Premise 7: Learning to fence and further development into a successful competitor has been grounded in the lesson. And not just any old group lesson – if you are serious you have to be taking individual lessons from the hotest fencer from some other country that you can find (no American coach actually knows anything about the sport). Any old fencing master just won’t do – it has to be an Olympian. This, of course, is horsehockey. At best it is laziness. At worst it is individual intellectual incompetence in sport. If you want to fence successfully, you have to use the full range of learning t ..read more

Premise 6: If the opponent’s blade is occupying the line you wish to attack (including the riposte) or counterattack, you have two choices. The first is to get to critical distance, the distance at which you can hit before the opponent can react, and then attack with a one-tempo action. The chances of success in this endeavor are increased by anything that you can do to hamper the response including use of surprise, exploitation of lapses in attention or judgment, unpredictable movement, acceleration, angulation in the attack, footwork push or pull, etc. The second choice is to attack with pre ..read more

Premise 5 – It is all about the initiative. The fencer who can establish, maintain, and use the initiative has the advantage in the phrase and in the bout. At the start it is important to realize that initiative is rooted in the contest between the two fencers, not in what the referee sees and interprets according to his or her knowledge and understanding of the written and unwritten rules. An example – fencer A starts a slow attack, fencer B counterattacks, fencer A executes counteroffensive countertime to score. What does the referee see? A straight thrust from A with an out of time countera ..read more

Premise 4. No bout is over until it is over, no pool is over until it is over, no direct elimination is over until you either win or are eliminated. In this every touch is important. That seems obvious, but for many fencers it is not. Let’s take the touch. Why is the touch important? (1) to win a bout you have to score 1 touch (modern pentathlon epee), 5 touches (pool bouts), 10 touches (veterans direct elimination), 15 touches (direct elimination). Allowing for simultaneous actions in foil and sabre, you may have to fence as many as 35-40 hits (yours + the opponent’s + simultaneous + off targ ..read more

Third premise: The traditional view of fencing theory is that a tempo is the amount of time required to complete a simple action. Thus it is a period without a specific relationship to real time, and theoretically could be of any length. It is circular – the definition of a simple action is that it is an action completed in one tempo which is defined as the amount of time it takes to complete a simple attack. And it is self-referential, referring to itself to define itself. The major issue however, is that a tempo is theoretically indivisible. In the weapons that rely on tempo as a determinant ..read more

Over the years I have been a strong advocate of adherence to established fencing doctrine. That doctrine has evolved over the part 600 years and continues to evolve to codify the best way to hit an opponent within the constraints of the social context of the use of the weapon and the rules of the time. However, in the last two to three years I have started to dip my toes in the bubbling brook of iconoclasm to challenge cherished beliefs in our sport on the simple grounds that they are wrong. You have seen some of these in other posts, but I am going to try to tie them together in this week’s a ..read more

During the COVID-19 pandemic our training has moved online on Zoom. The Virginia Governor’s Phase III guidelines (our current phase of reopening) require that athletes and trainers maintain 10 foot social distance. This prevents actual fencing anywhere in Virginia. However, it is not just a matter of complying with Guidelines. Due to continued significant rates of infection in Virginia, Salle Green is prioritizing protection of the lives of our students and trainers over the pleasure of being able to actively fence. We do continue to offer a full fencing program on Zoom with the following clas ..read more

In earlier posts I have argued that a one tempo action can be subdivided into a start, an in-between period, and an end and that these subdivisions are what allow actions into an opponent’s tempo. This is the explanation of how a counterattack succeeds against a one tempo attack and its footwork in epee. But this is not the only set of divisions that we need to consider in training and executing fencing actions. Every fencing action has 3 time periods that we must be aware of and be prepared to exploit. Actions are not events separated from the flow of the bout or the time period of a bout. Th ..read more

How can you defeat an opponent? How can an opponent defeat you? There are a number of possibilities: (1) be faster, (2) be stronger, (3) be better known (yes, your reputation is worth touches in tight situations), (4) be taller, (5) have longer arms, (6) be more flexible, (7) know how to manipulate the rules to your favor, etc., etc. But … the real answer is to make your opponent predictable (your victory) or to be predictable (his or her victory). Yes, it is possible to overpower a beginner, but that is not what we are talking about here. We are talking about dealing with a competent opponent ..read more

… our latest First Team member in the 2019-2020 USA Fencing / Absolute Fencing Gear All-Academic Team. First Team honors required a 3.85 GPA, and Second Team a 3.4 GPA. This year 764 fencers from 250 clubs qualified for the All-Academic Team. Since the first year of the All-Academic Awards, Salle Green fencers have regularly earned First or Second Team honors ..read more