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Training Resources
Description of Drills
Lesson Schedule from
2004-2005
Standard Drills/Exercises
End of the Line: The purpose of this drill is to practice a variety of parries, and it requires two fencers. One fencer (A) stands on guard, back foot against a wall, foil in hand (mask on). The second fencer (B) finds her/his lunging distance. Fencer B then takes his/her guard and
proceeds to attack in a line of her/his choice. It is fencer A's job to parry the incoming attack and riposte immediately (fencer B will recover). Note that if fencer A chooses a poor parry, fencer B should make the touch (i.e. it should be a committed attack). Once the fencers become comfortable with both roles in the drill, an additional level of complexity should be added by allowing the attacking fencer to perform actions on the blade prior to the attack.
Immediate Riposte: The purpose of
this drill is very simple--to teach the student to riposte immediately
after the parry. In this case immediately should be defined as: before the
opponent can even think about a recovery or a remise. This is a very simple
drill and can be executed in any line. Moreover, it should be practiced in
all lines whenever possible.
Start out of distance, with an aggressor and a defender. The aggressor should
perform an advance-lunge to either the high line or low line as previously
decided. The defender then performs his/her choice of parry, and ripostes
(direct by detaching the blade, direct along the blade, or indirect, but not
compound) immediately. The defender's goal is to make a successful riposte,
while the agressor, his attack having been foiled, attempts to recovery to
his guard as quickly as possible to avoid the riposte. Note: the defender must
not lunge with her/his riposte.
Variations: This drill can be performed in many variations. Possible ideas
are to have the attacker add feints on the attack, to start in distance, or
to perform actions on the blade prior to the attack. However, these should be
saved for more advanced students as the additional complexity detracts from the
focus on the immediate purpose of the drill--an unhesitating riposte.
The general form of this exercise was written in 1932 by Luigi Barbasetti as:
"The master makes a strong thrust and then recovers rapidly, whereupon the
pupil, without lunging, executes a riposte before the instructor can recover."
Openings and Responses:
By now the student should be familiar with the 3 main openings: the invitation, the
engagement, and the extension. They should also be familiar with the 3 simple
attacks: the straight thrust, the disengagement and lunge, and the glide. For
each of the openings, one of the simple attacks supplies the most direct/efficient
means for taking advantage of the opening. For the invitation, it is the straight
thrust (make sure to close the line!), for the engagement, the disengagement and
lunge, and for the extension it is the glide. However, it takes some time to
internalize those relationships, so the purpose of this drill is to meet each opening
with the correct response.
This drill should first be done from an immobile guard. First, fencers A and B will
guard in 3rd at fencer A's lunging distance. Fencer B will then offer one of the 3
openings, either inviting in 3rd, engaging fencer A's blade in 3rd, or extending
to the high line. As soon as the opening is offered, fencer A will respond
with the appropriate simple attack in the high line and touch. After a certain
amount of time they should switch roles.
Obviously the above is a bit simple, so let us extend it. Now, still from a stationary
guard, allow fencer B to choose the starting line at random. That is, fencer B will
invite or engage in any of the 4 lines, or extend to either the high line or the low
line. Fencer A will respond with an appropriate simple attack. Switch roles.
Finally, to complete the drill, do it 'in time with mobility'. That is, allow fencer B to
control the movements as well as the timing of the opening. Fencer B will advance
and retreat at will, and fencer A should maintain an appropriate lunging distance.
At will, fencer B offers an opening, and fencer A should immediately
respond with a correct attack that is in time with the opening, appropriate for the
opening, and at a proper distance.
Obviously this can continue to be extended until it eventually resembles an actual
assault. A couple simple extensions are: first, to allow fencer B to attempt to
parry-riposte, and second to change the distance so that fencer A is using an
advance lunge, possibly with a feint, to which fencer B can respond with his/her
choice of parry, which fencer A must evade and continue through for the touch.
2004-2005 Lesson Schedule
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Fall Semester:
[F] September 3rd: First meeting of the Fall 2004 Semester, returning students only. We will meet in the Aerobics room (then probably move outside), discuss how the activities fair went, deal with ASWC paperwork, talk about plans for the semester, and do some open bouting to get back into things before lessons start (assuming we have gotten the fencing room key in time).
