BASIC EPEE STRATEGY

BASIC EPEE

THE FIRST STEP IS RECOGNIZING THERE’S NO ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL APPROACH

BY COURTNEY HURLEY

I HAVE BEEN FENCING COMPETITIVELY FOR OVER 20 YEARS.

I remember my first competition when I was 8 years old. I have made 15 consecutive senior national teams and three Olympic teams in women’s epee. Epee is one of the most difficult events in which to compete, primarily because of the absence of right-of-way and passivity rules. Because of this, developing a successful and consistent winning strategy becomes very complex. Most of the strategy I have learned may be attributed to my father. My dad was my coach in my younger years and traveled with us all over the world to competitions. Our extended European trips would often find us eating dinner in a rented apartment discussing strategy.

STRATEGY

One of the most basic realizations you will find while fencing epee is that everyone is different. That is, you likely will not find two people who fence exactly alike. Whether they are attackers or defenders, there are as many styles as there are fencers. One strategy can work perfectly against one fencer but when applied to a second fencer, it can fail miserably. Sometimes you get lucky and the competitors in your direct elimination path nicely complement your style and favorite strategy. Other times, you find a competitor whose style is extremely difficult for you. You just never can predict what will happen in an epee tournament.

Developing successful strategies is difficult and takes consistent practice. I often find some fencers focus on winning bouts in their club practice sessions. They put all their effort into beating their opponents for that one bout. Have you ever fenced a club member at an important tournament, whom you beat regularly at the club? Many fencers find the bout they thought was going to be easy turns out to be difficult. Often, that is because while you were focusing on winning the practice bouts, your opponent was focusing on developing a successful strategy against you.

Successful strategies are personal to you and your style. There is no one-size-fits-all. Because no two competitors are alike, a fencer needs to have a handful of strategies in their toolkit to call upon when needed. These strategies specifically try to match

SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES ARE PERSONAL TO YOU AND YOUR STYLE.

your strengths against your opponent’s weaknesses. For example, everyone has a preferred style. Let’s say that Fencer 1 prefers to be an offensive fencer, and Fencer 2 prefers to retreat to their two-meter line and defend. If these two athletes meet each other, it will likely come down to who executes their favorite strategy better. However, if you can identify your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and implement an alternate strategy, you can increase your chances of winning.

Using the two examples above, Fencer 1 wants to attack, and they will almost always find themselves on their opponents’ side of the strip. However, that is exactly where Fencer 2 wants them to be. The defender’s objective is to retreat to their two-meter line,

shrink the distance, and wait for any forward action. Then, they counterattack as hard and as fast as they can. In this example, Fencer 1 must figure out an alternate strategy. That is, if Fencer 2 insists on defending, it is most important for Fencer 1 to get at least one touch ahead. This will force Fencer 2 to move out of their two-meter distance to make a successful attack. This means Fencer 1 must work especially hard to get one touch ahead. This one-touch lead completely changes the bout. This is where strong discipline and strategy become extremely important. At practice, Fencer 1 should work on strategies that pull Fencer 2 out of their favorite twometer distance.

This is just one example of a common strategy alternative. The bout clock and passivity rules may also factor in to developing successful strategies. These are almost impossible to practice at the club because most practice bouts do not utilize a clock or passivity rules. These can only be practiced in competition or simulated competition scenarios, so it is important to incorporate these into your practice schedule.

There is no substitution for competition experience and professional insight in helping you build your strategy toolkit. Strip coaching is a good option to use since it can act as a second pair of eyes to help identify an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, but, ultimately, the fencer is responsible for executing the strategy and unless the needed strategy is practiced consistently, it will be difficult to execute in critical situations. Editor’s Note: Courtney Hurley has started a membership-based online business, HurleyTactics.com, dedicated to improving epee fencing results. Basic membership is free.