Posts about modern sports fencing
By Robin Catling.
Teaching foil and sabre is never as easy as you’d like it to be, chiefly because in modern sports fencing, we have the challenge of ‘fencing time’ and the rules which make foil and sabre ‘priority weapons’.
I took up most of a group lesson with the following examination of the priority weapons and the circle of attacks. …
Priority weapons and the Circle of Attacks Read More »
West Devon Swords will be at Okhampton Sports and Fitness Festival’s Super Sporting Funday on July 16th at Simmons Park. We’ll be there with plastic fencing for the juniors and the chance to try some historical swordplay with longsword and rapier.
“Great chances to take part in archery, fitness sessions , swims, tennis, putting, fencing, runs or walks, badminton, table tennis, putting, trampolining and even a climbing wall- all at Parklands or with us at OCRA .
There’s also lots for children and adults of all ages to do also, so people can come along on their own and with family and friends. Refreshments are available.”
WDS at Super Sporting Sunday – 16th July Read More »
As part of the OCRA Sports Summer Holiday activities programme, West Devon Swords will be presenting a Fencing and Archery Day:
Fri 4 August – 10am-3pm – 8+yrs
“Have a go at modern foil, epee, sabre and archery. Learn about the history of swords and how medieval knights trained with them!”
Cost is £15 for the day – bring a packed lunch.
Venue yet to be confirmed, but will be a space at or outside the OCRA Pavilion in the Park (Okehampton College/Parklands Leisure Centre if wet)
Fencing and Archery Day – Friday 4th August Read More »
by Robin Catling.
From Pirates of the Caribbean, to Star Wars and even Transformers, it seems every other movie poster features a character with a sword; there’s been a slew of TV and online ads featuring Olympic fencers in action, TV shows such as Arrow and the Musketeers keep the skill and the romance of the sword alive. It’s no wonder even the smallest children want to give it a try. …
In praise of plastic Read More »
by Victoria Pritchard:
If someone insulted your family, what would you do? Cast a glove at their feet and challenge them to a duel? Probably not. Yet, for gentlemen living between the eleventh and nineteenth centuries, duelling was the only way to defend your family’s honour. Men who didn’t ‘throw down the gauntlet’ were seen as cowards. …
A Matter of Honour: The Duelling Tradition Read More »
Owing to demand, we continue with a beginners’ short-course in sabre.
To register:
call: 07956 409818
email: contact@westdevonswords.info
Beginners’ Sabre Short-course June 2017 Read More »
by Victoria Pritchard:
It’s your first competition. There are lots of fencers milling around, warming up or having practice fights, and you feel like the new kid on the block. Was that toast you had for breakfast or butterflies?
Nerves can help us win fights by releasing adrenalin, but all too often they ruin our concentration and lose us hits. The guilty culprits: our minds. If you find negative thoughts overwhelm you, or start wondering why you ever thought you were good at fencing, try the techniques below to build up your mental fitness, beat the nerves and get into the competition ‘zone’.
1. Keep Your Concentration
a) Come up with a fixed routine to follow when you arrive. This might include a set warm up, followed by a lesson from your coach and/or a practice bout with a fellow competitor (make sure you spot their favourite moves in case you have to fence them!). This will relax any muscle tension, and get you into fencing mode.
b) Do you get distracted during a bout? Maybe your entire family has turned up to watch, or people are cheering your opponent? If so, you can use ‘trigger words’ to stop the nerves and keep focused. For example, if you usually rush in to attack, think ‘distance’. If you’re prone to London-eye-sized circular parries, think ‘small’. By concentrating on how to achieve the hits, you’ll be half way to winning them.
2. Stay Confident
a) Arrive at the competition with a plan of attacks to use against your opponent. If you’re really dedicated, you can think up attacks your opponent might make, and how you would combat them. Just knowing that you have a few fencing aces up your sleeve will increase your self-esteem, reduce nerves, and turn you from a target dummy into a prize fighter.
b) Don’t put yourself down. If you find your mind brimming with negative thoughts while you’re waiting to fence (‘He’s better than me’; ‘I’m useless’), imagine a red stop sign. Then replace the sign and negative thought with a positive one (‘I can beat this one’ , ‘I’m going to prove just how good I am’).
Having confidence in your ability means you’re more likely to win hits.
3. Keep Your Emotional Control
a) If you tense up when you’re nervous, try some breathing exercises to make you relax. Inhale slowly, counting to eight (slow) seconds, hold for four, and then exhale, again for eight seconds. Repeat this as often as you need to. Beware of overdoing it – you need to be geared up for the fight of your life, not half-asleep!
Most fencers spend hours practising their technique and building up physical fitness, but they forget that mental fitness is just as important. Learning to deal with nerves can make the vital difference between losing a bout and winning it. So take a few minutes after every training session to get your mind into shape. A tough mind means a tough fencer. Your opponents want to intimidate you; resist them and the battle is half-won.
Oh, yes: don’t look at the box!
Competition Nerves: the Final Battle Read More »
The fact and fiction of the attack that never failsby Robin Catling:
Duelling became the preoccupation of many swordsmen in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Fencing masters of the many academies published complex manuals of fencing technique, most hinting vaguely at the master’s knowledge of a “botte secrète”, or secret thrust a special attack which could not be parried, guaranteed of absolute success every time.
In the 1997 movie Le Bossu (“the Hunchback”), the secret thrust becomes a central plot device. In the movie, Danielle Auteuil plays an ambitious chancer and man servant to an arrogant nobleman – the Duke of Nevers. The Duke’s skill with a sword saves him from ongoing assassination attempts by his villainous half-brother. After one such attempt, the Duke teaches Auteuil the secret thrust. It is a complex disarming move which relies on the element of surprise and on the opponent being completely predictable.
When the Duke is killed, Auteuil rescues his baby daughter and goes into hiding for sixteen years.
Attacked by brigands, Auteuil teaches the girl the Nevers secret thrust, which exposes her identity when she kills a corrupt nobleman. The hunt resumes, Auteuil strikes back, disguised as the hunchback of the title, despatching each of the assassins using the Nevers secret thrust.
As a signature move it is bold, complex and outrageous. Against a straight thrust:
In real life, however, things are rarely so predictable. The physical style of fencing, the technique of a particular school and the conditions of the fight – each can dramatically alter the reactions of the opponent so as to render the secret thrust a dangerous liability.
Michael York almost gets himself killed using the D’Artangnan family’s secret thrust in the 1974 Three Musketeers. This is why a keen beginner can score hits against an international ranking fencer and why actual duels could quickly degenerate into brawls when each fencer’s carefully drilled tactical plan fell apart at the first exchange.
Of course, no secret thrust ever stayed secret for long as fencing masters devised countermeasures.
As always, there is no substitute for hard work, sound technique and practice!
The Secret Thrust… Read More »
For schools, events and corporate days, West Devon Swords is fully insured with British Fencing and AMA-UK and has two qualified coaches in the three sporting weapons – foil, epee and sabre, as well as in historical swordplay or ‘HEMA’. …
What we offer – schools, events Read More »
