Originally Posted by
Knifefighter
LOL... how many people who have posted on this thread have any background in fencing? None? Yeah, that's what I thought.
For those of you that believe that story, here's an experiment for you. Head down to your local fencing center and get together with one of the competitive fencers who is opening to trying this with you:
Gear up and see if you can even come close to touching him before he lands several kill shots on you. You will find that you never have a chance.
When I was in High School, I studied saber w a gentleman by the name of Laszlo Pongo (who was a good friend of my father from back in the "old country"):
National Sabre Champion, Hungary (1948): US National Sabre Champion (1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970): North Atlantic Sabre Champion (1966, 1968): Member, US Team-World Championships (1958): Member, US Team-Warsaw, Poland (1961): Member, US Team-Hungarian Cup, Budapest, Hungary (1946): Member, US Team-World Championships, Paris (1965).
http://www.fencing.net/forums/thread19391.html
anyway, he used to tell a story of how he once was having a conversation with a kendo "master", who insisted that Japanese sword technique was inherently superior to western style; so Pongo agreed to "spar" with him; as Pongo tells it, the kendo guy became very upset and stormed away after he was unable to land a single shot and Pongo was basically "touching" him at will (using an epee, if I recall);
of course I wasn't there, I don't know if it's true, but this guy was the real deal as regards his skill level and if you walk into NY Athletic Club fencing today and asked about him, you'd get nothing but respectful acknowledgement about the man
take-home message is, of course, don't fu(k w Hungarians...
addendum: oh yeh - don't fu(k w/competitive-level fencers either - you have no idea how much a blunt blade can hurt from a foil, and getting slashed with a dull saber is no fun either - don't think that there is no pain involved just because there is safety equipment; going against a skilled epee-man (who is trained to strike the entire body, FYI) w/a pair of BJD would be tantamount to suicide - why do you think that the rapier was the preferred weapon, with or without dagger, for so long, as opposed to twin short swords?