I mentioned in my last post that I was looking for some drills that will be useful for new fencers and that I can use to instruct them while also improving my own fencing. Mattheu and Connor lent me a few suggestions about ways to do this that basically boil down to working on the basics while also forcing myself to use perfect form, perform perfect attacks, and keep myself perfectly safe.
Purpose: The general idea is to learn to identify both your own and your opponent's openings. For more advanced fencers, really focus on using proper form, properly gaining and controlling your opponent's sword.
The concept: If we break down the lines, we basically have high, low; inside and out. At any given time, we can protect 2 or maybe 3 of these with our rapier and off-hand, but our guard necessitates leaving one line open.
If we understand this, then we can do a few things:
1.) Identify that opening in our own guard
2.) Be prepared to defend that opening
3.) Use that opening as an invitation
We can also use this knowledge to help identify our opponent's openings which will allow us to:
1.) Identify the openings in our opponents guard
2.) Use this information to direct our blows
3.) Use this information to understand how our opponent must parry
4.) Use this information to engage in useful feints
5.) Control the fight by controlling our opponent's defense
So, we want a drill that will teach new fencers points 1 and 2, while allowing more experienced fencers to work on 3, 4, and 5. This drill is performed with the understanding that if pairs are at different skill levels, the fencers will be playing completely different games.
Drill:
A pair of fencers take their guard against each other (in armor). The first fencer (A) identifies the opening in their guard, then enlarges it. The second fencer (B) uses that information to strike. While performing this attack, fencer B MUST be sure to gain the blade, close the line, and deliver a good lunge (or pass, etc). Fencer B gets only one attack and fencer A must properly defend and may deliver a blow if B leaves an opening.
After each attempt, fencers/instructors may provide feedback before switching roles.
Variations: change the guards around, add secondary weapons/parrying devices
Newer fencers will probably be focused on finding the hole, exploiting the hole while more experienced fencers can focus on creating an invitation, feints, and on using perfect form.
Nice post, I've got one suggestion that might be worth adding to some of the drills. Every once in a while, try "checking" your opponent's guard by lunging into the line that they have attempted to close. It is both amusing (it's funny when you hit them!) and useful - it teaches them to make sure that they aren't being sloppy, and being hit when they are sloppy is one of the best ways to remember not to do it again.
ReplyDeleteIf someone takes a guard attempting to close their outside high line, the two things that I usually look for is if they have move their arm and their tip far enough to the side to actually cover their outside line, a lot of times they don't, and it is still open. The other is that sometimes they break their wrist a little to get the tip far enough to the outside, but their hand is still too much to the inside. A strong attack against the "closed" line here can often succeed.
If their guard is closing the inside line, the main thing that I look for is whether they've broken their wrist and tried to angle their tip back so that it's pointing at me. When this happens, again make a strong attack against their blade and see if you can hit them.