How many coaches are too many?

[Inquartata]

You never do let go of something, do you?

LOL, you've noticed that, have you?

[MikeHarm]

On the different techniques making people indecisive.. don't eventually if you're skilled enough the techniques become almost irrelevant as long as you clear the line?

[jeff]

Here's a number of real world questions that clarify a couple of points:

1) What position is your hand supposed to be in when holding an orthopedic foil? 3 o'clock? 2 o'clock? 12 o'clock?

Off-topic: the technical questions you list would by themselves be excellent material for individual threads to argue over if we ever run out of other subjects (maybe that means 'never'!)

On-topic: I agree with those that say it depends on the situation. It could lead to unpleasant confrontations or contradictory styles (I temporarily switched from foil to sabre lessons when in grad school to avoid this), or it could be a great way to learn and grow. It depends...

[jBirch]

On-topic: I agree with those that say it depends on the situation. It could lead to unpleasant confrontations or contradictory styles (I temporarily switched from foil to sabre lessons when in grad school to avoid this), or it could be a great way to learn and grow. It depends...

I may have misinterpreted the question and articulated my answer poorly.

In the beginning, when you are training technique into a fencer for the first time, spending a lot of that time correcting a difference in style is not smart. When you are zooming up for high level competition and concentrating on refining your technique two coaches is not smart.

After a fencer has been fencing for a while though, and wants to add elements to their game that are totally different, going to another coach is great. Taking time to absorb these different lessons back into your primary game with the help of your original coach is an even more ideal situation. Seminars and discussions, even a few lessons when you are in the area, are great. If training with two coaches is the only way to get X lessons/week (due to scheduling, travel, whatever) then you do what you gotta do to get the training time you need.

I do believe, however, that taking lessons from two divergent coaches *at the same time* is not good, for the reasons I stated above. Spend time with one primary coach at a time if you want to learn what they are trying to teach, IMHO. I'm not saying or advocating the coach's response to this dillema in a student should be to reject the student. Far from it. Good coaches will try to teach you what they know regardless of your primary affiliation. Great coaches will integrate your divergent styles into what ever they are trying to improve. I'm saying that, from the competitive student's perspective, going to two divergent primary coaches at the same time is a great way to delay any progress in your game development. I'm also saying that, if you train twice per week, then once per week with one coach, and once per week with another is not as optimal as twice per week with the same.

Hope this helps.