Quote of the week

"See first with your mind, then with your eyes, and finally with your body".

Yagyu Munenori

Happy Xmas everyone

Just a quick note to the extensive (?) readership of this blog to say that I hope you all have a great Xmas. I shall be away over the festive season so best wishes for the New Year as well.
I shall hopefully be taking some time to reflect on the events of the last twelve months and see what lessons can be learnt from them! In terms of my goals for 2008, well I would like to do better in the County Championships in February so will need to start getting a bit fitter and combat ready!
For those of you with competetive hopes in 2008 I wish you all the best!
Catch you in 2008!

Quote of the Week

"Sword and mind must be united. Technique by itself is insufficient, and spirit alone is not enough."

Yamada Jirokichi, of Jikishinkage Ryu

The Critical Margin

Sometimes in fencing millimetres can be critical. I was embroiled in a fight at the Salle last night where I hit my opponent several times but the hit didn't register. I saw the hit land and saw the depression on my opponent's lame but it wasn't quite enough to make the connection. The margin must have quite literally been fractions of a centimetre. It's easy to get annoyed and frustrated when this happens but that wouldn't help anything so it's much better to try and figure it out. In the case of this fight my opponent was taller and had a greater reach than me. I hadn't fenced him for a long time and in fact there aren't many taller people in the club. Therefore he was an exceptional adversary. Also, I was fighting for points so I was (unfortunately) slightly more tense and my reach was hampered as a result. If I had relaxed and extended my arm just that little bit further I would have had a couple more points than I got and may have won the fight. It's easy to figure this through after the event but it's important to do it during the fight as well. Another aspect of a critical margin also occurred during the fight. I noticed my opponent had the habit of exposing his flank so decided to attack him into the low line to exploit this. My first attempt missed by literally a centimetre but gave me the confidence that it was a viable approach as he was unable to parry it. My second attempt a few hits later failed to land but eventually I planted one fair and square in the exact area I was aiming for and my shout of triumph rang round the salle. I may not have won the overall fight but I had solved an intellectual and technical puzzle which can sometimes be reward enough. It's also fun! It can be a minute change in technique that can tip the balance of a fight so consider this well.

Are we having fun yet or what?

Last night I got hit hard in the throat, whacked across the elbow (now turning a nice shade of green) and took some skin off my finger. Haven't had that much fun in months!

Over thinking...

Is it possible to think too much about fencing? Probably not if it's thinking in a good way. What do I mean by 'a good way'? I guess what I mean is that if you are analysing your performance to see how it can improve then that's a good way. If you're constantly kicking yourself up the backside because you think you're not good enough then that's a bad way. I was having a chat last night with a fencer who felt he was over-thinking about his fencing in the sense that he knew what he wanted to do but by the time he's thought about it he had missed the chance. This was causing him some frustration but I explained that this was in fact good progress as like any form of training the more you do it the better you get at it. Initially it does seem that the brain is not capable of figuring things out quickly enough to react to the situation but as time goes on the reaction becomes instinctive, almost short circuiting the brain and going straight to the muscles involved. This is a good level to reach and can take a long time to attain but it will happen sooner or later. My parry riposte is something I don't have to think about (unless it's not working) so I can concentrate my mind on other matters, such as the fact that my opponent engages in sixte every time they advance, therefore giving me the opportunity to disengage attack on their preparation. This is where the fun comes in and allows you to learn new things as you go along.

Steaming!!

Last night when I left the salle it was a cold night and whilst I was talking to Andy in the Car Park I noticed I was actually steaming. At last my work rate had reached the steaming stage and I was emulating my rugby heroes on a cold afternoon!! I felt like a real athlete....... ;0)

A Happy Coach

To my students..
Over the past couple of weeks I have seen some really good fights between you. It has given me real pleasure to see that thought is being given to your techniques and tactics and that you are doing the right things at the right time. Just thought I'd pass this on, must be getting soft in my old age.
Well done Abby, Devon, Ben, Robert, Phillip and Alex.
But don't think I'll be letting up!

Electric Is Your Friend

A lot of developing fencers claim that they don't like fencing electric and prefer steam. When questioned further on this the reason is usually a variation on "Because I never win" or "my hits don't register properly". The former reason puts a lot of developing fencers off competition for totally the wrong reasons. In my view, electric fencing is the only way to ever be sure your techniques are correct as the box (in most cases) will never lie. A lot of fencers have favourite techniques that serve them well as they are beginning their fencing career. That fleche attack or the disengage that gets the judges hands going up every time etc. Then when they try it for the first time on the electric piste it doesn't work because it just isn't quite accurate enough for the sensitive equipment. They get frustrated that it isn't given and go back to steam fencing where their favourite technique always reaps dividends. It is just too hard to do on the electric piste. This is a shame because sticking with electric fencing is the only way to really get neat and accurate.
Yesterday I was fencing with one of my pupils and made two parry ripostes where the point was just a bit too flat and didn't set the lights off. I'm pretty sure they would have been given in a steam match but for electric they weren't good enough. I could have got frustrated by this but instead gave it some thought after the match had ended. Technically the ripostes were in time and they would have been given. So what was the reason the box didn't register? Well, I figured that when parrying to quarte because my distance was a bit too close I had been bringing my hand across a bit too far in order to make the parry. As a result when I extended my arm my point was directed too far to the right hand side of my opponent, therefore resulting in me making the hit slightly flat and not depressing the point far enough to register. The remedy next time will be to keep slightly further away and ensure my hand is returning to sixte when riposting and my point is remaining in line. If I hadn't had been fencing electric I would never have had the opportunity to gain this insight.
Sometimes the truth hurts but the pain is worth it!