Lock-down, skill-up! #3

 

tv image ©noisytoy.net, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Watch and learn! There are heaps of excellent fencing bouts on the internet, but sometimes the action is so fast that it’s hard to see what’s happening. Fortunately our very own Jo Williams (aka Dr J, JoRead Pirate Roberts, Jobiwan Kenobi, fun Jo and thefencerwhobeatOllieintheRichardEmmerickshield) is here to break it down for us in this week’s Lock-down, Skill-up.

Mental Fortitude and Fencing the Taller Opponent:
2012 London Women’s Epee Individual Bronze Medal Match

Sun Yujie (CHN) vs Shin A Lam (KOR)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vBanAuMltA

There are two reasons why I want to discuss this bout with you all, my dear fellow sword-fumbling homies. It’s the Bronze Medal Match of the London 2012 Olympic Games Women’s Individual Epee. Korea’s Shin A Lam showed incredible mental fortitude, recovering from a controversial and emotionally draining encounter in the semi-final. A sport like fencing can be psychologically strenuous, as well as physically strenuous. Shin recovered from an emotional breakdown in the semi-final, regained her focus, and delivered a highly competitive performance in the Bronze Medal Match, despite ultimately losing to the World #1 Sun Yujie.

But this bout is also instructive on a technical level, owing to the significant height difference between these two fencers. This is the aspect that I want to focus on in the commentary. It is very intimidating to step onto the piste, in any weapon, against a taller opponent – but particularly in epee, where the absence of priority rules can make height a real advantage, unless you have some tactics in your arsenal for fencing the taller opponent.

First of all, enjoy the bout – watching top-quality fencing can be almost as much fun as getting on the piste yourself. And you don’t smell as bad afterwards! (unless you’re like me, and you haven’t got out of your PJs for a week, during the lockdown!)

Second, here is a breakdown of my insights into this bout. Again, the theme is ‘fencing the taller opponent’, so I’m going to focus on the bout from Shin’s, the shorter fencer’s perspective, even though both athletes delivered a choice performance. Whatever your level of experience (and I’m certainly not the most experienced coach or fencer at this club!), please feel free to give your own thoughts on this bout, or on any of the touches, in the comments.

Allez!