[M] September 6th: First class with the new Freshmen. Should spend about half an hour telling them about the club and fencing in general, followed by foil and rapier demos. Nothing like actually doing it to learn though, so we will then warm-up and begin teaching.
Material: First Position, The Salute, the Guard, Advancing, Retreating, The Lunge.
To help us get to know each other we have arranged for a movie
night after the lesson on this day. It will be in G2 in the RCC, and we will
head over right after fencing, probably between 8:30 and 9. We will get some
pizzas, drinks, and a movie like The Duelists, or The Princess Bride. Feel
free to e-mail movie suggestions to one of the club leaders.
[W] September 8th: After warm-up an introduction to the foil itself, and continued footwork, this time foil in hand, to get them used to it before learning bladework. After primary footwork drills, matching distance drill and point control/distance measuring with our friend the wall.
Material: Parts of the foil, holding the foil, hand positions, review of material from the 6th with blade-in-hand. New
footwork: the Cross-Step, the Advance-Lunge, the Appel.
[F] September 10th: Free bouting day. Returning students can do free-bouting in foil, epee, sabre, or rapier. New students are encouraged to come and observe, but will not be allowed to bout (unless they have previous fencing experience) until after next week's lessons. However, they are welcome to work on drills, either footwork or wallwork, and there will also be supplies for some reflex drills and "glove fencing."
[M] September 13th: The first 10-15
minutes will be spent discussing any business that needs to be taken care of
with regards to either upcoming events or ASWC. This will be standard on
Mondays from this point out. Next, new fencers will need to choose a jacket, glove, and mask, which will be stored in their cubby in the fencing room. After business our first standard work-out, meaning
warm-up, followed by footwork, followed by bladework.
Material: Review from the 8th. The Appel from the lunge. The 3 placements of the weapon. The 4 lines of offense and defense, invitations in the 4 lines and straight thrusts in the 4 lines.
[W] September 15th: Continued exposure to
the basic techniques of defense and offense. First tactical
drill - Openings and Responses.
Material: The Jump-Back. Engagements/Binds in the 4 lines, Disengagement and Lunges in the 4 lines, Extensions in the high and low lines, Glides in the 4 lines.
[F] September 17th: Free bouting day.
1 stars and up open bouting. New students allowed to bout in
foil with 2 stars and up, or with each other under the supervision of a 3 star
who will control the bout insuring good form and safety. New students are
also encouraged to work on drills (bladework, footwork, wallwork, or reflexes),
glove fence, or do other fencing related activities pending approval.
[M] September 20th: 10-15 minutes of business, followed by our first heavy
warm-up. These warm-ups will happen every other Monday from this point out, and will vary in structure, but will generally include some strength work, more aerobic exercises, footwork at speed, and endurance drills. Lesson will move directly into bladework after a 5 minute break to get a drink and put gear on.
Material: Circular parry and direct riposte in 4 lines. Simple parry and direct riposte in 4 lines.
[W] September 22nd: First finesse actions on the blade. Now that we know how to parry an attack in an obvious opening we need to consider ways to create new openings.
Material: Single and Double Changes of Engagement, Single Changes of Engagements and Glides, Simple Parries followed by Single Changes of Engagement and Ripostes along the blade, Transports, Envelopements, Transports followed by glides.
[F] September 24th: Same as previous
Friday. Emphasis on rapier for upcoming NW Rapier Tourney.
[M] September 26th: 10-15 minutes of business. Standard lesson, we will practice multiple parry types in multiple lines, changing partners regularly. Lesson will be followed by tactical lesson: "which parry?" Which will include both a lecture/demonstration on how to choose your parry, and the drill: Circle or Simple?
Material: Semi-Circular/Diagonal Parries to all 4 lines with direct ripostes.
[W] September 28th: Footwork will include matching distance drill. Standard lesson will be followed by an introduction to bouting drills. Specifically
"attacker-defender." Will include a
lecture on the tocatto-gratzi scoring system and the "Basic Principle of Fencing."
Material: Counter-parries, counter-parry ripostes, and riposte indirects.
[F] October 1st: Best day to get in required practice bouts with 3 stars before testing day.
[M] October 4th: Business: Wednesday is testing day. Extra Heavy Workout, followed by a short lecture on the fencing distances, followed by a standard lesson.
