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Circular and Semi-Circular Parries in Fencing

At times you may have an opponent with lots of momentum and it is necessary to move the opponent’s blade out of the way. You may have seen a similar circular parry in the movies that forces the opponent’s blade out of his hand and flings it across the deck of a ship. In actual fencing, the movement is so quick and small that it is doubtful anyone will drop their blade. It is used as a method of defense, deflection and setting up for a riposte.  The circular parry (counter parry made in sixte) is designed to deflect and move the opponent’s blade away from a line of attack. It is often handy when the opponent uses some force with their attack and a greater degree of deflection is needed. For attacks near your wrist, a smaller circular parry is needed while attacks to other parts of the body (i.e. the shoulder) may need a larger parry. Both the circular parry and the semi-circular parry are similar and do much of the same thing but to different lines. The semi-circular parry w