2003 Scola Metallorum Rapier Training Manual

Introduction: Drills and Information, What We Forgot to Tell You

No matter how experienced... to believe oneself knowledgeable is an error. -- Qwa Ja Nim Larry Hampton

Drills for very simple basics are the obvious place for you and/or your group to begin your training. But even in a single class session, they are not enough to promote and develop expertise. We have developed a training regimen based on the "layered exercise".

We often take a particular moment or series of events that we have experienced in a duel or melee and take it apart. Each element is then trained; which is a simplified and admittedly artificial approach in some ways, as it does not mimic the fluid nature of combat. It does have some advantages though.

1. Things happen too fast in actual fighting for deep analysis.
2. There often isn't time to retrace your steps at that moment, and master the techniques you pulled out to save your ass.
3. Programming what you did fast and sloppy so that it's available next time must be done in a slower and, above all, controlled format.
4. This allows the same techniques to not only be available at a later date, but you will be able to perform them in a more controlled, efficient and effective manner.
5. As each layer is added the fighter can assess their skill level. If the next variation is beyond their capabilities, they can drop down to the last one with a clearer understanding of how they're doing at that particular skill. Honest self-assessment is also one of our core principles.

It is vitally important that you not rush through the drills. Don't let ego drive you beyond the level you should be training at, just because you want to fulfill a fantasy image. Spend enough time on each segment to feel some sense of mastery. If you advance too quickly to another layer, you defeat the purpose of drills and layering as a concept. It's also fun to return to a drill after some time has passed and see how much your skills have developed.

It takes practice and familiarity for the layered concept to show results. Students must be brought into the regime gradually. If you try to do too complex, advanced or lengthy a drill, you're finished before you started. Remember, old hands can always use remedial training and review; that's part of your responsibility as the instructor. However, after a couple of years doing layered exercises, some truly amazing and intricate drills can be attempted with satisfactory results. The first exercise given below has additional, expanded information to show you how the same drill can be practiced by novices and advanced fighters simultaneously. After awhile, advanced fighters will automatically assess, advance and attempt variations on the basic drills that tax their capabilities; and do it without disrupting the novice or the basic intent of the lesson. Allow this creativity to develop but always maintain control and discipline. Both you and your students will be amply rewarded.

Add this to your training notebooks or personal journals and look it over periodically.

Your Obedient Servant, RTM

But if he is the sort for whom fighting is a means -- to respect, to rank, to power -- or to whom fighting is a chance to indulge his cruelty, his pride or compensate for his imagined failings, then by all means he should fight. -- The Screwtape Letters

Mission Statement and Philosophy

Everybody wants to win, but thinking too much about winning has a negative effect. You can make many foolish mistakes and overlook some obvious good moves if you are obsessed with winning. Better than thinking about winning is thinking about playing well... Try to be a gracious winner and graceful loser. Everybody wins some and looses some, so being too happy about winning or unhappy about losing is shortsighted, as is envy: you don't know who's got the best deal until the very end of the show. -- Learn to Play Go, Volume III: The Dragon Style, by Janice Kim (1 dan) and Jeong Soo-hyun (9 dan)

This manual is dedicated to enriching individuals interested in SCA Style Rapier Combat.

We will focus on basic principles that we have found lead to successfully killing your opponent without getting killed. We will give our philosophy about dueling, our approach to training, our mindset for combat and the positive results gleaned from the field (meaning we're alive and they are dead!).

Some of this book is based on facts: physics, anatomy, testing, and pure mathematical modeling.

Some of this book is based on our experiences (which are subjective, true) but probably factual: in other martial arts, during real fights/combat, on the field within the SCA parameters.

Some of this book is based on our beliefs and opinions. But even these have been built upon some kind of knowledge base: how people (including ourselves) react to stress/pain/fear, world views we've found in ourselves, met in other fighters, dogmas/faiths (that are not supported by facts as we've found them to be), etc. Every martial art creates it's own myths. Rules and conventions wall off exploration and creativity. Soon you have dancing instead of fighting and everyone who puts on the pretty uniforms and belts believes it's real, because they've worked very hard to make it so.

