These drills all follow the same basic format. They begin by demonstrating and
explaining the correct technique, pointing out the things to concentrate on during
the lesson, then the practice starts slowly with the focus on correct technique,
gradually building up speed and intensity until the end where participants should
be pushed to their limits. Each drill ends with some form of race, where
competitive drive will encourage most people to push themselves rather than be
pushed by the instructor. Each drill focuses on one specific move or concept.
Drills are shown in the order I originally gave them (more will follow once I've
tested them out;), but each one is self contained and can be picked at random.
They can also be mixed and matched to give sessions with a focus on several or
all movements.
I fitted the drills shown into 15 minutes by keeping each section short (so as
not to bore easily-distracted uni students who didn't have to be doing this).
They could easily be stretched out to half an hour if you have fitter or more
dedicated fencers.
Knees bent to provide balance, stability and power. Back straight, don't rock back and forth or bounce up and down. If you can keep your body still while your legs work away beneath you then it's easier to aim your point. Always keep one foot on the ground so that you can change direction quickly. Once the heel of the leading foot hits the ground the trailing foot follows quickly, landing at the same time as the toe of the leading foot. Don't drag you feet, make every step quick, small and clean.
Advance up the venue and retreat back at your own pace, concentrating on the
technique.
Maintain distance with the instructor. Instructor starts slowly with infrequent
changes of direction, gradually building up speed and changing direction more
frequently. Stop the action if the line becomes too ragged and get everyone to
assume the original distance. The emphasis here is on maintaining distance,
they shouldn't be trying to catch up with the instructor or run away from them.
Change direction on command. Participants step at their own pace, when the
instructor claps of gives the order they must immediately change direction.
Vary the time between commands randomly.
Mask game. In pairs, one fencer holds a mask in their weapon hand, the other
places their hand lightly on the mask. The mask holder must use advancing and
retreating to make his partner loose contact with the mask. No more than 3 steps
in one direction continuously.
(eg: 1 fwd, 2 back, 3 fwd, 1 back, 3 fwd, 2 back etc).
Maintain distance with instructor. As before, but increase the speed more quickly this time and push them as fast as they can go.
Shuttle Races. Holding this in a gym I used lines on the floor, in the absence
of lines use markers of some description. Participants advance up to 1st line,
retreat to start, advance to 2nd line, retreat to start, advance to third line,
retreat to start. If they're a fit bunch then keep going with advance to 2nd
line, retreat, advance to 1st line, retreat.
Extend the arm, kick with front foot, launch yourself forward with the back leg.
Front foot lands heel first, back foot remains anchored to the floor. (Sliding
the back foot is a perfectly legitimate tactic, but is not being covered in this
session!) Keep the back straight, throw the trailing arm back for momentum.
Retain your balance.
To recover, push with the front leg and pull with the back one. Keep the legs
bent, don’t bounce up and down. Don't roll the back heel on the lunge, don't
over-extend the front leg, don't hold back.
Practice lunging, concentrating on the technique. Lunge/recover backwards,
lunge/recover forwards.
Maintain distance with the instructor. As with the drill in advancing and
retreating, but now the instructor drops their arm at random intervals which
indicates that the participants should lunge. Participants recover only when
the instructor raises their arm. Raising the arm while stepping back means
recover forward. Do this both while advancing and retreating, slowly and
rapidly.
Quick lunge. Back to back, with trailing feet together the fencers come on
guard in pairs. Each has a number, 1 or 2. When the number is called, the
fencer with that number lunges as quickly (and correctly) as possible. Their
partner throws back their trailing arm and tries to hit them. If the lunger is
quick enough and lunges far enough they won't be hit.
Simon Says. If Simon says lunge, advance, retreat or anything else, you do it.
If not, you don't. The punishment for acting when you shouldn't is 5 lunges,
then rejoin the group.
Relay races. In two teams (or more for big classes or confined spaces), the
team members line up at intervals of their lunging distances. All face in one
direction with trailing hands held behind them where they can be tagged. On
command, the rearmost fencer lunges and tags the hand of the fencer in front of
him who then lunges at the next fencer and so on. This continues down the line
until the final fencer lunges either at a wall, target, or just the air.
Keep knees bent to provide balance, stability and power. Back straight, don't rock back and forth or bounce up and down. If you can keep your body still while your legs work away beneath you then it's easier to aim your point. Always keep one foot on the ground so that you can change direction quickly. Once the heel of the leading foot hits the ground the trailing foot crosses over quickly, landing at the same time as the toe of the leading foot. As soon as it hits the ground, the leading foot crosses to the front again. Spend as little time vulnerably off-balance as possible. Don't drag you feet, make every step quick, small and clean.
Advance up the venue using crossovers and retreat back using cross-overs at your
own pace, concentrating on the technique.
Maintain distance with the instructor. As for the advancing and retreating drill.
Change direction on command. Participants step at their own pace, when the
instructor claps of gives the order they must immediately change direction.
Vary the time between commands randomly and occasionally time it to catch people
mid-crossover.
Mask game. In pairs, one fencer holds a mask in their weapon hand, the other
places their hand lightly on the mask. The mask holder may use advancing,
retreating and crossing over to make his partner loose contact with the mask.
No more than 3 steps in one direction continuously (a crossover is considered 1
step).
Maintain distance with instructor. As before, but increase the speed more
quickly this time and push them as fast as they can go.
Shuttle Races. As for the advance and retreat drill.
Transfer weight onto leading leg, all of it. Lean forward, keep leaning until you're about to fall over, then bring your rear leg forward to catch you. The front foot then crosses forward, and you should hit your opponent before your front foot hits the ground. Keep running past your opponent until you catch your balance, being careful not to cause corp-a-corp. Like the lunge the fleche is a ballistic action, it should be executed fast and with as little warning as possible.
Fleche on command, concentrating on the technique.
Maintain distance with the instructor. As with the previous distance drills, but
now the instructor drops both their arms to indicate that the participants should
fleche.
In pairs, one holds up his rear hand, palm facing forward at shoulder height. The
other fleches and aims to strike the hand with his own palm as he runs past.
Simon Says. If Simon says fleche, advance, retreat or anything else, you do it.
If not, you don't. The punishment for acting when you shouldn't is 5 fleches,
then rejoin the group.
Relay Races. Teams divide into 2, lined up so that the lead fencers of the two
goups are about fleche distance apart. 1st fencer fleches (without weapon),
striking the hand which the fencer opposite presents to him (as in the pair drill).
This fencer then fleches back to first group, and so on until all fencers in
the team have fleched.
Keep the knees bent to provide balance, stability and power. Back straight, don't rock back and forth or bounce up and down. The balestra or jump forward should be small, and horizontal rather than vertical. The front foot lifts first as for an advance, but the rear foot follows before it hits the ground, both feet landing at the same time and flat rather than heel first. Typically used to gain momentum.
Balestra up the venue and retreat back at your own pace, concentrating on the
technique.
Maintain distance with the instructor. Instructor starts slowly with infrequent
changes of direction, gradually building up speed and changing direction more
frequently. Instructor claps to indicate a balestra. In particular mix balestras
in with advances to emphasise the difference, also include balestra/lunges.
Mask game. In pairs, one fencer holds a mask in their weapon hand, the other
places their hand lightly on the mask. The mask holder may use advancing,
retreating and balestras to make his partner loose contact with the mask. No
more than 3 steps in one direction continuously.
Maintain distance with instructor. As before, but increase the speed more
quickly this time and push them as fast as they can go.
Shuttle Races. As described in the advance/retreat drill. This time participants
advance/balestra/advance their way up to each line, then retreat back.