Olympic Medal Count or GO Canada GO!

[--Pete]

Hi,

Your armor isn't speed. Your armor is your own blade (which gets better with speed, no?). Length and the stiffness of the blade can be a big help, too, if you can close or set aside your opponent's attack while bringing the point in line for a thrust home.

Length of the blade is fixed by the rules. Stiffness is somewhat variable, but there are advantages to both a stiffer and a more limber blade, so the trade off is a matter of personal preference. Not that épée blades (my sport) get too limber.

I've seen modern matches where the combatants did little more than vibrate their epees and then run towards each other, all in the hopes their point was made first.

Épées? That's pretty unorthodox technique in a sport where the motto is "Assume a good fourth and wait for the other fool to make a mistake." Sounds more like saber to me.

And flicking with a foil isn't about respecting the 'armor' of speed or blade, but rather a way to ignore it to fulfill the purely technical obligation of putting the point on a target.

I don't exactly understand your point here. In saber and foil (but not in épée) there is a right of way rule that basically states that, if attacked, you must nullify the attack before counterattacking. If there are simultaneous hits, the person with the right of way scores the point (in épée, both score). That's what is behind a lot of the movement in fencing.

Then there's the whole 'second intention' and more. Basically, second intention is an attack designed to generate a response which can be counterattacked for the touch. Often, false attacks are used to 'condition' your opponent into a reflexive response. And sometimes second intention has to be extended to third or even fourth.

And, of course, at the same time you are judging your opponent's attacks, both to try to avoid being predictable and to see if you can take advantage of one of his second intentions in a way that you'll get a defensive touch.

All of this at the rate of a 'phrase' in about one, maybe two, seconds. Which is why, before electrical scoring apparatus, it took five judges for a bout, one on each side of each fencer and one watching from the middle of the action. Novice foil was still being fenced that way when I was last competing (20 years ago) and I often judged those matches. Even as an expert fencer, there were times (many times) when I could not follow the action. And these were people that I could have beat dead tired and half asleep. Once the wrist takes over, the mind lags far behind -- which is why you do all your thinking ahead of time:)

I'd agree that thinking will get you going in the world of fencing. Problem is the sport has come to the point, technically and stylistically, where the fencer who metaphorically 'mashes buttons' will get viable results.

Perhaps. I haven't competed in forever and I haven't even gone to a sala in over fifteen years. Maybe the sport has, as you say, devolved. Perhaps when my arms, hips, and eyes are all cured, I'll test out the oft repeated theory that fencing is a sport for life. If I do, then I'll report on my findings;)

--Pete