A to Z: Yellow Card! and Zeck, and Zorro

Yellow Card: a warning; used to indicate a minor rule infraction by one of the fencers.
Hopefully, I can get away with just a yellow card after accidentally missing Monday's post. I hope you all forgive me.

It was a crazy full day, from an out-of-sorts morning, to homeschool co-op classes with extras like yearbooks and class lists for next year, to an afternoon of curriculum planning with my youngest (I like to let my kids help me pick their lessons, within reason), back to a special, formal event at our co-op, the Premier, One-Night-Only showing of The Lady of the Earrings, a parody on the works of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carrol, and other modern fantasy/dystopian films created by the performing arts class (my oldest was in there). It was a red carpet event with every "Hollywood" detail added by the teacher, including a crew of kid paparazzi, and funny interviews with the stars in full "Hollywood" character, and dressed in evening gowns from the Goodwill. It was a wonderful night that ended late, and when my head hit the pillow I didn't even dream of A to Z. (sorry)

So, hopefully, you all just gave me a yellow warning card, and not a black card, which would kick me out of the tournament of A to Z.

Zeck: To deliver a slight hit with the weapon when in close combat. A distracting hit or provocation. This term is found at ARMA's site under Medieval German Martial Terms. The problem is, I'm not sure if it's a slight hit weapon-on-weapon (which makes the most sense), or if it's a slight hit on the opponent, which could be more than just a distraction.

Oh, and here's a few clips from Zorro (my original Z):





Happy A to Z!

And Many Thanks to: founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post
You've all made this challenge rock! Thank you!

A to Z: The Xceptions

 

 

Yesterday I wrote about fencing whites (the uniform of fencers).

 

Today, I want to mention the Xceptions. (Yes, I'm cheating, sorry.)

 

These are the men/women in black. Who are they and what gives them to the right to wear black?

 

 

 

They are the fencing coaches. They are the experts.

 

They are the exceptions to the whites rule.

 

 

The main coach of any club, or a master level coach, usually wears black, or at least a black vest.

 

Sometimes extra padding is worn on the sword arm, where a coach is most likely to be hit by wild beginning fencers.

 

The best coaches are master coaches, or maestros. My coach wore the black vest, but didn't consider himself a master level coach.

 

However, I did meet a handful of Master/Maestros at the USFA coaches training event I went to. They were . . . amazing, and all former Olympians. I felt awed to be in the same room as them, and then I got to fence with them . . . along with 100 or so other eager "grassroots" level coaches in training.

I'm not sure the USFA has events like that anymore. It was a long time ago (mid 90s). It was a time with the USFA was trying to build up the number of fencing clubs across America, in the hopes of finding a few Olympic hopefuls. (And no, I never wore black - I was a Level 1 and Basic Coach for beginners)

 

So, when I see the man in black (aka Wesley) in The Princess Bride, I don't automatically think "bad guy in black" - no, I think "Maestro," or "eXceptional fencer."

 

 

 

Have you ever met someone that you find exceptional?

 

Happy A to Z!

 

 

 

 

A to Z: Whites and Celebrate the Small Things

Whip-over: in sabre, a touch that results from the foible of the blade whipping over the opponent's guard or blade when parried.

Whites: fencing clothing.

Olympic Epee Fencers

 

What's with the whites?

 

 

Back in the olden days, before electrics (see that cord hanging off the back of their jackets), the end of each blade was red, and the judge could see the red tip/edge against the white jacket clearly. The entire match had to be judged/refereed with the human eye, and the red tips (on foils and epees) and red edges (on sabers) were much more visible against white. Epee fencers still fence in nearly all white, since the entire body is target area. 

 

However, these days, modern foil and saber fencers wear silver lames (pronounced lamays) over the target area for each blade. (remember, dull blades, not sharp)

 

Foil lame (the silver jacket over the white jacket)

 

The modern electrics are set up so that in foil and saber fencing the lights/buzzer only go off if the silver part is hit.

Foil target area is the torso.

 

Saber lame.

 

Saber target area is everything from the waist up. That means that a saber fencer wears a special glove, and a special helmet during competitions.

 

All of these extras are worn over the regular whites, not in place of them. The regular whites are better for sweating in (really) than the electric competition lames, mainly because those lames are lame to clean, nearly impossible actually.

 

Other fencing W terms:

Whip-over: in sabre, a touch that results from the foible of the blade whipping over the opponent's guard or blade when parried. (I wish I could find a video of this)

Terms from ARMA (The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts)

Ward - one of five to seven fighting postures, ready stances, or guards

Waster - a wooden stick used as a practice sword, also called a “bavin” (later a “cudgel” or “wiffle”)

 

 

 Hosted by the awesome VikLit!

 

1. My parents are recovering from their surgeries really quickly! This is awesome, huge news because I love them, and because it means I have less to do. (yes, it's totally selfish of me) My dad's fingers are up to the task of putting on both his prosthetic leg, and his leg brace (on the "good leg"), and my mom is able to bend over enough to empty out her dishwasher and so stuff like that. Yay!

 

2. I wrote a bit this week, and managed a 2 mile walk, and a 2 mile bike ride around a bunch of household craziness (some related to parents' surgeries and some not)

 

3. I love A to Z, but this year I'm also thankful that it's nearly the end.

 

4. I'm celebrating all the awesome A to Z hosts who make A to Z possible!

 Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

 

5. I went to see Oblivion last Saturday night with my parents (pre-surgery, happy 75th party for my dad), my husband and our kids. We enjoyed it, and had fun talking about it afterwards, especially that last five minutes of the film.

 

 

Tomorrow, I'll highlight the eXception to whites, the men(and women) in black. Who are they? What are they hiding under their masks?

 

 

Happy A to Z!

Hope you have something awesome to celebrate today!

 



 

A to Z: Void

V is for Void.

Ok, that sounds like I'm giving up, right? But actually, void stands for a renaissance fencing term. I was desperate and finally began looking past my fencing dictionary/glossary and rule book, and searched around until I found a list of Renaissance fencing terms. I wish I had seen these earlier in the month. I had an original plan a while back for these tough letters, but I can't seem to find it. So, I did research.

Void: to evade or avoid an attack rather than directly parry, often by a simple side step or pass, used preferably to parrying.

I found this and some other fun terms here which is a part of ARMA, aka The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts. So, if you are writing a book with swordplay in it, I highly suggest checking them out for more classical terminology.

A void lesson for writing:
Just void that writer's block, and get back to writing!

A to Z: U?

U is a problem letter for fencing and swordplay. However, it does remind me of a particular character, known for his tough swordsmanship, in legends and in the TV series, Merlin.

Uther Pendragon

Uther is not the most likeable character on the show, but he is trying to do his best for his son and his country, although he makes plenty of foolish mistakes along the way. He's a veteran of war, a tough bird, and he still thinks he has what it takes to take down any opponent with a blade. 

So here's a short clip of his battle with Sir Tristan (his dead brother-in-law back for vengeance):





Oh, and BTW, I thought I would never watch this show because I'm a little tired of all the Camelot/Arthur remakes, but then . . .well, I watched one episode, and then another, and then I became hooked. Merlin is probably my favorite re-telling of this old legend.
And I liked how Uther was portrayed.

So, a writing lesson from Uther?
Keep fighting, even when the odds are against you. Or keep writing, even when the odds seem stacked up against you.


Happy A to Z!

In the Dad-carpal tunnel surgery/recovery news - no one, not my mom, not my dad, not me, thought about how my dad would be getting his prosthetic leg on and off after surgery. He needs both hands for it, since it has to go on evenly. My mom's day surgery left her unable to bend over for 2 weeks (she definitely doesn't want me to share details but it was fairly minor except for the not bending over, not lifting things part afterwards), so guess who gets to wrestle my dad's prosthetic leg on and off? Me.
This is the reason that my parents built their house on the lot next to ours, for occasional care by me. (I'm an only child, so this comes with the territory, and I generally don't mind.)
The worst part of my dad's care so far has been forcing him to keep his arm elevated and getting him to take his pain pills . . . I had a very busy afternoon with kids' activities and a service project with the youth group serving dinner at a community center. I thought my mom could handle the water, pain pills, and elevation aspect of my dad's care for the afternoon/evening. Umm, no.
They both fell asleep, and my dad didn't take his pain pills, drink water, or keep his arm elevated. By 7 when I checked on them, he was just waking up, super-grumpy. My dad is not a grumpy kind of guy, so I decided to see the humor in this and took a pillow, put his arm up - even though he didn't want to - and then watched him take this pain pill, drink a glass of water, and start eating dinner. He was mad at me for making him do all that, but I remember the pain of my own arm surgeries and how much I didn't want to elevate my arm, or drink water, or eat, and I'm thankful for my parents and my roommates making me do that (or at least I was, after the fact.)
Today is a new day . . .pray for me in the arm elevation battle . . . it makes a difference in the healing process and pain management.

A to Z: Thrust

T is for Thrust: an attack made by moving the sword parallel to its length and landing with the point.

 Yes, this is one of the same pics I used for lunge. However, it works. A thrust is simply a point forward attack. The fencer doesn't have to lunge, just move that sword out parallel to the ground, pointing at the opponent and thrust, from a lunge, a standing position, or with fancy footwork.

Target: The portion of the opponent’s body which may be touched with the sword to score points. Foil's target is torso. Epee's target is the entire body, except back of the head, and Saber's target is from the waist up.

Thrown Point: a "flick". These are tricky and depend on the flexibility of the blade - I never was very good at them, but my coach was - he kept his blade flexible, and even bent it slightly into a "flickable" shape, and then it just took the right wrist motion to bring the tip of the blade down and around the opponent's parry. (However, sometimes right of way is hard to judge on these.) 

Tierce: parry #3; blade up and to the outside, wrist pronated.