Material: Footwork: The Redoublement, Gaining on the Lunge, The Balestra. Sequences with the above footwork. Defense of measure against these sequences. Redoublements after defense of measure. Sequence: Retreat and Engage in 3rd, Advance-Lunge with Disengagement, Defense of Measure and Circular Parry of 3rd, Disengagement and Redoublement.
[W] October 6th: Testing day! This day
marks the 1 month point for new students, which means, assuming we have people
who have found sponsers and feel ready, we will forgo the standard lesson to
spend the evening testing people for their 1st star.
[F] October 8th: An introduction to
judging and priority. First open bouting day for new 1-stars.
[M] October 11th: No Lesson, 4-day.
[W] October 13th: An introduction to Feints. Short lecture on the purpose of feints, followed by practice with the Feint Direct.
Material: Advance, Feint Direct, Disengage, and Lunge in 4 Lines. Feint direct,
deceive, and Lunge in 4 lines.
[F] October 15th: Judged bouts for judging practice, possibly a 'mini-tourney'.
[M] October 18th: Extra Heavy Workout. An Introduction to Actions on the Blade.
"Some of the most
interesting actions in fencing with the foil are those which aim to divert your
adversary's blade from the line of attack or get a wider opening. To execute
them successfully, it is extremely necessary to give these actions most
careful study. They are absolutely essential and you must master them, since
faulty execution will but subject you to danger. The tactics are simple and
normal.
The Actions Against the Blade of an Opponent present a number of possibilities,
particularly as the thrusts are generally made horizontally. While it is
true that the defender has the advantage, because the attacker is able to find
only small openings, it is also true that the attacker has the means of
enlarging the existing openings and of increasing their number.
We shall limit ourselves to a few brief suggestions since a manual at best can
give only the fundamentals. Nevertheless, these suggestions should lead to
more intensive training in the play of the foil--a play which results in the
conflict of two wills, each seeking to thwart the other by means not unlike
those of wrestling."
--Luigi Barbasetti, 1932--
Material: The blade seizure and the pressure. Sequence: Advance with blade seizure, pressure, change of engagement and glide in low lines. Sequence: Advance with Blade Seizure in 3rd, Transport to 1st and Lunge, Cross-step back and parry Circle of 2nd (and hesitate), Blade Seizure in 1st and Redouble with a Glide.
[W] October 20th: Continued work on feints and blade actions followed by the tactics lesson--"Where am I open?"
Material: Circular Parries against Glides in the 4 lines (varying simple ripostes). Feint by Glide and
Deceives in the 4 Lines. Feint by Glide and Disengages in the 4 lines.
[F] October 22nd: More Judged Bouting to get ready for tomorrow's tournament.
[S] October 23rd:
Parents' Weekend Tournament
[M] October 25th: An introduction to double feints, welcome to Nebraska. Drill
- Feint or Thrust
Material: Sequence: Advance, Feint Direct (high line), Simple Parry of 3rd, Disengage, Simple Parry of 4th, Disengage and Lunge. Feint by Disengagement and Double Disengagement from Bind in 3rd. Sequence: Engage in 2nd, Feint by Disengagement, Parry Counter of 2nd, Feint by Deceive, Parry Counter of 2nd, Deceive and Lunge. Feint by Disengagement and Double Deceive in 1st. Repeat with Coordinated Steps.
[W] October 27th: An introduction to beats.
Material: The Beat Attack in 3rd and 4th. Circular Beat Attacks from engagements in 1st and 2nd. Change beats in the high line. Simple beat parries and direct ripostes in the high line.
[F] October 29th: Standard Open Bouting Day.
[M] November 1st: Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). A revisiting of basics, we now have feints and a few blade actions, but they all require the use of effective simple attacks, and they can all be defeated by proper parry-ripostes. So lets make sure we are still doing those correctly inside our 'complex' actions. Remember, always execute your actions as if they were real, even if you know your opponent will counter them. Drill:
The Immediate Riposte. From this point out a fast recovery (closing the line) and immediate riposte should become standard during exercises.
Material: The 3 Simple Attacks in the 4 lines, Circular Parries and Circular Beat Parries in the 4 lines.
[W] November 3rd: An introduction to sequences "In Time with Mobility". We will build the sequence once stationary, and then again in time with mobility.
Material: Building a sequence: Beat in 4th Feint Disengage (around simple to 4th) and Lunge, defender executes a simple beat parry of 3rd and a Riposte indirect.
[F] November 5th: Open bouting day, suggested practice drill: Attacker-Defender .
