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u/GhostOfKiev87

▲ 5 r/Fencing

Would you parry 4-6 or circle 6 parry to stop a disengage (foil)?

I have two coaches at my club. One teaches that when there is a disengage with a feint to 4 and then an attack to 6, do a step back parry 4-6 + riposte. The other coach teaches to circle 6 + riposte to such a disengage. I’m wondering which I should focus on?

Also, I’m not sure if it’s relevant, but my second coach is like 6’3 and really strong, whereas I’m average height/strength. I know a good circle 6 will use leverage, but is it a valid concern that I worry I won’t be able to power through my opponents disengage with a circle 6 on a consistent basis?

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u/GhostOfKiev87 — 7 days ago
▲ 33 r/Fencing

Watching the best mens foil fencers, it seems like there are almost no parries. From the start, there's a stare-down fight for priority, and then whoever has priority hides their sword and marches down the piste. The other fencer tries to counterattack at the opportune time before getting pushed off the piste. If the attack misses, the roles reverse.

I thought it was an interesting contrast from my intermediate fencing lessons, which focus heavily on perfecting various parry-ripostes, disengages and other feints, etc. which seem to almost never be used in the pro matches I've been watching lol.

Are there almost no parries because it is so hard to parry-riposte extremely skilled fencers? The pros seem to be so good at hiding their sword and then attacking at weird angles.

I also didn't realize that counterattacking was so important. It seems like more than 1/3 of points are won on counterattacks!

Am I interpreting the pro meta right? This is the match I most recently watched, so I don't know if its representative of the general meta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcLof6b9ers

I'm curious at what level the fencing meta switches to what's seen in pro matches (A-B-C-D-E in US ratings)?

u/GhostOfKiev87 — 9 days ago