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Back to top The equipment that will be needed for twenty students should make allowances for from one to five left-handed fencers. While a class may well be composed of only right-handed fencers, there are times when a rush of “lefties” will appear, and it is best to be prepared in advance. To equip a class of twenty students, the following list of equipment is mandatory for safety as well as instructional efficiency: 1. Twenty-five French foils. Of these, twenty should be right-handed and five left-handed. When purchasing foils, do not cut costs, for a good foil will last five times longer than an inexpensive model. An excellent class foil will include an extra heavy blade, a steel rolled-edged guard, and a leather-wrapped handle. 2. Twenty French blades. It would be convenient to have spare blades on hand especially when teaching beginners, who will be unavoidably insensitive to the amount of pressure it takes to score a valid “touch.” A class of twenty can be expected to break ten or fifteen blades in a semester of instruction. Fortunately, blades are not too expensive. 3. Twenty fencing masks. The fencing mask is the most important safety feature for fencing. Any medium-priced foil mask will provide excellent service for several years. 4. Twenty-five foil jackets. A good fencing jacket is essential for safety and comfort. As with foils, it is best to include twenty jackets for right-handed fencers and five for the left-handed fencers. Where budgets are low, “half-jackets” will save money and are perfectly suitable for beginning instruction. 5. Thirty fencing gloves. It is wise to include extra gloves to allow flexibility in fitting for size. The majority of gloves should be medium in size, with a few small and large sizes to accommodate others. Include five or six left-handed gloves of assorted sizes. Most medium-priced gloves will give adequate protection and wear. Expensive gloves are priced more for their aesthetic value than for practicality. 6. Thirty pairs of fencing knickers. Students can usually supply their own trousers (hopefully white), for almost any cloth covering on the legs will give the necessary protection. However, it is advised to furnish fencing knickers which are designed for the stress of the lunge and offer more comfort. Fencing trousers are the most difficult items of fencing equipment to fit to class sizes. A wide assortment of sizes is helpful. Don't forget the left-hander! 7. Ten lunging pads. This final item of class equipment is the teacher's most helpful instructional aid. The lunging pad gives the beginning students their best opportunity to practice thrusts on their own time. Ideally, a class of twenty would have twenty lunging pads. However, wall space does not always allow for this luxury, and so it is recommended that as many lunging pads be provided as budgets and space will allow. CURRICULUM Instructional Objectives Fencing experts agree that given excellent training conditions four or five years is the realistic projection for beginners to achieve sound competitive proficiency. In view of the relatively short time that the high-school or college teacher will work with any particular student, it becomes obvious that the teacher is confronted with a most difficult issue of teaching sound fundamentals, while keeping students interested in a very complex and demanding sport. Fencing technique, with its hundreds of alternative moves relating to attack, defense, distance, and timing, poses a difficult question. Just what is fundamental to the game and how does one teach it effectively? Substantiating Basic Development The surest path to meaningful instruction lies in simplification, clarity, and observable progress. The teacher must stress the basic issues involved in fencing movement. If the basics are not stressed, one is inclined to proceed into a labyrinth of fencing techniques leaving behind the essential foundation upon which all fencing progress depends - that of balanced movement and tactical judgment. If the beginning fencer can be instilled with efficient movement and lucid tactics, he or she is well on the road to an enjoyable and effective game. Modern competitive fencing, with its increasing emphasis on timing, speed and distance, demands that the performer first master footwork and techniques, which will lead to more efficient movement. The fencer should be disciplined in a thorough understanding of techniques which specifically relate to basic movement. Faulty comprehension and habits relating to movement are the root causes for poor performance on all levels of fencing. The fencer who moves well will find little difficulty in mastering the technical and tactical facets of attack and defense so essential to a sound game. Balance is the most essential element for fluid movement. The lunge, parries, ripostes, etc., are more easily understood when placed in a context where balance becomes the dividing point between defensive and offensive postures. While every defensive and offensive movement in fencing has its own total