This week at Crossing Fight School, the illustrious duo of Austin Straub and Ian Burgess-Linden will be at the helm, teaching us two critical elements of fencing – footwork and parrying. These two key ingredients are what makes most of what we do both functional and effective.

Parrying is absolutely essential for insulating us against attacks at every stage of the fight. Landing strikes of your own isn’t of much use if you get struck yourself either going in, as you attack, or immediately afterwards. Furthermore, good, sensible parries can also create openings which set up attacks, allowing our defense to assist our offense. Austin will share what he knows about this often unappreciated part of our Art, and given how solid his defense is, I’m sure he has much to offer.

Underpinning all of this, of course, is solid footwork, without which your motions become unsteady, causing a variety of problems. Ian will bring his vast knowledge, skill, and experience to a lesson which surely will contain critical information on how best to deploy and execute the steps which allow you to advance on your target or create space, as needed.

See you all on Sunday.