This is not a scientific treatise. Although between us, we can boast (which, we admit is generally a bad thing) of two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees, this is not an academic exercise. We're not writing a thesis. Any stilted, academic styling you read will quickly disappear after this initial introduction and definition stage. We are passionate about this game, make no mistake. We have devoted many hours to perfecting our understanding, our field craft, our teaching methods, our students... but we don't wear funny clothes. We don't give a hoot about style for style's sake. We aren't here to recreate historically accurate anything. Read your history. Fencing teachers have, in the past, been a very disreputable bunch; barely better than common street hoods and assassins. We've taken some of that philosophy to heart. The SCA gave us the rules and the tools. Within that framework we're determined to become the very best sword fighters on the planet (as if our lives were at stake). Within our philosophy, Conventions and Chivalry must stand on the shoulders of superior skill and technique: not substitute for them.

The idol at which we worship is "excellence" (or arete, a Greek word for all-around competence). Our ultimate litmus test has always been: "Does it work?" on the field, against someone whose sole purpose in being there is to guarantee that it, whatever it is, doesn't work. Our approach is also colored by the "what if it were real" deadly consequences of sword fighting that haunts this game.

We try to face, as much as is theoretically possible, what might happen to us if we ever had to do it with sharpened steel. We recognize that conjecture and opinion will fog up the landscape, until we can "take the tips off" and cast our lives where our mouths have led. We are always thinking about it. Our experience (my intimate, long-term experience with people really trying to kill each other) suggests that this "sport" is about as close to the "real thing" as one can get. The fact that tips break off and people die every once in a while, leads us to believe we can get (reasonably) close if we keep that central principle firmly in mind: Today I'm playing a game, tomorrow it could mean my life!

We've found that many historical figures that wrote manuals of fencing covered all the bases. The period masters advocate analyzing an opponent, channeling their initial attack, blocking and countering (mostly with stop thrusts that follow so closely on the attack that an opponent is essentially paralyzed and motionless) to lethal targets that end the bout instantly.

What's confusing is (beyond the archaic language) the fairly insurmountable task of committing a dynamic, flowing, interactive physical activity to a format as stilted and fixed as the written word. Martial artists from every culture have had to face this problem. Some Asian martial arts have turned their back on the issue and returned to the "one teacher-one student" system that is basically an oral/physical tradition. This is an indispensable corner stone of any martial system; you can't really learn from a book. Practical training and drill are definitely part of the picture. However, working with one person or one school or one system introduces weaknesses, too. Things like: Dogmatism, holes in the system, focus that leads to only one optimal body type, reliance on "secret, never-fail techniques," and simple familiarity with how another person moves and their best moves can give any martial artist a false sense of security. If you've ever fought someone new who pulls out a totally different combination, timing or technique and eaten a blade before you got your mind in gear, you know what I'm talking about. Nobody knows it all, nobody has all the answers (including us), and anything, including a perfectly executed move, can get you killed.

Which brings me (finally!) to the central point. There are generalizations, guidelines and "rules of thumb" that can greatly improve your fencing. Not one of them is new. Many others have written principles of combat. If you're serious about the Warrior's Path, you'll read everything available from every art about fighting that's ever been written (and translated into English). We've provided a generous reading list/bibliography at the end of this manual, so start reading (editors note: this is on its way). Maybe you can't learn any one martial art from any one book, but more knowledge from other martial artists/sources can't hurt.

So.

This is not a limited "do this, do that" book, this is a Sun Tzu (if you don't know who he is, refer to the previous paragraph), "fundamental principles" book.

The Theory: Successful Offense and Defense

Kill with a borrowed knife. -- The Secret Art of War: The 36 Stratagems

Pretend you're looking down on two fencers who are dueling. Not like that, Oh Arrogant One, I mean actually watching the fight from a bird's eye view.

If you've watched enough humans do this, you can see all the possible ways they can move their feet, their head, body, arms. You can actually see (if you've spent enough time observing yourself and others while fencing) the targets they can defend and the targets they can't, at any one moment. I've heard observers around me comment, "His head is wide open." or "Use the leg sweep!" How do experienced fighters come to know these things?

Some of it is fairly simple. Having only two legs means I have many balance problems. If this foot is in the air then that foot is carrying the weight. It's not going anywhere. The knee only bends one direction; for so many degrees. Once the leg is straight, it's up to the pivoting potential of the hip and ankle to provide any additional movements. The body twists. The head bobs. The elbow bends in one direction and not in the other. The shoulder rotates, so...

Essentially there are a finite number of movements that qualify for use at any one moment in combat. What is physically possible, efficient (read fast), and effective?

