Response to Review of Get the Edge DVD

[Tenthguard]

Hey Quickclay. Thank you for your kind comments in your review of Tenth Guard’s fencing dvd, ‘Get the Edge’, but one of them grates a little… You say the DVD is Classsical in its approach as though that’s a bad thing. I think not – it simply teaches the basics of fencing from which individuals can then develop their own styles. Without firm foundations success is difficult to achieve. You seem to be suggesting that just because a competitive fencer doesn’t continually hold a guard of six that they don’t need to be taught it!. Nor, as you suggest, do we say an attacker’s sword arm has to be ‘fully extended’ for an attack to be valid – simply ‘extending’. Modern sports fencing is often about speed, mobility, distance, tempo, and often involves fencing ‘absence of blade’, but tempo can only be taught once you’ve mastered basic blade and footwork, and ‘absence of blade’ can’t be taught until you know what ‘presence of blade is’! To paraphrase a post of Catwood’s: ‘Good fencers aren't good because they do high level actions. They are good because they do the same actions at a higher level. Better timing, better distance (not the same as footwork), better understanding of what’s going on.’

Professor Laszlo Jakab (the coach in our DVD) is invited to coach in many countries around the world from Europe to China and has had plenty of opportunity to see the best and worst of different fencing styles and applies the best to his fencing system. He has coached many successful students. This year his foil students won both a gold and a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. Currently another of his students aged 20, is short-listed for British Airways ‘Great Britons’ and is tipped to walk away with at least one medal at the 2012 Olympics. So if Laszlo’s teaching techniques are ‘Classical’ well they certainly seem to produce results, win fights and grab international medals!. Now give us another star please…

[InFerrumVeritas]

Hey Quickclay. Thank you for your kind comments in your review of Tenth Guard’s fencing dvd, ‘Get the Edge’, but one of them grates a little… You say the DVD is Classsical in its approach as though that’s a bad thing. I think not – it simply teaches the basics of fencing from which individuals can then develop their own styles. Without firm foundations success is difficult to achieve. You seem to be suggesting that just because a competitive fencer doesn’t continually hold a guard of six that they don’t need to be taught it!. Nor, as you suggest, do we say an attacker’s sword arm has to be ‘fully extended’ for an attack to be valid – simply ‘extending’. Modern sports fencing is often about speed, mobility, distance, tempo, and often involves fencing ‘absence of blade’, but tempo can only be taught once you’ve mastered basic blade and footwork, and ‘absence of blade’ can’t be taught until you know what ‘presence of blade is’! To paraphrase a post of Catwood’s: ‘Good fencers aren't good because they do high level actions. They are good because they do the same actions at a higher level. Better timing, better distance (not the same as footwork), better understanding of what’s going on.’

Professor Laszlo Jakab (the coach in our DVD) is invited to coach in many countries around the world from Europe to China and has had plenty of opportunity to see the best and worst of different fencing styles and applies the best to his fencing system. He has coached many successful students. This year his foil students won both a gold and a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. Currently another of his students aged 20, is short-listed for British Airways ‘Great Britons’ and is tipped to walk away with at least one medal at the 2012 Olympics. So if Laszlo’s teaching techniques are ‘Classical’ well they certainly seem to produce results, win fights and grab international medals!. Now give us another star please…

I'm sorry, maybe it's just me, but posting a thread to simply call out another forum member is rather petty and unprofessional. If I had any interest in purchasing a DVD on fencing, I would now look right past yours simply because of this.

[Wetmelon]

I'm sorry, maybe it's just me, but posting a thread to simply call out another forum member is rather petty and unprofessional. If I had any interest in purchasing a DVD on fencing, I would now look right past yours simply because of this.

I agree!

[Purple Fencer]

Tacky....very very tacky.

[Craig]

A couple of points here:

• The publisher is obviously passionate about their product and really is just taking offense at one sentence of an otherwise favorable review. They felt a need to correct an incorrect statement (about the definition of the attack put forth in the DVD) as well.
  
  That is all fine and good. If someone posted their views on not punch testing a mask then Purple would be all over it with a 500 to 700 word post guaranteed to mention Smirnov or the recent visor mask incident. That's something that he's very passionate about.
  
  
  
• If I were to reword a bit of the post and submit it as a new post talking about how to teach fencing to a new student and get them rolling quickly with the modern foil game then most of the same points could be made and nobody would take any offense (other than is normal for those threads.)

By the way - this thread was prompted by the first review submitted on our product page for the Get the Edge Beginner's Fencing DVD

All in all - nothing to see here. Move along.

Craig

[telkanuru]

Man, I needed some surreal in my day.

[whtouche]

Currently another of his students aged 20, is short-listed for British Airways ‘Great Britons’ and is tipped to walk away with at least one medal at the 2012 Olympics.

That's nothing. My descendants are well on track to capture every Olympic medal at the 2024 games.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

[list][*] The publisher is obviously passionate about their product and really is just taking offense at one sentence of an otherwise favorable review. They felt a need to correct an incorrect statement (about the definition of the attack put forth in the DVD) as well.

That is all fine and good. If someone posted their views on not punch testing a mask then Purple would be all over it with a 500 to 700 word post guaranteed to mention Smirnov or the recent visor mask incident. That's something that he's very passionate about.

You're missing the point. This ISN'T, fundamentally, thread about the definition of the attack. This ISN'T, fundamentally, a thread meant to create discussion about anything other than one sentence in an otherwise positive review.

You make a product- some people are going to like it, some aren't. All you can do is stand behind your work, and lurk so that when OTHER people start threads, you can answer questions. You could even potentially start a thread preemptively-- "there seem to be concerns, I disagree, does anyone else have any questions?"--but even then you'd have to be careful. When you feel the need to start a thread (or even send a message) to address each and every time someone says something borderline incorrect or negative about a product, you just look defensive.

As zealotey as Purple is about mask checking/safety, He always does it with context. "At this event this weekend...." etc. And the context makes more sense as a POST rather than PRIVATE MESSAGE. He doesn't go around saying "At this event this weekend, I noticed 'Quicklay's' mask was unsafe". That would be weird, and borderline inappropriate.

In fact, the entire post was phrased as a letter to this one particular user, leading me to believe that it was supposed to be a PM and not a thread at all. But now it is. And it reads as... weird. It doesn't really lead me to want the product, unlike the Paul's quiet, dignified lurkings.

[quickclay]

Wow, I just saw this for the first time now. Oh well. I do really like this DVD and have suggested it to others in our club, but just wanted it to be known that I bought it with the hope that it would help me understand "modern" style fencing (specifically how calls are being made) a little better and was only a little disappointed that it was teaching the same basic stuff that my rather classically trained coach does, and not the current "modern" style that I am up against at most large tournaments. Again, just my two cents from a rather new fencer. Ok, now I need to go read my review to make sure I am remembering what I said correctly...