Time Hit: also time-thrust; old name for stop hit with opposition.

Touch: A hit with the point of the weapon or a cut with the edge of the sabre, scoring a point.

Touche: the French word for "touched" is used to acknowledge a hit, called out by the fencer who is hit.

Trompement: deception of the parry

An application for writing:

In writing, like fencing, sometimes it's best to stick to the point and go for a direct line of attack through the storyline.



BTW, I thought I might not be able to visit much today since I'm sitting with my dad at the hospital while he has hand surgery, but so far, so good. So far, the only dilemma facing him: whether or not to take off the insert for his prosthetic leg before having hand surgery. The small joy of hospitals: bendy straws.

 

A to Z: Sabre

Sabre: a fencing weapon with a flat blade and knuckle guard, used with cutting or thrusting actions; a military sword popular in the 18th to 20th centuries; any cutting sword used by cavalry.

That's the dictionary definition.

Saber/Sabre - the most awesome, realistic fencing weapon fenced competitively at district, regional, national and international events! (my definition)

A lesser known fact about saber: Women's saber fencing didn't get added to the Olympics until Athens 2004! Really. Around the world, fencing has always been a bit of a "men's club", but for some reason, even after decades of women fencing foil and epee, saber fencing was seen as too rough and aggressive for women. Ha! Women were fencing saber in the USA far before the Olympics allowed women's saber competition, and because of that, in 2004, US Women took Gold and Bronze. Of course, now women's saber is being fenced competitively all over the world and the competition is becoming fierce.

Oh, and as I mentioned before, there are personality stereotypes that seem to go with each weapon. Foil fencers are considered to be every day Joes and Jills; epee fencers are often graceful and reserved; and saber fencers are considered aggressive, passionate, sometimes even arrogant. 
However, these are just stereotypes, and plenty of saber fencers are really fun people to hang out with and talk to . . .of course, I could just think that because I used to be one. :) (or at least I used to fence both foil and saber)

I had a cool video, but it was removed from youtube between the time I wrote this and the time I posted. Sorry. I don't have time this morning to replace it. :(

There are loads of other "S" terms in fencing, but don't worry, the rest of the alphabet is sparse for fencing lingo.

Salle: a fencing hall or club.

Salute: with the weapon, a customary acknowledgement of one's opponent and referee at the start and end of the bout.

Schlager: German fraternity duelling sword, used with cuts to the face and no footwork. (I had never heard of this before but found it in a fencing glossary and thought it might be interesting to research at some point)

Second Intention: a false action used to draw a response from the opponent, which will open the opportunity for the intended action that follows, typically a counter-riposte.

Seconde: parry #2; blade down and to the outside, wrist pronated.

Septime: parry #7; blade down and to the inside, wrist supinated.

Simple: executed in one movement; an attack or riposte that involves no feints.

Simultaneous: in foil and sabre, two attacks for which the right-of-way is too close to determine.  

Single-time: also "stesso tempo"; parry-riposte as a single action.

Sixte: parry #6; blade up and to the outside, wrist supinated.

Small Sword: a light duelling sword popular in the 17th-18th centuries, precursor to the foil. (Something I would like to research more.)

Stop Hit: a counter-attack that hits; also a counter-attack whose touch is valid by virtue of its timing.

Stop Cut: a stop-hit with the edge in sabre, typically to the sleeve.

Happy A to Z!
Remember, live and write with passion!
(That's one of the lessons I think we can learn from saber fencers)

 

A to Z: Right of Way and Riposte!

Right-of-way: rules for awarding the point in the event of a double touch in foil or sabre. (Dictionary definition)

Right of Way is a complex and interesting concept in fencing foil and saber. Right of way is meant to make fencing more realistic in the sense that once and attacker has established an attack, their opponent must push their attack off-line (off-target), bind their blade, or parry before attacking. In other words, it keeps fencing from being just two people poking each other without consequences. The opponent (the non-attacker) cannot simply impale themselves on the other person's blade and jab the point of their sword in and get a point. That is what right of way is meant to stop.
Here's a good instructional video (less than 3 minutes) about right of way:





So, how in the world does one get right of way if their opponent has established a line of attack?
They parry, bind, beat their opponent's blade off-line, and then riposte.

Riposte: an offensive action made immediately after a parry of the opponent's attack.

A riposte is basically a secondary attack. A fencing bout goes from attack, to parry-riposte, to parry-riposte, in a long flowing sequence of events. Some of those "parries" are actually beats, binds, and the like, but they are essentially some kind of defensive move that leads back into an offensive move - a riposte.

Another great video (only 2:12 minutes)




Love how she states again and again, that every parry is an opportunity to take the attack, or right of way!

Other "R" fencing terms:

Rapier: a long, double-edged thrusting sword popular in the 16th-17th centuries.

Red Card: used to indicate repeated minor rule infractions or a major rule infraction by one of the fencers; results in a point being given to the other fencer.

