Practice time

[venus_demilo]

Being somewhat new to this sport, I am wondering how much practice time is needed to become decent?
To be really good, how much practice time is required?
How should the practice be broken down for drills or footwork or bouting? How much time for each?
I guess I am looking for guidance.

[Gav]

Originally posted by venus_demilo
Being somewhat new to this sport, I am wondering how much practice time is needed to become decent?
To be really good, how much practice time is required?
How should the practice be broken down for drills or footwork or bouting? How much time for each?
I guess I am looking for guidance.

As much time as you can spare? It's probably a bad idea to practice every day for hours (Fencing is very knee intensive). An I would also puntuate Fencing practice with other fitness and conditioning excercises. Even then you must remember that you are learning new techniques qhich may take time to sink in.

[JEC]

Let's take a typical olympic champion. Began fencing before 8 years of age. Fence on daily basis for 15 years. Let's take a NAC Div. I, same amount. Let's take a Div. II, reduce experience by 5-7 years or so. A typical national competitor practices at least 15 hours per week, and more prior to a tournament. However, as Gav indicated, they do other conditioning exercises besides fencing or taking lessons.
There is a lot to learn! Do not think that you would be able to dominate a well attended open divisional/sectional tournament after a year or two. There are lots of people in the board with more experience than me.

[Mo]

Fencing like any thing worth doing well takes YEARS.
It is like playing a musical instrument. After a year or two you can sound pretty decent. After three or four years, things fall together and the music is instinctive, with your brain trained to play a note or run without having to think about it.
Some learn faster than others.
Some work harder than others.
Some are fortunate enough to find a coach/teacher who works with them and makes the music beautiful.
It is my personal opinion that because fencing is relatively small at this point in time, most fencers think they should not have to work as hard as they need to in other sports. That is changing.
You get out of it what you put into it.