Indescribable Coaching

In many Japanese texts about sword arts and martial arts in general you find the advice that it is difficult to learn something by reading, instead you should practice it well. Last night my Coach Andy gave a lesson on the broken time attack in foil (it doesn't work in epee) which is a very difficult lesson to put across. He then asked me to elaborate on it further with a smaller group of enthusiastic students, which I was only to pleased to take on. The broken time attack is one of those things that you only understand by doing; intellectually it doesn't make sense. Why would the opponent parry something that isn't an attack? As a coach you end up saying "Trust me, if you get it right they will react to it". The student has to understand the movement and rhythm for it to work. It's also one of those techniques that's difficult to set up in group practice. On the piste it either works or it doesn't and 'staging it' only lends limited value. However, my class stuck with it and after a while were getting a good handle on it. So then we looked at the antidote i.e. as your opponent breaks time with a bent arm you simply stop hit by either lunging or extending your arm. This sounds simple but it is actually amazingly difficult to do but once again after some practice the class were getting the hang of it well and were asking lots of good questions but their understanding really only blossomed by doing it. So the next time any coach describes something you don't understand, have a go at it and see what happens. Practice may not make perfect but it does make perception.