Stance is the foundation

I've noticed lately how the proper stance is the basis of everything in fencing. Just a little something out of place leads to all sorts of other things happening. The trouble is, it's one of the hardest things to correct in fencing, both as a coach and as a fencer. There are many reasons for this but the primary one is that the focus of fencing tends to be on the weapon and the techniques used to deliver it onto the opponent, i.e. various types of attacks, ripostes etc etc. The form of the action tends to dominate the attention so that when the fencer is practising say a disengage attack they concentrate (rightly) on their fingers and neglect the attention on the feet and body. In some ways the footwork and stance are less glamorous than the attacks and parries. However, if the feet are wrong the balance is wrong, if the balance is wrong the body is wrong, if the body is wrong the arm is wrong, if the arm is wrong the hand is wrong et voila! The whole thing falls apart.
So as a fencer what to concentrate on? Well, in all honesty it's difficult to say, but if you consider the basics as your foundation and are mindful of them when fencing then hopefully all will be in balance. If that fails, you've always got your coach to nag you!

Fun-da-mentals

A lot of my posts have been quite heavy lately so I'd just like to take the opportunity to remind you all out there in blog reading land to not forget the fundamental of fencing. You're meant to be having fun as well! Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the inner workings and forget to enjoy the journey. Whilst I don't necessarily advocate cackling madly on the piste, the odd smile here and there can certainly help!

Trapped in Form

The Art of War talks about trapping your opponent in forms and making him take opportunities he doesn't really want to take. I taught a lesson based on this principle last night. Take for instance an opponent who persists in holding his/her blade in a low line. There may be a couple of reasons for this... a) they have some tactic in mind (more on this later) or b) they've seen other fencers do it and they think it's cool. In most cases I have seen, their opponent can't help but try to fiddle about and engage the low blade as if it's the most important thing ever. It isn't -so get over it; quite literally. The best thing to do with an opponent's blade held in the low line is attack in the high line. If the opponent is just mimicking something they've seen they will either get hit or attempt some form of wild semi-circular parry which you can deceive. Even if the opponent is attempting to get you to attack there's only a limited range of parries that will work so you can again deceive it if you are smart enough. The blade in the low line is a classic example of an opponent trying to hold you by the form they are taking. Avoid getting drawn into it at all costs.
Conversely, you can force your opponent to take the low line by attacking low into their hip with a pronated hand. This will almost invariably force a parry of octave which can be disengaged over, your hand coming back into supination and hitting high. Force opportunities onto your opponent that you want them to take whilst avoiding the forms they wish to oppose on you.....

Now for something physical...

A lot of my posting recently has been about psychology so this time let's try something about physiology. Let's talk about stretching.
I've noticed over the years that some fencers seem to have a naturally inbred allergy to stretching. They tend to regard it as something that other fencers do; a pointless waste of time mate, I'm an athlete let's get on the piste... aargh there goes my hamstring... To be honest, most of these fencers fall into the category of the posse who buy all the kit and then turn up and stand around all evening, maybe have a couple of matches and then disappear.... Hopefully this doesn't sound too personally familiar to readers of this blog...!
Now I'm a great believer in stretches as those who attend the club on Saturdays will attest. I have recently been reinstalled as Mr Stretchy (leader of the group warm up); a post I held for a number of years before it fell out of fashion for a while. But now I'm back! It's important to get those major muscle groups active before strenuous exercise and I tend to do a set series of stretches every week. Starting with legs, we then work up through the waist and to the shoulders. For some reason my shoulder exercises seem less than popular with the class but you can't have everything. Andy also does a group warm up on Wednesdays but I prefer to do my own thing then, mainly because I struggle to make the start of the class due to work but I always make sure I do some stretching before demonstrating anything with Andy. As his Junior I am usually the one doing the lunging so it is important I get the old creaky thighs warmed up.
I've also been doing yoga on and off for the last few years so I may start to incorporate some of the basic moves into the stretching routine. Some seem very applicable to fencing if viewed in the right light, although I can't see a group attempt at the tree posture working particularly well.... The basic thing is that you should look at some form of stretching as an integral part of your fencing routine. It might just save you a lengthy lay off with injury.

