Right-of-What?

4/11/10

When considering entering my first USFA foil tournament, I thought I knew the risks. Flicks, bouncing, poor sportsmanship; all of the things associated with modern fencing. I prepared myself, mentally at least. I had been going to epee tournaments on a fairly regular basis and thought I could handle it. And it was true; none of that got to me. What came as a surprise, though, was right-of-way.

Right-of-way is the basis of all fencing. It tells us who should [and can] do what where at what time. To put it simply, it is the idea of whether one would do their action if the blades were sharp. If one fencer attacks with the point coming forward and threatening the other's target, rationally the second fencer will parry the attack. If one fencer simply advances toward the other, point no where near being a threat, there is no reason why the other fencer shouldn't attack. Right?

Elements of Right-of-Way:

1. Distance. If you are not close enough to hit with an advance-lunge, you do not have ROW. If you are close enough, read on.

2. Point. The point of the foil must be extending towards the other fencer's valid target. In order to have ROW, one fencer must be in distance and that fencer must begin the extension-and continue to have their arm extended-before the other fencer.

3. Tempo. Tempo is the amount of time it takes one fencer to do one action. A simple (e.g. direct) attack is one tempo and therefore, as long as it has the other two elements, has ROW. A compound attack (e.g. straight feint) has two or more tempos (in this case two) and can consequently be defeated by a counterattack in time (stop hit). In order for the counterattack to be in time (meaning that it has the tempo and, as a result, the ROW) it must arrive before the final action of the initial attack begins.

Really. It's right there in the rules.

"t.59 (d) When compound attacks are made, the opponent has the right to stop hit, but to be valid, the stop hit must precede the conclusion of the attack by an interval of fencing time; that is to say before the attacker has begun the final movement of the attack."

(for those interested in all of the particularities of ROW ruling, please refer to pages 20 and 21 of the USFA rule book [http://usfencing.org/resources/documents/usfa-rulebook]).

Despite this, fencers will still fence as if they have never heard of ROW. The solution? No idea. The cause? Not sure. My only guess is that many fencers aren't being taught the historical elements and traditions of their sport because it "doesn't apply to them". All I can hope is that they will see the light-- and not the one on the box.