Rock, Papers, Scissers for Fencers

The Tactical Wheel can be a advancement of actions commonly used to instruct tactics to fencers. Although there are significant issues in the use of the wheel in all three weapons, being a previous item of mine stated, it can serve to get fencers contemplating how to choose the best tactic in the proper time gain a little. But wait, how does an instructor get the beginning or intermediate fencer to comprehend the relationships in this tool? One approach I have used successfully can be a modification of the game Rock, Paper, Scissors.

The initial step is always to ensure that your fencers know the elements inside the wheel. As a standard section of our warm-up we recite the wheel loudly as a group. I would like my fencers to know the flow of simple attack, defeated by the parry and riposte, deceived from the compound attack, intercepted by the stop hit, also defeated by the simple attack.

The 2nd step is always to assign numbers of fingers to every action: 1 for simple attack, 2 for parry-riposte, 3 for compound attack, and 4 for stop hit. Rather than the balled fist, flat hand, or forked fingers of rock scissors paper lizard spock the fencers will get rid of 1-4 fingers.

The third step would be to define which action beats which other actions. To some extent depends on your look at the wheel as well as the weapon the fencers fence. For instance, 2 (parry riposte) beats 1 (simple attack) in most three weapons. However, 4 (stop hit) will lose to at least one (simple attack) in foil, but will cause a double hit or success in epee or sabre sometimes (a coin toss enables you to inject this degree of uncertainty).

Finally you are prepared to fence. This drill can be achieved like a set of fencers, a group of three versus another team of three, or as two lines against each other with fencers rotating from line to the other as they are defeated. If the intent is to use the drill like a warm-up activity, the number of repetitions should be limited. One solution within the rotating format would be that the winner of the touch stays up and loser rotates. However, it’s also found in 5 touch (bout), Ten or fifteen touch (direct elimination), or team formats. The more time formats allow fencers to start out to analyze opponent patterns (even though the 4 option structure probably prevents using pure iocaine powder logic), and for team mates to see and share that information. Use the standard commands “on guard,” “ready,” and “fence,” with the fencers throwing out 1 to 4 fingers on “fence.” The amount of force on decision-making can be increased by reduction of the interval between commands to fence.

It might seem you could attain the same training by actually fencing, but the isolation with the decision concerning which action from the variable of fencer capacity to perform it emphasizes the choice of technique. The drill doesn’t need equipment, therefore fits well in warm-up or cool-down activity. It’s quicker than a bout, but keeps a high degree of competitiveness between your fencers. We have found that it is an efficient training tool in our efforts to improve our fencers’ tactical sense.
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