teaching distance to beginners

[big poppa]

Do any of you guys haver any ideas on how to teach correct distance to foil beginners?

[JEC]

The rope game with two fencers keeping it tight along the strip. Look for more details in Szabo's Fencing and the Master.

[RMasque]

Does anyone know where someone could FIND Szabo's "Fencing and the Master"?

I've heard it talked about in these forums over and over, but half.com does not have it, nor does amazon, and neither does my local library.

Any information would be helpful.

-Renee

[JEC]

Craig used to have it in the books section. But it is no longer there. Several fencing vendors have it. For example, Blade

[Mergs]

I have a copy, but after reading what you said about it's availability.............

Two other drills are similar to the rope drill (place fencers on guard with a length of rope, ~3ft/1m, held on each end by the extended hands of the fencers. One fencer controls the action by advancing/retreating/lunging and the other reacts. The object is to not let the rope sag or yank the opponents arm out of its socket!), only they use a length of PVC pipe or dowel rod. The other is to have them hold a mask between them with their weapon hands.

Good luck.

[Craig]

We also did a lot of distance footwork games/drills.

One of them was to have the fencers come enguarde at extension distance and the pupil extend and hit, leaving the weapon arm extended and blade slightly bent.

The leader starts footwork, and the pupil's job is to keep the weapon in the same position.

Start out at 30 seconds, 15 seconds rest for a few reps, then move up to 60 seconds, 15 seconds rest.

[oiuyt]

http://www.swordplaybooks.com/products.html

Swordplay books (aka Steven Khinoy, the publisher) sells it for $25 with free shipping (list $30). Yes this means he undercuts his own distribution channels on price, somehow they seem to be okay with this. Better to order it directly than pay an extra $5 plus S&H.

-B :)

[neevel]

Drills like the rope game are a good way to teach people how to maintain a chosen distance. The next step to understand is that "correct" distance is not a fixed constant, but is something that is varying depending on the situation at a given instant. Additionally, the "correct" distance in a given situation is typically different for each of the fencers in the bout.

A drill to work on these ideas is what I call the "rangefinding" Wall Drill. One fencer (the defender) is presumed to have their rear foot against a wall (i.e., can't move). The attacker is making feint-disengage attacks, which the defender is trying to parry and then riposte. Have the attacker start out fairly close to the defencer, and then gradually start widening the distance. Initially, the action for both fencers will seem wide and clumsy. As the distance widens, the attacker reaches a point where clean feint-disengage attacks become much easier (assuming no major technical problems). This is the correct distance for the attacking fencer. Keep widening the distance until the defender is able to easily parry and riposte-- this is the correct distance for the defender in this situation.

Have the partners change roles, and then (if teaching a group) change around the partner-pairs, so that people can get a sense of how these distances vary from person to person.

-Dave

[thebigriddle]

There are several glove games. One is to the fencers start on guard holding their gloves, each fencer is allowed one advance and one lunge and can retreat as much as they want. The game goes back and forth. Once initiates with an advance lunge, you partner can retreat as much as they want, when you finish then you start. The object is try to hit your partner with the glove using only the advance retreat. The advance and retreat can be as small or large as you want.