Upper Valley Fencing Club

08/23/2026

...I've tried to reprise, but I never seem to get the prise...

Two interpretations on this, one is the reprise is a return to guard before taking the next action, the other is it's more of a reset to the position that was taken before the attack that just failed.

There is a common thread here between recovery, remise and reprise, they all occur after an attack that didn't land. Either, this was done with the intention of setting up a second action, or done when unforeseen circumstances (your opponent saw the action coming and defended against...). In either case, in todays epee competitions, the goal is to make 1 tempo attacks as the response comes to fast to allow second intention attacks to be successful.

Neutral balance on your feet to be able to immediately advance or retreat, and bladework that is accurate, and no larger than it needs to be are the keys to success in modern competition.

08/17/2026

(tales of an epee addict continued)...I've tried to remise, but it only leads to more misery...

In foil, a fencer needs to have the "right of way". If a double touch occurs, the fencer with "right of way" will be awarded the touch. In epee, there is no such thing as a right of way rule, instead if opponents touch each other within 1/25th (.040) seconds of each other, both earn a point.

In foil, a remise will never have right of way because a remise only occurs when the initial attack misses and the fencer immediately tries to hit again.

In epee, a remise means the fencer missed making their touch and they are (often desperately) attempting to land a touch before their opponent hits them...which is a "miserable" situation to be in.

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08/10/2026

Tonight is the first meeting of our second summer session (only meeting on Mondays during the summer).

Last post, I mentioned Recovery.

Well, as an epee addict, I just end up at the same place. There is also the "Redouble". I've tried the redouble and I just end up in more trouble...

The redouble is doing the same action over. In practice, we do a lunge and then "redouble". If you've done the lunge properly, lunging again without recovering is doable. If you can't, you need to understand what the error was and fix it for next time.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll comment on the "remise" (rehm-eese), and the reprise (reh-preeese).

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07/06/2026

Hi, I'm Bill. I'm an Epee addict...

You might be a fencing addict if: you've tried recovery, but you always end up in the same place.

The story behind the recovery issue:

In fencing, we practice doing different things, and especially with practicing lunges, we tell the students to "recover", at which time they return to the position they started in before they lunged (so they end up back in the same place).

Fencing is a body weight exercise, and the lunge is the most powerful action done in fencing (Fleching--a running attack is next, but can be more or less explosive). While you won't develop doing a full lunge properly with full energy at first, eventually you will:

Drive your self forward with an explosive push using the rear leg, to move forward as quickly as possible. You will catch yourself and stop the forward movement with the front leg. Glutes, calf muscles, and quadriceps all come into play, along with some other leg muscles, as well as core muscles so your upper body also stops at the right time. Lunges are a common leg action needed to deliver the weapon into the correct distance to make a touch.

Being able to recover quickly is just as important because, if for any reason, your attack fails to land, you will want to get back to your starting position before your opponent has a chance to hit you.

Unfortunately, recovery doesn't seem to help with being a fencing addict.... (and wherever I go, people always seem inspired to hit me when I share these words of wisdom! Go figure!).

Fencing; make new friends, then stab them!
Bill

06/28/2026

We are closed this week, June 29th through July 2nd.

We start are 1st summer session (Mondays only, 4 weeks) on July 6th.

Have a happy 4th of July all!

06/11/2026

Tracy Hall isn't available for fencing tonight.

I will be there to let people know....(I dont have everyone on my cell phone...).

Bill

05/22/2026

Upper Valley Fencing Club will not be meeting on Monday in observance of Memorial day.

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03/16/2026

Congratulations to Alex on earning a D 2026 rating and to Joanna on earning an E 2026 rating in foil this weekend d!

03/07/2026

The current session ( started on March 5th), is open for registrations as of the 4th.

We had 5 people, ( some returning from when we were at Hanover, some new) that are giving us a try at the Norwich location.

03/02/2026

No fencing tonight. The space has
been staged for the Town Meeting (full of chairs and voting booths!).