Re-focusing on my 45 and dagger

Hello!

Today, I write a post in order to help me re-focus on my 45-inch rapier and my dagger. Pennsic is coming, and I have been slacking. So, in order to re-focus, I should take inventory of the largest holes I see in my sword-and-dagger game. Even though this will be less correct before practice than it would be after practice, doing it now means I'll be thinking of it at practice.

• WEAKNESSES
• My sense of distance can be shaken with timing. Frequently I fall into a trap of viewing my opponent's measure as being the same as mine, even if they have a longer measure.
• The first problem can be fixed by a variant on the Peony Visualization Technique (which I have never described here, at least never under that name). Essentially - at all moments, I should be automatically visualizing where my opponent could place their center of mass, one quarter-second from now. I should be acting based on the worst-case scenario that this presents, not based on their current location.
•  The second problem can be solved by being mindful of their measure. I can work on starting each match with an internally verbalized inventory of my opponent - "Slightly taller person with a slightly shorter sword and dagger", "much shorter person with case of much shorter weapons", etc. This will force me to be mindful of their distance.
• In this example, "slightly" means about 3 inches in terms of blade length and 2 inches in terms of height, whereas a lack of descriptor means 4+ inches of difference in terms of height, or 6+ inches of difference in terms of blade length. Donovan is equivalent height to me or slightly taller than me, depending on what shoes I'm wearing. Doroga is taller than me.
• Here, we care about relations more than exact values. If I have a longer weapon and they are not taller than me, I can likely throw shots all day and have a very narrow area to defend against counter-attacks. If this isn't the case, I have to Actually Fence.
• I have grown to be hesitant and less likely to recognize and seize upon moments where I can win.
• This is likely because I have been working the defensive side of things more than the offensive side of things - "how can my opponent confound my parries". In order to solve this without losing what I've gained in terms of defensive skill, I need to start recognizing German-style "master strokes", which allow me a defense and a counter-attack in the same tempo.
• More, I need to recognize when one of the elements of Six Elements Theory isn't applicable, and what portion of the Perfect Defensive Paradigm I can break from because of it.
• Perfect Defensive Paradigm is essentially performing my interpretation of Line in Cross or Narrowing - a parry that carries my hilt slightly out of my presence, and takes my tip off-line in an arc that prevents opposition.
• This is a homework assignment. I need to look back at my original Six Elements Theory post and read when each Element is inapplicable. Then, take that and develop a counterattack for it. From there, drill the counterattacks into my fencing, either by drilling or by mindful and focused fighting.
• My style has grown too diversified. Every time I fence, it's a game of "what bullshit can I make up centered around these base principles". This slows me down.
• I need to re-develop a core set of techniques that are my go-to techniques for Just Winning Bouts.
•  I miiiiight be concentrating too much on defense.
• Keep an eye on this. While "defense is most important" is a very useful philosophy for growth, going too far into that world means not winning.
• I am very used to doing cuts with my shorter sword.
• Cuts are still possible with the longer sword, but I need to figure out exactly the threshold where they become practical, for the longer weapon. This means drilling my hilt-first approaching-defenses some, because that's where the fastest cuts come from.
•  People don't seem to believe my feints any more.
• This might be just that people have gotten better, but my old strategy of "twitch at people to make openings" doesn't seem to be working well. It might be a side-effect of me moving overall slower when I fence these days, but I need to figure out why this is.
• If it's just that people are fencing in a more technically sound manner, I need to make smaller feints and be able to take advantage of smaller reactions.
• If people are just not trained to respond to my feints any more, this doesn't mean I need to re-train them - it means that my feints weren't a well-founded set of techniques in the first place, and I need to understand better how, in the midst of a single bout, to figure out the "volume" of feint that someone needs to see in order to respond, and how large that response will be.
• This one is probably the one to go with, since it will be less possible to do as I get back into the groove of things.

So, that's a decently-sized list of things I get the opportunity to learn to do better. That's awesome! I look forward to fencing people and working on these things.