Learned Counsel Part 2

Of course, another thing you can do in that 60 seconds is develop a mantra that helps you without being too complicated. Something like "Relax, Focus, Attack" or something similar. Consider what works best for you and apply it in your quiet moments that occur between the frantic periods of duelling. Anything that reinforces good behaviours is a valuable thing.

Holding Back

At the turn of the 17th century Kaibara Ekken wrote,
"In a contest with an opponent, premature boldness is not valued; calmly holding back is valued. This is the way to overcome enemies. But it is hard to hold back. Holding back means patience. Facing an opponent, hold back calmly; don't make the first move in haste. If you are too bold to hold back and so hasty that you make the first move, your opponent will see your error and strike, so you will be beaten ....... A noble man controls frivolity with gravity, awaits action in a state of calm. It is important for the spirit to be whole, the mood steady and the mind unmoving".

What do you think?

Learned Counsel

I was having a correspondence via e-mail with Anna yesterday around my post on the 60 second quiz. She raised a very valid point (as I would expect) about coaching. Sometimes at competitions, particularly if you don't have a coach with you, previously unknown counsellors can strangely materialise. People you've never met may start offering you all sorts of hints and tips. It is true that most people offer advice in an attempt to help but it should always be considered respectfully and carefully for relevance and accepted or rejected as you feel fit. You should treat all advice like this, even to an extent your own coaches' words (although of course you should treat them with more confidence). We all see the world in different ways and you need to develop your own ability to think through a situation. Take advice, consider it carefully then assimilate it as you desire. As Obi-Wan Kenobi once said "Who is more foolish; the fool or the fool who follows him?"

Don't Rage Against The Machine

I was reading a post on Chris' blog the other night in which he discusses anger and how it can be an ennervative force. Whilst I agree in some ways with this I also think that it is important to manage anger carefully whilst engaged in any form of sport. Anger is an emotional state but like all emotions it causes physiological reactions. The pulse quickens, the muscles engorge with blood, adrenaline floods the system, attention focusses on one thing - the perceived threat, the pupils dilate and the body prepares for fight or flight. Surely this is a good place to be you cry? If you want to win isn't it best to be in a combat state? Well.... perhaps.
The other side of anger makes you more susceptible to rash decisions, it makes your muscles tremble and reduces your capacity for delicate and precise action. It also is only a temporary mental and physical state and will leave you on a downward mental curve eventually. You cannot maintain anger or rage for any significant length of time (unless you have a slight imbalance somewhere).
Here's an example of how anger can change your mood and reactions. This morning I was on my daily drive to work. The first part of my trip is through country lanes and I was enjoying the Autumn morning. Some geese flying, three identical cock pheasants in a field against the mist, the colour of the leaves on the trees. Very relaxing and calm. Then I got to the second part of my trip and I joined the Norwich bypass and was almost immediately cut up by another driver. Instantly my mood was invaded and spoilt by anger. My pulse quickened and I focussed completely on the source of my annoyance; that other driver. (Like most men I am obviously THE best driver around). He was my sole adversary adn I felt a stupid desire to catch him up etc etc. All very silly. Luckily my flare up soon passed but it is an example of how anger can change your day and not necessarily for the better. I prefer to recognise it, let it go and move on, but sometimes this is not so easy. Anger is not good for fencing but calm and assertive intent is. There is a subtle difference and you should learn to spot it; I know I am still trying - maybe not in fencing but certainly in life!

60 second quiz!

In fencing competitions the format dictates that in a direct elimination match you have one minute breaks after 3 and 6 minutes. That is all the time you get to decide your ongoing strategy so how do you use it most effectively? My advice would be:
Grab a drink
Listen to your coach
If you haven't got a coach there...
Consider the position in the fight; are you ahead? Behind?
If you are behind you need to start scoring points, if ahead you need to either finish it off or guard the lead.
Has your opponent got any tell tale moves that allow you to score?
What are they doing well?
What are they doing badly?
What do you need to do differently? General rule of thumb; if it ain't broke don't fix it!
Is there anything that the President is affecting?
Is he calling you for certain infringements?

