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Do you agree with my unpopular opinion about height in rapier fencing?

I (24m) am a 6’6" tall fencer (historical fencing on rapiers). And I think that short fencers actually have an advantage over tall fencers.

Yes, tall fencers do have longer arms, but this is compensated by the fact that short fencers are usually quicker and dodge easier. Plus, if a tall fencer aims at the top of a short one, the upper body (or head/neck) is easier to remove from the attack line than the belly. The belly is simply the center of mass and therefore harder to deflect. Plus, the belly is a bigger target compared to upper body parts. And plus, if we’re talking about real blades, the belly is also soft and easy to pierce. And a tall guy is usually bigger than a short one, so he’s a bigger target - and then there’s his juicy belly right on a convenient line of shots for a short fencer.

So I think that a short fencer has more chances and auxiliary factors to stab a tall fencer in the belly than a tall fencer has to stab a short one in the neck, for example.

dragontamer ,

that short fencers are usually quicker and dodge easier.

Lulz.

No. It’s that shorter fencers must doge quicker to compete.

In my days in College, as a 5’9" average guy, I wasn’t much faster than anyone else. And without any reach I couldn’t keep up vs the taller people either.

Just being shorter doesn’t make you faster.

And a tall guy is usually bigger than a short one, so he’s a bigger target - and then there’s his juicy belly right on a convenient line of shots for a short fencer.

Just gain some flexibility and squat down deeper. The good tall fencers could hit me in my belly consistently despite me being shorter.

And while squatting down, your tall legs are longer anyway so you can lunge deeper when you do this maneuver. We shorter fencers cannot.

AmidFuror ,

This poster only posts about his belly being vulnerable to stabbing due to his being tall. Once it was a flippant remark a coworker made. This time it's because he is a fencer.

It seems to be his obsession and his posts are disingenuous at best.

Fuckfuckmyfuckingass ,
@Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world avatar

That’s pretty weird. I basically never look at people’s post history, so I would have missed it, thanks for pointing it out. Did someone rub your belly the wrong way OP?

dumbcrumb ,

Omg I remember this guy. Whats his deal

AmidFuror ,

Still better than sister-fucker.

Deestan ,

Having fenced rapier and kendo, I say no.

The bigger guys win. In rapier, reach is king. In kendo, reach plus knocking your opponent off balance is a major advantage.

You focus too much on belly wounds. In general.

sanguinepar ,
@sanguinepar@lemmy.world avatar

I know nothing about fencing, but I’m 6’6" and I agree with the general point that people overstress the benefits of height and undersell (or underestimate) the disadvantages. That could be in sport, or life generally tbh.

Neuromancer49 ,

Nah. Fenced epee for a bit in a college club. Height advantage was pretty great. I guess it just depends on the weapon.

clockwork_octopus ,

I’ll admit I completely missed your parentheses and thought you were talking about the builders of fences, and I was a little confused for a second.

I know nothing about either kinds of fencing, but what you say sounds right

teft ,
@teft@lemmy.world avatar

Classic Oddjob vs Jaws in Goldeneye scenario.

Oddjob will always win.

neidu2 ,

I’m just unsure how tall fencers are different than tall basketball players or height jumpers

BassTurd ,

Neither tall basketball players or high jumpers actively have someone actively trying to stab them in their larger mass sections. It would be better to compare with baseball where the strike zone can change depending on height. There are some good pictures of Jose Altuve standing next to Aaron judge in the MLB. Basically, tall people have a larger attack vector, and that doesn’t apply in the two sports you mentioned, where more height definitely carries significantly more advantages than disadvantages.

neidu2 ,

Neither tall basketball players or high jumpers actively have someone actively trying to stab them

I see you grew up on the fancy side of town

BassTurd ,

I grew up in rural Iowa. We didn’t have a fancy side of town.

neidu2 ,

I grew up in Norway. We didn’t have town.

trxxruraxvr ,

It depends on the type of weapon and armor used. I did longsword fencing for a couple of years and i think there long arms are a bigger advantage. But i can see you being right for fencing with rapiers.

ornery_chemist ,

Nah, reach is a huge advantage. I’m not sure how rapier fencing differs from regulation sabre/epée/foil, but here’s my 2 cents from that perspective:

Smaller people are not, as a rule, substantially quicker than larger. If you see any difference in your experience, it’s likely a selection bias (shorter people have to be quicker to compete at the same level). The shorter person must enter the strike range of the taller person before the taller person comes within theirs and must be significantly quicker or more skilled to overcome that dead space. If the taller person can maintain a proper distance, gg. Taller people can also lunge farther, giving a wider active range.

Targeting is a smaller issue than you make it out to be; footwork and maintaining balance, which reposition the core, are at least as important as leaning to dodge, and advantage the taller person (longer legs = more movement range). If the taller person is coming from above as you say, they can just continue their slash (sabre) downward toward that less mobile core, or squat a bit deeper if the arc won’t reach. If instead you were referring to a poke, they’re either already targeting the torso anyway (foil) or whatever body part is most easily reachable (epée; still often torso, but cheeky wrist/arm strikes can be something of an equalizer here), and anyway they are already striking at a range that the shorter person cannot, making a successful counterattack more difficult.

Besides reach, a height difference is brutal when it comes to sabre fencing; the shorter person is restricted to targeting arms and torso (can’t reach the head easily), so the taller person can anticipate strikes from fewer angles. The taller person can come from any direction and has gravity on their side for own overhead strikes. Those suck to defend against.

gregor ,
@gregor@gregtech.eu avatar

What are these silly American units

Pistcow ,

Boosh

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