If you knew then...

[Fencing Cowboy]

Hello all. I am a 20 yo male college student from NY and have just entered the world of fencing. I was wondering if any of the more experienced members would care to share some advice they wished they had known when they started fencing. Anything you care to share would be appreciated, I have been getting beaten rather a lot. Lol. Thanks.

[fencerontheline]

Well, one of the most important things to think about is the quality of your coaching and making sure that you do the right and proper actions when you fence. BTW- where in New York are you fencing?

[prototoast]

The importance of finding good people to practice with.

[mrbiggs]

Keep your bladework smaller.

That advice works for any fencer at any time. In my experience.

Seriously, that advice will never fail you.

[The Mormegil]

footwork, lots of footwork until you don't even think about it.

[greenchick]

Relax your shoulder.

Bend your knees.

And win the lottery now, because you're gonna get addicted....

[riptide]

Practice.



Alot.

[ls14evar]

Make sure you start learning right, and seek individual coaching early in your career. It much easier to never learn bad habits than try to unlearn them after fencing for years.

[davtsung]

Attack with intent and believe you can make the touch. Footwork until you feel the urge to search this forum for best fencing shoes, and then double the amount of footwork. A good understanding with your coach early on. Never eat yellow snow.

[Artisan]

People have already said footwork is an important key to the game...I'll just add that I'm still sometimes surprised when I realize that the hit is really delivered with the back leg. The hand and blade skills get you to where you can score: i.e. either re-taking right of way or taking the blade, but the final distance to put the point on target is often made with the back leg.

Oh... and the game, once you learn some skills, is way more mental than I ever imagined.

[Style]

I have a slightly more philisophical view of how to fence.

Although I do agree with a proper coach, practise and footwork as key elements in the physical aspect of the sport.

I give you this wisdom:
Let your opponent fence himself, and when he has lost, place your touch.

[drippingwet]

I've been fencing since I was 18 and I'm 20 now aswell. You've started late, like me but not as much (duh). I'm about equal to one of the best juniors in the UK who fences at one of my clubs. He's 16/17 years. His brother is in one of the best clubs in UK and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up there too. It's looking possible that I might end up in a good club in London too, but I can only imagine how good he will be when he is 20, compared to how good I am in my 20th year. But from another point of view, if we are equal now, then he only has a four year head start. And there are other factors that come into play that might even out this difference, and so you could still do well. World champs might not exactly be realistic at the moment, but I think if you really want to do well in fencing, then it's better if you really want to go as far as you can. It's always possible to buck trends and it would be interesting to know of any great fencers who didn't start so young.

So first advice - don't think any dreams that you might have won't happen.

Now onto the substance:

1) Be careful about spending too much time trying to devise approaches to your fencing by reading books, watching videos etc, because you may find every so often, that all your work has been wasted, because you found a better approach, or it was just plain wrong. Read books and watch videos, obviously use what's blaringly obvious, but confirm the rest with your coach. A good approach, is to do your reading/watching/sparring/competing, write all your questions down, and then pay for an hour of one to one coaching every once in a while to get these questions answered.

2) Get your technique sorted in the early days (and remember it), so later on it becomes easier to use tactics that you might get from books (you can't learn much technique from a book, but you can definately learn tactics).

I'll give you my current approach, not because I'm telling you to use it, but because it might give you some focus or give you the idea to focus:

I'm a defensive fencer, I make very few long range attacks. When I'm serious, I use mainly parry riposte, attack on preparation and point in line or just retreating from an attack. By using something different every time the opponent attacks, he doesn't know what to expect!

Parry riposte - this is a large area in itself. Perhaps a goal for you right now would be to perfect the parry quarte and direct riposte in all situations i.e. there are different ways to do this e.g. retreating with the parry, standing still etc - ask your coach.

Attack on preparation - this is an attack as the opponent advances. These attacks are one of the 'moments conductive to scoring a hit' actions. Ask your coach (they aren't as simple as they sound).

Retreating speaks for itself - just stay alert, maybe watch the feet.

Point in line - huge area. Many uses. Useful for closing down the march. Ask coach.

I've recently ordered a book by Itvan Lukovich from Amazon.com (electric foil fencing, advanced competitive training). It seems one of the best books out there! Might be a good first book for you.

So in conclusion, it's comforting to have an approach to fencing e.g. defensive or offensive, have tactics in mind when you fence, have good technique so you can use your tactics. It's important to fence better opponents and get feedback from them and maybe have your coach watch and tell you what he thinks you need to do next. Importantly, don't waste time, you're not a 9 year old with a lot of years to waste in order to get things right, you have to do it first time if you want to do OK.

P.S. this forum can answer a lot of questions too, and I'd be especially happy to if you really want to learn.

P.S. If your an epeeist, then some of this stuff won't apply.

[lochinvar]

Remember that fencing is not transitive.
Just because I can beat Bob and Bob can beat Tom, it doesn't follow that I can beat Tom.

Relax. Enjoy! Welcome to the Dance...

[ChubbyHubby]

Originally Posted by drippingwet

I'm about equal to one of the best juniors in the UK who fences at one of my clubs. He's 16/17 years...

So Ahmed coming 26th at Leicester and you 100+ makes you about equal?

[drippingwet]

Who said Ahmed? Do I know you?

[davtsung]

Don;t be afraid of trying something different just because you have an established comfort zone. Many times fencers who have been fencing for 1-2 yrs feel frustrated that they are not improving as much as they would like. My suggestion to them is to just break out of their comfort zone, and be more bold. Vezzali use to be a self-described defensive fencer, once she broke that mold, look what she has been able to accomplish.