Offense

Theory of Attack

To successfully defeat an opponent you must accomplish three things:

1. Have your weapon free, oriented correctly, and on a clear path to the target.
2. Defeat the Outer Circle tools, the Inner Circle evasions/movements and strike the target.
3. Retrieve the weapon, avoiding entanglements, and recover an effective defensive posture.

Strategic Principles

1. Attack on the 45-degree angle as often as you do in the straight line: This includes: behind the shoulder blade, kidney, hamstring, back of the knee, Achilles tendon. From in front: the face, throat, diaphragm, groin, quadriceps, knee, and ankle, arch of the foot. All your weight is centered in a column running from the top of your head down through your groin. Moving your center from one fixed point is difficult because it tends to be slow: slow to get started, slow to stop. If an attack is made there, 50% of your body must move to get (completely) out of the way (if you get an attack slightly off the center and you move your torso the wrong direction, you have even farther to go). Angled attacks are harder to block than straight-line attacks. If you attempt to block, the attacking tool must clear your body (a thin slice, that almost missed, can open you up like a zip-lock bag, i.e., completely).
2. Attack an exterior target before finishing: Attacking the limbs reduces your opponent's ability to defend themselves. There is more risk because it requires more skill to hit these (relatively) smaller, moving targets and more time, which increases the risk of something happening to you. To defeat an opponent with greater reach, this strategy is indispensable.
3. Observe your opponent's defenses and attack a target that is unguarded. Always be aware that an opening can be an invitation/trick. Make allowances for that possibility any time you attack. (keep 60% of your concentration on defense even as you make an attack. Never fully commit your strength/weight to an attack.) A good attack should be light, fast and a bit of a surprise (Wow, that got through!).
4. Diagnose you opponent's focus/concentration and attack when they are "asleep."

Defense

Don't be afraid when you play with a stronger player. Fear is [your opponent's] strongest ally. -- Learn to Play Go, Volume III: The Dragon Style, by Janice Kim (1 dan) and Jeong Soo-hyun (9 dan)

Theory of Defense

To successfully protect yourself, you must accomplish three things:

1. Develop an awareness/experience of correct distance so that you know if an opponent can reach you (even if they need to hop, step or lunge).
2. Develop footwork, falls, rolls and body evasions which allow you to avoid being hit, causes your opponent to miss, or puts you beyond their reach (while maintaining/recovering your balance).
3. Develop the timing, judgement, strength and skill to use every available blocking tool including: every part of the sword, your hands, arms, shoulders, feet and legs.

Chaining/Training

The best way to make your offense and defense work at peak efficiency is to chain the moves together; eventually causing them to overlap and combine in a single fluid motion.

One of the best lines to riposte (your attack directly on the heels of their attack) is the one your opponent just attacked on. Chances are their weapon is extended, so it cannot defend properly. Their defensive tools are probably moved out of the way to clear the physical apparatus so it can perform the mechanics of the attack. The idea here, is to shave your defense down to the point where the attack just barely misses. You counter-attack on (almost, there is some leeway here.) the same line, at the moment their attack is spent. This prevents a last minute draw cut from getting you and, if done correctly, you get that nice "hover effect" where your opponent is frozen in time.

You should train the components separately over time. Then bring them together until they become an automatic overlapping combination of moves. Here's an example:

• Your training partner feeds you a slow lunge to your chest.
• Begin by pivoting away from the attack and letting it go by, under your armpit. Make this motion smaller and smaller until your partner's point just misses you (it's important for your partner to do exactly the same attack every time. Don't let them start to "track you" because they know where you are going to go. That's counter productive at this stage. Later on, you can add the tracking as a spur to your off hand defense, which will be taking a greater roll in actual combat.)
• Add your left hand (or whatever secondary defensive tool you want) defense; we'll use palm block down, for convenience. At first, it's just there as an added safety. The technique won't hit you anyway, because you've already pivoted off the line.
• Begin to add your riposte, very slowly at first. Just get an idea of what it takes to reach your partner. It'll probably only take a thrust. As their lunge will be bringing them to you, a simple stop thrust should do the job.
• Get lazy with your evasive footwork. Begin your pivot later and later in the sequence, to where you have to block with the off hand to prevent yourself from getting skewered. Begin combining your riposte with the block until they happen almost simultaneously (try to run the shot back along their attacking arm, using the theory described above: most likely line open is the one they're using to attack with).

