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“Whatever else happens, I've got that sofa problem handled.”

About Sofa-Employed

Dan Kellner (That's me!) is a self-employed, award-winning graphic designer, web development consultant, and Olympic fencer. He spends a lot of time working from his sofa, and this is a platform for his thoughts and illustrations about working from home, the view from the couch, fencing, and just about anything else he feels like.

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Is It Okay to Yell After You Get a Touch?

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The Flash, a.k.a. Barry Allen, a.k.a. Cyrus Summerlin asks:

Do you think it is ok to yell after you get a touch?

Though I’m not a big fan of yelling after touches during a bout, I have been known to yell “C’mon!” after scoring important touches in a bout.

Yelling after a touch is a good way to both keep yourself psyched up and to demoralize your opponent, but I do think it should be done appropriately. There are definitely some fencers who yell too much after a touch. Not only can it come off as fake, but it’s usually also very obnoxious. An unintended side effect is that your opponent may become so irritated that they start fencing harder and better in order to shut you up. Yelling after the final touch of a bout to celebrate a victory is fine as long as you keep the celebration proportional to the importance of the bout you just won.

That being said, I am very much in favor of yelling with touches. Yelling with touches is like a kiai (pronounced key-eye) in martial arts. This term “refers to a short yell before or during a strike”¹ and “is usually linked to an inner gathering of energy released in a single explosive focus of will.”² Yelling with a touch will make it stronger, faster, and more confident. (My yell was usually a, “Yo!”) My coach used to call it “giving voice,” and like anything else in fencing, it’s a skill that must be practiced.

P.S. In case you were wondering, the picture is of me yelling after we beat Germany in the 2004 Olympics.

^1,2 Wikipedia

Tags: Fencing, kiai, yelling

Category: Fencing.

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4 Comments on “Is It Okay to Yell After You Get a Touch?”

THE FLASH says:
i was wondering if the word booyea is ok to yell
-flash

[Reply to This Comment]
Dan says:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:10 am
I don’t think booyea is appropriate to yell.

[Reply to This Comment]

March 31st, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Jimmy says:
How about bakalaka laka laka laka?

[Reply to This Comment]

April 22nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
jbkain says:
“Back in the day” at Penn State, we yelled *a lot*. Of course, being 18 - 22 year old guys was the main reason. We used variations on the traditional “et la!”, which sometimes came out “oo pa!” or something.

[Reply to This Comment]

November 27th, 2009 at 6:18 pm