Author: esoyka

Weekly Results

Results for February 8 – 14th, 2010

2/14 – Uriah Jones Memorial Youth Tournament

Russell Brearley – Y14 Mixed Foil – 1st Place

Jacob Shultis – Y14 Mixed Foil – 3rd Place

Cadet Mixed Epee – 3rd Place

James Dolan – Y14 Mixed Foil – 10th Place

1/30 2010 CDFS Winter Foil

Russell Brearley – D & Under Mixed Foil – 1st Place

Jacob Shultis – D & Under Mixed Foil – 3rd Place

David Amrani – D & Under Mixed Foil – 3rd Place

Russell’s 1st place win on suday was his 4th in a row! Go Redfish!!

Confidence and the Fencer

So as I gave a lesson today I ended up discussing confidence with my athlete.  This got me thinking, “What is confidence?”, “What does it look like when you are fencing?”, “How do you get it?”, and “Are there any downsides to being confident?”



I got to think about these ideas during my long trip to and from New Windsor and thought I would share my thoughts on the matter.  So let’s start from the beginning… What is does it mean to be confident?  Meriam-Webster.com seems to have a couple of thoughts on the matter and they are:



1 : full of conviction : certain
2 : having or showing assurance and self-reliance


I personally feel that these are good descriptions of what it means to be confident.  It can be very easy to mistake someone who is “cocky” for someone who is confident.  I believe that there are a few key differences though.  Let’s talk about what a confident fencer looks like and how they behave.


A confident fencer would be someone who executes their actions without wavering.  What I mean by this is if they are going to make a beat four it is sharp, crisp and clean.  They can perform it at a variety of speeds and their positioning and balance are very good.  A confident fencer can perform their action(s) in a variety of circumstances.  I also think they have a better grasp of what their “game” is.  They perform their actions without fear of what might happen because they have the ability to handle a large number of responses.


In other words, what I feel I am describing is a fencer who has a good foundation!  Someone who knows their basic techniques, understands distance and timing, and understands control and how to be a leader.  This doesn’t mean the fencer has the best technique/distance/timing/control, but they know their abilities and can work well with what they have.


So now the question becomes “How does a fencer become confident?”  To answer this I would say that since confidence has a strong technical basis, technique is a great place to start!  Other places a fencer may choose to look at would be fencing theory, timing, and distance.  Most people can see gains in their physical ability very quickly, so technique lessons which involve a large degree of success is a great way to build confidence in an action.


So now, you may be thinking, this is perfect for someone who is starting out, but what if I am an A or B rated fencer with this problem?  I would tell you that there are several factors that may be involved.  First let’s look at your stressors.  If you have other problems in life aside from fencing, then these may have a negative impact on your ability or mindset and will cause you to feel like you cannot perform an action.  Another cause of stress could be self-inflicted.  You may be putting unreasonable goals on yourself, or you could be giving yourself goals that are not in sync with the reason you fence.  To fix this problem REMOVE YOUR STRESSORS!  This will be a big help although it may be hard to figure out at times.


Another way of fixing your problem is not to remove stress, but to rise above it.  Some people work best by conquering their demons.  This essentially means that you have found a way to handle more stresses at one time.  A great analogy is juggling.  Some people can juggle only one or two balls at a time, some three, others four or five.  If you can train yourself to juggle one more ball that is one more problem you have learned to handle and it will be very obvious to you that you have learned to handle it.  This tends to give people a big boost in confidence.  I would also caution that while this is a very easy sign to feel it takes time to learn how to juggle more balls.


Another solution which is very similar to the first is to take lessons or practice in an environment where you will have a very high rate of success.  Some have heard the story of the coach who would throw himself onto his epee fencers tips in the lesson (he would even kick the tip when they were going for a toe touch!)  This high degree of success will frequently give you a feel-good boost which can help you in changing to a positive “I can do this” mindset.


On to my final thought, “Are there any downsides to being confident?”


I would like to say “No”, however, I know that not everyone understands the difference from being confident and from being perfect!  If someone believes so strongly in themselves that they can never make a mistake, then they are fooling themselves.  Mistakes happen all the time.  If they did not we would be seeing a lot more bouts ending in a 15-0 win for someone.  This over confidence can be negative since it will create a false sense of correctness and the fencer will not have the ability to take criticism.  This student will also tend to not work as hard because “They can already do that action” or “They want more of a challenge”.  This leads to a deterioration of a skill because they are not practicing the basic elements which made them strong to begin with.  A classic example of “Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness.”


Aside from the last scenario I would say that being confident is good, so long as you are still willing to admit you are human.  Confident fencers will make better actions and will have a more cohesive game because they can perform without second guessing their choices.  They understand that mistakes happen and they know how to make solutions or they can perform solutions given by a coach.  The most important thing is that a confident fencers understands their own abilities and they understand their own mindset.  In the end I think that the best way to obtain confidence is by gaining experience in your fencing.  Practice your skills and fence with as many people as you can.  You may have some tough times along the way, but if it was always easy then everyone would be confident!  Keep working hard, learn and redefine your boundaries, and you will stand out from the crowd.


Some final questions that I did not include above came to me as I was writing this.  I think I will leave it for you guys to answer…



Do you believe in your abilities enough to be a confident fencer?  Do you have what it takes to keep pushing yourself and to lose and regain your confidence (it will happen!) as you learn more?  I hope the answer to both is yes.

Scales for Foil and Saber

Here are the scales for foil and saber.  This is only one side of the drill.  A “banderole” in saber is also known as a “brush cut”.    Videos will be up soon.  Enjoy!