This may take several fighter practices and many repetitions to bear fruit, but it's worth it. After a while you will see this attack and simply react, getting the touch before you know you've done it. To build sophistication and control, try this at varying distances and angles. Try it with various opponents, of varying heights, reach, and skill levels (read speed).

Once you've gotten that variable under control, think about directing your riposte toward other targets that are available (to add these layers, you may need to slow the tempo to beginner level, and ask your partner to feed you specific attacks again). Eventually, you should be able to decide (as the sequence is happening) to thrust at another target or even abort the riposte entirely; say, if your opponent has charged in too close and a stop thrust would injure them or your equipment (hard to straighten out a 16 inch bend in your epee. Best to pull the shot and save your gear). I like to fold my arm in across my body and tuck the sword under the opposite armpit. This still gives me a reasonable amount blocking surface, with my forearm across my belly, ready to sweep up to protect my head or down to protect my groin. It's not perfect but it will serve, even if I only get a partial block or deflection. I'm not keen on moving my blade out and away from my side (although I've done it). It exposes too much of my chest and face to feel comfortable.

If you've gotten all that under control (takes about six months) you can think about using a draw cut across (from your left to right, if you're right handed) their body, legs or arm as your sword is now perfectly chambered to do so (mind your furniture as you begin. You may need to widen the gap between you two before starting the cut, for safety's sake).

Our Theory Of Combat presupposes this: It's safest to believe that our opponents know as much, are as fast, and train as hard as we do. We know from experience that we must defeat the outer tools (the blades, bucklers, scabbards and cloaks we face). We then must defeat the inner tools (in the form of wrists, forearms, elbows and shoulders) and then the bodily evasions (in the form of twists, leaning, ducking, skipping and other footwork) that may prevent us from stabbing or cutting our opponents.

To accomplish this we have a number of tools at our disposal:

• We can use our own footwork to bring us to a place and time where they do not expect us.
• We can attack their weapons themselves: disarm, manage, trap, lock and bind. This gives us control and knowledge of where their weapons are and what they can (and more importantly cannot) do.
• We can use their own body mechanics, balance, limbs against them; to protect us, camouflage our attack or intentions. We can use our own body mechanics for the same purposes. We can use our weapons in all their aspects to cut, thrust, bind and block, allowing us to attack where we want, when we want.
• We can use our minds to analyze our opponents for mental blind spots, technical weaknesses and physical limitations. We can formulate strategies and tactics to defeat them.

After we have made the touch, we want to get in the habit of maintaining our defense, staying on guard, until the danger from a last minute attack has passed. Nothing spells "embarrassed" like getting nailed by an opponent you thought you got; who either ignores or was unaware of the technique you felt was good, and should have gotten them. This is our theory in a nutshell (a very large, ungainly, wordy nutshell, to be sure. But it's the best we can do given the circumstances.)

Treat each section as a single focus seminar on that topic. It's obvious to every sword fighter that these topics are intertwined. They overlap and many events occur simultaneously. The actuality of a duel is very different from the printed word, or even the drills and training we offer. Synthesis will come, but examination must begin with isolation.

We are going to isolate aspects of sword fighting and examine them in a seminar setting. Each section tries to concentrate on one aspect of sword fighting. We want to highlight principles and processes that we have found successful. We are going to attempt to clarify principles we have discovered through experience. All of this effort will fail; will fail absolutely, without the reader going out and gaining their own practical experience and knowledge base.

If you read a section and apply it diligently to your training, it may still take you years to reach that point where a little light bulb goes on over your mask and you say to yourself, "Oh, I get it. That's what that means!" After all, it took us years and lots of familiarity to get to the point where we felt we could even articulate this stuff. How much time will it take for you to comprehend? Nobody knows, including you.

Take each section as an independent entity. Build a composite picture as you go. Much of this information is abstract, not concrete. To spend time on nuts and bolts like: "This is a sword, here's where you block. Here is a block, do it like this. Here is a thrust, bend your knee..." is going to bog us down until we drown in a sea of minutia.