Redoublement: a new action that follows an attack that missed or was parried; renewal of a failed attack in the opposite line; alternatively see Reprise.

Referee: also director, president; the mediator of the fencing bout.

Remise: immediate replacement of an attack that missed or was parried, without withdrawing the arm.

Reprise: renewal of an attack that missed or was parried, after a return to en-garde; alternatively see Redoublement.

Retreat: step back; opposite of advance.

Ricasso: the portion of the tang between the grip and the blade, present on Italian hilts and most rapiers.

Weren't those great videos? I finally feel like I found some great demonstrations!

Happy A to Z!

Remember, every parry is an opportunity to riposte, or take the attack!
How could that work in writing and life?
Well, I see it in this way: every setback is an opportunity to step forward and take back the initiative! Every time I get writer's block, I can defend myself against it (parry), and get my hands back to typing (the riposte - taking back of the attack).


 

A to Z Challenge: Quinte and Celebrate the Small Things!

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.

Today's word: Quinte, or parry 5.

Didn't we just cover parries yesterday?

Yes.

However, in saber, Quinte is a bit different. Check out the diagram:

 

In saber fencing, the head is one of the main targets. Sure, it's target area in epee fencing too, but it seems like epee fencers like hitting hands, wrists, feet, and elbows. while saber fencers are far more likely to whack each other in the head, maybe because saber fencers can score points with both the point and the edge of the blade. (point and edge being relative, considering that they are dull edged)

 

That's it for today!

 

Happy A to Z!

 

Tomorrow I'll hit Right-of-Way and Ripostes.

 

 

Celebrate the Small Things

 

1. I'm surviving A to Z, although for a day or so there, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. There are so many awesome posts, and my blog time is running out each day.

 

2. I started writing poetry again after a long hiatus. It's bad stuff so far, but it just makes me more determined to write more because I know I can write better poetry than that stuff I've produced in the last few days.

 

3. My crit partner for Champion in the Darkness has agreed to help crit Champion in Flight. Yay for awesome crit partners!

 

4. My book is on Kindle Select, on sale, after a bit of fuss with Nook not taking it off sale even after I pushed the "take off sale" button.

Check out Champion in the Darkness for 99 cents here.

 

5. I cleaned up the two front garden beds. We have two trees that produce massive amounts of gorgeous flowers in the early spring, and then they proceed to dump all those blossoms on the ground in the front garden beds. The flowers are beautiful, and I know the hard work is good for me.

 

 

What are you celebrating today?

A to Z: Parry and Piste

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.

Parry: a block of the attack.
This is one of the first words that a fencer learns, along with attack, and riposte. Parries save your target area from attack. Parry-ripostes are that awesome defense into offense move that keeps the action moving forward. We'll get into ripostes more in "R".

There are huge numbers of fencing videos on youtube. Why did I pick this one? Well, he goes through the parries pretty quickly, names them correctly, and demonstrates for both right handers and left handers, which is rare. As a left-handed fencer, I appreciate it when someone takes the time to show both. Sure, I can mirror a right-hander, and I can fence right-handed, but I learned left-handed and prefer left-handed fencing. Oh, and the guy reminds me of many of the guys that fence, think chess with action, not Thor with perfect Barbie hair. (Although there are guys that look like that who fence too)



His setpeme and octave are low enough for epee fencers, even though I think he's holding a "plastic" foil - sometimes these are used in beginning level fencing classes, especially with younger kids.
One issue I have a bit with this video, is that he holds his quarte, or 4, with the tip facing away from his opponent. The tip/point should remain facing the opponent at all times. You can see this problem before the video even starts. Sigh. I couldn't find the perfect video, despite the numerous ones I looked through on youtube.
I have an old fencing training video, but it's old, like VHS old.

Piste: the linear strip on which a fencing bout is fought; approx. 2m wide and 14m long. Most commonly known in America as "the strip" and we're not talking about Las Vegas. If a fencer goes off the strip with one foot, they get a warning. If they go off entirely, they get a point against them/given to their opponent. 

What many non-fencers don't like about the strip/piste: it holds fencers in a straight line, and there is no roundabout, circling action, which can be kind of disappointing when you first start fencing.

The other "P" terms:

Pass: an attack made with a cross; eg. fleche. Also, the act of moving past the opponent.

Passata-sotto: a lunge made by dropping one hand to the floor.

Passe': an attack that passes the target without hitting

Phrase: a set of related actions and reactions in a fencing conversation.

Pistol Grip: a modern, orthopedic grip, shaped vaguely like a small pistol; varieties are known by names such as Belgian, German, Russian, and Visconti.

Plaque': a point attack that lands flat. (This one really sucks in foil and epee, when you think you've got the hit/point, they move slightly, and whap, the attack lands flat against their jacket making almost the sound of this word, "plack")

Plastron: a partial jacket worn for extra protection; typically a half-jacket worn under the main jacket on the weapon-arm side of the body.

Point: a valid touch; the tip of the sword; the mechanical assembly that makes up the point of an electric weapon; an attack made with the point.