[S] November 6th: Foil Symposium
[M] November 8th: Bouting Drills -
End of the Line.
Material: Feint by Glide in 2nd and 4th, disengage and lunge. Feint by Glide in 2nd and 4th, Change Beat, and Lunge.
[W] November 10th: Tactics--An Introduction to Probing Actions.
Material: Violent actions on the blade--expulsions and disarms. Expulsions followed by the lunge, expulsions followed by a feint.
[F] November 12th: Open bouting day.
[M] November 15th: Beginning of week
before Thanksgiving Break, a.k.a. Hell-Week. Extra stretching and bouting to
help relax muscles and release stress.
Material: An introduction to the Cut-Over (coupe) and the Grazing Beat. The Cut-Over vs. The Simple and Circular Parry (the feint cut-over and lunge).
[W] November 17th: Still Hell-Week.
Extra stretching and bouting to help relax muscles and release stress. An introduction to Compound Ripostes..
Material: Ripostes with single feints in the 4 lines. See Gaugler for full list of
variants.
[F] November 19th: Hell-Week is over, come bout and celebrate before you leave for break.
[M] November 22nd: Thanksgiving Break, No Lesson.
[W] November 24th: Thanksgiving Break, No Lesson.
[F] November 26th: Thanksgiving Break, No Bouting.
[M] November 29th: Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). Back to Nebraska, mixed double feints.
Material: Feint direct, disengage, deceive and lunge in the 4 lines; Feint by disengage, disengage, deceive and lunge in the 4 lines.
[W] December 1st: Light lesson revisiting transports and envelopements followed by an Adreneline Drill.
Material: The 4 transports followed by glides, and the 4 envelopments followed by glides. Short sequence, engagement in 1st, transport to 3rd, change of engagement to 4th, glide, opposed by circular parry of 3rd and riposte direct.
[F] December 3rd: Judged Bouting--A Mini Tourney.
[M] December 6th: We will cover a previously unvisited type of parry, namely, the ceding parry. This will be followed by a bouting drill as chosen by the class from those covered previously in the semester.
Material: The ceding parries of 3rd and 4th vs. glides and vs. transport and glides.
[W] December 8th: Another form of simple attack--the Flanconnade. This will be followed by a demonstration of a 'bouting lesson'.
Material: The Flanconnade in Fourth and proper defensive responses. Its benefits and disadvantages as an alternative to the Transport to 2nd.
[F] December 10th: Classes are over! Come stab people.
[M] December 13th: Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). More feints!.
Material: Feint direct, deceive, and disengage. Feint by disengage, deceive, and disengage. Beat-feint, double disengage, and lunge.
[W] December 15th: A return to exercises in time with mobility.
Material: Double feints in time with mobility, followed by the same in an 'Openings and Responses' style drill.
[F] December 17th: Last chance to fence before Winter
Break.
Spring Semester:
In the fall semester we successfully built a vocabulary of fencing actions. You
are now all familiar with advances, retreats, lunges, appeal, cross-steps, jump
backs and forwards, and maybe even fleches. You know the four lines, the four
simple attacks, simple, circular, semi-circular and ceding parries, you've done
single and double feints, disengagements, and deceives, blade seizures,
pressures, changes of engagement, transports, envelopments, expulsions, simple,
change, and circular beats, disarms, counter-parry ripostes, simple ripostes,
compound ripostes . . . What you may not be as comfortable with is when to use
all those actions, and how to respond to your opponent's openings. Now that we
understand the basic mechanisms of these actions I want to begin putting them in
context and looking at how to apply them. As we go we will also add more
details and variations to the executions of the actions, and add in new actions,
such at the counter attacks. By the end of the semester I hope to confront you
with many technical and tactical situations so that you can develop a more
complete understanding of how and when to use the actions we learned last
fall--then you will be able to really start fencing. Oh, and I want to give you
the chance to get lots of practice so that the actions you already know will
flow smoothly and naturally.
Working with this semester's goal, the lesson plans will be a bit different.
Rather than working on specific actions and set sequences, each lesson we will
approach a different opening presented by an opponent. We will develop a
response to that opening and then continue to build a sequence by responding to
that response, etc. As we get into the swing of things I expect you all to
start seeing the possible responses and begin making the sequences yourselves,
rather than me making them for you.
The Below is tentative, this note will be removed when it is finalized.