Fundamentals are universal in concept, and unique in practice. Your body, arms, legs, prior injuries, etc. all impact how you do your fundamentals. This is how different styles of Karate were developed. Big guys do it this way. Little guys do it that way. Style is about an individual interpretation of an art that becomes institutionalized (mostly by a particular master's students after they, the living master, has died,) and develops adherents. That's all it is, too. There is no one way to do any martial art including sword fighting. The only litmus we ask you to apply is this: Is this effective for me? If the answer is yes, develop it and add it to your own personal style. If the answer is no, discard it, but only after you've thoroughly tested it for merit and found none.

Enough, let's move on to some of these hated basics; the nuts and bolts I said we wouldn't pursue (you gotta start somewhere. We've found some misconceptions that are rooted all the way down in fundamental practice, so we're going to have to give you some, just to let you know where we are coming from).

Summary of Fencing Basics

Footwork and Stances

"Footwork First!" -- Lord Randal the Malcontent "Sloppy stances make sloppy technique!" -- Qwa Ja Nim Larry Hampton

Introduction

We will do a quick review of classical fencing footwork, but we want to concentrate on footwork that is more advanced (our source happened to be Aikido, but there are several period sources that mention the same techniques).

Before we begin, we wish to preach/teach/nag a little footwork. If distance is critical to success in fencing (read: staying alive) then footwork is the most important fundamental to learn, practice and improve.

As much as we admire classical footwork (which we do. The classical community's commitment to basics; their use of extensive and long-term drill; these are good things. It can only be helpful to streamline all of your footwork until it has reached its utmost efficiency). It has severe limitations when fencing off the strip and in the round. Terrain is much more of a factor when you fence outdoors. Weather can also be a factor. The point is, in-line footwork is only one set of the techniques you will need to ingrain at the instinctive level to become a good fencer.

This is boring... dull... like watching grass grow, but completely necessary. Training a movement so that your muscles are fooled into thinking "this is normal and correct," takes many weeks. Making it as natural as breathing takes about a year. Making it automatic, so that your body just does it when you're tired, afraid, being attacked, etc. takes about two years.

I'm not kidding.

If I have any complaint about the rapier fighting I've seen in the SCA it is this: We, as a community, do too much fighting and not enough training. Many of the fighters I face have weak fundamentals (I just spent four years training my own fundamentals in this art before feeling confident that I have them down. This process cannot be rushed.) that make them poor fighters with poor control and poor technique. I have the bruises to prove it. To get results from what we are going to show you will take a long-term commitment of three times a week, minimal half hour sessions, of at least 1-2 years to see results; results that include your becoming the baddest, most lethal, most beautiful fencer on the field. This stuff not only works, it's really pretty to watch. I'm talking 60-year-old-Kung-Fu-Master beautiful. O.K, enough infomercial, here's the deal.

Basics

When a beginner learns the game, the first things he should learn are the fundamental skills. When he advances to the point where he begins to think of himself as a strong player, the thing he needs to do to become even stronger is to go back and study the fundamentals once more. -- Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go, by Toshiro Kageyama (7 dan)

Classical Stance

Stand with heals touching at a 90 degree angle. Pick a direction one of your feet is pointed in (in this case we'll use the right foot) and advance that foot to shoulder width plus about 3 inches. Bend your knees (not so much that you can't see your toes out there), keep your back straight, suck in that gut, and look out over your right shoulder. Hold your right hand, palm up, out there over that knee. Relax a bit...and hold that position for 10 seconds. Shake it out. Repeat for years and years.

Classical Advance

Assume a classical stance, right foot forward. Lift your right foot and move it forward (heel placed first, then toe) about 3 inches. Follow with the left foot. Do not drag or scuffle. Keep as thin a target profile toward your opponent as you can; exposing only your shoulder and knee to your opponent. Hide as much of your arm as possible behind the bell of your sword. Repeat.

Classical Retreat

Assume a classical stance, right foot forward. Lift your left foot and move it backward (ball of the foot placed first, then heel) about 3 inches. Follow with the right foot. Do not drag or scuffle. Keep as thin a target profile toward your opponent as you can; exposing only your shoulder and knee to your opponent. Hide as much of your arm as possible behind the bell of your sword. Repeat.

