Great point by Golubytsky at 3:16 on what the FIE has done to the attack in foil. They killed the golden rule of "hitting without being hit". They replaced it with "whoever starts the slow march toward his opponent with the blade out of catching/parrying reach and thus threatening nothing, will win the subsequent double hit."
It is something I find very frustrating myself. I am someone who was brought up in the same sort of system of classic foil fencing style (foilist for 10 years). Yes, the whole "hit without being hit." and that an attack in foil is defined by the three key factors which are: 1. Extension of the arm. 2. Threatening the target. 3. One action timing (e.g. Lunge, step-lunge etc). Now you have foil fencers who withhold the blade all the way back in an arc-like formation or not even threatening the target at all and they still call it "attack touche" because there's no way to parry it and if you try to attack into it you do not get called on it. You should still be able to initiate a lunge say when retreating back. Yes, if fencers are attacking at the same time and one fencer hesitates/pulls back the blade at the last moment then it is still rewarded to the person with the continuous action. The thing is though, if you check the rules on Foil fencing, whether it is British rules or the USA Fencing rules, an attack is still defined the way it always has been as I explained above. There is nothing in there about "coming forward/marching forward withholding the blade as right of way. Yes there are times where I believe it is perfectly fine to bring the arm back like say doing a second intention where you beat the opponents blade and right as they parry you bring it back to make them miss and finish with a remise attack.
As someone who comes from that background of classic Foil fencing I agree with what Sergei is saying. It makes things very frustrating at a competitive level where some referees believe "Coming forward" is what makes an attack which it doesn't in foil fencing.
Just discovered you, great work! It so do you know of Gerek is retiring? I believe he said Rio would be his last Olympics a while back, but will he fence internationally for a few years? Also I assume Miles would also retire?
Thanks for your interest in our videos @slayerming1 and support of our work. We appreciate your positive feedback. Keep following us for ongoing updates about GM and MCW as those stories develop.
I have heard this as well. As far as I know, Gerek was more or less going to retire from at least international fencing and move on to a career (forget what it's called). Then again he might just be retiring from international fencing and not fencing on the American circuit. At this point he might also be having a break which is possibly why Alex Massialas and Miles Chamley Watson were not competing at this tourney (as they said though in the vid, in their place we had Jianfei Ma of China, Alexander Choupenitch of the Czech Republic and Maximillian Van Haaster of Canada in their place, all Olympians in their own right).
Great point by Golubytsky at 3:16 on what the FIE has done to the attack in foil. They killed the golden rule of "hitting without being hit". They replaced it with "whoever starts the slow march toward his opponent with the blade out of catching/parrying reach and thus threatening nothing, will win the subsequent double hit."
It is something I find very frustrating myself. I am someone who was brought up in the same sort of system of classic foil fencing style (foilist for 10 years). Yes, the whole "hit without being hit." and that an attack in foil is defined by the three key factors which are:
1. Extension of the arm.
2. Threatening the target.
3. One action timing (e.g. Lunge, step-lunge etc).
Now you have foil fencers who withhold the blade all the way back in an arc-like formation or not even threatening the target at all and they still call it "attack touche" because there's no way to parry it and if you try to attack into it you do not get called on it. You should still be able to initiate a lunge say when retreating back. Yes, if fencers are attacking at the same time and one fencer hesitates/pulls back the blade at the last moment then it is still rewarded to the person with the continuous action.
The thing is though, if you check the rules on Foil fencing, whether it is British rules or the USA Fencing rules, an attack is still defined the way it always has been as I explained above. There is nothing in there about "coming forward/marching forward withholding the blade as right of way.
Yes there are times where I believe it is perfectly fine to bring the arm back like say doing a second intention where you beat the opponents blade and right as they parry you bring it back to make them miss and finish with a remise attack.
Totally agree with you, and we have endless discussions about this topic: www.fencing.net/forums/threads/how-some-foil-referees-break-rules.143306/
As someone who comes from that background of classic Foil fencing I agree with what Sergei is saying. It makes things very frustrating at a competitive level where some referees believe "Coming forward" is what makes an attack which it doesn't in foil fencing.
He is so right when he comments on the referees breaking the basic rules.
Just discovered you, great work! It so do you know of Gerek is retiring? I believe he said Rio would be his last Olympics a while back, but will he fence internationally for a few years? Also I assume Miles would also retire?
Thanks for your interest in our videos @slayerming1 and support of our work. We appreciate your positive feedback. Keep following us for ongoing updates about GM and MCW as those stories develop.
I have heard this as well. As far as I know, Gerek was more or less going to retire from at least international fencing and move on to a career (forget what it's called). Then again he might just be retiring from international fencing and not fencing on the American circuit. At this point he might also be having a break which is possibly why Alex Massialas and Miles Chamley Watson were not competing at this tourney (as they said though in the vid, in their place we had Jianfei Ma of China, Alexander Choupenitch of the Czech Republic and Maximillian Van Haaster of Canada in their place, all Olympians in their own right).
Wish I had his life
It is impossible not to agree with Golubytsky. Foil in particular has become extremely ugly. It just looks ugly with comical "attacks".
Indeed!