The demonstration is a key part of teaching fencing skills, both in the initial presentation of a new skill and in the correction of the performance of a known skill. If you teach fencing or coach competitive fencers you will have to demonstrate skills frequently. Therefore it is to your advantage to know how to do this effectively.
It should go without saying that doing a good demonstration requires that the coach actually know how to perform the skill. Unfortunately this cannot be considered a given. An amazing number of coaches believe that a disengage is executed by extending the arm, then passing the point around the bell, and then lunging, effectively converting a simple one part progressive action into a three-part action. If you are going to demonstrate a skill, go to your professional library and review what current thinking is on how the skill is to be performed. Or call the master from whom you take lessons. Or both. Either way, do your homework.
The actual flow of the demonstration is fast to slow to quick:
(1) Perform the skill at fencing speed.
(2) Perform the skill slowly.
(3) Break down the skill into its component parts, and demonstrate each part in sequence.
(4) Reassemble the skill and perform it quickly. This is often expressed as doing the skill again at fencing speed. In my experience, you do not want the final stage to be really fast because students are still trying to understand the movement. Aiming for an intermediate speed between fast and slow shows them the action, while still being slow enough to comprehend the flow.
Breaking down the skill into its parts is an important part of the demonstration. In doing this, it is critical that you understand the relationships between the various parts of the skill and how they integrate with other things the fencer should be doing at the same time. In presenting the parts to the students, a general rule of all teaching is to go from known skills to the unknown new skill. Similarly work from simple skills to more complex ones. To take a simple example, the feint of straight thrust disengage breaks down into:
... two actions the students should already know - you start with those building blocks to get to the unknown skill of feint of straight thrust disengage.
... two simple actions the students learned as simple attacks, the straight thrust and the disengage - you start with those building blocks to get to the complex skill of feint of straight thrust disengage.
How much talking you do during the demonstration is a matter of personal style, but I have found that the more senses you engage the better the students will understand what you are doing. If all you do to demonstrate the disengage is do a disengage silently, at least 50% of the students will miss the point that you went around the opponent's bell. There are too many components to even simple actions for students to be able to separate the key from the not so important without explanation.
Some skills are more easily understood in a side view, others from behind the blade, still others from the target's perspective. If your students are having trouble understanding the demonstrated skill, change their perspective. Have them stand behind you or your demonstration partner, looking over your shoulders, or have them view the skill from the referee's perspective.
The view of the skill is a key difference between the technique of demonstration in the group lesson and in the individual lesson. In the group lesson, you have a partner to help demonstrate the skill to an audience, an audience that can observe the demonstration from a variety of angles. In the individual lesson, your demonstration partner is also the audience, and sees the skill primarily in one view.
A second key difference is that in a group setting you will hopefully have a more experienced student or an Assistant Moniteur (or Animateur) or other coach to use as a demonstration partner. In an individual lesson, you may have to modify the demonstration with a more extensive explanation of what the student has to do to make the skill work. The difference is:
... with an Assistant Moniteur: "I am going to do a feint of straight thrust disengage" and the Assistant Moniteur knows to react to the feint with a parry.
... with a single student: "I am going to do a feint of straight thrust disengage. When I extend in 6th you parry 6th and hold it. I will pass my point under your guard and hit in 4th."
Learning to do effective demonstrations requires that you do demonstrations. Developing the smoothness expected of professionals requires many repetitions. So start now to work on developing this critical instructional skill.
It should go without saying that doing a good demonstration requires that the coach actually know how to perform the skill. Unfortunately this cannot be considered a given. An amazing number of coaches believe that a disengage is executed by extending the arm, then passing the point around the bell, and then lunging, effectively converting a simple one part progressive action into a three-part action. If you are going to demonstrate a skill, go to your professional library and review what current thinking is on how the skill is to be performed. Or call the master from whom you take lessons. Or both. Either way, do your homework.
The actual flow of the demonstration is fast to slow to quick:
(1) Perform the skill at fencing speed.
(2) Perform the skill slowly.
(3) Break down the skill into its component parts, and demonstrate each part in sequence.
(4) Reassemble the skill and perform it quickly. This is often expressed as doing the skill again at fencing speed. In my experience, you do not want the final stage to be really fast because students are still trying to understand the movement. Aiming for an intermediate speed between fast and slow shows them the action, while still being slow enough to comprehend the flow.
Breaking down the skill into its parts is an important part of the demonstration. In doing this, it is critical that you understand the relationships between the various parts of the skill and how they integrate with other things the fencer should be doing at the same time. In presenting the parts to the students, a general rule of all teaching is to go from known skills to the unknown new skill. Similarly work from simple skills to more complex ones. To take a simple example, the feint of straight thrust disengage breaks down into:
... two actions the students should already know - you start with those building blocks to get to the unknown skill of feint of straight thrust disengage.
... two simple actions the students learned as simple attacks, the straight thrust and the disengage - you start with those building blocks to get to the complex skill of feint of straight thrust disengage.
How much talking you do during the demonstration is a matter of personal style, but I have found that the more senses you engage the better the students will understand what you are doing. If all you do to demonstrate the disengage is do a disengage silently, at least 50% of the students will miss the point that you went around the opponent's bell. There are too many components to even simple actions for students to be able to separate the key from the not so important without explanation.
Some skills are more easily understood in a side view, others from behind the blade, still others from the target's perspective. If your students are having trouble understanding the demonstrated skill, change their perspective. Have them stand behind you or your demonstration partner, looking over your shoulders, or have them view the skill from the referee's perspective.
The view of the skill is a key difference between the technique of demonstration in the group lesson and in the individual lesson. In the group lesson, you have a partner to help demonstrate the skill to an audience, an audience that can observe the demonstration from a variety of angles. In the individual lesson, your demonstration partner is also the audience, and sees the skill primarily in one view.
A second key difference is that in a group setting you will hopefully have a more experienced student or an Assistant Moniteur (or Animateur) or other coach to use as a demonstration partner. In an individual lesson, you may have to modify the demonstration with a more extensive explanation of what the student has to do to make the skill work. The difference is:
... with an Assistant Moniteur: "I am going to do a feint of straight thrust disengage" and the Assistant Moniteur knows to react to the feint with a parry.
... with a single student: "I am going to do a feint of straight thrust disengage. When I extend in 6th you parry 6th and hold it. I will pass my point under your guard and hit in 4th."
Learning to do effective demonstrations requires that you do demonstrations. Developing the smoothness expected of professionals requires many repetitions. So start now to work on developing this critical instructional skill.
Walter Green is a Maitre d'Armes (Fencing Master) certified by the Academie d'Armes Internationale. He teaches modern competitive and classical fencing, historical swordplay, bayonet fencing, and Asian martial arts swords at Salle Green ( http://www.sallegreen.com ), the fencing school he operates in Glen Allen, Virginia. Maitre Green also trains fencing coaches through the Pan American Fencing Academy ( http://panamfencing.com ). He serves as a Head Examiner for the certification of professional fencing coaches for the United States Fencing Coaches Association, and chairs the USFCA's Club Committee.
Copyright 2010 by Walter G. Green III. All rights reserved.
Copyright 2010 by Walter G. Green III. All rights reserved.
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