Anticipation in Fencing Drills

Drills are cornerstone of fencing education, and rightly so, but are also prone to certain problems. If left unattended, these issues can undermine the benefits of the drill. Typically, drills are something that one does, not something one talks about—this is as true of coaches as it is fencing students. We do not dwell on them, analyze them, examine them objectively as we often should—we learn them in good faith, we usually benefit, and so assume it all goes to plan. For the most part, proper and effective corrections allowing, this is true. However, it is not automatic.

Some time ago I wrote a short piece on the problem of artificiality in drills and whether or not some standard drills are “realistic” in the don’t-get-hit sense [https://saladellatrespade.com/2019/06/05/fencing-drills-and-artificiality/]. Here, I should like to discuss the issue of anticipation, specifically how students, facing a known and repeated sequence, often act preemptively. Usually this means that they make their action too soon and nullify the point of the drill. An example will help illustrate this.

Drill: Circular Parries in 4^th

• Coach: attacks with thrust to inside line
• Student: takes 4^th to parry
• Coach: makes a derobement to continue the attack
• Student: circles around to retake 4^th, parries, and ripostes

In this setup, one we might use with many different weapons, the two most likely places a student might act too soon are with the initial parry and with the second, circular parry. Of the two, it is the second, the circular parry, where this tends to happen more.

Ideally, parries are responses to a specific, concrete stimulus, the attack. It is a reaction. When we know where a blow is coming, as we do in a drill, it is easy to act on what we know will happen instead of what we actually see. A good coach will see this and correct it, especially if the student is not brand new. With newer, beginning students, we often pick one egregious fault to focus on, and tackle other issues in time. We might point out that the front foot is not aligned, or that they’re not extending first before lunging, but we do not provide a litany of woes each lesson as it is not helpful, but demoralizing.

However, with a student ready to make circular parries, as in the example covered here, we would be right to correct any anticipatory, not-reactive action. How we do this is as important as doing it. The first step is noticing it, which any coach should straight away. The second step is pointing out to the student, plainly and kindly. Some students will recognize it themselves and correct, others will when corrected, and still others may not see it or be unable, for whatever reason, to correct.

For those students who struggle, there are things we can do to help them help themselves. The first, and easiest thing to do, is to expose the anticipatory action—in the example here, the coach would attack, but not disengage. To expose the preemptory second parry, all the coach need do is slow down the speed of the attack. If the student is making the circular action too early, they will bump into the incoming steel. This is a good moment to point out the issue as the student will see, in real time, why acting too early defeats the purpose.

The coach might also change the measure, perhaps step farther in on the initial attack—while not wise from a tactical point of view, from a teaching point of view it will first reveal if the student isn’t maintaining good distance, and second will likewise lead them to encounter the coach’s weapon if the student parries too soon. Here as before one would then point out the mistake, have the student reset, and try again. If the student begins to keep distance and wait for the disengage, then the coach should revert to more appropriate speed and measure. [1]

There are times that students rush because they’re uncomfortable and perhaps not ready to make an action. That is okay. It is not always easy to tell, so a good approach is to simplify the drill. Again following the example above, start by having them work only on the initial parry 4; changes in measure and speed will help the student perfect the action and test their ability to adapt. Once they’re comfortable with this simpler action, one can try the more advanced version again.

It may help to bridge the gap between simple parry and the addition of a circular parry by having them drill the circular movement in isolation too. One way to do this is by playing “keep away” with the weapon. Coach and student, or two partnered students, take turns chasing the other’s blade—one has an extended line, the attacker; the other a bent arm on defense. When the attacker attempts to make contact/engage the blade, the other disengages and/or circles around to avoid the engagement. Next, the defender attempts to engage the attacker’s blade in the same ways, and the attacker attempts to avoid in turn. Exercises like this help one learn and perfect the motor movements necessary to disengage and perform derobements, but also are predicated on reacting to real-time stimuli—one can only avoid if one avoids the steel at the right time.

In sum, if one finds a student preemptively acting in a drill, slow the stimulus down, change up the measure and speed if necessary, and should it prove useful stop and return to simpler material. There is nothing wrong with the basics—in the end, we use those most, and the best fencing is normally a result of simple actions executed at a high level of skill.

NOTES:

[1] In option lessons, this is normal, that is that the coach normally varies things in order to hone the student’s ability. We start with an action the student knows, and then introduce it in increasingly more difficult tactical set-ups.