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Fencing Footwork

How and why to study bouts on Youtube

Almost a year ago, as we were all finding new routines of a summer in lockdown, instead of baking bread, making a jungle of houseplants, or going on long relaxing walks, I found myself watching tones of Youtube videos.  Being ever mindful of my father’s admonition that “screens will melt your brains,” I justified my binging by watching, not aimless content, but World Cup finals of my favorite fencers.  Now, I’m going to share a few pieces of advice that I wish I had at the start of last year.  

First piece of advice: watch on a computer with a screen larger than your cell phone.  It’s important to get as many of the details as possible, and watching on a phone just doesn’t cut it.  Additionally, the Youtube phone app skips forwards or backwards in ten second increments as opposed to five seconds.  While that may seem trivial, those five seconds can mean the difference between skipping through the dead space of fencers resetting or skipping into the middle of an action and losing all context.  

There are a ton of channels on Youtube.  I’d recommend starting with fan favorite channel “Cyrus of Chaos,” then move into the FIE Fencing Channel (Their bouts are less well organized, but they have more of them, and commentary besides), and Fencing Vision.  There are a few channels specific to each country – channels from France, Russia, and the Asia-Pacific, although these channels have the draw backs of often being untranslated or in different alphabets.  

There are a few important hotkeys to remember.  Spacebar is the pause button.  Period is the command for “one frame at a time FORWARD,” and comma is the command for “one frame at a time BACKWARD.”  Using period and comma in conjunction with spacebar will allow you to really zero in on the exact moment a fencer starts their attack, or the precise technique they use to execute their motion.  Many videos from the FIE channel will already have high frame rate slow motion replay, although the replay doesn’t always start at the right time or have the right angle to really understand what’s happening.  We also have the arrow keys: right arrow will skip forwards 5 seconds, left arrow skips back 5 seconds.  I’ve found that skipping forwards in 5 second increments will often cut out all the dead space in a bout, letting me watch the best parts of a match.

As a fencer myself, I can say that just by watching high level fencers I was often inspired by their tactics, their execution, their form and ability.  I clearly remember the first moment that I saw 2x World Champion Sofia Velikaya deliver an incredible low-line attack that inspired me to mimic her for years afterwards.  High level fencers are all the time watching and learning from their rivals, their teammates, and from youtube itself.  Now, you can too, with just these few simple hints to get you started.  



2 Training Videos To Help You Practice Fencing at Home!

Even though you may be snowed-in we wanted to make sure you had an opportunity to keep active and moving like a true champion! We have created two interactive training videos so that you don’t have to let ANYTHING stop you from fencing! 

Just like in class, these videos come with warmups and drills that you can practice anywhere to ensure that when you are on the strip your movements are powerful, and controlled. This Virtual Sabre Lesson with Coach Tim also has a goal of helping you work on your reaction time and practice how to fake out your opponent!

Plan on shoveling? Stretch and try this 10-minute footwork exercise with National Team Member Khalil Thompson to get your body moving before you head out to decrease the chance of getting sore! and when shoveling, remember, just like with fencing your power is in your legs!

Finish your exercise with some cool-down stretches and enjoy the rest of your night, we’ll see you all soon!


All the best, 

Your Friends at Tim Morehouse Fencing Club




10 Minutes of Daily Extra Fencing Footwork - An "At Home Training Challenge"

Tim Morehouse Fencing Club’s “At Home Training Challenge” is encouraging our members and participants to do an extra 10-minutes of footwork each day using our new weekly series of Footwork routines you can do at home, the club or really anywhere!

Saber National Team Member and Morehouse Fencing Coach Khalil Thompson is our first in a series of footwork videos in our challenge series. Watch his video and try to keep up with his 10-Minute footwork routine! Do this in addition to the regular training that you do.

Each week, we will have a new video on our youtube channel from an elite fencer, Olympian or national team member doing 10-minutes of their personal footwork routines that they will explain and you will be able to follow along and do with them. You can do this at home or any place where you have enough space to move a few steps and make a lunge.

We are all about talking about champions habits and this is an important one:

Champions always do a little extra on their own.

It is the small daily work outside of structured practice that can often have a huge impact and separate the best from the rest. This challenge epitomizes that champions value.

Share with us! If you take a video or short picture of yourself doing our workout, tag us on Instagram with the hashtag #ExtraFencing

Want to Train with Khalil? If you would like to take online private lessons with him, please go to: https://www.timmorehousefencing.com/khalil-thompson-fencing-lessons

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