Pardubice 2019 - My Fights from Longsword Open

**PLEASE READ THE DESCRIPTION**
This is the "raw" footage from the Pardubický meč 2018 tournament I attended on November 30th in Pardubice, Czech republic. There were 63 people competing.
The rules are rather simple:
- All valid hits award one point
- In case of a double hit both fencers are awarded one point each
- there is no afterblow, most afterblows are doubles
- The fights in pools are fought to 5 points, the fights in eliminations to 7 points
Some remarks
- the tournament was run from 9am (sword and buckler) to 8pm (finals of LS Open)
- not every exchange resulted in score, I cut out the judges rulling to show just the exchanges
- opponents vary in their skill; winning over someone doesn't mean they are bad or weak, it just happens, to everyone
- everyone does mistakes, it's the very essence of our HEMA path to learn and get better
- everyone has their style and video has its limits. Psychology, mood, stress etc. are important factors in every tournament
- visit my Facebook page: martinfabianHEMA
00:09 - pools, vs Gyorgyi Czifra
01:25 - pools, vs Tomas Kedro
02:19 - pools, vs Peter Naake
03:20 - pools, vs Andrej Filip
04:33 - pools, vs Antonin Zajicek
06:02 - pools, vs Jan Žegklitz
07:01 - elims 32, vs Nikolas Sabo
08:13 - elims 16, vs Pavel Silhanek
09:33 - elims 8, vs Pavel Dostál
11:50 - semifinals, vs Lubomír Pečiva
13:13 - finals, vs Zdeněk Brýdl

[@MartinFabian]

Yesterday was a good but demanding day. I attended the Pardubice tournament for the 6th time and since it’s my last tournament this year I had some good motivation to do my best. I entered both Longsword and Sword and Buckler (20 matches) . There were 63 people competing in LS. The general level of athleticism of PDB2019 was super high. The last three matches I fought against super skilled people (Dostal - rising talent, Peciva - local S&B king and Brydl - versatile super fast athlete), who know how distance and timing works and who have a good tactical portfolio. You won’t find dozens of techniques in there, it’s mostly simple stuff, but there is much to analyze from how they move, how they think and how they apply or react to pressure. I always learn a lot from each fight. Hope you’ll enjoy the video. There are some nice situations here and there. Timestamps in the description as usual.

[@d_rooster]

Let me be clear, I am not a fencer and just have a great interest in HEMA, as a layman. But you are one of the most structured, controlled and responsive fencers I have ever seen. I don't know your general ranking or anything, but your flexibility kind of blew me away. Especially how you control the floor, that is amazing. Hats off to you, sir.

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much Matej, you're very kind 😊

[@hema-chan672]

One of my HEMA life goals is to spar with you at least once. I would be smashed of course, but I learned how to thrust from watching your videos! That little move earned me a medal at my most recent event :)

[@MartinFabian]

Congratulations! Nobody is invincible, I'm just lucky sometimes :) Cheers to sparring soon!

[@ofsabir]

I think matches should be played with minimal gear and fully sharpened real swords so winning will be more noteworthy. That obviously shouldn't be a thing :D Btw Congrats Sir! Another victory as expected.

[@MartinFabian]

:D Thanks

[@ondrejh571]

"Good offense is based on a good defense" I hear this quote so often in my head when I watch you fence. Yes, you have super fast and accurate attacks, but also the ability to parry almost everything coming in, while you are closing in, to be able to launch them from shorter distance, from which they have the greatest potential to land. Some people are IMO even faster than you, but they perhaps still lack this confidence in defense. With this in mind I understand more, why you don't neglect parrying in KdF, even though the debate over that was dealing with krieg, not zufechten. Thanks for the video. I really hope to finally meet you in a fight one day.

[@MartinFabian]

Thanks Ondrej! Unfortunately I didn't have much chance to watch your fights but my guys told me you were doing really good! :) So hopefully next time we meet in the arena. Regarding speed: I don't think I'm super fast, on the contrary I think I'm pretty average. Everything is just about creating and spotting the right time to attack. All the best

[@ondrejh571]

@@MartinFabian Thanks, it was definitely an improvement from last year, but it still wasn't good enough ;-) . I also could not watch you, as our pools were running at the same time. Yes, I agree that timing beats speed, but being fast doesn't hurt :D

[@michaellee8071]

@@MartinFabian Your lunges and your point control are excellent, though. And your speed creates openings that otherwise wouldn't be there. Very impressive!

[@MartinFabian]

@@michaellee8071 Thank you, trying my best

[@keithb4077]

Thank you for sharing; inspiring and instructive performance. Bonus points for quality footage (+landscape), and organized and edited overnight!

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you Keith! Landscape 4ver :)

[@chickensandwich1589]

Awesome final! Id love to see a boring video about all of your preferred gear and why you choose them.

[@wohl3r]

Insane, as always a pleasure to see you fight. One video of this before every sparring day and motivation goes up 200%. Cheers

[@partyyang1586]

Glad to witness another glorious victory of yours Martin, keep it up :)

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you :)

[@thestuffmonster9856]

Zdenek Brydl is probably one of the fastest longsword fencers I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if he appears fast because he has a relatively small frame (compared to say, you) or if he’s actually that athletic. That thrust at 13:22 was insane. I think only a few Russians top him in speed.

[@MartinFabian]

Zdenek is super fast. He is sort of a professional athlete (studying at sports school) and he has a history of sports fencing in his earlier youth. Huge Czech HEMA talent :)

[@BladeFitAcademy]

Bravo!

[@user-xr7ye3ri4j]

Speed and powerful nice fought.

[@alpenjon]

Thanks for sharing, your style and excessive video recording has always been an inspiration to me :) Best regards!

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much, you're very kind :)

[@jimmynicolas4602]

De bonne vidéos.....😁

[@GeekMAXX]

Love watching the fights! What shin guards are those?

[@MartinFabian]

Thanks! Streethockey REY SG Shin Guards

[@petritzky]

Maybe a stupid question, but is there another sports hall where people can spar in case they didn't get through the pools or elims? Awesome matches btw. :D Especially your thrusts. I am still trying to get them to work on a more consistent basis.

[@MartinFabian]

Hi Petriczek, sometimes yes and sometimes no but usually organizers aren't happy about uncontrolled sparring outside warmups etc. Thank you very much! Good luck with those, just repetitive practice + brainz :)

[@petritzky]

@@MartinFabian Ahh okay. So I just gotta find out how to sign in and wether I can sign in without a hema-rankings placement. Thank you very much!

[@MartinFabian]

@@petritzky Sure you can, there's no tournament where that would be compulsory :)

[@petritzky]

@@MartinFabian oh awesome! Must have misunderstood something then.

[@Sprechfenster]

12:34 - restecpa!

[@MartinFabian]

I was surprised myself :D

[@Sprechfenster]

@@MartinFabian XD

[@thestuffmonster9856]

Hi Martin, what longsword do you usually use? I know you run SIGI, but personally, do you prefer the shorty, standard, or the endurance?

[@MartinFabian]

Hello! In the last two months I've been mostly using the Concept and the Shorty for fun. All SIGI swords are very good but depends on what you look for. Standard is just versatile in every direction. Shorty is for people who seek a fast and a super nimble sword with a size closer to the medieval average. Endurance is a super cutter-around with a POB closer to the cross. It's quite a technical sword and the same goes for the XL which is very large. Concept has a schilt which simulates the behaviour of a real sword (doesn't actually stop the blade but rather takes it to the cross). All of SIGI swords have similar qualities in terms of flex or their general behaviour. Of course I've been also using swords by many other manufacturers in the past (most prominently Moc and Regenyies) but nowadays I fence with what we design and create.

[@thestuffmonster9856]

Martin Fabian Thanks for replying! I ordered an endurance a while back and it’s supposed to be arriving soon, so I’m hyped.

[@MartinFabian]

@@thestuffmonster9856 Hope you will like it :)

[@thestuffmonster9856]

Spoiler: I like it very much, and I think my opponents like it even more. Didn’t know I needed this kind of flex in my life

[@user-nk4qz2bs9i]

10:29

[@udimichaeli4005]

12:02 what was that :O