Quote of the week 2 (which may get expanded upon later)

"To advance without a plan is to court defeat"
Me again

Quote of the week

"A rolling stone gathers no moss; a bent arm gathers no hit".
Me

Helpful People

Whilst I am a great advocate of being excellent to each other (as Bill and Ted once proclaimed) it struck me last night that there are a number of reasons why helpful people may not be actually all that helpful during fencing training.
The 'I don't want to hit you too many times' helpful person - this is the training partner who instead of lungeing directly at you lunges off to the side or a little short because they don't want to hit you repeatedly. Whilst this is a laudable sentiment it doesn't help you practice your technique effectively. For instance, if you want to practice your parry riposte it's no good your partner attacking short as you will have to lean or step to make your riposte. Or if they attack to the side instead of in line as this will mean you need to make your parry far too wide. In general, when practicing, do everything like you mean it! Then when you do mean it things will go better.
The 'let me explain' helpful person - this is the training partner who insists on showing you where you are going wrong and painstakingly correcting you. Unfortunately in a lot of cases they have very little idea of what they should be doing. As a Coach I've often seen someone attempt to help a partner in this way and only end up showing them the completely wrong technique and further confusing the matter, plus they almost invariably end up running out of time during the practice session. In general, if you're not sure you (or your partner) know what you're doing please ask a Coach, it's what we're here for and we really don't mind!
The 'let me help you preside' person - this is the person who sidles up and 'helps' you preside by suggesting exactly what you are doing wrong. In general, if you're not presiding a world championship final then any helpful advice could probably wait until after the match is done. Whilst their intentions are well meant it doesn't help build your confidence or the match run smoothly. It will probably also irritate the fencers as well because they won't know who's in charge!
As I said, I have no problem with people being helpful in life but as a fencer you have the obligation to think things through for yourself, and the right to accept or decline their assistance.

And now something from Shane Warne..... ?

I was watching the cricket at the weekend and was very pleased to see England triumph in the Ashes. During the lunchtime slot Shane Warne did a masterclass on spin bowling which was very interesting. For those not in the cricketing 'know' Mr Warne was possibly the greatest exponent of Australian spin bowling until his retirement a couple of years ago. He was always a thorn in England's side and as such could be quite an irritating character but I have to say I have mellowed in my appreciation of him during his time as a commentator and particularly after listening to his coaching. His salient points were:
Practice - he advocated getting out there and practicing the basics time and time again. Bowl as many balls as you can and for as long as you can. This resonated with me because I don't feel there should ever be a limit to the number of lunges (or other techniques) you practice. There are always ways you can improve your techniques even on your own.
Think about your approach - he went into a number of details about how he would attempt to influence and confuse batsmen by appying different techniques to his bowling. He would get the batsman thinking one way and then swap things around again. (Sound familiar?)
Play to your strengths - he strongly advocated doing what you're good at but at the same time look to broaden your skills where you can.
Have fun! His final point was that whatever else you do, you should enjoy the opportunity to play your sport and exercise your talents. Something I whole-heartedly agree with!

Down Time

I am soon to be off for a bit of a break but before I go I thought I'd post something around the need for reflection and relaxation. It is vital sometimes to have time to reflect and assimilate experiences you have gone through in fencing, sport and life in general but unfortunately we live in a busy world which can make this difficult. Real learning cannot occur until the brain has had time to digest the lessons and information it has received. Similarly, the body cannot fully recuperate from strenuous development unless it has time as muscles need time to adapt to new workloads and exercise rates. I intend to spend some time reading and relaxing but also thinking. I feel that I am always too short of time to consider where my coaching is at, where I want it to go and how I want to do it. I have a lot of ideas that I want to put into effect but it always just eludes me. Hopefully a break will give that creative side of me some space to shake off work and think about my other life for a change!
Cheerio for now!

Persistence

One of the main qualities of a good athlete in any sport is persistence. There are always challenges to be overcome and new things to learn. Top athletes push through many adversities to eventual success but the ordinary fencer will need to overcome many obstacles and demonstrate persistency. Not many of us can achieve the greatest heights in our sport or profession, but we can continually strive to better ourselves; it is a long journey we are on if we intend to stick to our past-time for longer than a year or two. Whilst competitive success may elude us we can always attempt to better ourselves. As Musashi puts it "determine that today you will overcome your self of the day before".
In other ways, persistency can be applied within a match. If your first attack fails and your opponent retreats then chase them. If they start to collapse backward, wildly flailing their blade, then pursue them off the piste! There can be no place for hesitation or compassion on the fencing strip; if your opponent cannot match you then you have a duty to beat them.
You must persist in denying your opponent the chance for victory in three levels:
Deny them the ability to use their weapon. Use strong movements such as binds, engagements and powerful beats to prevent them gaining control with their blade.
Deny them the time to think. Change rhythms and timings, vary your attacks and move relentlessly forward. Musashi discusses this in the Fire scroll as 'flustering', 'upset' and 'knowing collapse'.
Deny them their spirit. Whilst this is not a technique that can be learned you should fence as if you believe you are unbeatable. Musashi discusses this in the Fire Scroll as 'crushing', 'stifling' and 'piercing the heart'. Your opponent should have the feeling that whatever they do will not work.
On a final note related to this post, congratulations to Anna Bentley, who won the Women's Foil National Championships for the 3rd time a couple of weeks ago. There's a great example of persistency reaping deserved rewards!

Den - the transmission

The Japanese word den roughly translates as the transmission of something. It is written with two characters meaning a person, the other turning or revolving. In essence it could symbolize one person turning to another to impart knowledge or information. In modern fencing this is now the Coaches job; in martial arts it is the sensei’s job. In the old days in Japan it was usually the Senior master of the particular school who would transmit his accumulated knowledge to his students (in some cases only one student would ever get the full picture – he would then become the new Master).

These days knowledge transmission is easy via books, television, radio and lately the internet. In some ways this is good as it makes knowledge freely available. In other ways it is bad as the information may not be accurate and even if it is, it is almost cheapened by it’s easy availability. Most experienced athletes or martial artists will be the first to (rightly) insist that you can’t learn a sport or art by book alone, you have to practice it. I would agree but what I would say is that you can intellectually explore your chosen sport or art via the medium of the written word. The nearest thing I have to a ‘bible’ is the Book of Five Rings. It’s a book that I read again and again as every time I do it has more depth to reveal. It is relevant to martial art, sport, fencing and life in general. This book was written in the 17th century in Japan by a man whos life was so remote from mine and most modern folk that it is almost incomprehensible even to modern Japanese. Miyamoto Musashi could never have expected his work to resonate down through the years into many languages but I consider myself to be one of the inheritors of his tradition. I will never wield a katana in anger, my calligraphy is not even close to passable and I can’t paint in ink worth two hoots right now but I can study his words and apply his principles to that which I do. There are so many things to be learnt from his work that it is only appropriate that it has found its way onto the internet. Here’s a link. Be warned though. Each translation and interpretation I have read has been subtly different, which only further hints at the depths to be uncovered.
http://ninjamarket.com/a-book-of-five-rings
There are some other links to other interesting reading. Enjoy!