What was your Aha! moment?

[oiuyt]

Now, it's helping the opponent shape the hole properly so I can fit whatever peg I have.

I really like this way of viewing it.

-B

[edew]

While fencing may be considered an extremely competitive sport, I also tend to think of it as a very cooperative sport. In order to succeed in fencing, you need your opponent to help you (in ways that your opponent doesn't want to do, but will do, nonetheless). If you attack like a crazed banshee, your opponent will not let you hit him. He will rise up against the oncoming attack and stop it. You need him to help you hit him.

For example, in saber, if your opponent is retreating at breakneck speed, your advances can barely get you closer to your opponent. If you launch your last effort attack, you'll either fall short or get parried. However, if you can get your opponent to help you by changing from retreating to advancing, and attacking instead of defending, you'll have a much easier time of hitting. The question is how to get your opponent to help you by changing from retreating and defending to advancing and attacking. The answer depends on your opponent.

Indeed, if all you can do is hit while charging at your opponent at breakneck speed, you're not really fencing. You're fighting. Fencing is getting your opponent to help you hit him.

[dramamine]

Actually, the first time I beat Bonehead in a bout was an aha moment for sure. He was an older kid who was better and beat all the people I usually lost to so I always just assumed I would lose when we fenced.

My current coach sometimes says to people, "if I told you I would give you a million dollars if you got the first hit in a bout against the best fencer in the world, do you think you could do it?" I think it's a good thought exercise because most people have this intuitive "F yes I could" kind of attitude towards questions like that that get them more motivated and make them realize that anyone can hit/beat anyone (the odds might be lower for some than others though, lol)

[blondie1983]

Bonehead made a joke about it (I think). But my moment was when I realized that I could get my fencers to understand tactics by using animal name and behavior analogies to teach fencing.

Cobra, Mongoose, Tiger, Grizzly, Drunken Monkey, Flying Squirrel, Scorpion are all names we use. It's a little bit goofy but the kids love it and it works.

I love it! What is the tiger and flying squirrel? Grizzly sounds like a saber move

[milstdfarm]

I love it! What is the tiger and flying squirrel? Grizzly sounds like a saber move

Tiger is when you fence an opponent who waits until you attack then jumps back a step or two so your attacks always fall just short. You wait for him to retreat. Then you take one or two quick advances or jumps. If your opponent continues to retreat, it's off to the races. Run him down. You have to stay in his face (maybe with repeated beats to his blade, which we call "riding the tiger") so he cannot gather himself for a counterattack or parry. When you feel the time is right, launch the biggest lunge or fleche you can muster. But, if your opponent is able to get far enough away to setup his defense, you have to break off the attack. For this to work, you have to be faster than your opponent.

Flying Squirrel is used against fencers who lunge very low and don't recover quickly. They are so low it is hard to riposte. So you let them attack, jump just out of range, then beat the blade and leap, fleche-like, past/over them and tag them in the back. One of my very inexperienced fencers did this to a multi-year fencing veteran and scored the touch. After the bout the Vet asked the kid, "What was that?" It's pretty flashy which impresses the kids even more.

Grizzly is similar to Tiger but starting from a greater distance.

Again, these are not new ideas. All I did was use animals to help the kids understand the concepts of different tactics.

[milstdfarm]

Oh, and I use Youtube videos of of these animals attacking. Watching the animals helps the kids understand.

[edew]

I showed the youtube clip of a couple of old cougars going after some jackasses. Works well for wheelchair, I guess.

[telkanuru]

I showed the youtube clip of a couple of old cougars going after some jackasses. Works well for wheelchair, I guess.

Paging Bruce Capin?

[Inquartata]

My "a-ha moment" was when I first heard "Take On Me" and my ears began to bleed.

Telk, don't make fun of Bruce, he might put some bad medicine on you.

[milstdfarm]

I showed the youtube clip of a couple of old cougars going after some jackasses. Works well for wheelchair, I guess.

I'd like to see that. NSFW? Something tells me it doesn't have anything to do with fencing.

[Inquartata]

I'd like to see that. NSFW? Something tells me it doesn't have anything to do with fencing.

It stars Fencergrl and David X.