Point in Line: also line; an extended arm and blade that threatens the opponent.

Pommel: a fastener that attaches the grip to the blade.

Preparation: a non-threatening action intended to create the opening for an attack; the initial phase of an attack, before right-of-way is established.

Presentation: offering one's blade for engagement by the opponent.

Press: an attempt to push the opponent's blade aside or out of line; depending on the opponent's response, the press is followed by a direct or indirect attack.

Prime: parry #1; blade down and to the inside, wrist pronated.

Principle of Defence: the use of forte against foible when parrying.

Priority: in sabre, the now-superseded rules that decide which fencer will be awarded the touch in the event that they both attack simultaneously; also used synonymously with right-of-way. (We'll discuss Right-of-Way soon)

Prise de Fer: also taking the blade; an engagement of the blades that forces the opponent's weapon into a new line. See: bind, croise, envelopment, opposition. (opposition was covered yesterday)

Favorite fencing moments in "P" movies: The scene between Inigo and Wesley (man in black) in The Princess Bride, and in the blacksmith's shop in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I showed The Princess Bride scene on "N" day, and if you follow the link here, you can find the one from Pirates. The common thread in both: excellent sword work, and actors trained by fencing masters.

 

A to Z: Octave and Opposition

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.

Octave: parry #8; blade down and to the outside, wrist supinated.

Parries cover the main 8 areas of the body in foil fencing. They are a bit different for sabre, but remain relatively the same. Octave remains the same for all three weapons.
A picture of the areas of the body for foil (although technically the low line area is still target and gets protected by septeme and octave):

 This is a textbook drawing of octave, or 8. The fencer on the right is demonstrating and octave parry. Interestingly enough, this drawing shows foil fencers wearing sabre vests . . . I guess those guys didn't want to think about the lower target area of the torso. (Ok, I just pointed, sorry, guys) Foil target area includes the whole torso, not just above the waist.

Opposition: holding the opponent's blade in a non-threatening line; a time-hit; any attack or counter-attack with opposition.

Before you watch this video I found on youtube, please note that these two gentlemen are fencing epee, the weapon in which the whole body is target (except the back of the head and neck).


When the coach (in black) talks about holding or grabbing the opponent's blade, he means grabbing it and holding it with his own blade. Opposition usually includes a press and slide type action, where the opponent's blade is pressed out of line (out of target area) and the attacker then slides their own blade down the weapon to hit their opponent. These two gentlemen are demonstrating it as a parry-riposte with opposition, but opposition can be started by the attacker before a parry.

Happy A to Z!

Don't let any opposition get in the way of your writing today! Just push it back, riposte, disengage, and attack that page!

Warning: There a huge number of "P" words in fencing tomorrow, including parry.

A to Z: Nouvieme

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.


Nouvieme: an unconventional parry (#9) sometimes described as blade behind the back, pointing down (a variant of octave), other times similar to elevated sixth.

My fencing coach actually taught this one, even though he stated at the time that it was unlikely that any of us would use it, unless we went to the Olympic level. I have searched and searched for pictures or video of this unconventional party - I know I've seen it somewhere - but I can't seem to find it.

The closest thing I found, and it doesn't look like what I learned, is in the Princess Bride Sword Fight scene between 2:07 and 2:10. The man in black does it, but it's pretty low, and the nouvieume I remember was up higher.



I love that scene! Love, love, love it. It not only captures some well-done stage fencing by actors who've been trained by a fencing coach, but it also captures some of what I consider to be saber fencer attitude.

Happy A to Z!

A to Z: Moulinet

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.

Moulinet: a whirling cut, executed from the wrist or elbow.

Ok, when I re-read this term (remember it's been a number of years since I fenced), I got really excited. I thought, hey, that's the move that I injured myself with! I know, it's a strange thing to get excited about, but I decided to research the term more fully because of that "personal" connection.

After doing a great deal of searching, and reading, I decided that actually the move that I injured myself with couldn't be a moulinet. Moulinets start with a whirling cut that exposes the arm and elbow to the opponent. Most modern saber fencers would take a quick cut at the exposed arm and elbow and get a point before the fancy whirling move finished. However, small moulinet type moves are still used, executed from the wrist and fingers.

Basically all that big circling stuff we see in movies is the stuff that makes most fencers say, "I could have hit them five times by the time they got their blade around!"

I couldn't find a good saber fencing video of a moulinet, so I searched around and found this one from a two handed long-sword coach. This video is long, but it shows both the move, and the determination of dedicated practice. And remember, he's going practice speed, so he's probably not going full out.






Other "M" fencing terms:

Mal-parry: also mal-pare'; a parry that fails to prevent the attack from landing.

Manipulators: the thumb and index finger of the sword hand.

Maraging: a special steel used for making blades; said to be stronger and break more cleanly than conventional steels.

Marker Points: an old method of detecting hits using inked points. (old, never used anymore)

Martingale: a strap that binds the grip to the wrist/forearm. (I've never seen one used)

Match: the aggregate of bouts between two fencing teams.

