#winden

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It has been scorched into my head since the first weeks of practicing that "Fencing start from the bind", and that the true mark of a master fencer was getting the stab in. How wonderful to find this two statements true in the winden plays. Once the bind is engaged you can fight almost indefinetily for the central line, changing high/low, inside/outside, and then someone slips and the stitch goes thru.

That is, in theory. In sparring I find that the most common reaction from sprechfenster is undo the binden and go for a chop, at least for my mates from the hall. This drives me nuts, but it's a me problem, I know that this is the case and I should adapt my style to counter it. We spar so little nowdays I don't even now if I have a style anymore.

I was mentally worn out from work and I opted out the last exercise, as it involved no collaboration between partners and minimal gear on (only mask and gloves). That's how you get injured or injure somone. It was "from the bind, without undoing the bind, do winden until you get in with the point". Ffs I can't do a fuhlen drill at 10 pm after a day of work and against a guy 15 cm taller than me. And with synthetic simulacra, or as I love to call them "the fisher-price swords". I watched them doing it and it was a shitshow, ngl.