Master Class - Fencing Lesson - How To Score a Touch on Everyone

Okay, thank you so much. Okay, so I was mentioning about the importance of hitting through 12 o'clock. What that means is that Ted is supposed to be every time hitting right through here, which would be like on the clock, 12 o'clock, and hitting forward, making the touch. Okay? That's super important. Just like in a boxing ring, he takes the center. This way, if Ted is fully right in center, aiming at 12 o'clock, there's not much to hit on him. So stay just frozen like that. If I try to pick him off, maybe because he's a French Ripper, he has a big hand, I may potentially get this. However, if he actually also maintains distance, those are very difficult touches to get. What also happens is that if I want to get any touch on the side of the bell guard, so if I go around, he can just extend straight right through 12, getting a touch. Again, if I go under, same solution. If I go on the side, same solution. If I go over top, he's still going to hit right straight. Okay? So that's the whole point of hitting through 12 o'clock. Alright? Now, from there, the importance of being in on guard. Okay? So on guard, by the definition, you're already very closed and defensive. So Ted, his job, and this is my philosophy, is to maintain perfect distance, tip to tip. So this is the distance we're always got to be fencing at, okay? The reason being is if I want to hit him, I have to step forward and try to make a touch. What is the perfect opportunity to score a touch? When the opponent does a committed step forward, right? So the most perfect touch, the opportunity for the touch, is when the opponent does this to you. Alright? So as I lift my foot and extend the arm, Ted can always make that touch. Therefore, if he just maintains that distance and I decide to commit, he can always, with just extension of the arm, get that touch. Okay? Similarly, let's say he's not feeling confident about his hit, he needs more practice, what he can do is just simply maintain that distance. So if he goes forward and I come to him, he can simply quickly separate and out of there. Okay? If I try to make any touches, now he can go and make a hit. Other than that, because he took a step back, he just don't react. So take a step back, don't react. And I try to make a hit, just don't react. There's a lot of bell guard. I have to be very good to make a fully stretched out hit somewhere around the hand and not open myself up. As you see, Ted's natural reaction, just shoot the arm out and make that touch. Okay? So I quickly touched on it. Opportunities when to hit. Okay? So very first one, as I mentioned, as we're moving around, Ted is really just looking for me to do an attempt on a hit and he can always make a touch, regardless of what I do. Alright? What else can we be looking for in terms of getting some hits on opponents? Those are little things that could age you with the process of scoring a hit. So the most obvious and everybody's been taught that easiest is the off balance, right, when I take a step forward. However, we have some different opponents that maybe, depending on the bout situation, not so willing to do a step forward. You could be also doing a feint and looking for imbalances left to right. So if you feint, give me a feint, and you see some sort of a reaction on the blade, those are potential openings, right? Now the key for any of those is not to like, oh, I know my opponent's going to take parry four, I'm just going to go commit and go all the way for the hit. You should be quite reserved, looking to pick off just maybe the wrist, maybe the toe, without committing too much. Okay? In general, you should be looking for a step forward, or what we did the other day, attack in recovery is another good one to commit on. So let's say Ted first is going to attack on prep, which is when I do a step forward, he just steps in, makes that touch. Perfect. We do that again. Hop, opponent parry him, he got a parry, riposted, whatever. Now Ted is feeling okay. I'm not so sure if I should be attacking on prep, I want something safer. He will still look to provoke me. As I do a lunge, he's going to simply get away. So that's just a parry riposte, I want you to attack on prep, okay? So you provoke, get out, and as I have landed, now he can look to start his attack before I close away. Alright? And that applies to all of the targets. Something that Ted actually does very well is a toe hit in recovery. Okay? So, as we're moving around, you give me feint, a lunge, and as I recover, the last thing that will leave the floor will be my foot. So that was actually the part that will spend the longest in your distance. Alright? So if you can time it well, when opponent lunges, and you maybe even give him a feint high to occupy them, the toe should always be there. Ted, you're embarrassing yourself. Do one more. Hop, feint, toe hit. Alright. See, it's hard to perform when everybody's watching. It's a good skill for people to work on. Alright, so those are general the times when you want to look to attack. So attack and recovery, the key there, something I want to really emphasize, is when I am lunging, alright, so fake, and as I lunge, simply step away. You can come a little closer. The perfect recovery is just like that. Say I'm like an inch away from him, now that would be the perfect way to do anything he wants. So your job sometimes in the mind to make a decision. Go from a feint and a stop hit, and then I make a decision, I'm no longer going to make a stop hit. I'm going to just make everything seem the same, get my opponent maximum stretched out, so I could use that off balance against them, okay?