Measure: the distance between the fencers.

Middle: the middle third of the blade, between foible and forte.

On a personal note (the injury lowdown):
The move that I injured myself was a diagonal saber cut from shoulder to waist, circling around back into various parry/guard positions. It's a great saber move, as long as the fencer doesn't get their elbow involved in the circling. Most modern fencing is executed from the wrist and fingers. Elbows don't take to certain types of circular motions.
I practiced the move wrong repeatedly over several hours (at a coaches camp at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs) and even though I kept feeling a painful twinge, I kept going. I'm not talking about muscle fatigue or soreness, I mean that "wrong" odd twinge feeling that often is a part of actual injury. My body warned me, my coaches told me I could take a break, and I didn't listen. I nearly lost the use of my left hand entirely from the injury I gave myself. I ended up having the worst surgery and post-op recovery of my life because I was too stubborn to stop when something was wrong.

So, for anyone who has wondered about injuries and modern fencing, I can say from my experience that fencers who get injured are often fencers who have over-extended themselves. It's actually a pretty safe sport. (Yes, I did collect bruises at aggressive fencing matches, but that's usually the worst thing. and I felt oddly proud of those bruises, especially ones I got from the top competitors. "Look, that stripe on the back of my arm there, it was from _!")

So, have you ever over-extended yourself doing something you love? Become obsessed with learning a particular move and wanted to get it perfect? Or am I the only one that's become a bit obsessive-compulsive over a sport/athletic move? And what did you think of the video?



Oh, and in book marketing news . . . not a single book has sold at Smashwords, Kobo, or Nook since I went for the 99 cent spring sale. I decided to do something totally crazy and go for Kindle Select status and put it on 99 cent sale there. So, if you've been waiting for a sale price for Kindle, it's here.

I don't like changing things up midstream, but I want to get books into the hands of readers.

A to Z: Lunge

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.

L is for Lunge

Lunge: an attack made by extending the rear leg and landing on the bent front leg.

 

This is the move that everyone thinks of when they think of fencing, because it is THE attack position. A fencer can attack and have the right of way without the lunge, but a lunge is usually part of the attack position.

 

 

(This is a very clear picture of a fencer establishing right of way, in a nice lunge, and getting the hit/point because his opponent's parry has been unsuccessful)

 

In any attack, the attacker's blade must be moving towards the target (opponent) first to establish right of way, which then lets the director/referee know who started the attack and who "should" get the point. So, a lunge usually starts with the blade arm moving forward first, followed by the front leg and the rest of the body.

 (Inigo has a partial lunge and an attack, but the man in black successfully parries)

 

 

Of course, in a live fencing match between Olympic fencers, the blade is usually moving forward a fraction of a second before the fencer's body. Or the lunge could be preceded or replaced by any kind of forward movement. And that's just in the first established attack - this isn't getting into ripostes or what happens when both fencers seem to attack at the same exact time.

 

 

 (And this is what it often looks like and feels like in a competition - stretched out beyond the limits and in full movement)

 

Other L fencing words:

 

Lame': a metallic vest/jacket used to detect valid touches in foil and sabre. (This is worn with electrics, and not used when fencing "dry") 

Line: the main direction of an attack (eg., high/low, inside/outside), often equated to the parry that must be made to deflect the attack; also point in line.

In honor of this post today, I added 20 fencing lunges per leg into my exercise routine, and then did 20 front lunges. Ouch. I used to be in better shape. I think I need to add them in regularly.


Happy A to Z!

 

 

 

A to Z: Kendo and Celebrate the Small Things

 

My theme: fencing and swordplay.

 

Kendo: Japanese fencing with two handed swords.

 

A story of my tiny brush with Kendo. At the club where I first fenced, there were two exchange students from Japan who fenced foil and kendo. They did one demonstration for us. And it was awesome. They were amazing fencers with either weapon. The interesting thing I noticed was that the younger (by one year) fencer would beat the older fencer while at fencing club meetings, but at competitions, he seemed to allow the older (just by one year) to win. They both stated that the older fencer became truly competitive at competitions, but my coach always felt that the younger one held back out of deference to his older opponent in a competition where placement mattered.

 

So, obviously, I don't know much about Japanese culture. Anyone who does, can you enlighten me on this question: would a younger fencer be expected to allow an older fencer to win?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I just would like to know.

 

From the International Kendo Federation

"The Concept of Kendo

The concept of Kendo is to discipline the human character through
the application of the principles of the Katana.

The purpose of Kendo is:
To mold the mind and body,
To cultivate a vigorous spirit,
And through correct and rigid training,
To strive for improvement in the art of Kendo;
To hold in esteem human courtesy and honor,
To associate with others with sincerity,
And to forever pursue the cultivation of oneself.

Thus will one be able
To love his country and society,
To contribute to the development of culture,
And to promote peace and prosperity among all peoples."