Single Combat Stance (SCS)

Feet shoulder width apart, facing directly forward in parallel (called the Horse Stance in Asian styles), draw a straight line between and through both your heels. Now from each heel to toe, draw two lines that run from your heels out through your big toe(s) and beyond on the floor for another foot. These lines should be on a 90 degree angle from the heel to heel line you first drew. Turn your feet 45 degrees toward the heel to heel line (in this case, we'll turn toward the right). Keep your shoulders lined up with your heels, don't roll them forward and "square up." Hold up your hands like a boxer, right hand forward. Open your left hand and prepare it for slap defense and grappling. Drop you right hand a bit and point your finger/sword point at your imaginary opponent's throat. Pop your rear (left) heel off the floor a little. Bend your knees. Keep your back straight and hold for 10 seconds. Relax and shake it out.

If you feel like a boxer more than a fencer, congratulations, you're correct. Period fencing was much more like a boxing match (with swords) than a formal dance with both fighters sliding their backs along a brick wall. Slipping "the punch," cross-stepping, voiding the body, skipping (yes, just like a little kid) and pivoting were all normal footwork for rapier fighting. We've isolated some of these elements into various steps and drills to help expand the footwork we employ in a single duel. These get a bit smudged during combat, of course, but here's a way to train each element until it's natural.

The Pivot

Right foot forward, assume the SCS. Drive an imaginary nail through the top of your right foot and into the floor. Pivot your left foot, hips, shoulders, etc, 90 degrees. Always turn in the direction of your spine. Turn counter-clock-wise until you've faced all "four walls." This should take four distinct turns and you should end up facing in the direction you started. Switch feet and repeat (going clock-wise this time). Defense starts with footwork, remember? So, let's get the most out of our footwork by voiding our body/face from a potential thrust to our front (it's not like, we're never gonna see this attack, right?).

This defense has more to recommend it than may be apparent at first glance.

• You get the cool "vacuum effect" of them missing you and getting sucked into a committed position (you and I know there's a draw cut danger possible here, but very often, your opponent is too crossed up mentally to think of it before you have gotten off the counter). Since you didn't use either hand to defend yourself they are both available for attack. If you split the attack the chances are very good that one or both techniques will get through and stick 'em.
• It's minimal/subtle; your opponent may not see it as a defense and fall asleep mentally.
• It adds distance between your precious skin and the point of your opponent's sword without giving up critical distance for your own attacking stuff (including cuts which are much harder to defend than in-line attacks).
• It can be combined with another defensive tool like your arm, hand, furniture or blade in a way that gives you: additional time, greater distance, more acute angles for an opponent to overcome.
• It puts you on the 45 degree angle for an attack which stresses your opponent's defense even more than a simple in-line shot can.

Step-Through-Pivot

Right foot forward, assume the SCS. Step all the way through with the left foot (some period masters call this a slope pace/step. Other martial arts call it a V step.) Now drive that imaginary nail through the top of your left foot and into the floor. Pivot your right foot, hips, shoulders, etc, 90 degrees in the direction of your spine (clock-wise in this case). If you started facing North, you stepped North and now you're pivoting until you end up facing East. Always remember to do mirrored versions of this by switching feet and repeating the steps (going counter-clock-wise this time).

This defense is primarily used against cuts to your leading neck, shoulder, ribs, flanks and legs (beware the Coupe De Jarnac!). It's difficult to block attacks to your back/lateral line when engaged in the round. A plain outside block (number six if you like the French numbering system and are keeping score at home) or outside parry is often inadequate the more the angle swings to the outside of your elbow. Here's some additional strengths of this footwork.

• Start this footwork soon enough and they may miss you entirely. It expands the distance between you and the tip of the incoming sword. Since you didn't use either hand to defend yourself they are both available for sealing off the inevitable back swing and making a strong counter attack.
• It helps diffuse the incoming energy if you can't quite get away. Think of it this way: a truck that is going 45 mph hits your car. If you're just sitting there you eat all the incoming force. If you're traveling in the same direction at 30 mph, the impact is a lot less. If your sword is between you and the incoming cut, it can get blasted back into you if you're just stand there. If you're sliding away in the same direction as the incoming cut, it will probably just smack into your sword and deflect off.
• If you can cut the angle tightly enough, you end up standing next to your opponent and facing the same direction they are. Again your opponent may not see it as a defense and be confused mentally. If you've done everything right, your sword is now inside theirs (I mean close to or against your bodies, with his blade outside yours.) Guess who gets to play the part of Tom Turkey?
• It closes the distance between you and your opponent at the very moment they begin their attack. The best way to defeat your opponent is to catch them in offensive mode when they need to be thinking in defensive mode (then you take them out using Depeche Mode). Call this one, "passive-aggressive" if you like. Seriously, if you get strong enough at reading tells you can take control of their sword/attack, cross-step inside and cut them up, using either hand (whether you have two weapons or one, there are things to do once you get next to your opponent. Trust me on this.), and slide away behind them safely and cleanly.
• It puts you in position to do some major grappling/joint cracking if you learn the next step and glom onto their sword wrist/hand. If you've seen Aikido, here's where opponents have to do flips to keep their arm from imitating certain breakfast cereals. Although we (in the SCA) are not allowed to complete that next step, we can bind someone up who's out of control; and do it in such a way that they feel lots and lots of pain but sustain minimal damage. This is a good thing to know of you ever need it.

