How many lessons a week do you take?

[Welted 24/7]

Ideally, I get two lessons a week. Unfortunately, anybody who's in college knows that work gets in the way a lot of the time, so I'm usually stuck with one. This week, however, was remarkably free, so I got THREE. Then again, I'm also getting ready for the JO qualifiers this weekend, so I needed to get back up to speed.

Oh yeah, they're for at least an hour.

[drippingwet]

What are people's thoughts on an hour every two weeks (with 5 hours sparring every week)?

[Pancakes]

1 or 2 a week. Depends on how many practises there are in a week, and if there's a tourney, and so on. Though I've been slacking off a bit, recently...

[Dee EffEll]

We need the follow-on poll. Why don't you take more lessons? No money, no time, don't need 'em, coach not available, time bouting is better time spent, etc.,

[D'Artag-NOT]

Group practice once/week on Wednesdays.

Group practice, free bouting, and sometimes a lesson on Fridays (about a 15-minute lesson). I'm at a disadvantage when the coach is giving lessons because, in fairness, the people on the team get priority during the season. (As a staff member, I'm not eligible to fence on our University's student team.) I tend to make it up during the summer, though.

I'd try to take one more lesson per week (at a nearby private club) if I could afford it. Realistically, that would be about my limit because I have to allow a little recuperation time between sessions.

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by Dee EffEll

We need the follow-on poll. Why don't you take more lessons? No money, no time, don't need 'em, coach not available, time bouting is better time spent, etc.,

2-hour drive.

[VELISARIOS]

Once per week I have a lesson It takes approximately 20 min.

[Alain]

I used to take lessons when I was living in France, last year, where the maîtres were superb. Now I'm back in England I teach beginner classes twice a week, but can't remember the last time I took a lesson myself. My original coach was amazing - he did his professorship at INSEP, Paris - but now he's too busy with his business to teach The other coaches at my club are nowhere near as good, and when I take a lesson from them I really don't feel any benefit. We're trying to get a much better coach at the moment........

[Cerian]

Depends. When I was in school with my coach nearby, once a week. When it was summer and my coach was nearby, three times a week. Now that I'm in college with no coaches around, none, which sucks, alot.

[drippingwet]

Would two hours 1:1/week be too much? Is it dillusional to think that major world-class people might get 1:1 every day?

[fencerontheline]

I take at least 5 lessons a week at 30 minutes each... it's a huge dent in my small wallet... but it's helping my fencing a whole bunch.

[KD5MDK]

Once a week, between 15-30 minutes.

[Adler]

The major problem with being a competetive fencer and a club coach is that generally i'm the only one who gives lessons. So now i take as many lessons as i can when i'm over in Hungary.

[Durando]

One lesson a week. I conscript/teach others to work on Beck's sequences (updated and adapted). The latter isn't as cool as a lesson but it beats most other drilling I've done.

Comparing my experience in France and in the States, I would say that American competitive fencers place *far* too much emphasis on the individual attention they get from their coaches. Even though they're in good physical shape by and large they are loathe to drill together. This observation might be explained by my level (good, solid club fencer who every now and then has a good day in a regional competition) or by the weird inferiority complex that French people seem to have (if I am not selected for the INSEP I shall never amount to anything so why try now).

Efficiency is where it's at. I socialize in club for maybe five minutes. If I can't get a lesson, screw it, I'll do footwork instead. You can't do enough of that stuff. Tim Glass is my inspiration. I believed he coached himself for a long time while maintaining national standing, if not winning the championship. Get in as much bouting as you can, he said. There aren't a lot of people at my level whose fencing would be improved more by a lesson than by doing another hundred advance lunges against a wall target or by systematically getting in ten timed five-touch bouts a night.

[lindajdunn]

I'm at the bottom of the list, so I get one whenever the coach has time. If I'm lucky, that's once a week. I'd love to have more. Heck, I'd even pay someone more experienced to drill with me if I could. I'm older. I'm learning slowly. I really, really need the practice.

I'm now in the process of sewing a glove to a sleeve and stuffing the sleeve. I plan to stick it between books on our bookcase and just so I have a good target and a place to practice at home. I'm toying with the idea of investing in a dummy but I fence saber and our ceilings are LOW.

[ChrisBrasel]

any where from 3-4 a week, if you count my college team's practice. over christmas break when I was at home helping my coach put together his gym it was 2 weeks everynight pretty much. good times, but i felt like an old man every night going home

[Durando]

To expand on my comments upthread, (and if you can read French) check out:
http://www.escrime-info.com/modules/...=2935&forum=12

An excerpt:
Pour les plus jeunes dans le milieu de l'escrime, il faut savoir qu'à cette époque là, on ne faisait aucun assaut pendant au moins 6 mois, on ne prenait que la leçon individuelle. Certains vieux grognards regrettent cet âge d'or. Ce serait aujourd'hui impossible pour deux raisons : l'intérêt d'une telle pratique est remis en cause car on ne peut pas apprendre l'escrime en supprimant ce qui fait sa raison d'être, c'est-à-dire l'opposition. Un formateur du CNFE (il fait du sabre, mais vous saurez pas qui c'est) racontait que lors de son premier assaut, après plusieurs mois de leçons, le premier geste qu'il a eu lorsque son adversaire l'a attaqué a été de protéger le visage avec ses bras.

"For those of you new to fencing, you should know that at the time we didn't bout for at least six months--we simply took individual lessons. Certain veterans miss this golden age. There are two reasons why this is now impossible: the credibility of this practice is questionable because you can't learn absent an opponent. A coach from CNFE (who teaches sabre, but you wouldn't know who he is) used to say that during his first bout, after a few months of lessons, the first thing he did when his adversary attacked was to protect his face with his hands."

Many other posts in this thread talk about the huge numbers in French clubs, especially after an olympic year. There is some echoing of the dissatisfaction of older fencers who feel ignored when it comes to private lessons. To that I will add: If this is the case, your coach or Maître d'Armes is probably overburdened in some fashion. Look for ways to help out around the salle. This can be as simple as using your Evil Old Person Authority to shout at the kids to pick up their crap from the floor. Be a good influence on the overall functioning of the club and whoever gives lessons will certainly pay you more attention.

[KD5MDK]

This can be as simple as using your Evil Old Person Authority to shout at the kids to pick up their crap from the floor.

I was reading the French paragraph trying to figure out where it said that. Funny

[kingbob]

i have 2-4 lessons a week and i have only to travel about 20 minutes, and i fortunatly have 3 different coaches, all having different styles.confusing!hehe

[RebelFencer]

During summer and winter, 4 x 20min a week. They help quite a bit.