Your feint (which always precedes a disengage even if you don't mean to) should be in a clear line. Remember to treat your opponent as if he was stupid. This not only helps your ego, it will keep you from making that fatal mistake, assumtion.
If you assume your opponent is quick, you will aim where he is about to be and then be upset when he doesn't quite make it in time to be hit.
If you assume he will parry your perfectly valid threat, he may not, and you will be busy disengaging nothing while he counter-attacks.
You must lead your unfortunate opponent carefully down the path you want him to take. Show him where you want him to parry by clearly presenting your blade. If you present your blade in the four then he will parry four. If you present your blade in kinda-sorta the four only lower and half extended and too close to his hand, where will he parry? Counter-four? Counter-six? Nine?
In order to do a precise disengage, you need a precise parry.
You need your opponent's cooperation to do the really sublime actions like disengage attacks.
How do I get my opponent to fall for a disengage?
First you must gain his respect. A fencer has many degrees of parry. He beats lightly at a blade that is close enough to annoy him but not a real threat. These beats are far too fast to disengage and even if you could, nothing is to be gained since no real opening is created.
He parrys with his foible when a feint is close but his real defense is his feet. A quick retreat and then an agressive action of his own to correct distance. An opening is created here but not a direct one. Against an advanced fencer it is sometimes necessary to disengage this type of parry to get them to commit to the next type of parry. The "truly worried parry."
When an attack has a real chance of hitting, fencers will take it seriously. They will put some effort into their parry and focus their attention on it. When they are thinking about parrying, they are not thinking about the possibility of a disengage.
So you disengage.
If you can make your opponent believe in your ability and willingness to hit with a straight attack, he will react. Only then can you determine how and where he will react, and disengage accordingly.
The best way to do this is setting up a pattern, and drawing a reaction.
Setting up a pattern.
Everything you do is not a surprise attack. Quite the contrary, most of your fencing bouts are in the club where everyone will soon know you back to front.
Spend some time setting up a small pattern. Lunge and hit the six, then recover. If you get a point, fine, but your focus should be not on hitting, but on making the action and recovering without getting hit.
Do it again. Be careful to make the action simple, fast, and exactly like the first one.
When you do it the third time, your opponent, might have caught on and is probably ready to parry six with all his might.
That is when you disengage.
Slip your point into the eight and your opponent will be too busy swinging at the simple attack he was expecting to see you change lines.
|
