No moaning about tweaked muscles or not-being-able-to-parry in this post. For I am in a good mood.
On Tuesday, I had a one-on-one lesson with my coach. It was only 20 minutes long, but I learned an almost scary amount of stuff.
Beforehand, I was almost stupidly nervous. What if I couldn't do it? What if he said, 'get outta here, kid - you're no good'?
But there was none of that. I discovered my en-garde position left something to be desired - my right knee tended to point inwards a bit, Betty Boop-style - but he patiently told me where I was going wrong each time I lapsed. It's a good thing I corrected it, really - a strapping chap doing a Boop impression in full fencing kit isn't the most attractive of sights.
The rest of the session was endless repetition - lunges and parries - until I got it right. It wasn't boring, either. Tiring, yes. But not boring.
It was a revelation having someone watch every part of my technique - although there was pressure on me to not make mistakes, it was delivered in a friendly way, and I could ask as many questions as I wanted without annoying the rest of the group.
'When would I do a feint and disengage?'
'If your opponent always does a Quarte parry, spot the pattern, and play up to it - feint the attack to make him parry, then disengage and continue your lunge'.
Simple.
I'm going to try and do a couple of private sessions a month - as well as ramping up my club sessions to two a week. I'm becoming addicted!
Next post: Tricky business....
Friday 16 March 2007
Monday 12 March 2007
Sproing!
I knackered my leg.
A particularly heavy session of footwork turned into a really stiff right leg for a week after the practice. It started to get better, and was 90 per cent there when, two days before last week's club night, I was reaching for something on the floor.
Twang!
D'oh. Back to square one. I had a nasty evening of it at the club - especially as I just couldn't for the life of me get my circle-sixte parry right. I was close to chucking my mask against the wall, but my partner Mrs The Duelist, bless her, convinced me to carry on.
Turns out I could do the parry just fine, but I kept mucking up the riposte because I was lunging before extending my arm. I went right back to basics for a few minutes, and I got it eventually, but it was my first proper setback. I hope I don't get too many more mental blocks like that....
Still, I've got a club night this evening and a one-on-one session tomorrow night with my fencing master, so at least I've got plenty of time to practice.
Then when Mrs The Duelist and I get our jackets, we can practice at home. Good for marital stress, that.
A particularly heavy session of footwork turned into a really stiff right leg for a week after the practice. It started to get better, and was 90 per cent there when, two days before last week's club night, I was reaching for something on the floor.
Twang!
D'oh. Back to square one. I had a nasty evening of it at the club - especially as I just couldn't for the life of me get my circle-sixte parry right. I was close to chucking my mask against the wall, but my partner Mrs The Duelist, bless her, convinced me to carry on.
Turns out I could do the parry just fine, but I kept mucking up the riposte because I was lunging before extending my arm. I went right back to basics for a few minutes, and I got it eventually, but it was my first proper setback. I hope I don't get too many more mental blocks like that....
Still, I've got a club night this evening and a one-on-one session tomorrow night with my fencing master, so at least I've got plenty of time to practice.
Then when Mrs The Duelist and I get our jackets, we can practice at home. Good for marital stress, that.
Tuesday 6 March 2007
The club
I've been terribly remiss. I haven't updated this for a month, and now I feel bad! So now you're going to get a week's worth of updates to get you up to speed.
First up, the initial club session.
My word. My legs hurt so much after this bad-boy that I could barely move them. Made certain necessary ablutions rather tricky, I don't mind telling you.
It was all because of the warm-up - a sadistic, knackering military-style beasting. Well, not quite that bad - but certainly sadistic and knackering. My legs had gone back to their normal semi-active state after the six-week course, so putting them back into the en-garde position after 40 minutes of squats, sprinting, stretching, curling and lifting required much effort.
It turned out OK in the end, though, because once I was in the position, my poor pins were so bewildered that they pretty much locked into place - en-garde, all the time!
Parries were the order of the day. Quarte and Sixte, specifically. Lots of drilling and practicing. By the end, I was perfect - it was beautiful. Then on to the free fence at the end, where I promptly messed them all up again in the heat of the moment. Oh well.
After that, it was home, sleep, and up the next morning to find that my legs had been replaced by two non-bending scaffolding poles.
It was like that all week....
First up, the initial club session.
My word. My legs hurt so much after this bad-boy that I could barely move them. Made certain necessary ablutions rather tricky, I don't mind telling you.
It was all because of the warm-up - a sadistic, knackering military-style beasting. Well, not quite that bad - but certainly sadistic and knackering. My legs had gone back to their normal semi-active state after the six-week course, so putting them back into the en-garde position after 40 minutes of squats, sprinting, stretching, curling and lifting required much effort.
It turned out OK in the end, though, because once I was in the position, my poor pins were so bewildered that they pretty much locked into place - en-garde, all the time!
Parries were the order of the day. Quarte and Sixte, specifically. Lots of drilling and practicing. By the end, I was perfect - it was beautiful. Then on to the free fence at the end, where I promptly messed them all up again in the heat of the moment. Oh well.
After that, it was home, sleep, and up the next morning to find that my legs had been replaced by two non-bending scaffolding poles.
It was like that all week....
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