eye speed

[morael]

I need to improve my speed. I don't mean the literal speed of my body (that can use help, but I know how to work on that). I mean the speed of my reactions--the speed with which I can see the action and see what's coming at me. I can't quite visually track/process what's going on fast enough. This happens even when I watch others fence and try to follow the action. (I'm awed that referees can do this.)

Any advice on how to quicken my eye?

[prototoast]

I need to improve my speed. I don't mean the literal speed of my body (that can use help, but I know how to work on that). I mean the speed of my reactions--the speed with which I can see the action and see what's coming at me. I can't quite visually track/process what's going on fast enough. This happens even when I watch others fence and try to follow the action. (I'm awed that referees can do this.)

Any advice on how to quicken my eye?

Practice, practice, practice. Go through the motions so many times than when it comes time to apply it, your body does what it needs to do without you thinking about it.

[rtran]

Try playing some video games for the eyes and doing plyometrics for the reaction.

[Genjuro]

Indeed, lots of computer games (especially fast ones).
I know, I wasted my youth playing these games, but I think
it helped giving extra speed for my fencing.


Also refereeing seems to me helping into seeing actions, I believe that
I reached a level were I can see faster an action coming, but my body is to slow to avoid it (and no, I don't have a particular slow body )

[acaba]

I used to have the same problem. I had fenced for about 8 years with no coaching, just sparring with my club mates. After I moved to a new city and started training with a high level coach, I found that I could begin to follow actions better, both on the strip and off. I think the intense drilling and repetion of the actions really improved my sense of what was happening on the strip. I began to pick up on the different cues given by my coach: blade position, blade angel, speed of action, distance of action, etc., etc. Through repetition, I began to 'see' and 'react' to the cues almost by instinct. This then freed up my brain from the "Try and figure out what is going on" mode to allow the "I know what is going on, now what do I do about it" mode.

Try to find someone who can give good drills, and just practice, practice, practice.

Aaron

[GGK]

As an interesting note peripheral vision is quicker than center vision. So if you are staring at something, say your opponent’s hand, than you will have a delay in reacting to it than if you see it move in your peripheral vision.
Other martial arts say in Yoda-like tones: "Look at nothing and see everything."

G

[MyraTrue]

Not sure how much help this will be, but I ended up attending a director's clinic given by Derek Cotton recently. And I have an awful time trying to track the action on stip (its always easier and safer from the chair in the sidelines).

But one thing he tried to impress on us was that before you really even get these fencers on the strip, and while you watch the first several points under your directing, decide what kind of fencers they are. He explained that there are really only three kinds of fencers (attackers, defenders, and counterattackers). If you can decide what you've got on the strip (*I* am a counterattacker just about every time), then you don't have to watch AS hard. If you have an attacker and a defender, go figure who started the attack, and what the defender did. Its up to you to decide if what they did WORKED.

And with that little random bit of something, I'm going back to work. Cheers.

[rtran]

Also refereeing seems to me helping into seeing actions, I believe that
I reached a level were I can see faster an action coming, but my body is to slow to avoid it (and no, I don't have a particular slow body )

Yes refereeing is also a very good idea or just watching as much fencing in general when you are off the strip. Even when you're off the strip you should still try to analyze other fencers and identifying what type of patterns and openings they have. Once you figure it out, it will be easier to spot it while you're fencing them.

[GingerBreadMan]

....First things first...To improve eye speed you need to be able to shift your eyes from one location to the next and be able to focus on that target for a second or two. Drills you can do; Have a friend take an object and move it quickly from point to point as you follow with your eyes. (Make sure they stop at each point for a breif second then quickly move to the next) Another drill you can do; Place objects at different intervals and spacings in front of you. Quickly shift between objects. (Try to make the objects smaller then the size of the monitor you're looking at right now) This will really help you with depth preception.
....Next comes doing weapon targeting drills...Every weapon has a target they can score off of so EVERYONE should be doing point/edge control drills. Drill; Get a practice dummy or drill partner. Have the dummy/partner have multiple targets...(Exp: sabre; under arm, top of arm, torso and head. Epee; wrist, foot, upper arm, and chest, Fiol; shoulder(collar bone), chest,*back* and side torso.) ...Always look where you are hitting. (Not looking at the target you are hitting is a big mistake a lot of novices over look and coaches over look teaching novices about.)...The other big thing is following your path of the tip/edge to the target. Your hands are connected to your eyes...(It's like turning your head left while driving a car...your hands will want to go where you are looking.)
....After doing these drills for a while begin to speed them up.....Then begin adding in drills you normaly do at your club (Remember to start slow, even though you don't like to, (No one does) and build up the speed over time......this combined with good foot work will help you a lot with the focusing of your eyes.

