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Originally Posted by glowstix whats the atmosphere at your club?? is it competitive?? what is the percentage of fencers that actually compete regularly?? right now i'm kinda frustrated 'cause my club is so damn small..not like i can beat everyone there consistently but i have good success against most people there...i guess everyone thinks i'm pretty talented but i feel like i'm not growing anymore 'cause i fence the same people over and over again. i can't afford to go on those road trips to tournaments regularly since i would be going alone and would have to absorb all the expenses. joining another club is not an option since i'm in school and stuck at our one and only club in this town...what options do i have for improving?? |
G, I don't know where in Wisconsin you go to school, and you haven't really said how experienced you are, or what weapon you fence, but here are a few things you can probably do:
DO get to some local tournaments - Wisconsin is pretty big, but it's not Montana!
Most of the events are in Madison, Marshall (near Madison), and Milwaukee area, but there are a few at Beloit College (kind of in between, and south)
DO go around and talk to people, and make some friends, there's a good chance you'll find some people willing to work with you on trips, at least with respect to sharing lodging expenses.
DO pay attention to how strong an event it is.
DO pay attention to the people who do well at these tournaments, especially if it IS a strong event.
DO notice how these people move, and how they are scoring touches.
(if you can swing it, try to borrow a video camera, and tape some some of it for later reference - get some footage of yourself as well...)
When you are practicing at the club, try to pick out the 2-3 other people who seem most motivated about improving, and try to work with them as much as possible. (Note this behavior could be seen as somehow snobbish, or elitist, especially if you stop working/sparring with other people completely, so whether, or not you decide to be public about your ambitions is something to think about, and be sure to 'make the rounds' with everyone.)
Challenge yourself when sparring: try to get the best scores you can; it is very helpful to have the best possible score in tournaments; try to score touches in different ways; don't just practice your favorite moves (practice them a little, and then move on...); rememeber you want to be able to beat the other people out there, not just the 8-10 people at your club! This will require some motivation, and discipline.
Work on maneuvering more, not just doing everything with advance lunge (aka, the two step shuffle), speed up your footwork, and you will learn how little time one needs to be able to work with, and suddenly, as you opponent does those big arm-flailing moves, you will see them as the huge openings that they are!
Try to work on making your actions as crisp, and smooth, and controlled as you can: smaller, tighter actions are going to be quicker. As you improve in this aspect, you should find that you have more time to actually 'decide' (i.e. observe, and respond) what to do, so you will be more likely to make the more effective responses.
Take you 'favorite move(s)', and turn them inside out: if it's a move the goes from high to low target area, think about doing it low to high; then practice it; outside to inside - make it inside to outside (aka front to back). Flip them around: there's a lot of 'moves' in fencing, but a lot of people have been doing it for a long time: If it's you 'favorite move' and it's actually any good, chances are it's somebody else's favorite move, and people have seem it! Try to get yourself understanding WHY it really works when you do it, and THEN figure out HOW someone ELSE would try to neutralize it, or turn it against you...Every move will make you vulnerable, in some way - when you understand the ways that your moves make you vulnerable, and learn what it should look like when your opponent is trying to do to exploit that, then you can play off their reaction: no one is more predictable than when they think they are going to get an easy touch, and there's no overestimating the power of being able to predict someone's actions like that - of course there's still the matter of timing! But I think I have made my point...
Once you really start making some progress in this area, it should have an effect on your more frequent training partners, especially if they are more motivated, as yourself: If they can learn to discern your more subtle actions, and respond to the diminished stimulus, they will provide you with at more challenging engagement; hopefully this results in them developing tighter, more controlled actions which will challenge your powers of perception. and so it goes.
Good luck!
Have Fun!
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