Why Trying Out Different Coaches Can Only Help Your Fencing

Not every coach was a world champion. Not every coach was even a high-level fencer. 

But EVERY coach has experience in this sport that you don’t have! And every individual has experience to share which could mean the difference in securing touches, understanding an opponent’s tactics, or even winning entire bouts. Learning from multiple coaches’ experiences is CRITICAL to high-level fencing.

With the multitude of fencing hotspots in the world, there is no single dominating style. From the specialized technical Hungarian form to the brutally physical Korean approach, each variation has its strengths and weaknesses to offer. The advantage of being in the USA and at Tim Morehouse Fencing Club is the wide spectrum of styles exposed to you. This means you can pick and choose certain aspects which suit YOUR genre of fencing. 

Additionally, if you can identify your opponents’ school, you have a HUGE advantage fencing them! 

Strip Coaching

Your coach won’t be with you at every tournament. Working with multiple coaches increases the odds that one will be at your event and has a good handle on what you are and are not capable of as a fencer. 

In terms of style, some fencers THRIVE off a high-energy strip coaching presence with continuous cheering and yelling. Others require a calming coach to keep them level-headed. Your personality type and your coach’s might mesh well in lessons but conflict during tournaments when pressure and anxiety are at peak levels.  You need to find the best approach on both the lesson strip and the real strip.

Ideas

Coaches can have personal preferences on how to execute technical actions. There is no “perfect” way to parry, attack, counterattack, etc. Even if a coach gives you a technical correction you might not agree with, just having this change in your arsenal is invaluable. For example, one coach might teach a shallow and efficient method of parry which will just barely keep the opponent’s blade off target to minimize excess movement. While this might work for some adversaries, you will need to adjust your defense a little against that 6’6” fencer. Be versatile!

Expression of ideas is also a benefit from multiple coaches. Each student learns differently, and one coach might be able to explain a fencing method better than another. My first coach always told me to use my fingers more when attacking, but I didn’t understand what that meant physically (and proceeded to keep using my entire arm to attack.. because fingers are part of the arm, right?). It wasn’t until I had a much more eloquent coach demonstrate in-depth that I finally understood it years later.

While you eventually will need a main coach, learn what you can now from everyone! Be hungry for knowledge. Expand your fencing experience and repertoire by trying out different coaches. Find the ideal one who fits YOUR style the best to accelerate your fencing level! 

Video Replay: What You Need to Know!

Fencers might not be familiar with video replay on the local or regional level, but we are fortunate enough in the USFA to have this system in place at every NAC. 

Having a second referee (and usually, a crowd) on your strip can be intimidating and overwhelming. Here are the basics you’ll need to know about video replay and the rules that go with it so you can be prepared going in!

When You Will See Video Replay:

In points events (Div 1, Junior, Cadet), video replay ALWAYS starts in the top 16. In the younger age categories (Y14, Y12, Y10), they will at least be in the top 8 bouts. 

Ranking events (Div 2, Div 3, Div 1A) typically do not see video until top 4, though recently this has expanded in some events to top 8 (for Div 1A) given strip availability.  

Video replay is used in 15 touch DE bouts (or 10 for Veterans/Y10 fencers) and never in 5 touch bouts with exceptions for college championships (NCAAs, Ivy League, ACCs). It is also used in 45 touch team finals. 

The Rules:

You are given 2 WRONG video challenges in the bout. If you challenge a call and it gets changed, you KEEP your challenge. This means you could theoretically have 100 video challenges if the bout is incredibly difficult or the referee struggles. Team matches allow one wrong challenge per each of the 9 matchups.

The referee is allowed to look at the video replay on his/her own with no penalty to either fencer. They may do this as much as they want as it is in everyone’s interest to make the correct call, but obviously the athletes’ and coaches’ confidence in the referee’s ability wanes with the number of times it is checked. 

At the deciding point (14-14, 9-9, 44-44, or in tied priority overtime) the referee MUST look at the video before making the call. This applies to both two light AND one light calls in case there was a penalty like covering / crossing feet in saber, or one fencer was off the strip. 

