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Cooperative Drill: Yielding Against a Simple Parry (23-September-23)
Description
This drill will help the Attacker learn to feel the tactile sensation that indicates an opportunity to renew an
attack against a simple parry by yielding his sword. Start with both fencers in guard and in measure, with the
swords at parity. The Attacker makes a simple attack, which the Defender parries with a simple parry. As the Attacker
feels the pressure of the parry, he continues his attack by yielding his sword so that he strikes his opponent.
Yielding with the rapier is generally performed in two ways, depending on whether you are on the inside or the outside:
- When you are parried on your inside (so starting from an attack where your opponent was on your inside and you
lunged in Quarta), smartly turn your arm into Seconda so that your hilt and hand moves to your right and
your sword points about 30 degrees to the left. Note that this is not a cavazione, so you must use more than
your wrist to turn your sword; your hand will move to your outside and your tip to your inside so that your sword
is making a strong angle. (Fabris covers this technique in Plate 111.)
- When you are parried on your outside, yield by turning your sword into quarta such that your hand moves to
the inside and your sword points about 30 degrees to the outside. (This yield tends to be a little harder than the
first.)
In both cases, if you perform the yield in the tempo of your opponent's parry, he will follow your yielding blade with
his parry so that his point moves out of line, preventing the double touch. However, if you yield too early or too late,
he is likely to parry or hit you. You can aid your defense with your left hand, but rather than seeking his blade, use
your hand to close the line to prevent the opponent from hitting you in the case that he abandons the parry and thrusts
at you instead.
When you perform this correctly, the motion of smartly turning your arm and making the angle, as well as the force of
your opponent's parry should cause his blade to quickly slide to your hilt and make your thrust more forceful.
Prerequisites
The straight attack with a lunge and the simple parry.
Goal
The Attacker will learn the tactile sensations which indicate an opportunity to yield, as well as the timing
necessary to perform it safely.
Notes
While this technique must be performed quickly, it should executed with control; the trick in making it work
is in the turning of the arm and the sword, not in the speed or forcefulness with which it is performed.
There are other types of yields: most notably, the yield of Prima demonstrated by Plate 25 in Fabris' manual.
Finally, the yield is generally very risky at best against light swords such as the smallsword and
classical dueling sword and it does not appear in the standard repertoire for either weapon (do not confuse this
with the yielding or ceding parry which is an entirely different technique). Against an opponent so armed you
should use it rarely, if ever.
Variations
You can add a pass to this technique by stepping forward with your left foot as you turn your arm into Seconda
or Quarta. As you pass, your left hand should maintain opposition against the oppponents blade (this might or might
not mean contacting his blade with your hand, depending on how far out of line his parry takes it), sliding along
until you reach and grab his hilt.
List of Drills
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