Right of way is a sort of abstract and sometimes an objective invisible force driving the flow of the bout. It is a critical aspect of the sport, and understanding how ROW works is pivotal to your fencing. Think of ROW as a tie breaker. When two fencers hit, the referee (based on a set of rules), determines who the attacking fencer is, and therefore who had ROW.
If you manage to get one light on the box, good for you, regardless of who had ROW, you still get the point. Now one light actions are only so reliable, so having and maintaining ROW is still important.
Gaining ROW:
To gain ROW you must be the fencer who “moving forward with the intent to attack (hit) first“. Meaning you are advancing, your blade is facing your opponent and not withheld (preparation), there are no hesitations in your advance, and you start your footwork (lunge, advance lunge, or whatever you think will allow you to hit them) and arm extension for your final action first. You usually have to be first starting your finishing action (assuming you have ROW), because if your not, you lose/don’t have ROW.
Losing ROW:
There are three ways to lose ROW the 1.) you miss, its fairly self explanatory, whether you misjudged the distance and couldn’t quite reach them, or somehow the light did not go off, you lost ROW. 2.) getting parried, this could also be in the form of a beat, a search or just a plain parry, but you still lose ROW. 3.) stopping/going backward, I lump these two together because they really are very similar, whether you hesitate on the attack, or are somehow scared into stepping back that too loses you ROW.
Caveat:
This explanation is meant to be a generalization of ROW and does not dive into more advanced aspects (Such as “point in line”), but is still good for about 80-90% of touches.
I hope you can now walk away with a clearer understanding of ROW and how it works.
Until next time.
-Fuzzy
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