Drill of the Week - Antagonistic Drill: The Falso Parry and Riposte (03-June-06)

Description
The fencers begin with the Agent in Guardia Alta and the Patient in Coda Lunga e Stretta. The Agent makes either a Mandritto Sgualembrato or a Riverso Sgualembrato and the patient must correctly execute a falso parry while stepping to the correct side, followed by a riposte of a cut of either a Mandritto Sgualembrato or a Riverso Sgualembrato. Therefore, from the starting guard of Coda Lunga e Stretta, the possibilities are:

Agent's Attack	Patient's Parry	Patient's Step	Patient's Riposte
Mandritto Sgualembrato	Falso Dritto	Accrescimento to the Right	Mandritto Sgualembrato
Riverso Sgualembrato	Falso Manco (preceded by a Mezza Volta di Pugno)	Pass to the Left	Riverso Sgualembrato

Prerequisites
The Patient must be able to correctly perform a falso parry or a provocation with a falso; that is, he should have a good grasp of the mechanics of performing a falso cut with the debole of his own blade to that of the opponent. Also, the Patient should be familiar with the offline pass and the offline accrescimento--with the rear foot following around behind the right so that the Patient ends with his new line of direction turned 30 to 45 degrees from his initial line of direction.

Goal
In addition to developing the technique of the falso parry, this drill will teach the correct footwork of the offline pass and the offline accrescimento, including an understanding of the correct measure when performing the riposte.

Notes
This should be varied so that the Patient can successfully perform this drill from any low guards (i.e. any of the Coda Lunga and Porta di Ferro guards) with either foot forward. Note that the attack could also be parried by a Riverso Ascendente as described by dall'Agocchie and Viggiani and then followed by a riposte of either a cut or a thrust. Finally, as per dall'Agocchie, when a Falso Manco is used to parry, the riposte can also be an Imbroccata.

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