 

Katana:

 

 

Celebrate the Small Things (I almost forgot again)

1. Almost mid-point for A to Z! Wow!

2. Back to regular life refreshed from last week's vacation.

3. Lots of tap dancing going on in my house lately as my daughters are choreographing pieces for a talent competition . . .I love tap dancing.

4. I got a hair cut from a hair stylist who doesn't scare me. Yay! (and I don't think I need to wear a hat afterwards - double yay!)

5. We might have time to see a movie this weekend as a family. . . maybe even tonight.

A to Z: Judge and Jury and Joker's Wild?

 A to Z is an awesome blog fest in April, started by Arlee Bird and hosted by a rocking team of people.

 

My A to Z Theme is fencing and swordplay.

 

Judges: additional officials who assist the referee in detecting illegal or invalid actions, such as floor judges or hand judges.

Jury: the 4 officials who watch for hits in a dry fencing bout.

Originally, in fencing, the referee was called either the Director or the President of the Jury. The director/referee controls the action of the bout, making sure that it stays safe, and that points are judged correctly. In a "dry" fencing bout, the four judges make up the "jury" with two each watching the target area of one of the opponents to judge whether or not there are any hits. The referee watches all the action, but also has to focus on the flow of the overall action to judge right of way, make sure that everything stays safe, and keep track of other rules.

A good referee and jury will follow the fencers up and down the strip, keeping in line with the action to see all of it as correctly as possible.

What the heck is a dry fencing bout? A fencing bout that is done without electrical scoring aids to help keep track of hits . . .note that hits don't necessarily equal points . . . that depends on right of way . . . and I'll get there with "R," I promise.

Something Special . . .  Michael Di Gesu introduced Champion in the Darkness for his Joker's Wild Day! Thank you Michael!!!! All of Michael's introductions rock, and I'm super excited to have my novel featured there.

A to Z: Invitation and Indie Life

Welcome back to the A to Z Challenge! (My Indie Life post is at the end if you want to scroll way down)

My theme this year is fencing and swordplay (mainly fencing).

Today's word: Invitation.

 

Invitation: a line that is intentionally left open to encourage the opponent to attack.

 

Usually if a fencer gives another fencer an invitation, that fencer is very sure of themselves, or happens to enjoy parrying and riposting without going on the attack first (again, very sure of their ability to deflect their opponent's attack). My first coach loved to give an invitation to new fencers, or fencers he thought needed a lesson in humility. With new fencers, he might allow them to get a single touch on him before as he taught them, but usually if he was inviting me to attack, I knew I was going to get thumped, and possibly thumped hard. That usually happened after I did something particularly arrogant, or assumed that since I had kept time with him during a practice session that I could hit/touch him. And just so you know, even with all the protective gear, if someone wants to give you hit you hard while fencing .  . . you will feel it. I've learned to be wary of fencers who give an invitation at the beginning of a bout. Usually an invitation includes opening up the whole point area, usually turning to face the opponent with both shoulders and the full front exposed.

 

This video shows a Romanian sabre coach with an Olympic fencer. They aren't going full speed, by any means. Notice at the beginning, the coach seems to be inviting the fencer to hit him. It's a long video but you can get the feel of it within the first minute or so.

 

 

 



Other I terms:

In Quartata: a counter-attack made with a quarter turn to the inside, concealing the front but exposing the back.

In Time: at least one fencing time before the opposing action, especially with regards to a stop-hit. (very cool to see well done)

Indirect: a simple attack or riposte that finishes in the opposite line to which it was formed. (very effective) 

Insistence: forcing an attack through the parry. (some fencers are great at this, I usually wasn't, but did use it a few times)

Interception: a counter-attack that intercepts and checks an indirect attack or other disengagement.

Italian Grip: a traditional hilt with finger rings and crossbar. Oops I forgot this one on "grip" day. Here it is:

 

 

 

Indie Life

Ok, I’m not a filmmaker, and I don’t even subscribe to Time magazine, but I happened to be in a coffee shop last night with my daughter, picked up the April 15^th(how is that possible?) edition of Time magazine, and flipped through it until I reached the back, where I read (not skimmed) a whole article about an indie filmmaker named Shane Carruth. I haven’t seen his first, Sundance Award winning film, Primer, but I felt drawn into his story, the story of an independent filmmaker/storyteller who spent several years after his initial success trying to get along with the mainstream Hollywood world, and then ended up making his second independent film, Upstream Color. Now, I know nothing really about his films. I don’t know if I would like them, or not. I have no idea, but his story touched me. I loved this final quote by him.

“You don’t need to make a $100 million at the box office to have a story that can be relevant in the culture for a long time,” he says. “You just need to be earnest.”

I’m posting that on my board, and my kitchen cupboards. I may not be a filmmaker, and my book my may never make $1 million dollars, or even $1,000, but I know that I have a story that’s relevant. And no, I’m not being arrogant, I’m remembering the sweet words of a young (12 year old) fan that came up to me on Monday at a homeschool co-operative where I teach. I apologized to him about the typos in his copy, feeling embarrassed that I hadn’t caught them before several copies of my book had sold. He said, “A few typos don’t matter if the story is really good, and you wrote a great story, the kind of story that matters.” Wow. I just thanked him profusely at the time, but now I have tears in my eyes.