Foil Scales

1. Beat 4 Attack, Beat 4 disengage attack, beat 4 coupe attack.

2. Circle 6 flick to shoulder, Take 8 hit belly.

3. Stop hit chest, Parry 4 riposte to chest.

4. 6 chest, 4 chest, 1 belly.

5. Stop hit 6 chest, stop hit 4 chest, stop hit 8 chest.

6. Cirlce 6 engagement (with half step), beat 4 attack chest

7. Press 4 (with half advance), stop hit, parry 6 riposte

8. Beat 8 chest, Circle beat 6 shoulder

9. Counter Attack Belly, Counter Attack Chest, Beat 4 flank

10. Attack with lunge, 4 counter-riposte or 6 counter-riposte (dependant on B’s parry riposte)

Saber Scales

1. Beat 4 hand, beat 4 arm, beat 4 body

2. Change beat 3, Banderole-Flank

3. Counter-attack under the hand, parry 5, riposte to Flank

4. Parry 3 riposte head, 5 riposte head, 1 riposte head

5. Counter-attack outside of hand, parry 3, riposte head. Counter-attack under hand, parry 5,
riposte head. Counter-attack inside of hand, parry 4, riposte head.

6. Counter 3, point over, parry 1, head.

7. High counter 3, point under, parry 2, body.

8. Point, beat 2 body to right, change beat 1 head

9 Feint head, counter-attack under, over, beat 4 cut Flank

10. Attack head, riposte: either to Flank or by Banderole

Practice makes Permanent!

Hey Everyone!

I thought now would be a great time to talk about one of my favorite quotes from Maestro Ed Richards.  Ed often said “Practice makes permanent.”  His next line would talk about how striving for perfection in practice is what makes you better.  I think this message is universal for all sports.

When we do repetitions of a skill we cement that particular movement within our skill set.  If we are practicing the same error for months or years at a time, that error becomes a habit and that habit becomes difficult to change.  Constantly working on making the action better will lead to more success in the action while we are bouting.

One of the best ways to be able to constantly work on an action is to create scenarios where you always have to pay attention.  Mindless repetitions are the enemy!  We need to work the action against many different situations.  Let’s talk about a few ways to do this.

First we can have a partner (or coach) who can vary the way they make an action.  When someone changes their attacking speed and angle we end up paying more attention to our parries.

The other method is to practice against different people.  These partners will all have different methods of execution which is very similar to one person who can change up the way they make an action.

So the moral of the story is since “Practice makes permanent” we will add variety to the practice to simulate the most realistic scenarios.  This way we have better practice leading to better skills.  By doing this method of practice you will start to become the master of your actions… Permanently!

New Adult Classes

We are happy to announce our new Adult Program starting next month in February. To start off, our new Adult Program is now only $49 a month! The foil class on Monday will be from 7p to 7:30pm followed by two and a half hours of open fencing. Our Epee class will be on Tuesdays from 7p to 7:30pm also followed by open fencing until 10pm. Both classes will feature fencing lessons geared toward the adult who wants to just fence and stab their friends. During the open fencing time we will offer ongoing tournaments. The first of these tournaments will be a Ladder Tournament (see the attached pdf for full rules.)

If you really enjoy fencing, you can take advantage of our unlimited Adult Program and have access to both Foil & Epee classes and receive 2 Private Lessons every month for $99.

Ladder Tournament Rules

Phoenix Center Foil Open in a Wrap

This past Wednesday night we held a mid-holiday foil tournament and had great turnout!  Within less than 2 weeks we brought together 15 fencers to make the event a C1 (missed being a B1 by 1 “D” Rated fencer!).  We had some talented fencers attending the event including Ethan Patterson (“A” rated foilist from Gristmill) and William Barnhart (“B” Rated foil fencers from The Phoenix Center).

2 “D” ratings were earned in the competition by Josiah Patterson and Eric Soyka.  William Barnhart and Ethan Patterson met in the Gold Medal Round.  They had a great bout which Will won 15-13.  Will was undefeated in the event scoring a total of 75 touches and getting hit only 31 times.  This gives Will a total indicator of +44!

We certainly hope to hold more events like this in the future!  Keep checking in to find out when we hold more tournaments or to see other people’s views on the tournament.

Check out the results here!

Bergen Saber Open Review

The Bergen Saber Open was this past weekend.  We had 2 of our fencers participate in this event.  Tristan Dubin and Ian Shultis placed 18th and 20th respectively.  This was a tough tournament with competitors like Ben Igoe and Mike Etropolski participating.  Ben is currently 2nd in the country and Mike is currently 10th in the country.

Ian’s first match was easily won, but he had a tough time from there.  Ben Igoe was his second match.  Ian made a good attack in the bout, but Ben’s height advantage and experience proved too much for Ian.  Ian lost his other pool bouts and had to fence Denis Dukhvalov in his first DE.  Ian and Denis had a good match, but Denis pulled ahead in the second period to win.  Denis lost to Ben Igoe in the next DE.

Tristan also won one of his pool bouts and lost the other three.  Tristan’s matches were close and he was making some good actions.  He had a close bout against Adam Lewicki but ended up losing 5-4.  Tristan also had to fence Igor Dukhvalov and Charles Copti.  Tristan’s first DE was against “A” rated saber fencer Andrew Stetsiv.  Tristan scored 7 touches in this bout, but Andrew’s speed and experience was more than Tristan could handle that day.

All in all I would say our fencers did well.  The main goal for them at this event was to practice and that is exactly what they did.  Results can be found here.   You can also see videos from the competition on our YouTube channel.