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dupersaurus
Aug 1, 2012

Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

ImplicitAssembler posted:

Is Absolute Fencing gear worth it? I mean, I'll get the 350N gear, but it still seems very cheap.
https://www.absolutefencinggear.com/shopping/

Yeah they’re good stuff

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Xiahou Dun
Jul 16, 2009

We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.



ImplicitAssembler posted:

Is Absolute Fencing gear worth it? I mean, I'll get the 350N gear, but it still seems very cheap.
https://www.absolutefencinggear.com/shopping/

I do HEMA, not like fencing-fencing, but I have their mask and gloves and they're really good. The mask is super breathable and with good visibility, and both can take a hit from a longsword like a champ. So I'm assuming that if they can protect me from a feder they're gonna be more than good enough for foil/sabre/epee.

Except you obviously don't want those products in specific (definitely not the gloves) ; I'm just noting that the brand is good.

Cessna
Feb 20, 2013

KHABAHBLOOOM

ImplicitAssembler posted:

Is Absolute Fencing gear worth it? I mean, I'll get the 350N gear, but it still seems very cheap.

They're owned by the same company as Uhlmann; I use a mix of both. The Absolute gear is a bit more modern in cut/style, but it's all good.

ImplicitAssembler
Jan 24, 2013

Well, that was fun!. I did do a bit a of fencing 20+ years ago (foil and a little saber),, so the coach asked me to do en garde, some footwork and lunges and went "ok, you go join the main class".
They start everyone with epee. Guess it removes the need to explain right of way, etc.
Exercises weren't too complex, so I was just about able to keep up and then it was matches..struggled some with distance, but held my own better than expected. 20 years of kendo does help, I guess. I ended up being about 1/2 inch short soo many times, which I guess is partly because the epee is shorter than the shinai.
Signed up for once a week for now. They tried pretty hard to sell their gear, but I declined until I could compare to the Absolute ,but it's more or less the same price for their 350N stuff, so I will go with the club gear.
Oh and I did fence right handed...figured I would struggle enough as it was.

dupersaurus
Aug 1, 2012

Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'
What were they doing for COVID precautions?

ImplicitAssembler
Jan 24, 2013

dupersaurus posted:

What were they doing for COVID precautions?

Basic health checks, sanitizing, masks, no physical contact, maintain physical distancing as much as possible.

I guess since it's not technically classified as a martial arts, they can stay open.

ImplicitAssembler
Jan 24, 2013

Are there any books worthwhile getting for an Epee beginner?

BirdOfPlay
Feb 19, 2012

THUNDERDOME LOSER
USA Fencing has been hosting a speaker series and is hosting one on LGBTQ inclusiveness tomorrow at 1. The FB responses to this event have been...less than stellar. I don't know if I'd learn anything new, per se, but I'll be attending nonetheless.

ImplicitAssembler posted:

Are there any books worthwhile getting for an Epee beginner?

Thought someone would've hit you with a response by now, but Epee 2.0 prolly wouldn't be a bad place to start. By now, I doubt that you're running into issues of coaches still approaching the weapon with a pre-2.0 understanding, but this can help you get some idea of how and why modern epee evolved into it's current form. That said, I wouldn't be the best judge of books cause I don't fence epee, I only ref it. :shobon:

ImplicitAssembler
Jan 24, 2013

Looks like Epee 2.5 is the current version, so ordered that.
Practice matches are becoming harder as I'm now starting to attemp to do techniques correctly, so no longer behaving what probably appeared completely random to my opponents :).
Just got a practice target set up at home, so I can at least start to work on some basic point control.

Cessna
Feb 20, 2013

KHABAHBLOOOM

I may switch from sabre to foil.

I find myself increasingly frustrated with sabre. It seems like the whole thing is based on (seemingly) arbitrary refereeing of simultaneous attacks in the box. That's not as much fun for me as when things turn into a good back and forth series. Which is pretty much what foil IS, so why not just do that?

Cessna fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Jan 29, 2021

Ataxerxes
Dec 2, 2011

What is a soldier but a miserable pile of eaten cats and strange language?
I have found, to the extend that Covid permits training, that Hema sabre seems to be just the thing for me. Enough mobility and potential for things and it isn't as light and fast as rapier.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




HEMA sabre is everything I thought sabre would be when I took up fencing back in college.

