1. Good Stance
Being knocked off the ground hurts. It hurts more if you don’t have a good stance. A good stance requires you to slightly bend your knees. One foot must face the opponent while the other points out. Without a good stance, you are extremely more likely to end up on the ground, injured, or completely beaten.
2. Guarding
Everyone knows blocking is an important form of fighting, there are 4 common guards from which you can easily block with (and typically start the battle in.) The mid-guard is the most common and likely most used guard to be seen, It is done by pointing the sword at the opponent’s face while at the middle of your body. My personal favorite the Hanging Guard can be done by raising your hands above your head and hanging the guard point down to protect your head. There’s a low guard that goes beside you hanging low, tip pointing at the ground opposite your opponent. It’ll be good for blocking attacks that are moving downwards and then striking. Then the high guard, you raise it above your head and point it behind you, this is typically used to deliver a powerful strike downwards or a strike to the sides.
3. Predicting Opponents
Your opponent is more likely to have learned all of this already, and humans are prone to falling into a pattern. The worst thing is when your opponent is new, they have less of an idea of what they’re doing and are more prone to trying something new. That’s why for learning you watch and fight someone that’s been doing it for a long time. Predictability is important in preventing them from striking you.
4. Not Giving Up
A huge part of sword fighting is not giving up, if you LITERALLY get knocked on the ground you have to immediately get up, make them fall, or fight at your shortened height, you can’t just lie down on the job. An experienced fighter may even pull someone down on top of them. Whatever happens, you must not hesitate.
5. Don’t Stay Still
Standing or freezing still while in battle is a complete and utter failure. This opens you up so much, and while open they can strike you many times in many places. If you can’t take pain beforehand you’re gonna be in trouble now. Keep moving, keep circling, standing still is more likely to open you up especially when people notice you’ve been standing there a while. Again, whatever happens, you must not hesitate. Hesitation can be the end of any good fight. So follow what seems natural, unless it’s freezing up.