So we’re in a pretty
weird time. Around the world people are stuck at home, limiting their
activities, keeping distance from one another. When I was running our Division’s
National Qualifier we had to begin using the new rule of saluting with no
handshake and minimizing fencer contact with paperwork. That didn’t last long because
pretty quickly everything shut down. Quickly enough that no one had time to
respond or plan for it. So many of us are still trying to find ways to keep up
with fencing and keep athletes ready for the new season once things go back to
normal.
The first thing we can do is keep working out. Fencing provides
a work out, but even when we’re in our clubs and on the strip we need to do a
lot of additional work out activities if we want to be competitive and
successful. So now that we aren’t in our clubs we need to make sure we’re
working out even more. Most areas still allow people to go out for runs so keep
that up. Otherwise at home work outs.
With the at home work outs we should get some home drills
in too. I’ve been doing Zoom classes for my students where we talk about the
mental end of fencing stuff. One of my students warmed up for class today by
running while we waited for his teammates, when the team did a social chat he
had his golf ball and was working on point control while on the chat. This is a
great commitment.
So
lets go over some drill ideas.
Foil and Epee
Point Control
The easy obvious one is a
golf ball. If you don’t want to set up a permanent hook from which to hang a
golf ball you can get a command hook with removable double sided tape to
temporarily attached to the ceiling. You’ll need an eye hook and rope. Drill a
hole in the golf ball for the eye hook, and tie the rope between the eye hook
and the hook from the ceiling.
Start off at lunge
distance. For a lot of drills we begin close and move further out, but an
extension distance doesn’t give you room to aim until you start to get your
point control down.
Lunge, hit the ball, stay
in the lunge, and manipulate the tip with your fingers so that you can hit the
ball a second time as it swings back. The remise hit will allow you to focus on
fine control a little more.
Once you have that down
move to an advance lunge. Once you’ve got that will you can try from an
extension distance, or an extension with an advance. Or try moving in and out
and lunging.
If you can’t set up a
golf ball you can set up a target. Some scrap leather framed with some padding
will work, but to go a simpler route take a spare pillow and some tape. Make
some cross marks on the pillow with the tape and set it against a wall and use
the crosses as targets.
Epeeists if you have an
old shoe tape it to the floor or put a weight in the shoe. Something to hold it
down. You can work on point control hitting the toe of the shoe. Again, add
movement back and forth, then add making
a feint to an imaginary wrist and drop to the toe.
Disengages
When I learned to make
disengages they told us to practice with door knobs. It’s still a decent
option. Take your weapon extend and move the tip under the knob from one-side
to the other. Make sure the movement is done by manipulating the grip with your
fingers only so it stays a small motion. You can add the double, or the
completed circle, by practicing rotating in a single direction fully around the
door knob. Then try the other direction.
Sabre
Set a mask on the back of
a chair from an extension distance make a cut to the left side of the mask and
then recut from the fingers. Rotate the hand to the top of the head and cut
from the fingers and then recut again. Rotate again to the right side cut from
the fingers and then recut. Make the same rotation going back. The idea is from
the extension to develop quick sharp small finger motions in a controlled
fashion.
If you can situate the
mask roughly the height of the head of someone standing en garde you can
practice making head cuts. Begin at an extension distance, then advance with
extension, then lunge, then advance lunge and double advance lunge. Then add
back and forth movement. Then if there is room add a recovery with a distance
pull.
You can also combine
moving with the head cut and the double tap rotation. Move in and out and then
lunge in and make the cut rotation sequence once then recover and retreat back
to your movement and repeat.
Thanks for reading. Try
these out, post in the comments about how it goes and about how you’re keeping
your head in the game.
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