I'm absolutely no good at it though, it needs more wrist and shoulder mobility than my beat up old rear end can manage.

Cessna
Feb 20, 2013

KHABAHBLOOOM

I'm not going to do HEMA. I picked up fencing because my son does foil already; he's been doing it for years and is quite good at it. After giving him rides to the school for years I figured I could either sit on my rear end and watch or try it myself and get in a workout.

Xiahou Dun
Jul 16, 2009

We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.



That's totally fair and valid. I specifically don't like Olympic-style saber cause there's no mass to the blade, but at this point we might as well be talking about competing ice cream flavors or something since it's just personal preference.

When I did Olympic I mostly stuck with foil and epee so which one you prefer is kind of up to you. Epee doesn't have right of way which cuts down on some silliness and has a stouter blade that I like, but since the rules are kind of metal laser tag it can lead to some absolutely ridiculous behavior in practice, e.g. thrusts with no power from a bizarre angle at a pinkie toe or some bullshit. Foil is in some ways trying to be "more realistic" with the right of way rule to prevent double kills, but it's also the one with the smallest target zone and the reediest sword out of a sport already made of glorified car antennas*.

If your club is anything like the ones I went to, you could basically show vague interest in either and someone'll be happy to lend you a bit of kit and gently caress around for a while and maybe drink a beer later and let you ask questions. Possibly their loaner stuff might not be electric but if you're just messing around for technique and fun, who really cares?

*Not trying to be lovely to Olympic fencers. I think it owns as a hobby and is a good work out. But we can admit that a foil is god drat tiny compared to even like a smallsword. Not throwing shade, just sword smol.

Cessna
Feb 20, 2013

KHABAHBLOOOM

I'm more into the "sport" aspect anyway; I don't feel any sort of need to train with heavy swords in preparation for a real swordfight. I'm also a bit older (I'm in the Vet category) so it's not like there's some sort of scholarship on the line here, it's more of a matter of what I want to do for fun.

I've done sabre for about a year and a half and foil on the side for about six months, so this is a reasonably informed decision.

BirdOfPlay
Feb 19, 2012

THUNDERDOME LOSER
Ehh, I could create a long winded post about it, but the main avenue where you might not be making the correct decision is due to bad coaching, specifically coaching that isn't meeting you were you're at as a fencer. It also sounds like you'd be unwilling to switch clubs (even if that was the case), so there's nothing wrong with switching to foil. Granted, vet mens epee is the coolest group of fencers, but, like, then you'd have to fence epee. :shrug:

ImplicitAssembler posted:

Looks like Epee 2.5 is the current version, so ordered that.
Practice matches are becoming harder as I'm now starting to attemp to do techniques correctly, so no longer behaving what probably appeared completely random to my opponents :).
Just got a practice target set up at home, so I can at least start to work on some basic point control.

Everyone loves golf balls.

dupersaurus
Aug 1, 2012

Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

BirdOfPlay posted:

but, like, then you'd have to fence epee. :shrug:

:emptyquote:

Siivola
Dec 23, 2012

Veteran foilists, on the other hand, are terrifying psychics.

ImplicitAssembler
Jan 24, 2013

Are the fancier plastrons worth it?. It would be nice to get something that was a bit more breathable.

dupersaurus
Aug 1, 2012

Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

quote:

I compared pre-pandemic data (March 2020) to the post-pandemic data (Jan 28, 2021)

Number of USA Fencing individual members:

36,812 in March 2020 vs. 16,337 in January 2021

Number of USA Fencing member clubs:

741 in March 2020 vs. 491 in January 2021

https://academyoffencingmasters.com/blog/the-sad-reality-of-how-hard-the-pandemic-hit-fencing/

(Although I might have not re-upped without pandemic)

dupersaurus fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Feb 7, 2021

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




Makes sense. Few small clubs could afford to just not have most of their membership for a year and stay in business. HEMA's feeling the same pinch.

https://www.keithfarrell.net/blog/2021/01/finding-motivation-to-return-to-teaching-hema-this-year/

My local HEMA club's been shut down since late May last year and is probably going to have to find a new location whenever they can come back.

