time, hit as hard as they could (to draw a flinch the next time), and turn to the director screaming for their touch. Boring and painful (and why I stayed in foil!)

My coach at the time was directing sabre in the NCAAs. When relieving the director working his pool he saw what was going on, and did the following: "Fencers ready?", followed by a _loud_ "En guarde!". Boom - both fencers attack... and look at the director who is smiling at them, saying "Did I say fence?" Two embarrassed fencers are placed on guard, and start fencing again without autopilot jumping out of the box...