Tips for Success

• Understand the concept of distance, and use it to your advantage. Maintaining correct distance is one of the most underrated of skills. If you control the distance between you and your opponent, you control the strip. Distance is your best defense, and at the same time, it is your best offensive skill to set up your trap.
• Contact your opponent's weapon with purposeful intent. The pressure of your blade against your opponent's blade should be light, but firm. Imagine that your fencing encounters are nothing more than polite 'conversations' done with weapons. Try to extend the length of your conversations. Do not fence as if you were yelling at someone. You don't need to be slashing wildly about.
• Pay attention to your form and footwork. Each fencer must take time to practice correct footwork on their own. There is no excuse for bad or faulty footwork, other than laziness. Concentrate on making movements smooth and precise. Take time to perfect your footwork skills in practice. You certainly won't have time during a bout!
• Fence as if you were a bolt of lightning. Your opponent does not know WHEN or WHERE you will strike. Be patient. Relax. Wait for an opening. Then, attack.
• To establish 'right-of-way', parry an attack before you counterattack. Simple advice, but sometimes difficult for beginning fencers to understand. Just remember that it is wrong to 'commit suicide in order to make a kill.
• Success is not always determined by a win-loss record. Be proud of your own accomplishments, no matter how 'small.' It is surprising how small things tend to add up