This first set of drills were used by Ron Miller, coach of the UNC- Chapel Hill fencing team. The goal of these drills is to familiarize the fencer with different attack tempos and timings.
If you come across actions that you do not think that you would use in a bout, please try them out anyway. By learning how to execute the actions, you know better how to defend against them and also learn more about the strategies of the fencer using the actions.
The drills that I post are written with foil in mind, but they are easily adapted to other weapons.
You will see references to the different tempos to be used. They are:
- Preinitiative Tempo – Fully extending the arm before any movement. (Point in line)
- Initiative Tempo – Beginning the extension of the arm just before the beginning of the attack footwork (advance-lunge or lunge). (Used mainly for long attacks or feint-disengage attacks.)
- Simultaneous Tempo – Extending the arm at the same time as the attack footwork. (Most common tempo used.)
- Saved Tempo – extending the arm after the lunge has begun. (Generally used against a fencer who makes an immediate parry. It gives you more time to make a disengage on your attack but leaves you vulnerable to counterattacks.)
- Lost Tempo – extending the arm after the lunge has been completed Each tempo has its proper place in a bout. (Ex: Lost Tempo, while at the end of the scale in priority, is very effective against the fencer who defends by closing distance and making multiple parrys.)
Here are the drills for this week:
Simple Attack Exercises
P = Pupil, L = Leader
1. Saved lunge with undetermined destination
(From long lunge distance)
a. P. Begins lunge (no extension)
L. No reaction
P. Continue (extend and accelerate to the target)
b. P. Begins lunge
L. Counterattack (late)
P. Continue (extend and accelerate to the target)
c. P. Begins Lunge
L. Counterattack (early)
P. Continue with beat attack
d. P. Begins lunge (no extension)
L. Parry (early)
P. Deceive (extend and accelerate to the target)
e. P. Begins lunge (no extension)
L. Parry (late)
P. Continue (extend and accelerate to the target)
2. Incremental Distances with Extension, Advance, and Lunge
(initiative tempo)
a. P. Establishes distance
L. No movement or reaction
P. Simple attack to the appropriate distance
(all possible distances from extension to
longest lunge)
b. L. Establishes distance
P. Simple attack to the appropriate distance
(all possible distances from extension to
longest lunge)
3. Preconceived Simple Attack (Example – Disengage)
a. L. On guard (6)
P. Disengage attack (from closed line) executed with
maximal speed from optimal distance.
(simultaneous tempo)
L. Attempts circular parry (c6)
4. Advance-lunge option exercise (from advance-lunge distance)
a. P. Advance in preparation (no extension)
L. No reaction
P. Straight attack
b. P. Advance in preparation (no extension)
L. Establishes line
P. Beat attack
c. P. Advance in preparation (no extension)
L. Attack on preparation (lunge)
P. Parry and ripost (holding ground – no movement
following the advance)
Special thanks to Ron Miller on creation of these drills.