P.S. Do all drills with the mask on...even the eye sight, non-weapon drills....this is so your eyes become comfortable seeing through it.

[GingerBreadMan]

Another problem people have is that they start to focus on one part of the body all the time (exp: wrist, bell guard, head, feet ....ect..) What you need to do is be able to focus on the body as a whole but still be able to shift your eyes during key spots durning the match. (exp: During his/her/your attack, during parries his/hers/and yours...ect..)

[jBirch]

Speed is not about going faster, but going sooner. Get your conscious brain out of the way of your reactions and you'll find them better because you can't help going slow when you're reacting to very fast movement. The trick is to know it's coming and where it's going before it even starts.

The way you accomplish this is to drill the proper reactions into your body again and again and again and again and again. Find the patterns and the precursors to the action and you'll find the correct responses "magically happen".

Even better, set your opponent up so that they have fewer options and you have fewer differentiators to watch for.

In the refereeing case, what you have to do is watch the ebb and flow of the distance with your peripheral vision. Try to watch the area directly between the two fencers and keep an eye on the box. The order that the lights come on, coupled with the direction the fencers were moving and any sounds you hear will dictate the action.

Hope this helps.

[Victor]

As rtran suggested above, plyometrics for your eyes are very effective. First, you build the strength in your eyeballs (for a couple of months, at least). Then switch to speed training - short bursts - to convert that strength to power. Before you know it, you'll have some of the quickest eyes in your section!

[dreadfoily]

I need to improve my speed. I don't mean the literal speed of my body (that can use help, but I know how to work on that). I mean the speed of my reactions--the speed with which I can see the action and see what's coming at me. I can't quite visually track/process what's going on fast enough. This happens even when I watch others fence and try to follow the action. (I'm awed that referees can do this.)

Any advice on how to quicken my eye?

Hand Eye exercises: play squash, racketball, or tennis, and focus your eye on a small moving object. Even if you play racketball by yourself before fencing, you'll see a definite improvement. I played racketball for a while and that's when I saw myself doing better and not even thinking about 'where the point went', it just landed more on target.

[nahouw]

As an interesting note peripheral vision is quicker than center vision. So if you are staring at something, say your opponent’s hand, than you will have a delay in reacting to it than if you see it move in your peripheral vision.
Other martial arts say in Yoda-like tones: "Look at nothing and see everything."

G

I agree that peripheral vision is quicker. When I'm refereeing, I'm taking the whole picture in at once, and I definitely am able to make calls quickly. Especially in sabre, people have commented how it looks like I'm just staring into space, but I'm able to reconstruct the action so quickly with great detail. hmmm.... maybe I should apply more peripheral vision to my fencing, since I obviously when fencing seem to focusing on one thing and not observing everything.

Thanks GGK for uncovering a blind spot for me!!

For morael, doing more drills will definitely help, because then you would instill pattern recognition, and then be able to respond quickly. Also, this would free your mind up to use more peripheral vision rather than focusing on and thinking about forcing an action.

[Twinkletoes]

I don't think anyone mentioned the golf ball on a string routine.
Hang the ball on a string at about chest height,
and commence to touching it.

Simple thrust attack at first and then short lunges as it moves about.

The eyeballs get a good workout as the ball moves in space/time and
realtime.


Marc

[Victor]

Hang the ball on a string at about chest height,
and commence to touching it. ...

With the tip of your weapon.

[AllisonT]

These kinds of exercises are very useful. I remember watching a baseball player try to read numbers written on baseballs flying past him at ever increasing speeds so that he could recognize pitches earlier and adjust his swing. He was training his brain to deal with high-speed information. If you can get a couple of friends to help you out, have them perform a phrase slowly and then increase the speed. You know what you should be seeing and now it's just becoming familiar in bout speed!

I'm with you on this. I'd love to get a faster eye.