You can not touch the sword after you have bowed. The purpose of the beats in the pas de basques of the Sword Dance are NOT to make as much noise as possible. Ask your teacher or, if you want, ask me and I'll tell you what I think the purpose of the beat is. Yes, yes, yes. It is a lilting beat.
Problem is many children mistake noise for interpretation and attack.
Although a sword should be an attacking dance it also has a strict P De B rhythm. When I hear a forced back beat I know that they are not interpreting that rhythm the way I like it. On the other hand some judges do lap that sort of thing up. On this one I stand with Bill however. Beginner dancers, and to some extent novices as well, harder steps are not necessarily better.