Quote of the week

"Try not....... Do...."

Master Yoda

Shoden (Basics)

OK, I said in a previous post that I wasn't going to turn this into a fencing manual of a blog but I think it's fair to revise a few of the basics before I get into my more existential/personal views. Although I call these basics I will emphasise that a fencer should never stop learning and developing all the techniques throughout their career....

The Weapon
The foil is exclusively a stabbing weapon and a valid hit can only be made with the tip or point of the blade. This fact is pivotal to foil fencing and each movement must be geared to delivering the point to the target area, either via a thrust or a lunge. It is therefore imperative to have control of your point at all times.

The grip
The foil should never be grasped in a fist but rather held between the thumb and first two fingers (or manipulators); the third and little finger only provide support rather than control and are referred to as the aids. Even a pistol grip foil should be controlled with the thumb and two fingers. The foil should be held firmly but not with great strength as this will quickly tire the muscles of the hand and arm and adversely affect the control of the weapon. (It is easy to spot a fencer with too strong a grip as the tip of their foil will be trembling). It will also lead to involuntary resistance to an opponents engagements which can be used against you. Conversely too weak a grip will prevent you making strong attacks and will also allow your opponent to control, deflect or even dislodge your weapon.

The stance
The purpose of the peculiar stance adopted in fencing is may fold:
It allows speed of movement on a narrow space
It provides a balanced platform from which to launch attacks and execute defensive parries
It keeps your point threatening the opponents target area, whilst not revealing the length of your blade and therefore your intentions
It is very easy to forget the stance and a common fault is to straighten the legs, destroying any balance and fluidity of movement. The shoulders should be wide and open, displaying your confidence to your opponent

Learning

I believe it was a lyric by the Indie band Dodgy that goes "no-one ever showed me how to learn" and it seems an interesting juxtaposition that not many athletes ever study in detail how the brain assimilates information. This is a vital piece of knowledge for anyone trying to improve themselves in whatever field so I'll touch on it now. One of the most well known models for learning is that devised by David Kolb, which is used widely in business training across the world. Kolb explains that learning takes place in stages, all of which are inter-related and that whilst the learner can enter the cycle at any point, they need to complete the cycle to truly assimilate the new information. The cycle runs like this (this paricular order is not significant as mentioned before).
Theory/general principles - the learner begins to understand the theory of what they are attempting
Planning/Experiment - the learner plans/derives experiments with the technique
Action/experience - the learner actually practices the technique
Reflection/making sense - the learner considers what has been learnt and rationalises further development
It is essential that a person goes through the entire learning cycle or they will not gain maximum benefit from the experience. When the learner is working with a coach the experience can be discussed and a good coach will look to help the student with the right sort of questions after the initial explanation. Typical questions would be "how could you employ this technique/tactic?", "When will this be appropriate?", "How did that feel?", "What happened when you did that?", "Could it have been more effective?"
By asking these questions both the student and the teacher will learn in tandem. I felt it necessary to include this brief summary of learning in order for the student to learn more about themselves and appreciate some of my later postings. Much more can be learnt about Kolb via the internet but a particularly good summary can be found at http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm

Where you're at....?

Before I launch into lots of thought about principles, psychology etc, it's useful to talk about learning. I do a lot of training and coaching both at work and during my off duty time and I've found that lots of the business orientated training material also works in fencing. I'd like to share the principles of levels of learning.
The first level of learning is unconscious incompetence. i.e. We don't know what we don't know. As a coach I've often seen people pick up a foil for the first time ever and actually demonstrate a pretty good level of skill. This is because they are simply enjoying it and having a go without any inhibitions. Unfortunately this stage doesn't last as it is followed by...

Conscious incompetence. This is the point where a beginner is suddenly brought into reality by the nasty coach who starts to point out all the things they should be doing right (and all the things they are doing wrong). The student is immediately plunged into self doubt and becomes aware of their faults. Performance will drop as they struggle to assimilate all this new information. Depending on the complexity of the task and the student this stage can last between weeks and in some cases years.

Eventually the student reaches a stage of conscious competence. This is the point where they can start to feel confident in their own abilities and will begin to realise there are other facets to the task that they hadn't seen before. Once a fencer is confident in their own technique for instance, they will start be able to to observe their opponent's behaviour and be able to react to that with the correct strategies. It is easy to reach a plateau at this point and it is the coaches job to take the athlete to the next stage of...

Unconscious competence. This is the stage that all elite athletes are trying to attain and represents the point when the mind and body react instinctively to their opponent, producing the correct response without the athlete having to think about it. Most of us have experienced these monents at some stage and it is variously referred to as "being in the zone", "on top of the game" etc. In most of us it tends to provoke the reaction "What happened there?" or "how did that happen?!" but it is what we should strive for in our approach to the sport.

It is a common misconception that once an athlete has reached the stage of unconscious competence there is nowhere for them to progress too. This is wrong and it is the job of a coach, even if he is coaching students who are beyond him in terms of ability, to jog the learning process in small incremental steps. It is at this point that the psychology, strategy and personal development of the sport really kick in. Sometimes an elite level athlete will find themselves back at the beginning after a small revelation from a coach that will further improve their performance. It is never too late to stop learning.

Most people attain a state of conscious competence in their chosen sport or past-time but it is the next step that really holds all the fun and stimulation and provides a continuous challenge for as long as the athlete cares to continue....