Future Days
Oct 25, 2013

The Taurus didn't offer much for drivers craving the sport sedan experience. That changed with the 1989 debut of the Ford Taurus SHO (for Super High Output), a Q-ship of the finest order that offered up a high-revving Yamaha-designed V-6 engine and a tight sport suspension.
This looks promising as heck

https://twitter.com/pcgamer/status/1362539561520349200

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1000360/Hellish_Quart/

BirdOfPlay
Feb 19, 2012

THUNDERDOME LOSER

That is really cool. I gave the demo a shot, and I like a lot of the ideas it has to start with. Don't quite "get" how the moves interact though.



Yeah, this really sucks and makes the whole season, basically, a wash. I only re-upped because I had assumed that events would've started by now. At the moment, I'm only slightly hoping to work the Olympic selection event (lol, very doubtful) and Summer Nats (really hoping vaccines are available by June).

On that note, the FIE has, in their wisdom, said that Junior & Cadet Champs will be happening in Cario at the start of April. (PDF)

This is a very poor decision on their part. I know New Zealand has stated that it is literally impossible for them to send a team, because, among other things, there are no isolation facilities available for the entire month of April. I have no clue what the response will be from USFA, but I doubt that they'll withhold sending a team. They haven't officially said but did have an emergency meeting two days after the FIE published this letter.

I guess this means I might have a shot at working a Junior & Cadet selection event. :coronatoot: Yes, a youth selection event is probably about the worst idea at this juncture. The Olympic event can, very easily, be winnowed down to the top-32 per weapon or less (selection criteria only has, at most, 8 actually in the running at any given time), keeping total numbers below a hundred a day. The youth event would likely end up having north of 100 competitors per weapon, for 2 age groups, who would bring along 1.5 people per competitor extra or more.

Ravenfood
Nov 4, 2011
Probably a long shot, but does anyone know anything about the Olympic clubs in the Columbus, OH area?

Ideally ones with a good epee presence or coach but not required.

Cessna
Feb 20, 2013

KHABAHBLOOOM

Ravenfood posted:

Probably a long shot, but does anyone know anything about the Olympic clubs in the Columbus, OH area?

My son went to Junior Olympics for fencing in Columbus just before the quarantine started, I got the impression that there was a decent fencing presence in the town. There were a few local clubs present who helped with hosting, they all seemed nice.

BirdOfPlay
Feb 19, 2012

THUNDERDOME LOSER

Ravenfood posted:

Probably a long shot, but does anyone know anything about the Olympic clubs in the Columbus, OH area?

Ideally ones with a good epee presence or coach but not required.

Columbus Fitness & Fencing is the main club I think of when it comes to Columbus. CF&F is mainly a RoW club but does have one dedicated epee coach listed on their website. I don't know how wide the levels of engagement are, but it is fairly competitively minded club, too. They put out a fair number of foilists and sabreurs at the youth, cadet, and junior levels that get national points (I don't do Div1 foil/saber), but I can't recall seeing much in the way of epeeists. Not saying it's a bad program, just a definite step below programs like DCFC and HOF, which do put out fencers at those levels. If your goal is just to be involved with the sport again, CF&F would be my hard and only rec in Columbus.

Plus, that area is great just to fence epee in. Cleveland's not too far off, and Kentucky, while a but more of a hike, does put on some big events from time to time as well.

ImplicitAssembler
Jan 24, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOgSOXSjthE

When someone thinks it for real...

Siivola
Dec 23, 2012

Oh yeah that’s the tournament where they specifically and explicitly wrote the rules to test the participants' throws, and then this guy got thrown and hurt and made a huge deal about it on facebook.

ImplicitAssembler
Jan 24, 2013

Siivola posted:

Oh yeah that’s the tournament where they specifically and explicitly wrote the rules to test the participants' throws, and then this guy got thrown and hurt and made a huge deal about it on facebook.

Well,there's throwing and then there's driving the guy into the ground. The last bit of it was a total jerk move. (Not to mention throwing his sword into the crowd).

Siivola
Dec 23, 2012

I swear on my mum the only reason that looks bad is because the guy getting thrown has zero clue what's going on.

The reason the thrower throws his sword away is so they won’t accidentally land on it.

Jack B Nimble
Dec 25, 2007


Soiled Meat
I wouldn't encourage people to participate in full contact throws unless they really, really knew how to break fall, like they'd need to have trained somewhere else.

