Monthly Archives: July 2015

Website updates

Renfence Website updates 25 July 2015

I’ve been working on the site, doing some catch up with the lessons from Term 2 at Drummoyne and Epping which I haven’t posted yet. One of the main reasons for the delay is the time it takes me to convert my brief teaching notes into detailed step by step instructions. Most of the time my drill notes will be a simple single sentence for me to remember the drill. A drill that states “Feint disengage to hit on the pass” is not in any way useful for a student to understand the actual drill. The more detailed explanation requires me to describe starting guards, and detailed actions in sequence, roughly 5 to 6 times greater wordage compared to my teaching notes. I also have to add the teaching notes which explain the subtlety of each individual action and the various mistakes that can occur, all of which make the drill information useful for remote readers.

As a part of this catch up I’ve also added a new menu group for the Spadone lessons. This menu page also has the lessons listed in order for the teaching curriculum I followed during the course. This now brings the number of teaching curricula to 3 for the site. Each of the spadone lesson posts now also has links at the bottom of the page to the lesson either side of the lesson being viewed in the program, as well as a link back to the main index page.

I’ve also removed the individual menu item lists for the Italian Rapier teaching curriculum, as I’m adding the next set of lessons. The extended menu for the individual lessons was becoming too unwieldy to use and maintain. It also reflects the shift from pages to posts for the ongoing lesson notes, which allows me to automatically post to Google + and Facebook, as well as provide the blog syndication feed used by the site. None of these notification processes work with pages, which is important for many of my readers.

Italian Rapier, Stocatta, Drummoyne

Giganti Lesson 9 – Attacking on the Pass

Review Lesson 8

  • The 3 measures – close, wide, out of distance
  • Covering the line from out of measure, then using footwork to come into measure with a gain.

Attacking on the pass

The attack on the pass can be used as an alternative to the attack with a lunge. The primary advantage of using the pass is the increased measure at which the attack can be thrown. Since the action takes us to the outside of our opponent the action preceding the attack on the pass must pull the opponent’s sword to the high inside line.

Attacking on the Pass with Feint Disengage

  1. From Guardia Terza, feint a thrust to the opponent’s high inside line.
  2. As the opponent moves to parry 4th, cavazione clockwise, extending to hit to the stomach or chest and passing forward with the rear foot to deliver the thrust with the hand in 2nd.
  3. Repeat 5 times and then reverse roles.

Note: The torso as it comes forwards leans over the now forward left leg, which pulls the torso to the side and away from the opponent’s sword.

Increasing Our Safety With The Hand Check

The attack on the pass relies on speed and the opponent being caught out of position. The technique used in the above drill does however leave the fencer susceptible to a counterattack in the high outside line.

  1. From Guardia Terza, feint a thrust to the opponent’s high inside line.
  2. As the opponent moves to parry 4th, cavazione clockwise, extending to hit to the stomach or chest and passing forward with the rear foot to deliver the thrust with the hand in 2nd.
  3. As you extend the sword to make the hit, simultaneously reach forward with the offhand, bringing the palm towards the opponent’s hilt or blade to prevent the counterattack in the high outside line.
  4. Repeat 5 times and then reverse roles.

Attacking on the Pass From the Opponent’s Engagement

  1. Opponent engages the sword in the high outside line.
  2. Cavazione counterclockwise to make a thrust feint to the high inside line.
  3. As the opponent moves to parry 4th, cavazione clockwise, extending to hit to the stomach or chest and passing forward with the rear foot to deliver the thrust with the hand in 2nd. Hand check to the high outside line with the offhand.
  4. Repeat 5 times and then reverse roles.

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Spadone (Italian Greatsword), Stocatta, Epping

Spadone – Lesson 9

Lesson 9 – Restricted Target Bouting

This was the end of term lesson, where we started introducing bouting using restricted targets. The use of restricted targeting bouting was to prevent the students just flailing away without any of the form we had been working on over the term. The scenarios were all also run with coached bouting so that students could correct mistakes during the scenarios.

Scenario 1

Targets were limited to forearms, with one fencer being designated as attacker, the other as defender. The attacker is tasked with trying to hit with redoubled cuts and the defender was tasked with trying to hit with parry & riposte. Bouts were limited to 3 touches by one fencer.

After the 3 touches, the roles were reversed and the bout repeated until one fencer has achieved 3 touches.

Scenario 2

As per Scenario 1 but with arms and head as the only allowed targets.

Scenario 3

1 spadone wielder versus 2 broadsword wielders. Targets were again limited to arms and head. The aim is for the spadone wielder to survive for 30 seconds against the 2 swordsmen, who start at either end of the hall. Once the broadsword wielder is killed, they return to the end of the hall for a 5 second count before returning to the fray. If the spadone wielder is killed everybody resets to the start.

Teaching notes

The first scenario is heavily restricted to get the fencers to concentrate on using correct form and technique. The restriction to forearms also means the armour requirements could be kept quite low. It was quite obvious that people were leaving their arm out and exposed during the cutting actions, and frequently not returning to guard.

The second scenario was a response to the issue of not returning to guard. By allowing head hits, the fencers became much more invested in returning to guard as this protects the head.

In both these scenarios, assigning roles helped the fencers concentrate on just one aspect of the system at a time. By switching the roles they came to understand both.

The 3rd scenario was designed to begin introduce situational awareness, and the concept of maintaining momentum with the spadone. The 2 opponents really ramps up the adrenaline though, and careful supervision must be maintained to ensure it doesn't get out of hand. One of the early problems we had that had to be stamped out quite quickly was hitting to the back of the exposed head.

Even using the shinai simulators, the spadone can hit really hard when used by an excited beginner. The key phrase for this lesson is "Control, Control, Control".

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Bolognese Swordsmanship, Stocatta, Drummoyne, Sword & Buckler Curriculum

Bolognese Sword & Buckler Curriculum – Lesson 10

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Lesson 10 – Review of Term 1

This lesson is a review lesson, to reinforce the key actions we have been working on over the term. Most students should be reasonably competent with the following actions.

Basic Redoubled Cuts

  • Mandritto & riverso from Guardia Alta using passing steps.
  • Redoubled mandritti from Guardia Alta using expand & contract footwork, passing through Guardia d'Alicorno.
  • Mandritto, rising riverso & fendente from Guardia Alta on a pass & traverse.
  • Fendente & Tramazzone from Guardia Alta on a gathering step forward.

Basic Defences

  • True edge parry with Guardia di Testa, from Porta di Ferro Stretta.
  • Falso parry to Sopra il Braccio, from Porta di Ferro Stretta.
  • False edge parry to Guardia di Faccia, from Porta di Ferro Stretta or Sopra il Braccio.

Basic Provocation with a thrust

  • Thrust & riverso to thigh on a left pass from Porta di Ferro Stretta.
  • Thrust and tramazzone on a pass & traverse from Porta di Ferro Stretta.
  • Thrust, rising riverso and mandritto on a pass & traverse from Porta di Ferro Stretta.

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