Matt Easton, of Scholagladiatoria does have a point about certain rules of fencing forcing competitors to adopt methods and tactics which would be unrealistic in a duel (“real fencing” with real weapons). This is particularly true for sabre and foil, the weapons which include the concept of “right of way”. His basic premise however, that this is not anything like “real fencing”, is complete bullshit. I guarantee you that an elite fencer can, with a few hours of practice with the weapons and rules used in HEMA, defeat anyone who is a practitioner of HEMA. The basic skills of footwork, distance, timing, and the precision skills involved in the handwork needed for attacks and parries will be common to both styles. An elite fencer is adept at modifying their tactics for the weapon involved and the opponent they are facing. These top fencers spend as much time as any other Olympic athlete training and competing at a high level. Yet, Mr. Easton dismisses all that without having experienced that level of sport fencing himself. I became convinced he was delusional after his rant about pistol grips. What Easton does not talk about is how the tactics would change once they relinquish the protection HEMA offers and proceed to really fighting a duel where death and injury are real consequences.
A poignant example of this kind of delusion comes from a duel fought in 1920s Italy. Aldo Nadi, who was already an Olympic champion was challenged by a sports journalist to a duel. This journalist also thought that sport fencers couldn’t be successful using a sharp rapier in a real duel. Nadi accepted the challenge and the duel was fought in the early morning on the field of an empty stadium. Both duelists were very cautious and fought tentatively at first. Nadi was able to injure the journalist in a stop touch to the wrist. The journalist however, wrapped his wrist in a bandage and returned to the fight. At this point Nadi figured he was too dangerous because he didn’t have any common sense. The ground was slightly muddy, so he pounded his foot into the mud to give himself a solid anchor for his rear foot. He meant to stop the duel by lunging to his opponents body. The journalist saw this, realized he might die as a result, and immediately acknowledged defeat
More than thirty years ago, I took a university class taught by an art history professor who had an enormous knowledge and love of historic styles of fencing in Europe, particularly Italy. The class was on teaching fencing. There were several elite fencers in the class who were very appreciative about getting this historical knowledge and learning the pedagogy behind an individual lesson. Behind his back, we snickered because of his romantic obsession with classical Italian weaponry and style of fencing. He was also not a particularly good fencer and far too stiff to give a good lesson himself. Yet, to this day, I think everyone in that class respects him still for the extremely rare and useful knowledge he imparted. I will point out that one of the students in that class was Greg Massialas, who had already been a member of the blocked, 1980 Olympic team. If anyone followed the men’s foil in RIo, Greg’s son Alexander took the silver medal. Greg is not only his father, but his coach and considered one of the best coaches in the world.
btw: if anyone is interested, in reference to my previous post on HIKEA I can tell a couple of stories about fencing on LSD, including an international tournament (NOT a world cup where I could earn ranking points, that would be cheating) in Eastern Europe.
