Foil Fencing Crash Course | Session 4: Know Your Distance
Hey gang!
So today we’re talking about distance.
Put simply: maintaining GOOD distance means that you can hit your opponent and they aren't ready to hit you. We generally say "... and they can't hit you" because if you enter distance correctly, you will have right of way, so even if they put on a light, it won't matter. Alternatively, you may have planned for them to miss (you set up a counter attack), which is also something we'll cover in future videos.
Distance comes in three flavours: striking, critical, and preparatory.
STRIKING DISTANCE is where you can hit your opponent. Ideally you should be able to strike with a level three lunge such that if you enter this distance (your blades are both intersecting in the middle) you should bust through the parry without the need to disengage (more on this in the next video). Entering striking distance should be done cautiously as this also means the opponent can hit you. It’s also important to avoid getting too close as this may make hitting difficult and wastes tempo. Since your opponent should be reacting to your BUSTER LUNGE (level 3 lunge), you should be a tempo ahead, causing them to malparry.
CRITICAL DISTANCE is the step just before either fencer enters striking distance. This is where you should aim to be right before starting your finishing actions, as this will allow you to control what happens next. Most of the moves that we’ll teach in the future rely on sneaking into striking distance from critical distance or inviting the opponent into your striking distance. In both cases, you control the instance that this happens.
Finally, we have PREPARATORY DISTANCE, where both fencers are too far away to realistically hit each other. This is where movement and the dance of distance typically happens. Each fencer must move tactically in order to enter his or her own critical distance.
We hope you found this helpful and let us know what you think!
Please note: these are our definitions of good distance. You may have learned differently form other coaches, and that's fine! We'd love to hear your definition in the comments below!
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Пікірлер: 19
Definitely one of the hardest parts of fencing for me, good to see a video on it. Thanks guys!
Great video thanks. Your production quality is also getting much better. Very glad to have found you channel it is helping my fencing already.
@s-class8871
4 жыл бұрын
Catalina Projects thank you so much for the support!
I always find it interesting how every art classifies distance differently. Of note, my Italian Classical teacher divided it into Close measure (extension only), lunge measure (your striking distance) normal measure (your critical distance) and out of measure (your preparation distance) while my Classical French teacher held there were 5 measures: corps a corps distance (where you are too close to hit with an extended arm and run the risk of hitting your opponent with your body) skirmish distance (close measure), normal distance (striking distance) pass distance (critical distance) and invitation distance (your preparation distance, with the idea that even if you cant physically hit them, you can start effecting them mentally). I also once heard someone say they're are two ranges: fighting and not fighting 😅
I competed for 20 years. I can still remember my first lesson.
would love to see more videos like this, great stuff!
@s-class8871
4 жыл бұрын
Alex Heath thank you! We’re working on some new videos now!
Clear, great and very useful tutorial, thank you very much.
You're amazing coach. I learned how to do lunga. Thank you very much Mr. Coach 😊
👍🏽
Thank you very much. Fantastic video. Can you please direct me to your video that discusses how to move through critical distance to get to striking distance
@s-class8871
Жыл бұрын
To be honest we’ll have to make one, because there are many ways to go about doing this. We’ll let you know as soon as we post that video
How to improve the sense of distance？Are there any pointed exercises？Thanks Coach
@s-class8871
3 жыл бұрын
There’s quite a bit you can do. One of our favourites is to find a target or training partner and simply come forward until you think you should be able to lunge and hit them. It’s very important to PAUSE before you strike for this exercises, because you’re trying to find your distance. If you add a step or step step to your lunge then you’re rushing too fast to control. Once you can do this properly, trying closing your eyes and seeing if you can still hit the target smoothly, again taking care to pause before the strike. If you have a training partner you can do the same exercises except occasionally they can move closer or further from you and you’ll have to adjust accordingly.
@ZZZ-gn1ou
3 жыл бұрын
@@s-class8871 Thanks for the suggestion，It will be of great benefit to me.
What is Level 3 lunge?
@s-class8871
4 жыл бұрын
진청기 hey buddy so great question when I say levels I mean the size of the lunge. So for example a level 1 would be a baby lunge, barely over step distance. Level 3 would be your favourite lunge, the lunge that gives you your best balance between the distance it can hit and your ability to recover out of it. Level 4 and 5 are longer than level 3, at the cost of recovery time. For example your level 5 lunge will be your absolute biggest lunge, but it’s arguably too big for all but the most specific of cases because you’ll be slowest to recover out of this lunge. To us what makes a lunge deadly isn’t just its size and speed, but your ability to fence out of it. Level 3 usually provides the best balance of these utilities. If you’re talking about the drill in the first part of the video: Level 1: you walk to a stationary partner Level 2: your partner can move Level 3: your partner is allowed to defend (parries only) Level 4 and beyond: your partner is allowed to add more and more defensive options until it basically becomes regular fencing with partner A leading and partner B on defence
@user-yt4gq3gd3b
4 жыл бұрын
Thank you for your detailed explanation.
@s-class8871
4 жыл бұрын
진청기 no worries! Feel free to ask us anything :)