commitment, all action should initiate from, and end on, balance. Offensive and defensive movements should not interfere with each other. For example, when teaching the lunge, emphasis should be centered on the student's ability to recover back or forward to guard position. If the lunge is static, or if balance is lost, the recovery becomes cumbersome at best. The lunge is only as good as its recovery. Let us take one more example. When teaching defense it should be stressed that the parry is only as good as the scoring opportunity it creates. At the conclusion of a parry the fencer's hand should be relaxed and ready to riposte direct or indirect, fast or slow, or no riposte at all. In this way the student is given the understanding and capability to riposte whenever, wherever, and however it best suits the circumstances. This approach to teaching adds interest, understanding, and challenge to all practice. The student soon discovers that balance is a solid commodity which becomes the key to fencing effectiveness. Once this discovery is made, all technical explanations will begin to make genuine educational sense. It is recommended that all basic technique be taught as an expression of offensive and defensive balance. Taken from this perspective, the fencer will train to overcome the mental and physical inertia of his or her own body. This leads to a faster, better-controlled, sensitive, and more powerful scoring ability. The student discovers that he or she has gained new power because energy is not being wasted in a struggle with one's own body. Economy of movement enables the fencer to recover from the split-second mistakes that unavoidably result during the intense interaction of the fencing bout. Balance drills. The student should be able to execute the advance, retreat, lunge, recovery (both forward and backward), advance lunge, pattinando, and ballestra without loss of balance. The class should be drilled regularly in these actions in a variety of combinations: extend advance; retreat on guard, retreat extend; advance on guard, advance, lunge, and recovery; retreat, lunge, and recovery; pattinando and recovery, etc. Here footwork and body posture become integrated. The possible combinations are infinite and limited only by the teacher's imagination. The goal of this type of work session is to develop the student's ability to move in any direction at any given moment. Weight should not be allowed to settle in either an offensive or defensive posture. This session can be made into a game where the instructor tries to trick the students into an off-balance situation. Students love it! Additional Skills and Drill Times When new techniques such as parries or attacks are introduced, they should be practiced in context with the body drill: guard in sixte, retreat in quarte; quarte guard, retreat in sixte; octave guard, retreat sixte, retreat quarte, riposte; sixte guard, attack, recover to quarte, riposte; attack with pattinando, forward recovery to quarte retreat and lunge. The student will find that the combinations are inexhaustible. Variety and surprise in such combinations will create excellent student response. This type of training should become a routine part of all class meetings. The duration of the drill depends on the instructional situation. It should never be less than ten minutes and seldom more than thirty minutes. This approach keeps the student in constant touch with fundamentals regardless of the introduction of new technique. It also helps the student correlate the relationships between technique and balance. When errors are made in the bouting situation, he or she can pinpoint them and make the proper corrections. Thus the student becomes his or her own best critic. Again, the most frequent mistakes made on all levels of fencing can be traced to poor balance both mental and physical and the resulting loss of technical control. Entrenchment of “Right-of-Way” A second major area of special emphasis for instruction exists within the general rules and regulations relating to tactical advantage. At the core of the tactical element lies the concept of right-of-way. Right-of-way is the logic of fencing. Complete and clear understanding of right-of-way and its relationship to fencing tempo is essential to the beginner if he or she is to develop good basic fencing habits both in thought processes and in physical movement. In effect, the student who learns to move well and think perceptively in his or her early training will have little difficulty in later development. At this stage the fencer will arrive at a point where he or she can not only plan the proper move, but also possess the capability to deliver it effortlessly and on time. He or she achieves the ability to compete without theory interfering with execution and without execution hampering theory. With this balanced foundation the young fencer will make maximum use of all additional techniques he or she acquires. Where balance is the key to effective technique, right-of-way is its counterpart in strategy. The teacher who stresses these fundamentals will find