12-06-2006, 11:38 AM
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#1 | | Just Joined
Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Georgia
Posts: 6
| New Fencer, Tips?
Hey everyone! I'm starting in Jan, doing foil. any advice or tips, for me? Any help will be greatly appreciated!  | 
|  | | And now for this message... |
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12-06-2006, 11:39 AM
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#2 | | Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Somewhere in your nightmares!
Posts: 22,838
| Switch to sabre. 
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Use the Shift key, people! Keyboard manufacturers everywhere are ineffably saddened when you ignore what they made just for you!
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12-06-2006, 11:42 AM
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#3 | | The Judge
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,072
| Quote:
Originally Posted by chibisag86  Hey everyone! I'm starting in Jan, doing foil. any advice or tips, for me? Any help will be greatly appreciated! | when it comes to not getting hit, footwork is just as important, if not more so, than bladework. so don't ignore it, even though its lame. | |
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12-06-2006, 11:42 AM
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#4 | | Just Joined
Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Indiana University
Posts: 23
| Agreed, sabre is by far superior
No, my real advice is, listen to your coach, and don't be discouraged when you aren't disarming and bucking your swash. You may (probably) won't get a weapon for a while, but that is good, it will help. Your coach knows, it may not be SUPER fun in the beginning, but it will get there, don't worry. | |
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12-06-2006, 11:45 AM
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#5 | | Just Joined
Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Georgia
Posts: 6
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Hokiiaidoka Agreed, sabre is by far superior
No, my real advice is, listen to your coach, and don't be discouraged when you aren't disarming and bucking your swash. You may (probably) won't get a weapon for a while, but that is good, it will help. Your coach knows, it may not be SUPER fun in the beginning, but it will get there, don't worry. | i have five friends who fence... and i finally decided it was my time to stop drooling, and start doing. thank you so much for your advice though! I can't understand how we don't have enough girls in fencing... what girl doesn't want to stab their friends on a bad day | |
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12-06-2006, 11:47 AM
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#6 | | Just Joined
Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Georgia
Posts: 6
| Quote:
Originally Posted by noodle when it comes to not getting hit, footwork is just as important, if not more so, than bladework. so don't ignore it, even though its lame. | Thank you! | |
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12-06-2006, 11:57 AM
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#7 | | The Judge
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,072
| Quote:
Originally Posted by chibisag86 Thank you! | no problem. i think thats probably the best piece of advice, really, for any beginning fencer. beginners tend to focus on the weapon, but you'll find that if you focus on your footwork and distance to start, you'll get better faster.
edit: also, know your basic rules and basic right of way. having good distance in foil won't mean much if you feel like you have to keep parrying and moving to avoid some other noob who keeps swinging at you.
Last edited by noodle; 12-06-2006 at 12:00 PM.
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12-06-2006, 12:33 PM
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#8 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Edinburgh, UK
Posts: 333
| I do agree sabre is better but start with foil then choose sabre or epee to then start.
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Asprin
Blackadder :But I thought we were fighting with swords.
Wellington : Swords! What do you think this is, the middle ages? Only girls fight with swords these days. | |
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12-06-2006, 12:47 PM
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#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005 Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 891
| Quote:
Originally Posted by chibisag86 I'm starting in Jan, doing foil. any...tips, for me? | I might have some tips for you. German or French? | |
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12-06-2006, 12:48 PM
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#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 411
| Rule #1 Listen to your coach/instructor.
Rule #2 Listen to your coach/instructor
Rule #3 Listen to your coach/instructor.....
Oh, yeah. Everything you learn about moving will ultimately come back to keeping your body in balance.
And despite what the barbarians say, foil truly is the superior weapon...
John Farmer
Coach, Oak Ridge Fencers Club | |
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12-06-2006, 01:36 PM
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#11 | | Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Somewhere in your nightmares!
Posts: 22,838
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Asprin I do agree sabre is better but start with foil then choose sabre or epee to then start. |
Ooh, you have hit on one of my pet peeves, about which I have ranted at length on many occasions.
If one knows that one wants to fence sabre or epee, there is no good practical reason one should start in foil. There is no fundamental of fencing which can be learned with a foil in ones hand which cannot be learned equally well with a sabre or epee in hand instead...except for things which are only useful in foil. And those things will have to be unlearned for sabre or epee, so it is actually counterproductive to learn them unless one wants to fence foil.
Coaches teach foil first because that's how their coach taught them, or because they feel more comfortable with it. The only reason a novice should accept that is if they truly have no preference or are indifferent as to weapon, or if they want to fence foil. It has no utility for would-be sabre fencers or epeeists.
It is the student who should decide what weapon he wants to do---or NOT to do---not the coach. It's his life, his enjoyment, his choice.
__________________
Use the Shift key, people! Keyboard manufacturers everywhere are ineffably saddened when you ignore what they made just for you!
