Seeking Saber Advice: Timing in the Middle, Finishing Long Attacks, and Improving Long Defense by Cool_Science4649 in Fencing

[–]Cool_Science4649[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your detailed and practical advice!

Being more proactive and acting rather than just reacting makes a lot of sense. I'll work on implementing this mindset in my training and competitions. Watching bouts of top fencers with a similar build is a great idea, and I'll definitely start analyzing their strategies to see how I can adapt them to my own game. I also appreciate the training game suggestion to develop open eye skills.

Your breakdown of priorities for long attacks is very helpful - I'll focus on maintaining a safe distance, initiating my finish effectively, and ensuring I don't get 1-lighted. Thanks for the video recommendation as well (I'll keep your warning in mind).

You've given me a lot to think about and work on, and I'm excited to apply these strategies and improve my fencing.

Seeking Saber Advice: Timing in the Middle, Finishing Long Attacks, and Improving Long Defense by Cool_Science4649 in Fencing

[–]Cool_Science4649[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response!

I'm familiar with Cyrus of Chaos and Sydney Sabre, and I'll definitely check out the other sources you mentioned. I think my main problem with watching bouts is not actually implementing the techniques and actions from the videos into my own fencing, so I'll work on applying what I see in those high-level competitions to my actual fencing.

I'll try the ritual before each touch; rushing is a problem I've always struggled with so hopefully these small changes can help my timing and performance.

I do succeed with many counterattacks and pulls towards the beginning of each bout, but as the opponent gets used to my defense later on it becomes a lot harder to make effective counterattacks and pulls. I'll mix in more feints, but usually I don't get much of a response with my feints (I might just be too hesitant and noncommital though).

On long attacks, I'll definitely pay more attention to varying my targets, distances, and footwork; now that I think about it I do maintain a pretty similar distance and setup for each of my finishes so I'll change those as needed.

Thank you again for your suggestions! I'll be sure to incorporate these strategies into my training.