[kapunga]

Mine came a few months ago, mid DE. A little back story, I'd learned to fence in college. My bladework was never very good, but I was fast, had decent point control and tempo, so I got by with absence of blade and fleching in tempo and picking off the wrist. I was okay. Managed to sweep the Duke epee squad once, made NCAA Regionals once, where I blew a 4-0 lead on Roytblat from St. Johns, and my day went downhill from there. Then I stopped fencing when I hit the real world because I didn't have the money for equipment and club fees. I started fencing again about a year ago, and my coach has done amazing things with my arm, to the point where I am now much more comfortable doing blade actions and my arm doesn't look half bad! (Now if I could just get back down to my college weight I might do okay at this fencing thing)

Now to the "Aha" moment. I was a D at the time. I was fencing in a pool and I went 3-3. I managed to beat the two Bs in my pool, and one unrated but clearly just because he doesn't fence tournaments much. I lost to the A, lost to the other D, and I got bageled by an unrated fencer in my pool. That was an extremely frustrating bout. I kept getting closed out, parried, etc. and I couldn't figure out why. This was fairly typical, for several months now, I had been faring very well against As, Bs, and Cs then losing a lot, sometimes embarrassingly so to Es and Us.

Then came the DE table. Whaddya know? I'm fencing the U who beat me 5-0 in the pools in the round of 64. I was kind of upset with myself for fencing like I did in the pools. I was REALLY hoping to earn a C that event so I could fence in the San Jose NAC when I went to visit a friend of mine in Berkeley in January, already a tall order as I would have to place top 8 in a tournament with 11 As and 7 Bs.

So the bout started. I was patient, then tried an attack with a disengage, got closed out and lost the touch. Next touch, same thing. As I walked to the end of the strip and back to clear my head, I remembered some advice Hello? had received from a friend in the middle of a bout she was losing against a weaker fencer. "Wait a minute, are you actually trying to fence her? Don't fence her, just hit her!" It occurred to me, just because my coach has been putting a lot of effort into correcting my blade work, it doesn't mean I have to use it. And weaker fencers aren't going to respond the way my coaches and stronger fencers would. So I dropped my epee down into eight and it was amazing. Without the bladework to distract me I could see everything that was going on. In the space of about two minutes, I went from being down two to up seven on pure tempo touches. I went on to handle the next DE in exactly the same fashion to get into the 16, then easily handled an A in the same fashion to make it into the 8 and earn a C. I was so excited I couldn't focus on my next bout and made a couple of mental mistakes that allowed me to blow a three point lead and lose 15-14.

The re-discovery of tempo made me a much better fencer in the span of about 30 seconds. Now fencing is much more enjoyable and less frustrating. Using pure tempo, I even managed to win my first ever 15-0 bout (in epee even!)

[blondie1983]

"Wait a minute, are you actually trying to fence her? Don't fence her, just hit her!" It occurred to me, just because my coach has been putting a lot of effort into correcting my blade work, it doesn't mean I have to use it. And weaker fencers aren't going to respond the way my coaches and stronger fencers would.

I am just starting to see this! All this time I have been doing all this blade work, while missing out on how simple (but not necessarily easy) it is to get a direct attack if you have the right tempo. Wonderful story, I can really relate!

[tchwojko]

At the Remenyik after falling down for the third time: "Aha! My knee isn't working, I'm 40 and have good insurance. I ought to stop now."

More seriously, at some point early on I stopped trying to fence faster, just smarter. Picking the right time and distance gives you enough time to not worry about rushing the action. Then recently, I realized that only got me so far, and I had to push the speed again because some people are fast enough to recover from their mistakes against me.

[edew]

I'd like to see that. NSFW? Something tells me it doesn't have anything to do with fencing.

Guess this is your a ha! moment.

[sabrefencer93]

My ah ha moment, when i started throwing headcuts in an epee bout, made me realize, i need a new sabre partner

[JacoKierkegaard]

I am just starting to see this! All this time I have been doing all this blade work, while missing out on how simple (but not necessarily easy) it is to get a direct attack if you have the right tempo. Wonderful story, I can really relate!

Yeah, I can relate to that too. I've had a streak lately where it seems like I can hang on pretty competitively with the best epeeists at the club, but I'm embarrassing myself against people who clearly don't know their arse from a hole in the ground. I finally had a little turnaround Tuesday night where I was fencing this guy who'd beaten me earlier in the night, and I stopped engaging him with the same kinds of actions I'd use on better fencers. I'd just wait for him to make a charge at me from way out of distance or come in with his arm in a bad position and I'd either pick his wrist or time him out every time.