Internet Wizard
Aug 9, 2009

BANDAIDS DON'T FIX BULLET HOLES

ImplicitAssembler posted:

Well,there's throwing and then there's driving the guy into the ground. The last bit of it was a total jerk move. (Not to mention throwing his sword into the crowd).

Should he have just picked him up then put him back down on his feet? That didn’t look gratuitous, as throws go. If he’d wanted to be a jerk he would have stayed on top of the guy or driven in a knee or elbow.

Like was said, it looked like the throwee just did not know how to respond to getting thrown and froze up instead of properly preparing to hit the ground. Freezing like that is the natural response though, which is why you need to train to get thrown about as much as training to throw.

DandyLion
Jun 24, 2010
disrespectul Deciever

Siivola posted:

I swear on my mum the only reason that looks bad is because the guy getting thrown has zero clue what's going on.

The reason the thrower throws his sword away is so they won’t accidentally land on it.

I rather think it looks bad because I'm not super keen on taking a few pommel strikes to the face and eating through a straw the rest of my life just to throw someone to the ground....

Of course I'm rather cavalier about tossing people as well when I've got a mask on.

DandyLion fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Mar 17, 2021

10 Beers
May 21, 2005

Shit! I didn't bring a knife.

DandyLion posted:

I rather think it looks bad because I'm not super keen on taking a few pommel strikes to the face and eating through a straw the rest of my life just to throw someone to the ground....

Of course I'm rather cavalier about tossing people as well when I've got a mask on.

That's very true!

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




That throw crossed the line to 'dick move' for me when the thrower had the other fighter hoisted up by the short ribs and helpless (because you're not going to kick someone in the dick or start throwing pommel strikes in sparring), then paused for a moment before deciding to slam him on a wood floor with his own body weight behind it anyway.


It absolutely read to me like only one of them knew that was on the table.

Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Mar 18, 2021

Ataxerxes
Dec 2, 2011

What is a soldier but a miserable pile of eaten cats and strange language?

Liquid Communism posted:

That throw crossed the line to 'dick move' for me when the thrower had the other fighter hoisted up by the short ribs and helpless (because you're not going to kick someone in the dick or start throwing pommel strikes in sparring), then paused for a moment before deciding to slam him on a wood floor with his own body weight behind it anyway.


Yeah, most of the tournaments I'v been to would have given the thrower points the moment the opponents feet left the ground. Also, controlled takedowns were permitted, but that sort of slam didn't look very controlled to me.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




Yeah, more than a bit of a side-eye from me to the ref as well for not calling the point and stopping it.

Siivola
Dec 23, 2012

That’s about as nice a suplex as you can do with all the gear on. Like, that’s how you finish a suplex. From a grappling point of view there really wasn’t anything wrong with it. :shrug:

DandyLion
Jun 24, 2010
disrespectul Deciever

Siivola posted:

That’s about as nice a suplex as you can do with all the gear on. Like, that’s how you finish a suplex. From a grappling point of view there really wasn’t anything wrong with it. :shrug:

Yeah it is a great belly suplex.

However, it's all just slices of the fight isolated in a vacuum though. Replay that video but imagine nobody had masks on. Suplex Hero lifts the other dude up and gets rocked with 2-3 pommel strikes to the head/face, then drops the guy and the fight ends there. Sure the throw was effective, but we're ignoring the damage leading up to it, and further ignoring the damage after the throw.

I've been on the receiving end of the same deal from way bigger/stronger guys and 3/4 times I can pull my rondel from my belt (or even in some cases halfsword my blade onto their neck) and stick them before I've hit the ground.

If the tourney only cared about throws why even have the swords to start, it could have just been a renaissance grappling tournament...

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Nektu
Jul 4, 2007

FUKKEN FUUUUUUCK
Cybernetic Crumb

DandyLion posted:

If the tourney only cared about throws why even have the swords to start, it could have just been a renaissance grappling tournament...
Tbh wrestling and swordfighting goes hand in hand in the sources. The throws from the sources that I know offer better control of your opponents weapon than that supplex though.

If the rules are changed to encourage throws though, the tournaments will absolutely turn into MMA-like fights where most fights will just end up on the ground after a few exchanges from range.

So add daggers as secondary weapon to keep the ground portions nice and quick I'd say.

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