Fencing with my Sister, Fencing without Direction
I've been meaning to observe for a while now that one of the wonderful things about fencing is that it is something I share with my sister. We haven't had an activity in common since band in school (she's not a genre geek, nor political, nor religious, nor...). In fact, fencing is a lot like band in that she has much more natural talent for it than I do, and has advanced well ahead of me in a short time.
One of the bad things is that I'm feeling a great deal of frustration in fencing, lately. The instructor is less often monitoring drills or bouts; he pairs us off, says "allez!", and we go with little analysis or correction. Not everyone began with this instructor, of course, and every time new people come in, they have a different take on right-of-way, and how long they may, say, hold a bind, or whether they must halt and acknowledge a hit (hint: yes!). I feel less of a grasp of what's going on than I did six months ago. I think this is mainly because there's no directing (aka refereeing) to reveal what is actually happening and analyze what should happen instead.
I will ask some of the more experienced students if they might take a little time from their own bouts to direct -- with lots of commentary -- some of the intermediate people's bouts. It would be generous of them, because none of us can yet offer competent directing in return. (Everyone wants a director! No one wants to direct.)
One of the bad things is that I'm feeling a great deal of frustration in fencing, lately. The instructor is less often monitoring drills or bouts; he pairs us off, says "allez!", and we go with little analysis or correction. Not everyone began with this instructor, of course, and every time new people come in, they have a different take on right-of-way, and how long they may, say, hold a bind, or whether they must halt and acknowledge a hit (hint: yes!). I feel less of a grasp of what's going on than I did six months ago. I think this is mainly because there's no directing (aka refereeing) to reveal what is actually happening and analyze what should happen instead.
I will ask some of the more experienced students if they might take a little time from their own bouts to direct -- with lots of commentary -- some of the intermediate people's bouts. It would be generous of them, because none of us can yet offer competent directing in return. (Everyone wants a director! No one wants to direct.)