[W] Jauary 19th: Incorporate a Counter-parry.
Material: Invitation in 3rd
[F] January 21st: Still remember how to bout?
[M] January 24th: Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). Incorporate a Riposte Indirect.
Material: Invitation in 1st
[W] January 26th: In Time with Mobility, incorporate a circular parry.
Material: Engagement in 2nd
[F] January 28th:
[M] January 31st: Bouting Drill. Incorporate a compound riposte with transport.
Material: Engagement in 4th
[W] February 2nd: Incorporate a glide.
Material: Point in Line High (supple)
[F] February 4th:
[M] February 7th: Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). Incorporate a beat.
Material: Point in Line Low (supple)
[W] February 9th: Incorporate a double feint and beat parry.
Material: Invitation in 4th, out of distance.
[F] February 11th:
[M] February 14th: Incorporate an internal flanconade. In time with mobility.
Material: Point in line high (stiff), out of distance.
[W] February 16th: Incorporate a disengagement in time. An introduction to Counter Attacks.
"If it were possible to achieve the ideal of fencing with the foil, parries
would be unnecessary. All the fencer would have to do would be to anticipate
correctly the direction of his opponent's final thrust, and to forestall it
with a coup d'arret. The old Italian method was built on this principle of
the ideal art of fencing, and a weapon for serious encounters was always used,
never a practice spada. The defense was only a cleverly devised and cunningly
applied means, which led to the execution of an action into the opponent's
tempo."
--Luigi Barbasetti, 1932--
Material: Point in line high, out of distance.
[F] February 18th:
[M] February 21st: No classes, no fencing. :-(
[W] February 23rd: Bouting Drill. Incorporate mixed double feint.
Material: Invitation in 2nd, out of distance.
[F] February 25th:
[M] February 28th: In time with mobility. Incorporate an arrest.
Material: Engagement of 3rd, out of distance.
[W] March 2nd: Incorporate an attack without extension and a time thrust.
Material: Invitations of 1st and 3rd.
[F] March 4th:
[M] March 7th: Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). Incorporate expulsion.
Material: Point in line low, out of distance.
[W] March 9th: Incorporate compound riposte with 1 feint.
Material: Invitation in 4th, out of distance.
[F] March 11th: Last day to stab people before Spring break.
[M] March 14th: Spring Break, no lesson.
[W] March 16th: Spring Break, no lesson.
[F] March 18th: Spring Break, no bouting.
[M] March 21st: Still on break.
[W] March 23rd: Getting bored with vacation. Want to fence.
[F] March 25th: Finally breaks and resorts to stabbing parents and siblings with forks.
[M] March 28th: We're back! Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). Incorporate feint by glide.
Material: Point in line low.
[W] March 30th: Incorporate inquartata.
Material: Invitation in 3rd, out of distance.
[F] April 1st:
[M] April 4th: Incorporate triple feint. Bouting drill.
Material: Invitation of 4th, out of distance.
[W] April 6th: Incorporate beat. In time with mobility.
Material: Invitation in 3rd, tip too low.
[F] April 8th:
[M] April 11th: Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). Incorporate change beat.
Material: Invitation in 4th, not parallel.
[W] April 13th: Incorporate feint by glide. In time with mobility.
Material: Weak Engagement in 1st.
[F] April 15th:
[M] April 18th: Incorporate pisata sotto in countertime.
Material: Point in line high, out of distance.
[W] April 20th: Incorporate triple feint. Bouting drill.
Material: Invitation in 2nd, out of distance.
[F] April 22nd:
[M] April 25th: Extra Heavy Workout (Warmup and Footwork). Incorporate detached riposte.
Material: Invitation in 1st, out of distance.
[W] April 27th: Incorporate imbrocata (practice first against a flanconade in 2nd).
Material: Engagement of 1st.
[F] April 29th:
[M] May 2nd: Incorporate flanconade in 4th. In time with mobility.
Material: Point in line high, out of distance, stiff.
[W] May 4th: Incorporate appuntata.
Material: Engagement of 3rd.
[F] May 6th:
[M] May 9th: Extra Heavy Workout (Warm-up and Footwork). Incorporate time thrust and continue in countertime.
Material: Invitation in 3rd.
[W] May 11th:
[F] May 13th:
[M] May 16th:
[W] May 18th:
[F] May 20th: Last day to stab the seniors before they graduate.
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