That should occupy 60 seconds!

Bun Bu

The Japanese philosopher Nakae Toju wrote that without culture a warrior could not be fully fulfilled. He expressed this in the term Warriorhood and Culture or "Bun Bu". He meant that a warrior should also steep himself in cultural activities such as philosophy, poetry, calligraphy and other arts in order to balance the violent aspects of his martial calling. Without knowledge force is applied aimlessly and potentially for wrong reasons. Now I am not advocating that all fencers go off and study calligraphy, Noh theatre or tea rituals but I do believe that it is important to have a developed and questioning mind if you want to reach your full potential as a fencer. You must be able to question the techniques you are taught, analyse when they are most suitable and recognise and prepare situations where you can employ them. Beyond that, you need to develop an understanding of the rules of the sport plus why they are the rules. Beyond even that, you may wish to understand the history and traditions of your sport to give you a sense of belonging. Beyond even that, you may wish to find out about similar sports or martial arts and apply learning from them into your own tradition. Finally beyond that you may wish to consider the lessons that fencing has given you and how you can apply them to your life and vice versa. The intellectual journey should never end if you wish to be a truly balanced warrior.

Is seeing believing?

There's a lot going on in the blog world at the moment with both Rob and Chris posting some new stuff. I have commented on their blogs as the general topic seems to revolve around mind-sets and comfort zones at the moment. I certainly believe that you influence the world around you by the way you perceive it. In quantum physics there is the theory that the observer affects the experiment he is observing. It certainly seems true that we can affect how we see the situation in front of us just by the way we impose our perceptions and prejudices on it. As a fencer it is important to really see what is happening during a match and as an individual it is important to really see the situations of life for what they are.
To further this topic, here's a link sent to me by my Coach Andy. There is some interesting stuff in here if you want to look for it...!
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/mjcmn10h.htm

Right Action

I was reading a post on Chris' blog today in which he talks about not trying but just doing. Despite this being a great opportunity for me to do a Yoda impression "ah-hah try not... do" I would like to add some of my thoughts to this topic.
Recently it has struck me that it is incredibly easy to become burdened down by thinking, whether it is on the fencing piste, at work, home or whatever. It takes no time at all for the human brain, when presented with a problem, to start over analysing it and tying itself up in knots. We love to chat, confer, compare notes and otherwise delay action. I know I am certainly prone to this at times as I tend to be a reflector. Sometimes this is counter-productive though. I've recently been reading the autobiography of Gene Kranz, who was one of the Mission Flight Controllers during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programmes in the United States during the 1960s and 70s. He talks about how they often had a very short space of time to make crucial decisions. For instance, at the moment of launch, if anything went wrong with the rocket the controller had no more than four seconds in which to call an abort and/or jettison the astronauts via the escape rocket. During this time many pieces of data had to be assessed and considered. Any hesitation would likely be fatal for the astronauts. Think about that; four seconds, probably as long as it took me to type this sentence. So how did they get to such a state of clear headed thinking? Well for one they practiced the scenarios they would face time and time again, rehearding both mentally and physically the actions they would take in certain circumstances. Secondly they had faith in their own abilities and finally the confidence of their leaders. It was definitely the first factor that was critical though.
So how does this relate to fencing? Well, I think the main thing is to differentiate between strategic and tactical thinking. Strategy allows you to prepare your general approach to an opponent. Before the fight starts you observe possible behaviours, techniques in your opponent that you can lever as an advantage and you prepare a mental strategy to utilise them. Tactical thinking comes during a fight when something isn't working and you need to change it. This second type of thinking is the one you don't want to over elaborate. Your response to situations should be within a framework that you have practiced time and time again, allowing you to act instinctively and in the right way. The Japanese constantly refer to the hara (see previous posts for the locaation of this mysterious bodily node) as the centre of the spirit, i.e. the 'gut' instinct. By training and preparing for situations it allows us to deal with them in an un-cluttered way when they arise. It is more important to do something than to be paralysed by indecision and analysis.