Fencing Practice and Techniques - Footwork Techniques

Footwork Techniques

In a fencing bout, a great deal depends on being in the right place at the right time. Fencers are constantly manoeuvring in and out of each other's range, accelerating, decelerating, changing directions and so on. All this has to be done with minimum effort and maximum grace, which makes footwork arguably the most important aspect of a fencer's training regimen. In fact, in the first half of the 20th century it was common practice to put fencers through six months to a year of footwork before they were ever allowed to hold a sword. This practice has now been largely abandoned.

Modern fencing tends to be quite linear. This is dictated by the width of the piste — no more than 2 m — and rules dictating a halt once fencers come into contact or pass each other.

These rules may reflect older dueling styles and the changing nature of weapons: Sideways movement, which was a common defense against an attack with a comparatively unwieldy weapon like the rapier, became an unreliable tactic when faced with smaller, much lighter weapons. In contemporary sport fencing defense by footwork usually takes the shape of moving either directly away from your opponent (out of his/her range) or directly towards him/her (making the attack "overshoot").

The fencing stance and movements may appear artificial, but they have evolved over centuries of trial and error to afford optimal protection and mobility. Fencers tend to stand somewhat side-on to the principal direction of movement (the fencing line), leading with the weapon side (right for a right-hander, left for a left-hander). In this fencing stance the feet are a shoulder-width or more apart with the leading foot forward and the trailing foot at right angles to it. Finally, the knees are well bent and the center of gravity is kept mid way between the heels. The fencer is now in a position where he/she is well balanced, able to use his/her leg muscles to generate rapid bursts of speed and change directions with comparative ease. In foil and épée, particularly, this stance decreases the vulnerable target area. Further, and more importantly, it maintains balance and ease of movement both forward and backward.

The most common way of delivering an attack in fencing is the lunge, where the fencer reaches out with his/her front foot and straightens his/her back leg. This maneuver has the advantage of allowing the fencer to maintain balance while covering far more distance than in a single step, yet still allowing a return to the more defensive fencing stance.

Sometimes fencers do take the more "natural" kind of steps, where the back foot passes the front foot. These are usually referred to as cross-steps. While cross-steps do have the advantage of range and speed, they may put a fencer in an awkward and frequently unbalanced position mid-step.

A somewhat exaggerated version of the cross-step, sometimes used to deliver an attack in foil or épée, is the flèche ("arrow" in French). In the flèche, the fencer leans forward and takes a long running cross-step, generating most of the thrust with his/her front leg. Ideally, the hit delivered with a flèche should arrive as or just before the fencer's front foot hits the ground. When (as often happens) the flèching fencer runs past the defender the defender is allowed to finish a defensive action, generally a riposte following a parry.

In sabre forward cross-steps were prohibited in the 1990s, one of numerous efforts to increase the sport's popular appeal. This also removed distortions caused by the introduction of electronic scoring where sabre bouts degenerated to both parties charging to get the hit in first before passing their opponent and therefore ceasing to be a valid target.

Variations and portions of the above movements can also be used by themselves. For example, a check-step forward is performed by moving the back foot as in a retreat, then performing an entire advance. This manoeuvre can trick your opponent into thinking that you are retreating, when in reality you are about to close distance.

Other footwork actions include the appel (French for "call"), which is a stomp designed to upset the opponent's perception of rhythm, and the ballestra, which is a "hopping" step occasionally used as a preparation for attacks (the back foot leaves the ground, while the front foot is still in mid-air; both feet come down at the same time).

In general, Olympic fencing has put a premium on balance, speed, and athleticism in footwork, somewhat diluting orthodoxies regarding the classical stances and methods. To a degree, this has led to increasing resemblance between fencing footwork and that of other martial arts, with the significant caveat that a scoring "touch" requires almost no power behind the blow, only timing and the ability to manipulate distance.