Fencing Principles

Most fencing schools have a set of principles by which they abide and I'm no different! My particular philosophy has been influenced by my experience and also by reading some of the works of other Sensei (I use the Japanses term for "one who shows the way") from both the Western and Eastern fencing worlds. One of my particular influences, Miyamoto Musashi (more on him later) first wrote down his principles in the 17th century so I'm really just catching up. So, here are the principles of the 'School of Dave'....

Purpose – Everything you do on a fencing piste must have a purpose. Whether it is to deliver an attack, defend yourself or confuse your opponent everything should be moving toward a goal. Action without purpose is wasted effort

Economy – Do not expend energy un-necessarily. Movement should be controlled and economical and should not waste effort. The point should move toward the target in the most efficient manner

Do not lose – If you fight to win at all costs your energy will be hurried, frantic and un-focussed. If you fight with the intention of not losing you will find the time to be calculating, balanced and focussed

Be calm – Emotions whilst fencing will only cloud your judgement. Enjoy the victory, analyse the defeat then move on

Attention – Pay attention to your own strengths and weaknesses. It is equally important to observe the same in your opponent and act upon it

Flexibility – Do not allow your approach to become rigid. You must be able to change your approach and attitude as the circumstances of the situation dictate. Do not dwell on only one aspect of your opponent or your attention will become fixed

Rationale – The basic principle of foil fencing is to hit without being hit. Make this the cornerstone of your understanding

Firm Foundation – The basics of fencing must be practiced constantly. There is no such thing as mastery when it comes to footwork, distance and timing

Respect – It is imperative that your fencing career includes respect for your opponent, the rules and traditions of the sport, your coach, the presiding official and above all yourself. You should behave in a way you can look back on with pride

Winning – Victory should be your goal but should not be at the cost of your integrity

Take the initiative – Make your opponent work hard; do not let them dictate the fight

Be positive – a defeat is only total if you learn nothing from it

It is quite likely that I will develop new principles as I get older but these refelct where I am at present. I try and structure my teaching and lessons around these principles and I will return to that topic in a later post.

Rules...

I have set this blog up so that you need to be a registed user of Blogger.com. Beyond that I don't intend to moderate this blog too heavily. I will remove spam where possible but otherwise keep any comments on topic and don't get personal please!

History and Purpose

I'm not about to detail the history of fencing from a mode of combat to a modern sport; there are plenty of books out there that will do that for you. I will assume that if you are reading this you have an interest and know something about the topic. This history is more of an attempt to establish my credentials and explain why I have started this blog.

I've been involved in fencing for the last 20 years and have been a coach at various levels for the last 15. In my youth I was more competitive and achieved modest success at regional level in the UK. However, as I've mellowed in age and outlook I've found that I get more and more satisfaction out of my coaching. I have worked with both children and adults and have coached at four separate clubs in Norfolk. I fence both foil and (occasionally) epee but only coach at foil. I have never been able to raise any interest in sabre whatsoever - sorry sabreurs! I am a qualified coach with both the British Academy of Fencing and British Fencing but my views are purely my own and do not reflect anyone else's opinions on fencing. It is fair to say that Norfolk is not exactly the hub of the fencing world in the UK and that if you want to fence/coach at elite level then the home counties are the place to be. I don't claim to be an outstanding coach, in fact I could probably be classed as a bit of a grass roots journeyman coach, plying my skills in my own little niche. I am an amateur in the sense that I make no money and earn no salary for my time, all my efforts are for free and the fun of it. I do work with a Professional Coach and have been assisting him for the majority of my career, although he's long since been comfortable enough to let me get on with it in my own way.

During the last 15 years the number of people I have coached runs into the hundreds. Only one of these has gone on to an elite level and she is currently (at time of writing) the number 1 female foilist in the UK. I claim absolutely no responsibility/credit for this. Her path and success have been crafted by her talent, determination and self belief plus many better coaches than I. I only make this point to show that only the minority of people involved in fencing (and any other sport) ever reach the elite peak of their pursuit. The vast majority of us find other ways to get a sense of achievement from fencing, whether it is social, physical fitness, personal progress or just enjoyment. This blog is all about my own personal view of fencing which is underscored by the premise that there is more to fencing than just scoring points at all costs. It is a sport that has a long tradition behind it and it is this that I have become more drawn too over the last few years. I still believe that competitive fencing is an integral part of the sport and it is important to win but not at the expense of behaviour, attitude and technique. Recently I have been aware of the fact that fencing (and indeed many martial arts) is becoming popularised by the emphasis on winning and gaining awards. Obviously in past times when faced with an armed opponent the objective was to stay alive, to win at all costs. The Eastern martial arts started from the same basis but in evolving into an art managed to incorporate self development and awareness as a goal. Western fencing has never done this, possibly due to the fact that the Western mind is different, less spiritual, more materialistic and as a result more competitive. Over the last few decades fencing has become increasingly focussed on competition rather than form which raises the dilemma that if there is only room at the top of the success ladder for a few, what are the majority to do? I believe that by considering the traditions and discipline of fencing and combining them with lessons learned from other disciplines, fencing can become an effective means of self improvement, intellectual challenge and physical exercise. The purpose of this blog will be to explore those ideas in greater detail.

This blog is predominantly for my students as a supplement to my lessons in the salle. As such, you will not find detailed expositions of techniques in these entries as this is not intended as a beginners guide to fencing, although I will discuss basic techniques as a foundation of understanding. These entries are meant to act as a stimulus for the more experienced fencer to explore their sport and themselves in a deeper way.