Right of Way in Foil Fencing

Video Transcript

"The concept of right-of-way is probably the most notorious concept in Foil Fencing. But it's also what makes Foil Fencing fun, it's what gives it that edge of strategy, it's what keeps you from being two people trying to poke at each other, or two Ipie fencers. So the concept of right-of-way means that I have to deal with my opponent's attack before I begin an attack of my own, which has all kinds of repercussions would it actually be a duel, but this is what the concept has evolved to in sport fencing. So, to achieve right-of-way, a fencer must have their arm extended, and they must have their blade in point of line, which is to say it is pointed at target area. If both of those things are true, that fencer can be stationary, that fencer can be moving forward, that fencer can be moving backwards, and right-of-way is still, belongs to the fencer. However, you do lose right-of-way if you hesitate, so keeping your arm straight for the entire bout will not work. You don't actually lose right-of-way, short of hesitation, until your attack hits, until your attack misses, until your attack is parried, or until your attack is abandoned. To claim right-of-way from an opponent, when your opponent has it on you, we'll demonstrate with Siri. So she's established right-of-way. Her arm is straight, and her tip, the tip of her blade, is pointed at my prime target area. So before I can, before I can claim right-of-way for myself, I have to do one of several things. I have to either parry an attack of hers, which in this case, since she's making an offense, that's a valid parry, her point is no longer on line. I have to take her blade by one of several attacks that qualify a taking of the blade, or a prise de fer. So a beat, would be one of those, I've taken her blade off line. I might also bind it off line, and suddenly right-of-way is mine. I can also, if, if Siri were to bend her arm, she would no longer have right-of-way. If in trying, if even if she were just about to make an attack, if she drew her arm back just a little bit before she went in for that thrust, she wouldn't have right-of-way. And also, if she waited too long standing like this, until the judges ruled that it was hesitation, she wouldn't have right-of-way anymore. So it's, when you look at it, kind of a simple set of rules, but there are all kinds of repercussions in a bout that make right-of-way a very complex and, and interesting, and it definitely changes the way foil fencers approach the bouts. So many fencers spend years and years getting the concept down, and the sort of intricacies and implications that it has. It's important to master, even at the very beginning to understand those basic, those basic concepts and how they will affect your strategies. And that's right-of-way."