Cooperative Drill: Parry and Riposte on the Blade (26-August-06)

Description
The fencers start in guard in measure. The Defender makes an invitation by presenting an opening, and the Attacker makes a simple attack to this opening. The Defender parries the attack with a simple parry or a parata di contro (a counter parry) and then performs a riposte on the blade. That is, without losing contact with the Attacker's blade, the Defender first extends his arm and then lunges so that his blade slides along the Attacker's steel and maintains dominance over it, thus securing himself from a double hit during his riposte. Note that the Attacker, as soon as he sees that his attack has been parried (but not before--don't anticipate the parry) should immediately recover back in guard.

Prerequisites
Attacking with a lunge, recovering and parrying.

Goal
This simple drill should fix the habit of extending before lunging, as well as teaching the Defender to maintain blade dominance to ensure his safety when riposting.

Notes
This is a simple drill, but it teaches two very important mechanics. First, always extend the arm before beginning the lunge. Second, maintain opposition when attacking to prevent (or at least reduce) double hits. It is not enough to point your sword at an opening on your opponent, you must prevent him from doing the same to you at the same time. Note that the Attacker is supposed to immediately recover as soon as his attack is parried, so generally, the riposte will be in the tempo of his recovery (and thus the lunge). However, you may find it useful to first practice riposting against an opponent who does not recover, in which case the riposte will be merely extending the sword-arm.

Variations
The Attacker can be allowed to parry the Defender's ripose, forcing the defender to riposte with a feint. Note that this does not change the requirement of extending before lunging. Because the riposte is on the blade, the opponent should need to make a strong parry, making the opening for the final attack that much bigger. The Defender must be sure to make his final attack so that he has opposition (i.e. putting his sword in a location to protect himself from a double hit on the same line as his attack).

List of Drills