fencing is a complicated and technical sport. its come a long way since the practice weapons of its origins and has been effected by technology more than most sports. there’s a long running debate, generating rule changes and equipment changes about what constitutes an attack. basically it works like this:
foil (like saber but unlike epee) has a right of way, in order to score you need to possess the right to do so and this is gained either by starting at an attack first or by parrying an attack and hence gaining right of way. if two people both land points on the others target then only the one with right of way will score, if two people attack and one has right of way but lands the point off target the point is played again and no score recorded. straightforward non?
well no. electric scoring and blade technology have given rise to 'flicks'. that is using the momentum of the tip of the blade (previously a sharp pointy thing made blunt but now carrying a heavier 'button' that registers pressure and relays that to the electric scoring box) to bend around a blade or body and 'cast' the point. it can look rather like fly fishing.
the problems lies in refereeing it. the electrics can only tell you if a point lands, NOT if the attack itself is capable of scoring. and all too often preparing for a flick attack involves bending the arm and taking the point off line with the target, the basic qualification for an attack being the point threatens the target, the arm is straight and there is a continuous attack (allowing for compound attacks). its this break in time of the attack which is the source of contention; to some the attack is continuous because the preparation for a flicking attack is a signal of threat onto the target. for others only a threat to the body held constantly can be a threat so the break in time to remove the point on preparing a flicking attack cedes right of way. it makes judging a nightmare and makes the interpretation of attacks by judges arbitrary to say the least.
to try and bring some sense to this the FIE is proposing changes to the weight of the tip of a foil and the duration that the tip needs to be depressed to register a point, this will disable 'glancing' flick hits. much debate and confusion has ensued.
Bill Oliver of the US Fencing Officials Commission (FOC) provides an analysis of the rules surrounding the attack and interpretation on how the attack is defined. and then discussed further on the fencing forum. fencing 101 also has a thread on experience of the new rule changes.
me? i'm just waiting for the rule and tech changes to filter down to club level to try out, and hoping that this will bring some consistency to competition judging which at the moment seems to have a such a wide range of interpretation as to be almost impossible to second guess.
as an aside, materials science developments effects on fencing.
Posted by flambingo at April 8, 2004 01:05 PM | TrackBack