Point Control Training Aid

[RPI Epeeist]

I've seen a device (below) very similar to what you describe, already for sale. Are you trying to build a cheaper alternative?

http://www.fencepbt.com/pbthome3.nsf...5!OpenDocument

Hehehe... yes I have seen that... $500 SELLING. My prototype only cost me $100 and I didn't manage my materials very well and prototypes always cost more than the actual product. But its definitely similar... my couch showed me that the day after I finished building mine but I had a good laugh at the price on that thing.

[DesertFencer]

...and I thought I was innovative.

We use a length of paracord looped over a basketball goal and secured with a 10# plate at the bottom. The cord is passed through three tennis balls: one at foot level, one at knee and the other at wrist level. We use a relay drill where a fencer pecks at them at various distances. It has shown some improvement in pont control.

I guess you could take an electric soft-tip dartboard and wire it to pieces of an old lame for serious point control. You could play foil/epee cricket!

[brtech]

I always say, if it's worth doing, it's worth going over the top:

A translucent torso.
A laser with 2D aiming servos behind it

A controller that points, then flashes the laser.

Results in a red (or green) dot anywhere on the torso.

Fencer has to hit the target presented.

[Qbranch]

I always say, if it's worth doing, it's worth going over the top:

A translucent torso.
A laser with 2D aiming servos behind it

A controller that points, then flashes the laser.

Results in a red (or green) dot anywhere on the torso.

Fencer has to hit the target presented.

Wow! This sounds really interesting but just a little beyond my limited technical abilities.

After talking with my instructor about the original idea, and taking into consideration the responses above, I am now thinking about reducing the number of lights to two (still set to trigger at random). The idea here would be to tailor the device to simulate a feint (and thus limit the exercise). With the target reduced focus remains on the task at hand rather than racing to hit as many points as possible. For regular point drills I'll just stick with an old-fashioned wall target.

[AdamH]

Homebrew toys and worthwhile training, interesting stuff!

Last Christmas, I received a 'React-o-matic' toy from one of my aunties.

It has 5 round buttons, each just under an inch in diameter, arranged in a shallow cresent. An LED sits above each button.

The toy is designed to be played using one's fingers. LED lights up, press corresponding button, repeat.

I put a couple of black insulating tape patches over each button (for grip), then a bit of paper black-taped over the end of my foil. The game plays far too fast to use with lunges, or even extensions - but is playable if I sit in a lunging position, at nearly-full extension, using my fingers to control the foil tip.

Useful for feeling little touches at the extension in sixte, but even more so in quarte/quinte and octave.

Not a serious training tool, but it has some use and is fairly fun to investigate accurate, controlled hitting with variations of supination/pronation from different hand positions. Painting with foils, aye.

Thanks, Auntie!

[erik_blank]

I guess you could take an electric soft-tip dartboard and wire it to pieces of an old lame for serious point control. You could play foil/epee cricket!

DF: I like this idea... Do you think that one of these dart board would hold up to being hit repeatedly with a foil/epee? I've gotta go find a used one!

[DesertFencer]

None of the soft-tip boards I've seen could take much of a pounding. You could build a separate target board with a conductive surface and wire it to the target zones on the dartboard I suppose.

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

Heck, make male and female versions of the target. Or pairs of targets hooked to a central gender-specific figure -- one target undresses the figure, the other target dresses it. I have several parent/child, husband/wife, and boyfriend/girlfriend pairs in club and I can see each member the pairs racing to keep the figure in their preferred state of (un)dress.

Another version of that idea would be to have the target mannequin look like Janet Reno, Condi Rice, or some other woman with comparable looks. Then, program it so that it randomly "undresses" and that the fencer must hit the target with sufficient accuracy and speed, so as to cover up. If the fencer fails, the undressing is semipermanent. That approach deals with the problem that Allen took up - even the most lazy students would rush to hit it pronto!


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson