A Brief Bit of Cross-Training with a Sport Fencer

[John_Clements]

BTW, as several have mentioned to me via email, I did not bother to describe again my sessions with the former Croatian national fencing champion who later became the Alberta, Canada champion, since it had already been described here on our forums years past. The results were much the same as described in the encounters above. But in that case he was already somewhat familiar with ARMA and our interpretations, yet as a successful and accomplished sport fencer needed to have it proved to him before he accepted that it worked. No problem there. The fellow quickly adapted and now exclusively practices historical fencing and is quite good, despite a hindering knee injury he later acquired.

JC

[jeremy pace]

I had a similar encounter with a sport fencer....
I've been a student of the blade for over 10 years, and have experimented with any style and any weapon available. In my search for a teacher i discovered we had a salle about a mile from my work. I took up the sabre and was about half through my second ribbon (maybe a little over a dozen classes) when i sparred against a man whose name i dont remember. He invited me over without any intro or hi howyadoin and asked how experienced i was. I lied and said i had only been fencing for a few months (i call this a lie because i know he meant to ask how much of a challenge i would be, and because he had the look of a guy very much overconfident with his own ability.)and took an onguard position. It worked out pretty much like your fight, i am not a student of arma yet but am interested, except i was in a salle and could not use off hand deflection, grapples, or any of the other tricky techniques i had picked up. His buzzer lit on me twice, but he was not used to some of my guards and variations on riposts and it ended with 8-2. He became pretty disgusted after that, but was curious enough to ask, "how long have you been doing this? Who taught you that feint?" I had to be honest with the guy then and told him i'd been fighting for about 5 years in a lot of different styles. He said good fight and left.... The next day i asked my instructor who he was and he told me his name and that he had come in a week ago and was from some florida fencing institute and had fought all the instructors at my salle (many of which were A level) and beat them. I was shocked by this but told Jerry, my instructor, that i had been thinking about it and decided sport fencing wasn't for me. Any practicing fencers out there should not be discouraged by these recounts of sport fencing. Its as has been said many times: there is a big difference between fighting for fun, and a serious practitioner of a martial art. I beat this man because i treated him like he was a threat, and i used every ounce of technique i had to beat him. To him it was a game. To me it was to the death. Fight with intent.