Category: Drills

Hey Everyone,

Now it’s time for the final installment of our “How to Drill” series. Our final installment will talk about practicing skills in bouts. The best way to accomplish this is by limiting yourself in order to accomplish something specific. To do this you need to buy CBD products a specific action, moment, distance, preparations, and supporting actions.

A specific action could be a counter attack, the moment could be while their hand is down on an advance, the distance could be extension distance. I might need to prepare with early or searching parries or possibly even with a half extension. A supporting action for me might be distance parry and short attacks.

Bringing the drills into the bout are the final step towards integrating and mastering actions. It is crucial that fencers constantly complete all 4 parts of how to drill in order to identify, practice and integrate a skill into their fencing. Drilling can be done at any time. How frequently you do it is up to you and how quickly you want to improve.

Now it is time to talk about rules to follow while drilling.

Rule 1:

When drilling you should be able to have an 80% success rate. The only exception to this is if you are doing a 50/50 drill. In which case each fencer should be equally successful when drilling their actions.

Rule 2:

If the drill is not working then go back one step! The drill may be too complicated or the skill may be too challenging. Either way if it is too hard go back one step!

Rule 3:

Avoid going too fast or too slow. Do not make things too big or too small. Everything should be performed at an appropriate speed and size to facilitate learning.

Rule 4:

Keep it realistic. Act as though you were in a bout. Keep in mind the realistic does not mean at a speed you would use in a bout, however it does mean perform actions and respond as though you were in a bout. The speed an size should still be appropriate to the fencer learning the skill.

Rule 5:

Wear all proper gear. It’s no fun if someone gets hurt!

Rule 6:

Keep it fun! Things that are simple and too slow are BORING! Things that are fast and too complex are frustrating. We must keep a drill at a level that allows people to learn without being bored or frustrated.

Look for the final installment of this next week.

Here is part 2 of a continuously growing series! When drilling we have to not only assess what skill we want to work on but also what other parts of that skill we may need to practice. For example, I may need to work on my parry riposte, but what I really need to practice is seeing where the attack is going and choosing the right parry. I need to practice my tracking skills. It is also possible that I may need to practice timing of my parry or timing of my riposte. The list can go on! I am going to list out here some of the skills you may need to work on within an action. It is important to isolate and practice these skills specifically as practicing tracking will not help my technique or my timing necessarily.

List of possible skills to practice:

Timing
Distance
Technique
Tracking
Reaction
Speed
Acceleration
Deceleration
Accuracy
Tactics

Hope this helps. Keep your eyes open for the next post on how to create a successful drilling environment!

There are quite a few things to consider while practicing. First and most importantly is select a skill that you wish to practice. You might choose a skill you have a hard time with or a skill that you are already good at that you want to improve. Once you have selected a skill, you need to think of the scenario you might use it in while bouting. Next you want to create rules so that both sides can accomplish what they need to. For example if I want to practice a disengage attack with a fleche, I might have someone search for the blade and then step back. Remember it is important to know the skill you are practicing and make sure to design a situation where you can accomplish it and then practice with everyone in the club until you have the skill down!