the fencing program progressing more rapidly. Students will react with enthusiastic participation because they are experiencing the results of sound basic preparation. TEACHING SUGGESTIONS a relatively casual manner. On the other hand, the teacher may well place instructional emphasis on preparation for high-level performance, where fundamentals and course progression are of more importance. It has been my experience that both the recreational and competitive goals of fencing can be satisfied through a single approach. It is with this view in mind that the teaching unit presented below has been arranged. While the material for this outline of course progression has been derived from teaching experience which extends over a period of years, it is intended to serve only as a general guide to instruction. Hopefully, this unit will be useful as a reference with which one may improvise according to specific teaching interests and circumstances. The unit includes the maximum amount of material that one can reasonably be expected to teach in twenty one-hour class sessions. Also, it is my firm opinion that beginning instruction should emphasize fencing appreciation, where the student will learn a good deal more about fencing than can be performed after twenty hours of instruction. The student at this point should be enjoying a beginner's game, but, more importantly, he or she should be able to recognize and hopefully appreciate skilled performance. In this way the young fencer will have a knowledgeable basis upon which to decide whether or not to continue on to advanced training. UNIT, INTRODUCTORY FOIL, TWENTY HOURS Goals To develop basic competence in, and appreciation of, basic modern French-Italian foil technique. Emphasis should be placed on: 1. Fencing as a physical and mental conditioner. 2. Fencing as a recreational sport. 3. Fencing as competition. Meeting 1 2. Thumbnail sketch of the historic development of fencing with emphasis on the Italian and French schools. The process of how these schools have come together to form the modern “international” competitive technique should also be explained. Meeting 3 Meeting 4 Meeting 5 Meeting 6 Meeting 7 Meeting 8 Meeting 9 Meeting 10 Meeting 11 Meeting 12 Meeting 13 Meeting 14 Meeting 15 Meeting 16 Meeting 17 Meeting 18 Meeting 19
Meeting 20 INTERMEDIATE INSTRUCTION New techniques should be introduced from time to time as students, through their progress, indicate they are ready for them. Students' interest and motivation are assured when they realize that continued progress will open new doors of tactical and technical speculation. Informal round-robin tournaments are a most effective tool for teaching students to direct and judge. It also helps them become aware of the importance of right-of-way and form in fencing. All fencers love to officiate once confidence is developed through practice. The experience gained here leads automatically to better fencing and also creates interest for the class. Special time must be given to discussion and instruction in the techniques of sparring. Students enjoy sparring, and improvements in sparring procedure create the kind of informal competitive interaction which is most enjoyable. The teacher should stress the need for courtesy and good sportsmanship where touches are readily acknowledged, and encourage students to practice specific technique as the prime objective of sparring. Finally, the intermediate class should be low-pressured and centered on the development of fencing skill as a means to recreational enjoyment. Every student must be encouraged to improve at his or her own rate. The student who does not progress in some small way with each session will soon become bored. The slightest improvement in the fencer's skill will generate enthusiasm which far outstrips the available practice time. At the end of each class the students should feel they have worked hard and increased their understanding and skill. ADVANCED INSTRUCTION However, all instruction should be geared to the abilities of all of the students. Instruction must essentially prepare the fencer for fencing as a recreational means to health and enjoyment. COACHING In addition, the coach provides the fencer with a training schedule which supplements normal fencing practice and lessons. This specialized training ensures maximum strength and endurance, which enables the fencer to fence at his or her highest level throughout the long hours of tournament competition. The coach and fencer enjoy a uniquely close relationship within the context of competitive athletics, and it can safely be conjectured that this relationship will continue on a social basis for many years after the fencer has graduated from school. There are few sports where the coaching responsibility is so intimately connected to the personality of the athlete. As I stated earlier in this book, the associations gained through fencing may last a lifetime, and in no area of sport is this more evident than in the relationship between the fencing coach and the student. |
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