Lesson 7: The Fleche'

The Fleche' is unquestionably a different attack. As its namesake infers (fleche', French for the arrow) this attack's advantages are speed, surprise and difficulty in defending. The drawbacks are simple...you get one (sometimes two) shots and you had better make them count.

The fleche' is the famed attack seen in so many photos, films and posters describing the excitement of fencing. It is the all-or-nothing, running attack where the attacking fencer literally throws him/herself at the opponent (in a controlled and precise manner, of course.) This attack, when launched appropriately, is extraordinarily fast and surprising, and when executed poorly is a suicide run.

Although this graphic of a fleche' (compliments of the USFA logo) is slightly exaggerated, it does accurately demonstrate the beginning movements of a fleche', as well as the necessary intensity to the attack. The front leg of this fencer would be coming forward to continue the running motion with as much speed as possible.

The premise for the surprise in the attack is that a fencer can close distance at a phenomenal rate. As we mentioned in the earlier lessons, competing fencers are constantly vying for the correct fencing distance. This distance is defined as close enough to launch an attack, yet distant enough to be out of reach of the opponent. In order to "maintain" fencing distance, the competitors, actually, constantly advance and retreat in an attempt to move into and out of range as it is advantageous to them.

The fleche' disrupts this constant jockeying for position by suddenly closing an enormous amount of distance (in fencing terms) when the opponent is complacent in the belief that he or she is safely out of range from an attack. The attacking fencer will suddenly close two and sometimes three blade lengths in a single controlled fleche' to score the point while the opponent is busy contemplating their next approach.

The motions of the fleche' are simple, yet vital to the speed of the attack:

1. As with all attacks, the fleche' is started with the blade. Remember, the fleche' is named for the arrow for a reason. Envision the blade suddenly launching itself toward the target area of the opponent, irrevocably drawn to it at the speed of light.

2. With other attacks, such as a simple attack or lunge, when the blade reaches its' farthest extent (i.e., the end of your arm) the attack is either completed and a withdraw started, or followed by a lunge which then is completed with a recovery (withdrawal.) In the fleche', the blade does not reach the end of the attack. Instead the body follows the sword towards the opponent, almost as if you were going to launch yourself through the air behind the blade, toward the defender.

3. As most of us have yet to master the art of flight, at the latest possible moment, we get our forward foot under us again and start a running action, continuing to launch ourselves toward the opponent.

4. We continue thusly, until we have passed the opponent altogether, having either scored a point or failed in the attack completely.

Simple in concept, but the details of a fleche' are extremely important, not just for the success of the attack but to avoid being scored against as well as possibly penalized if the attack is badly done. I need to mention here that the fleche' is not an attack to do often, nor carelessly. As this is the only attack where you are literally "throwing" yourself towards your opponent, collision is a powerful risk. If you end up colliding at the end of a fleche', you will receive a penalty card (yellow for first offense, red for second, black for third.) If the judge determines you were careless or intentionally hurtful in the attack, or you actually injure an opponent, you will receive a black card (loss of the bout) and possibly be expelled from the tournament. Herein lies the importance of maintaining control throughout the attack.

When attempting a fleche', the first most important aspect is again timing and distance. Although a fleche' can close distance rapidly, a poorly executed fleche' or one started too far away will be easily defended against as there is little room for modification to the attack once it is committed to.

The second aspect to the fleche' is the speed. To gain the greatest speed benefit, the blade must be the leading component. Not only does the blade give you a line of defense (don't lead with your chin, as it were) but it is the inspiration behind the rest of the motion. The blade needs to move as an arrow toward the target, the body needs to follow as if you were attempting to catch the arrow in flight...as it travels away from you. To accomplish this, the rear foot simply shoves off as hard as it can. No holding back. If you have any hesitation regarding the attack, then don't launch it. The fleche' requires complete commitment.

As the rear foot is shoving away with all of its might, the forward foot prepares to catch the body as it thrusts forward. However, instead of the forward foot landing on the heel in front of the body to stop and control the momentum, it continues the forward run. You are simply running, after all, toward your opponent. As soon as the rear foot has extended completely and has no more push to begin, the forward foot simply continues the push and the launch toward the defender, etc., etc., until you have passed the opponent. Think of the fleche' as a 3 yard dash. One technique to understand the forward motion is to visualize your most prized possession tipping backward over a cliff, and you have 1/2 second to cover the 10 feet to catch it. Although, a fleche should never end in a face plant (forward fall), you should only just barely be recovering to your feet at each step.

Again, I must emphasize that there can be NO collision with the opponent. You must calculate your run to pass the opponent to his/her front or rear. It doesn't matter which, but the middle will lose you the point. There are also other considerations. As you are attacking, your opponent is defending. He or she may still displace the target, parry and riposte against you...and your back IS target.

One of the greatest difficulties of the fleche' is calculating your attacks and counter-attacks as the distance is closed. Although you always lead with the blade, you are absolutely free to disengage, coupe' (see previous lessons) and otherwise try to feint during the attack to avoid the parry and riposte by the opponent. Conversely, you must be calculating what you will do both if you hit and if you miss.

Start with the miss. As you attack, you opponent will do everything possible to parry and riposte the attack. You are actually in an extremely vulnerable position. If the attack is successfully thwarted, you are off balance, running toward your doom like a madman with an extremely exposed back. Although, the bout is halted as soon as your shoulder passes the opponent's shoulders, that leaves a horrifyingly long time for a riposte to your chest and back.

Prepare in your mind, before and during the attack, from where you think the riposte will come in the instance you miss. Some of this determination can be controlled by you and your body position. If you are passing to the right of the opponent (past his/her sword arm) for example, it will be difficult to impossible for him/her to riposte the chest. The back is nearly the only target. As you attack, prepare which parry you will end with once it has become apparent the attack has missed. Unfortunately, this parry is an exception to the other parries. With other parries, it is best to wait until the opponent has committed him/herself to a line of attack and then defend against it. In a fleche' there will be little time for confirmations. Choose your best bet from attack and use it. If you guess wrong, you lose.

Next, you must decide what you will do if you succeed. Again, this is little thought about with standard attacks, however if the fleche' has been executed properly, you should be unable to stop your forward motion once the point has landed. Judges frown on driving the tip of your blade so hard against the opponent that the blade bends or breaks. This is a realistic concern as most judges will give a lot of leniency with a fleche' and allow the blade a pretty significant bend (I have seen blades go to 90 degrees) however if the judge feels you did little to curb the "press" of the blade, or your blade breaks, they will likely have little mercy, take the point and assign penalties.

One more quick note which will likely strike off a discussion of itself. The Olympic committee has decided that Sabre' fencing was too fast to observe correctly and too many fleche's were being used (thus destroying the spectator potential.) In response to this, and threats that fencing would be taken out of the Olympics, the USFA decided to disallow the fleche' in Sabre. They accomplished this by disallowing the rear foot from crossing in front of the forward foot. This makes it a little difficult to run and thus kills the attack. Although, there are alternatives to cover ground quickly with the Sabre', this still (the rule was made about 5-6 years ago) generates a lot of controversy amongst fencers.

Here we have learned the "basics" regarding the fleche'. Later we will expand upon this with different variations of attacks to complete during the fleche', and after the fleche' in the instance that the original attack fails.