Thursday, November 5, 2009

First lesson

The first lesson was AWESOME.  We covered a lot of ground and went through pretty much every basic action.  It is going to take a lot of time to unlearn what I've been doing for 5 years, but I can already tell that the style of fencing will suit me better and it will make me so much more effective.  For posterity sake, I'm going to run through what we worked on and the changes I need to make.

En Guard position:  I need to roll my thumb to the top.  I have a very good en guard position generally.  I've had fellow club members remark that I almost never show target (hand, wrist, forearm).  But my riposts and binds aren't great, and I miss.  A lot.  I think rolling my thumb to the top will correct a lot of this.

Extension:  I need keep my arm much more relaxed and really extend from the shoulder - a straight, strong attack.

Lunge:  I've had it drilled into me FOREVER that the hand goes before the foot.  Always, hand then foot.  This is so that your point is on target and you're simply propelling it forward with your lunge.  I'm now changing it.  Which makes sense - the longer you keep your hand relaxed, the more likely you'll be able to react to your opponent by disengaging, etc.

I also need to make my lunge longer and more powerful.  To this end, my coach hooked me up to a harness with bungie cords on it.  He had me advance, lunge and retreat with it on, and then off.  I felt like I could fly after taking it off.  It was incredible.

Ultimately, I have a lot of adjustments to make, some bigger and some smaller.  There is so much muscle memory that needs to be unlearned that it will take time.  I also have to get into better shape, along with tightening and cleaning up a lot of my footwork.

One thing I need to remember while working on all of this is to stay focused on long term goals.  I fenced with someone after my lesson and I had so many of these small, basic changes floating through my head that I almost forgot to fence.  I got some good counterattacks on my opponent, as well as a good number of double touches, so I must have been doing something at least partly right.  I am essentially starting over, so it is going to be slow and rough going at first.  I need to work on improving while not getting frustrated.  It's an easy trap for me to fall into, especially considering my temperament and personality (which is another post for another day).

But the best thing about my lesson?  Having a coach tell me that he sees a lot he can work with.  Having a coach tell me not to get overwhelmed.  Having a coach tell me "My fencers' problems are my problems.  I don't want you to think that all of these things are problems YOU have to fix.  No, these are my problems and I have to fix them.  You put in the work, and I'll do the fixing."  It was incredibly uplifting and motivating to have someone pushing me to be better and promising to do whatever he can to help me get there.  It feels wonderful to be excited about fencing again for the first time in a long time.

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