Footwork

So. I'm pretty good single blue dueling- I'm probably the best in my area, which says something, but not all that much, because I'm out west. However, I'm terrible at sword and board dueling. And by terrible, I mean I'm terribly mediocre. Specifically I don't have a good offense. My defence is alright though- for the most part, a good fighter has to actually use their skill to get around it.

When I spar against someone with a decent offence, most of my wins are through my defence beating their initial offensive strike, then reposting into a spot where they have opened themselves up. I'm at least fairly good at that.

Fights where I have to go on offense are terrible though. If they have a crappy defence, alright- I just take advantage of that. However, fighting offensively(which I only ever do if they are refusing to take that role- mostly because they can't either. Most people with an offence lose patience after a while..) against someone with decent defence is a really crappy matchup- I throw a couple shots, their defence is good enough. I'm hoping they take this as a cue to attack, in which case I can parry/block and repost. If they don't I'm kinda stuck. Mostly we close, as less distance widens whatever gaps there are, and when there are none, I just kind of brutally plow into/through them with my shield and strike as they falter. It gets the job done, as I can pretty much knock people over- sure there are some giants that I can't knock over, but anyone even remotely my size can be managed. However, It's not really fun for either of us.

I've been trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong, that makes it so I don't have a good offense for a long time- this has (obviously) been bugging the crap out of me. I've been trying to get help where ever I can, and while people have tried to help, no one has really been able to figure out what my problem is. However, I think I've finally figured it out.

So what I'm obviously lacking is a bunch of different wraps, and a darkside or two. And I know this. People show me how to do them, and I do them just fine in practice. However, when time comes to do them in combat, I can't. They are awkward and slow. And I finally figured out why.

It's the footwork. Specifically, my offensive footwork is awkward as heck. And the reason is, my stance.

Most fighters stances are like this-(narrow)
T0
00
0T

You'll see a lot of people with narrow stances. This is because a narrow stance is good for offensive movement. It's also marginally better against stabs.

Mine is like this-(wide)

T000
000T

Now, my stance was taught to me at UCI. They told me it was to prevent yourself from being knocked over- if you are hit. Which is mostly false. If you go limp, and let your reflexes take over, they do a pretty good job of keeping you on your feet from most hits above your center of gravity. 

That said, a wide stance isn't useless- first off, it makes for an easier, denial guard, denying the outside lane. Second off, you can pivot on it, really easily. This make it so you can turn to face people from different angles, and respond to offensive movement easily. Basically, it makes for an easier, better defence.

Which is great when you are single blue vs single blue and defence is king. But terrible when sword and board vs sword and board, where offence is the priority. Because, it sucks for offensive movement- which is what I need for wraps and such.

Glad I found it. Now I can retrain myself, and progress.