So, from Shane Carruth to Time, to me, to you: “You don’t have to make big bucks to have a story that can be relevant to the culture for a long time, you just have to be earnest.” (paraphrase)

 

A to Z: To the Hilt

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

 

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.

Yesterday, I discussed grips and guards, both components of today's word: Hilt.

Hilt: The handle of a sword, consisting of guard, grip, and pommel. Also, in real swords, it consists of the tang, a hidden element.

 Sabre Hilt.

Yesterday I discussed the grip and the guard, so now I'm going into the other two basic elements, the pommel and the tang.

The pommel is the counter weight at the end of the grip, and in modern fencing swords usually screws into the hilt base and holds the hilt together. A hilt without a pommel would fall apart, and the blade would be unbalanced. (Sometimes, on historical rapiers, a "button" held the pommel in place at the end, but I don't see this on many modern blades, even those made for re-enactments.)

The tang is a continuation of the blade inside the hilt. The longer the tang, the more stable and strong the sword. In fencing the tang is fairly short, because the blades don't generally take hard side hits. However, in re-enactment swords and broadswords, the tang needs to be the full length of the hilt, or at least extending to where the pommel becomes a part of the hilt.


These are just the basics of sword hilts, and that's as fancy as it gets for fencing blades.

However, if you're into re-enactments and rapiers, you might want to know some of the other terms. I found more at Props by Eric Hart, which has a great pic of different parts of a traditional rapier hilt, with definitions for each part.
Here's that pic:

Here's another pic from a long-sword style (at the moment, I'm focused on the hilt, but you are welcome to check out the other parts):

From a katana, the hilt is relatively the same again:

Also, if you want to check out some really cool, and expensive re-enactment blades, you can check out Albion Swords.

I did a little research for this post and learned a few new things. Have you learned anything new for A to Z?

A to Z: Get a Grip!

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

 

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.


Get a Grip! (And a Guard)

Grip: the handle of the weapon.
Guard: the metal cup or bow that protects the hand from being hit. Also, the defensive position assumed when not attacking. We're focusing on the weapon at this point.

 leather-wrapped foil or epee grip

 

 pistol grip on an epee, pistol grips can also be used with foils

 

a pic of the three main fencing weapons, showing the whole weapons. Notice the different guard structures for each.

 



A French grip is held lightly in the hand, using the thumb and forefinger primarily. The rest of the fingers are wrapped lightly around the grip as "aids" to help steady the weapon. The grip should be held "lightly in the hand as if holding a bird, not too tight and not too loose."

Pistol grips can be used for foils and epees, and they are sometimes called Italian, or Belgian, because pistol grips originated there and are still manufactured there.

Sabres only have one type of grip, shown here.

 

I have only used the French grip, and the sabre grip. Why? Because although my first coach used both pistol and French grips, he wanted all of his students to use the French grips to strengthen our hands and be prepared for a variety of weapons. He felt the best fencers could fence with all three weapons, without having to fuss over grip styles. The pistol grip is very popular with competitive foil and epee fencers who do not fence sabre because it is easier to hold onto in a bout, and gives the hand more support. I wanted to fence sabre so I stayed with a French grip on my foil. Besides I became so fond of my first grip that I actually took apart my first foil, when the blade went bad, so I could put together my second foil with my original leather grip.

 

If you take a look at the guard on all three fencing weapons, you'll see some major differences that come from the different target areas for those weapons.

 

Foil fencers only target the torso, front and back, so the guard on foils is fairly small. It just protects the hand from random, accidental strikes.

 

Epee fencers target the whole body, with the exception of the back of the head and neck, so the guard on the epee is large. Many points are scored by hitting the opponent on the hand and wrist. The larger bell shaped guard protects that area.

 

Sabre fencers target the upper body from the waist up (except the back of the head and the neck), and points can be scored on the hand and wrist. So the guard for the sabre protects that area, and reflects the fact that a sabre fencer can make both side cuts and point thrusts for points.



 

 Rapier, with Italian cup hilt. Rapier fencing is popular with the S.C.A. and although it isn't competed with in fencing circles, it is occasionally discussed. Rapiers (dulled, and not edged like this one) are used in the S.C.A. and points are scored with both the edge and the point, which again is reflected in the guard's shape. Traditional weapons like this never have pistol grips.

 

 

I could have fun finding pictures of swords and their grips and guards all day. :)

 

 

Other fencing terms for G:

 

Glide:  an attack or feint that slides along the opponent's blade, also called a coule.

 

Guard as in En Garde, which means to take a defensive position, or get ready for an attack. The director (referee) of a bout usually tells both fencers "en garde" before the action begins and both fencers are required to stand a certain length apart in their guard positions before the director starts the bout with a signal.