Skip Forward/Skip Back

Right foot forward, assume the SCS. Step up with your left foot and put it where your right foot just was (It's already moving forward). Move your right foot forward on that imaginary line you drew through your heels back at the beginning. Always move on the 45 degree angle. Never go straight forward or straight back.

Here are some strengths of this footwork.

• Skipping forward with your back foot changes the distance between you and your opponent rather dramatically. This can be a good thing when you are facing someone who is very tall and has a long reach or step. This helps chase down a Runner as well.
• If at all possible, your first instinctive defense should be "getting out of the way" of an attack. This skipping back thing can be very helpful if you were "caught napping" and your opponent is about to gut you. Skipping back at a shallow angle away from the incoming attack can even allow it to miss you completely. This is yet another version of the "vacuum effect" mentioned earlier. If your opponent is at maximum extension, a little teeny block can push them completely off balance. Repeated experience has shown us that skipping covers lots of distance while allowing you to recover balance quickly. With training, a stop thrust combined with a backward skip can suck your opponent into running onto your point. Very cool. Skipping is geared to give you that additional "safety time" and "safety distance" (not to mention, you can gibber with fear for a while without dying over it).
• Moving in the same direction as the incoming technique can diffuse much of it's energy (see Step-Through-Pivot). This footwork adds distance between your precious skin and the point of your opponent's sword. You should not do this in a straight line. Always change the angle, even if it's just a little bit, so you're no longer in-line with their point.
• It can put you on the 45 degree angle for a counter attack which stresses your opponent's defense even more than a simple in-line shot can.

Conclusion

One of the things I don't like about the Classical Advance is it's susceptibility to the foot sweep (if you're using an epee, the classic "Torn-off Car Antenna Used As A Sword Sweep." Boy, does that one sting). When you pick up your lead foot and move it forward, your weight has been committed before your support is in place. This is kind of like driving onto a bridge and hoping it'll be finished by the time you reach the end. AHHHHHHH, thump! Not a great idea. So you're thinking, "Hell, that fool's out there at swords-length. How can I get hurt stepping forward?" (Isn't it eerie how I can read your mind from here? Spooky, huh? All part of M-Cubed: My Master's gone Mental) I'm not all that worried about the fighter you face, it's the ground you're standing on that has me concerned. All of your balance operates from point to point. If your foot misses a step, you fall down and go boom (and right after that your chest goes gurgle, gurgle, gurgle..). Any time you're weight is committed without actually having the foot solidly planted is inherently more risky than a step you've already completed. There's also the problem of sneaky guys like me who will attack you when we see that front foot lifting (cause we know you're standing on one foot right now and probably can't handle the gift we're about to give you without a major balance adjustment). You can advance the rear foot and abort the skip without your opponent (me) seeing it. You can get half way through a skip and change directions, spin away, flop backwards or even kick with that foot that's hanging there. Like I said, sneaky, that's me.

Here's a way at looking at combining all of your footwork, both Classical and Advanced. This is something you should do anyway. Use Advanced footwork for when you need to cover ground or have figured out what's coming. Use Classical footwork for micro-adjusting your distance during a lull or when you're on the line in a melee. You can:

• Creep into range in a sneaky manner.
• Skip over a larger distances than you can step.
• Slope Step from the off-hand forward position.
• Lunge at an odd angle or timing.
• Charge bravely into the guns (worst choice).

To accomplish this task you must drill your footwork. Please try doing this without a sword. It can be very helpful (I can focus on my feet better without a blade). Just remember to include a variety of obstacles, terrain, distances to be covered and timings(speed of execution) to be effective. It must be smooth, oh so smooth.