Defense & Footwork in Foil Fencing

Video Transcript

"Up until this point we have been demonstrating parries and thrusts from a static position but usually there is a lot of foot work going on so while it is possible to advance while you parry and retreat while you attack most of the times when you are parrying you are going to be retreating so I want to demonstrate what that looks like with just a little bit of foot work. What is going to happen next is Syria will advance, I will retreat, she will then lunge and thrust, I will parry, I will attempt to Riposte making a lunge and she will parry retreating at the same time. Let's see what that looks like when we are advancing in retreating and parrying. That was actually an adequate parry because the point of my blade barely grazed the outside of her jacket so even though the parry might have been a little bit late it was still strong enough and fast enough to pull my point out of line enough that I did not have force enough to make a good hit. So that's what it looks like. Then there is a lot of stepping back and forward and you want to vary the length of your steps and that is usually what most of this is about is variable advances and retreats followed by big ones to throw your opponents off as much as possible and also you will find that you can fix distance a lot as you are retreating if you parry because I always want my forte to be what is parrying because if she were to advance, as I retreat I can make sure that I have the appropriate part of my blade on hers and I always want to keep just the right amount of distance between us so that that parry is possible. So that is what a retreat and parry look like together."