• 2’1-0”: I don’t like the behaviour of the crowd, here! Whatever you think of a referee’s decision, they must be respected, whether you are fencing or spectating. I would not tolerate this behaviour from spectators at MFC, though Shin, as the fencer, maintains her composure very well.
• 3’15”: The bout begins (for all my homies with scant time for idle banter 😉)
• 3’32”: First touch goes to Shin. She uses a fleche attack to take the taller fencer by surprise. Notice how she doesn’t just launch into the fleche without preparation! There is a feint to the arm, which disguises the transfer of weight to the front foot and draws the parry, and then the fleche is launched with a disengagement, landing the touche on Sun’s thigh. There are lots of good things about a tall opponent – one of them is that they have great big legs that stick out in front of their body when they are en garde! This all happens pretty quickly, so make sure you replay it a few times, to understand what is really going on.
• 4’00”: No touches at the moment, but notice how both fencers are trying to manipulate the distance. The taller fencer stands back, waiting for an opportunity. The shorter fencer ‘plays’ just on the edge of the taller fencer’s lunging distance. If the shorter fencer were to fence at their own lunging distance, well… terrible… But Shin comes just very slightly in and out of Sun’s lunging distance, hoping to draw out the attack, which would give Shin an opportunity to take control of Sun’s blade, close the distance, and score a touche. This is a risky business, but that’s fencing!
• 4’30”: Shin capitalises on a mistake from Sun, and wins the touch. Sun tried to initiate an attack with a feint beneath the arm, but her distance was too close – with the fleche attack, Shin closes the already-short distance between them and lands the touche before Sun has time to put her own plan into action.
• 5’10”: Both fencers are working really hard, trying to create an advantage by controlling the distance…
• 5’30”: Double: the distance is close, Shin goes for a fleche without preparation, Sun easily counterattacks.
• 6’19: Shin attempts to fleche while Sun is retreating: a very poor choice, and Sun easily wins the touche. Fleche is a short-range surprise attack. Don’t try to close long distances with a fleche, unless you love giving away points! Pay attention to foot-timing, if you want to score against the taller fencer.
• 7’08”: Beautiful timing from Shin. This is why we teach you to time your stop-hits with a retreat!! 1st tempo = reach back with the back foot, and extend the blade, looking for an advanced target; 2nd tempo = complete the retreat with the front foot and take the parry. In this instance, Shin didn’t need to take the parry, because she had already landed the stop-hit, but she only landed the stop hit, without allowing Sun to score, because she was retreating.
• 7’45”: Double: Shin was lucky not to lose a touch here: attacking under the arm, from a long distance against a taller opponent… terrible. When I am taller than somebody, I just wait for this sort of thing to happen—what could be more delightful than a short opponent who just throws themselves at you with a low-line thrust? Hmm, what should I aim for… the hand, the arm, the shoulder, the mask… oh the agony of choice!
• 8’15”: End of 1st period.
• 9’30”: Start of 2nd period.
• 9’40”: I don’t think Sun really intended to make a touche here – she feinted with her blade, but her feet got too far ahead. If your taller opponent offers you a foot, your may touche their foot!
• 10’35”: Shin misjudges the distance, gets too close, is wrong-footed, and Sun wins an easy point. Before you close the distance with your taller opponent, you need to be in control – of the weapon, of the foot-timing, or both.
• 11’10”: Shin goes for a touche that isn’t there. Extending your arm inevitably opens a target – this is why we prepare our attacks!
• 12’30”: Another lesson in preparing your attacks! This time, Sun goes for a target, just because she sees that she can hit it – but Shin is ready with a neat stop-hit to win the point.
• 13’05”: A very neat touch to the foot. Shin is paying attention to the tempos (or tempi) in her opponent’s footwork, and catches Sun halfway through a retreat, on her big, long, tall-person feet.
• 13’48”: Sun wins the touche with a very lucky fleche attack. She caught Shin flat-footed – Shin’s stop-hit missed the arm, and she just mistimed her retreat…
• 14’18”: Shin closes the distance with a feint, decides not to attack, but is indecisive in her retreat – Sun makes her pay! When you are fencing the taller opponent, you need to be decisive with your distance. You need to be closing the distance and winning the touche, or safely out of their lunging distance – don’t mess with Mr in-between!
• 15’26”: End of the 2nd Period.
• 17’04”: A beautifully timed fleche attack from Sun – and now the tactics have to change, because the shorter fencer is behind, and can’t just ‘double it out’.
• 17’30”: Shin is behind, in the final period, and needs to catch up – but she doesn’t need to be this aggressive this soon, and she gives away a double, for failing to prepare a sound attack. Remember, especially in the final period, doubles benefit the fencer who is leading. 3 minutes is a very long time, so stay calm, stay patient, and work on controlling the distance, so that you can set up an attack that wins you a single light!
• 18’03”: Your opponent is human, and they will make mistakes; don’t’ forget to to punish them! Sun tries to fleche from too far out, and Shin gives a very neat stop-touch under the arm to bring the scores level. It is now 11-11 in the final period: anyone’s game!
• 18’45”: The pressure is on, and Shin makes a poor decision – she feints for the arm, but then commits to the fleche attack while her taller opponent is on the retreat and in full control of her own blade – terrible… now the scores are uneven, and the pressure is really on. Being the fencer who has to catch up on points in the final period is a strategic disadvantage. Your opponent can do nothing and win – but you can’t!
• 19’29”: Again, distance, footwork… The taller fencer got too close and delivered a devastating attack. Now it’s 13-11… OMG what if we practiced situations like this in training…
• 20’11”: Shin is down, but she’s still fighting, and with a full minute on the clock, she’s not making any rash decisions…
• 20’26”: A premeditated idea goes wrong for Shin! She’d won touches on her taller opponent’s foot before in this bout, so she goes for a premeditated sequence: feint to the arm, drop to the foot. But Sun has seen it all before, and she’s ready! No foot for you, and what shall I hit… the arm… the shoulder… the mask… the agony of choice! This is crucial, my dear homies – you CANNOT recycle tactical ideas against an experienced opponent! If you are fencing old-mate-Jo from MFC, sure, maybe you can hit him on the foot 15 times in a row, but if you want to fence competitively with more challenging opponents, ya gotta keep it fresh!
  

Well, from here on out, Shin threw everything she had into the remainder of the bout, and Sun did a clinical job of closing out her 13-11, to take the Bronze. Nevertheless, this bout is instructive for all of us who step onto the piste against those dreaded tall opponents: the tactics to win touches are not so hard, and the blunders we make to give touches away are, if nothing else, familiar.

Have further thoughts? A different perspective? Another bout you’d like to share, or one you’d like some commentary on? Leave a comment!😊