Foil Fencing Lunge Strategy

Video Transcript

"I want to talk a little more about lunge strategy. Up until now we've been talking about the lunge as a good staple offensive footwork maneuver, about how it's great because it is fast, and it covers a lot of distance. These are all true. It's wonderful to do a nice, long lunge, especially when you know you're going to make the hit and your targets just a little bit out of distance. So, if I can travel as far as possible there are many times where I want to take advantage of exactly that. But there are many times when the longest lunge is not the best lunge. The short lunge comes in handy quite a bit in modern sport fencing, and that can be something as small as this, qualifies as a lunge. My arm extends first, same as before. My back arm goes down, same as before. I always want my back leg to be straight, which it wasn't just now. But it's still a short lunge. The advantage of a short lunge is that I can get out of a short lunge quite easily. I can even get out of a short lunge, parry, and retreat; enter another short lunge very quickly. So when you need the greatest mobility, sometimes the short lunge is great. Also, if your opponent gets used to your long lunges, a short lunge might actually help in terms of deception as a tactical maneuver. But you'll find many times in Foil Fencing the short lunge can be more useful than the long lunge."