Last edited by Inquartata; 12-06-2006 at 02:24 PM.
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12-06-2006, 01:54 PM
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#12 | | gother than thou
Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 836
| I agree with the argument against starting with foil "cuz that's what you do!"
Someone wants to fence sabre, let them fence sabre. Helps a lot for those people who are fencing foil because they WANT to fence foil, too. | |
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12-06-2006, 03:02 PM
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#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003 Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 4,096
| Listen to your instructor--------------- assuming they seem semi-competent.
(the team and the class at Smith are separate, and the class instructor at one point was of the opinion that not everyone in the class needed to be wearing gloves at all times in drills--- with people who had only very very recently started holding weapons. When I heard that, I nearly immediatly went to the head of athletics, I did tell the person I heard it from to refuse to do anything even mildly risky without a glove, and to tell me if that kind of **** continued.....)
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---Myrddin Pythagoras' Flying Circus---
(and now for something completly the same: thread drift and oversharing!)
"Where's the plasma?" | |
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12-06-2006, 03:12 PM
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#14 | | Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 69
| dont you be fraid
youze got it made
drink yo gaterade
and remember what i said:
be an aggressor
i must confessor
you'll enjoy it lesser
if you wait fo da otha guy to attack
cuz if you do, while you gettin a snack
like fries, or a big mac
you will get a really bad whack
So hit the otha guy FIRST!
not attackin is the worst
thing you can do
worse than wearin no shoe
so dont be no foo!
And stick at it
rememba dis bit
dont be no git
and dont have no fit
you will lose a lot at da start
but dats alright
be like mah homie bart
who just enjoys da fight | |
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12-06-2006, 04:12 PM
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#15 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Borings-ville
Posts: 223
| Just realize that you won't win. At all. for a very long time. You have to work insanely hard just to become a mediocre fencer, so be ready for the commitment.
The beeping is annoying and the fencers smelly at first, but after a while, it becomes like home... 
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Life sucks. Get a helmet
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12-06-2006, 04:23 PM
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#16 | | Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Scotland
Posts: 4,524
| Quote:
Originally Posted by chibisag86 Hey everyone! I'm starting in Jan, doing foil. any advice or tips, for me? Any help will be greatly appreciated! | Ignoring the sabre stuff...
You will enjoy fencing a lot more if you work on the [probably] least fun aspect - footwork. Get the basics down as good as you can. If you do this nice and early you will appreciate fencing much more. Don't have too high expectations. Time to be "competent" varies but don't expect to be much more than ungainly within 6 months (ymmv). If you've done any sports before you should be aware of the importance of a good warmup regime. Some clubs don't bother with an instructor lef warmup session so, if this is the case, get yourself a decent warmup regime.
Oh; have fun! People tell me this is why I like fencing so much. | |
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12-06-2006, 04:25 PM
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#17 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Chelmsford, MA
Posts: 1,850
| Quote:
Originally Posted by TooLoftheDeviL I agree with the argument against starting with foil "cuz that's what you do!"
Someone wants to fence sabre, let them fence sabre. Helps a lot for those people who are fencing foil because they WANT to fence foil, too. | HAHA!
No one WANTS to fence foil...
not new foil anyway.
-w | |
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12-06-2006, 04:35 PM
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#18 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 344
| Hit don't get hit. Do that and you'll never lose. | |
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12-06-2006, 04:37 PM
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#19 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 705
| Quote:
Originally Posted by jfarmer Rule #1 Listen to your coach/instructor.
Rule #2 Listen to your coach/instructor
Rule #3 Listen to your coach/instructor..... | Gotta disagree here, after a point. Not all coaches are created equal. Some say downright wrong things. Some say things that are counterproductive to your goals-- e.g. if you are a competitive fencer and the coach is saying things that do not work in competition, or if you are a recreational fencer and the coach is trying to train you for competition.
If you're a competitive fencer (or if you decide you want to be), watch tournaments, and if you see some other club nearby with A's and B's and USA starbursts on their pants, and your club with none, consider that the other club might be a good idea.
Conversely, if you're a recreational fencer and you feel unhappy and pressured, don't feel a need to obey your coach's every word-- consider a more recreational club.
(That said, competition is soooooo much more exciting...) | |
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12-06-2006, 08:24 PM
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#20 | | Just Joined
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 4
| Quote:
Originally Posted by chibisag86 Hey everyone! I'm starting in Jan, doing foil. any advice or tips, for me? Any help will be greatly appreciated! | Hey, here is my list of ways to improve.
1. Fence as much as you can
2. Work hard in your lessons drills footwork etc
3. Compete in as many tournaments as you can
4. Fence better fencers than yourself
5. Watch good fencers fence
6. Think about your fencing (strengths weaknesses etc)
7. Stay fit
8. Get a training buddy and consider going to camps
9. Never get discouraged
10. Set goals that are a stretch but attainable (don't shoot yourself if you don't meet them)
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