The Parry 4
Your Primary Defense
11 September 2017
The parry 4 action is the first line of defense in fencing. The reason so is it protects against the most common attack; the lunge (although it protects against other actions as well). The action gets its name by describing the area the weapon is moving to, the four side of your body. A person’s body is divided up into quadrants in fencing. While I will not go into much depth about this, there are many great resources describing this concept.
To make it easier on you right now, think of the parry 4 as simply moving the weapon from the right side of your body to the left side. This is done so in a straight horizontal line. While in classic sword fighting movies you see giant erratic motions to defend against enemy attacks, in fencing, blocks (properly known as parries) are much more precise and calculated. The steps below are broken up for you to get the best grasp possible. Be sure to check out the tips section below, which provides help if stuck.
Materials
- Weapon (Epee, foil, or saber)
- Mask
- Long Socks
- Sneakers (Low top preferably)
- Jacket (Fencing Jacket)
- Long Pants (Fencing Pants if possible)
- Under Arm Protector
Steps
- Get into a proper en garde position
- With the weapon in hand, turn your hand so that the weapon moves from the right side of your body to the left
- Make contact with your opponent’s weapon
- Hold your weapon against the opponents
Tips/Links
- On Step 2, a helpful way to think of this action is turning a door handle, where the grip of the weapon is the handle
- Link to a video of the Parry 4