After the Bout:

The fencers and coaches may not look at the video replay DURING the bout, but after the match is over (provided there is not another one starting), you may go back and peruse the touches at your leisure. I HIGHLY recommend this, whether you win or lose, because it is immensely developmental and helpful. 

The replay ONLY records the few seconds before a light goes off, so the endless bouncing around in between epee and foil touches is condensed to just when the action happens. If you have a USB, with permission, you may download the touches for your own viewing. 

Now…

Now that you are familiar with the basics of video replay, you’ll be better able to handle the responsibility! Keep practicing so you can make it into those video rounds and use your newfound knowledge!

6 Tips For Running Great Drills in Fencing (Or Any Sport!)

This article is all about creating and running great drills for the sport of fencing! (Or any sport!)

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Drills are a critical part of a complete training program when they are structured and USED correctly. There are a lot of common mistakes that people make when designing activities and this video will address how to make what you are doing with drills as effective as possible for your students.

Principle #1 Be Objective and Skills Focused

The activities, drills and games you play with kids are the vehicles for teaching skills and content! Not an end to themselves!

Too many people make the mistake of creating activities that are about the activity instead of being focused on what they are trying to accomplish!

You need to have a clear idea of what you want the kids to learn and convey that to your students.

Always Ask Yourself: What do I want the kids to be able to do, understand or what skill are we practicing with this drill? And, Don’t forget to share that with the students so they understand what they should be learning also!

Pro-Teaching Tip: Sharing the “WHY” something is important is always critical for student understanding and buy-in. You need to be able to know and explain to students why what they are working on is important!

Principle #2 Start with Bite Sized Objectives

Great drills start with a basic concept or objective that is easily understood by everyone.

I have a saying, a good starting point for a drill is “something an Olympian would do while also being something that someone on their first day fencing could understand and do also”.

What does that mean? A great drill starts with a small focused idea to work on. Olympians work on the small details so a drill that starts on something small would be something an Olympian would do but is also something that someone on their first day could understand.

For example, keeping distance with someone moving back and forth.

Principle #3: Great drills have levels!

You start with something basic on “level 1” and then you slowly add pieces and ideas once the students have mastered and understood level 1.

Level 2 should build upon what has been done in level 1. Level 3 should build upon level 2 and so on.

This layered approach allows you to build up even younger students to complex ideas.

Pro-Teaching Tip: Always remember to take time to “Check For Understanding” with students. You can’t go fast until they have down the concepts and how the drill rules work. One way of doing that is you can have each pairing go once or twice while everyone is watching and then you can affirm when they are doing it right or correct understanding not just for that group but for everyone.

Principle #4 Have a FUN Factor an Gamify your Drills

I often call our drills “Games” because we always have a way for both sides to score even if each side is working on something different.

Having a way to “score” provides feedback as well for students to know when they are succeeding or not and often motivates them to try harder and modify how they are doing something on their own.

I am not a huge fan of straight technical drills where students are just doing rote movements without a score. Oftentimes, students end up just practicing bad habits in technical drills but of course there is a place for them and I advocate for teaching kids a technical routine they can use but ensure they are doing the movements correctly.

Principle #5 Discovery Elements are Essential

You are of course sharing with students the goals and rules of the drill but a good drill also leaves an element of discovery. When students figure things out on their own with the structure of a drill it is a powerful way to increase retention of concepts.

Pro-Teaching Tip: When you spot a student trying something different or discovering something interesting, don’t be afraid to stop the activity and call that out and discuss!

Principle #6 Teach Your Students To Be Great Training Partners

It is really important that students understand that even when drills are like games and they are trying to “win” that they are first and foremost teammates and club-mates trying to get better together.

Sharing with them what it means to be a good training partner including helping each other if someone is struggling will make any training routine you do more effective. I will talk more in-depth about being a good training partner and teammate in another article/video soon.

I hope these tips help you in your practices! We will start posting some of our partner drills/games over the next few weeks but I wanted you to understand where we are coming from in how those drills have been developed.

If you’d like to learn from our Elite coaches either in-person or online, you can go to:

www.timmorehousefencing.com