Pascal Mage is great for piste management, I've always loved how he's not afraid to talk & a very strong personality

yeah he's not afraid to explain the call, when I think of how to manage the piste watching Pascal Mage's style is one of the first things I always like to recommend

You're right that that's how refs today will usually call it. As the fencer is constantly moving forward, it's his attack. That I agree with you, but I think this thinking needs to stop. It ruins foil fencing. I think how the ref ruled is better. When a fencer pauses in his attack, it should be considered over and the other fencer gets a turn. Fencing would be much more fun to play and watch if they didn't give so much advantage to the attacker. Since attackers are given such an advantage, there are rarely any parry/ripostes. Foil has devolved into one fencer attacks and the opposing fencer is trying to time a counterattack so he'll close in and the attacker will miss. This has gone for decades and it's not fun. The best exchanges occur when fencers go back and forth with parries. With that in mind, the ref is only giving priority when the fencer is clearly threatening. Merely moving forward is NOT an attack. What's good about him is that he's consistent with this mentality throughout the entire bout (although the video only shows a few points). This is how foil fencing should be played.

@@showwhite7320You do realize that making the attack weaker will encourage attacks/counter attacks into marches, not increase parry ripostes as you suggest, right? If priority is given to the attacker, and not taken away arbitrarily, then the defender is also incentivized to parry in order to take ROW. I don't really know what lack of parrying you are referring to, it seems to me there is plenty of it. Anytime you find an attacker, you will find a defender trying to make a parry, and this threat of taking the blade is what then opens the door to counter-attack. Foil has stayed pretty even-kill in this regard, and parries in foil are more symbolic in most cases than anything anyway. Epee might be what you are might look towards for more classical parries. There are other issues which a barely touched upon such as increased subjectivity. It is easier to say "Stop/No Stop" then "He didn't stop, but he slowed down sufficiently to say he lost his attack" though there is some of that off the line when no one has yet started a march. In that case, it is a little more obvious who committed more/took the risk.

Wish fencers would send me christmas cards 😭

I agree with you but you MIGHT be able to say that Tofalides pulls his arm back before attacking there so attack into preparation? That's just a rationale, not agreeing with the call....

@@user-qs3im2sb9v I don't think it's because he pulled his arm back. It's because the guy was merely moving forward. Forward movement is not an attack. The fencer needs to make a threatening forward move to be considered an attack. The ref was consistent with this definition. Look at 1:29. Similar ruling. Refs have been gravitating towards more attacks in prep in the past 3 years. I've noticed that they started to go back to the old way this past year and given more weight to the attack. I think it's wrong. They need to continue and do it even more. A fencer is only attacking when they are truly threatening the target. The entire moving forward with the arm bent is ruining foil fencing.

Agreed, I think he has to be hit WHILE pulling his hand back to get hit in prep, no?

@@showwhite7320 I can't disagree but the main thing that would be nice is just consistency so that fencers know what to do, yeah? It's kind of like how refs are calling "charging" in US college basketball: seems like they flip a coin sometimes.

Just gotta make the call you feel in your heart man

Yeah Luperi's counterattacks are nice 😄

Tough to stop yourself from laughing too hahaha

Thanks for the comment Noel 😃 Glad you enjoyed!

I always look forward to the videos ❤️🔥🤺

wish there were more bouts like this haha, this one is from 2018