Double hit in historical European Martial Arts

Modern sport fencing is a long-standing tradition, and the current competition rules have been formed in an evolutionary way. Fencing in its usual form took shape more than a hundred years ago and since then the rules set have changed regularly, but the key points remain unchanged. One of these pillars is the right of way (priority), which says if hits landed by both fencers simultaneously, a point is awarded to the athlete, who made the correct tactical decision in the fencing phrase. Recently, Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) has been gaining popularity — a competitive discipline that incorporate sports and history, and consists of two directions. The first direction is research, which has the main goal to recreate the fencing techniques of the past, used on the territory of modern Europe in the period from the 13th century to the end of the 19th century. The second direction is competitive, in which the match between fencers takes place with a weapon similar to its historical prototype. In HEMA they use an alternative way of evaluating fencing phrases with double hits. To solve the problem of double hits, the afterblow rule is applied, according to which a fencer who was hit first has the opportunity to strike back his opponent within one fencing tempo. The material concludes that the principle of afterblow itself does not solve the problem of double hits and trainers first of all must take on the task to teach novice fencers the principles, resting on which the fencer will be able to make the right tactical decisions during the bout.