What should I do if I'm fencing stick-on-stick and we get stuck?

Question

Somebody attacked my with a bat-like wooden stick. Fortunately, I have a wooden stick as well. He makes a lunge, but I parry it. We get stuck just like in all movies:

What should I do next?

Answer 1

From a Historic European Martial Arts (HEMA) perspective, you have some options open to you:

1. Punch you opponent. Drop your lower hand and use that hand for punching, while maintaining pressure on the sticks with your other hand.
2. Grab your opponent's weapon with your lower hand, then go to town using the short end of your stick, the point of your stick, or with your fist while holding your stick. (Side Note: you can do this with sharp, sharp swords! Not recommended for those with weak grips.)
3. Step to the side, blocking your opponent's strike and letting the momentum transfer to your stick, and bring it around to power your strike.
4. Push your opponent's stick above your head; pass around and under your opponent's stick (ideally when the stick is still in motion). Once under your opponent's stick, attack with your stick (short or long end).
5. Wind around his stick to hit your opponent. (Use the point where the two sticks meet as a fulcrum or center point, and move around that.)

These solutions brought to you by Fiore dei Liberi and Johannes Leichtenauer, 14th century fencing masters. These systems of fencing were meant to be applied to many different weapons, and many techniques can be used with humble sticks. There are many other things you can do here, but I consider them too dangerous to simply give out, such as the one which involves dislocating your opponent's arm! If you're interested, find a HEMA club.

As a final note, this situation is one to be avoided. There are simply better ways to handle an overhand strike, or any other strike, which don't involve such a perilous, uncontrollable situation. Each of those above options can be done by you or your opponent! Some of my favorite options:

1. Hit your opponent's stick perpendicular to their swing. It'll knock their stick off target, and give your a chance to do something to them!
2. Step back. Your opponent cannot hit what is not there!

Answer 2

Sticks don't "get stuck". There's no cross guard to catch the main body of the weapon.

If you ended up in a position of stick vs. stick without momentum, it would break into a different position very quickly:

• You can grab their stick for a disarm, lock, or to open them for an attack (and you'd probably want to do so before they do the same to you)

• You can grab their hands or wrists for a lock or throw

• You can grab your own stick further up for a high/low grip like a
  baton and use it to lever, lock, disarm or strike them

• You also have the usual option of close range attacks as well - punching them, kneeing, kicking, head butts, elbows, etc.

You can look up videos or books on a number of stick fighting methods from Filipino Kali & Escrima, police baton training, short or long staff training from Chinese, Japanese, or Korean arts, and so on.

Answer 3

I really don't know how to explain this. The movies are there for entertainment. Everything you see there is entertainment and has little to no relationship to reality. Please don't think that you can look at anything you see in any movie and assume it in any way represents anything which has or does or would happen in reality.

Scholagladiatoria on this kind of situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXbSv7lhKzg

My recommendation is to seek out some competent training.

Answer 4

I'm no fencing/stickfighting expert, but some options that come to mind include:

• Kick your opponent
• Step or duck aside to open a new line of attack
• Slide your stick down theirs to strike their hand
• (if we are talking about sticks, not lightsabers) grab your opponent's weapon to disable it, then attack with your weapon, or disarm your opponent
• if strength/leverage permit, use your weapon to push your opponent's weapon aside momentarily to open the way for attack.
• move backwards to create distance
• push forwards to unbalance your opponent
• pivot your stick to strike their head

Answer 5

I would not recommend letting go of the weapon unless you are close enough to be able to inflict lots of hurt before the opponent registers that you dropped the weapon. In this case you should be in a position to finish the fight (not just disarm them).

Another option you have is: leaving your hand(s) in roughly the same spot, move the tip of the weapon down until you have a 45° angle (the weapon tip should now be pointing towards the ground). I can't give you a name for this technique, but there is a block similar to it in escrima (and it's likely there are similar moves in other weapon arts).

If executed fluidly this should leave you fully protected from the opponent's weapon. If the opponent had any sort of momentum going when you execute this move it will continue and they will slide off and quite possibly be off balance. If you step in the direction of your strike while doing this it will enable you to move towards or past the opponent on an angle, striking or cutting on the way.