Results and comments from the Aug/Sep 2003 survey.

	Ýves’ big SCA rapier survey #1 ~ Practice and slow work
	Updated: May 24, 2005

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Policy blurb

By default, authors of comments sent in response to this survey are named only by their permission. Usually, other people mentioned in a comment are named only with their permission as well. Each comment represents only what the author typed in for the survey at the time.

» This survey was conducted during August-September 2003. Things change over time. «

Some comments were edited for content. Certain harsh words have been changed for your amusement. Opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the surveyor.

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# of Responses
by Kingdom
 
AEth.  = 34/235
Anst.  = 36/240
An Tir = 56/347
Art.   = 12/124
Aten.  = 27/460
Atl.   = 60/425
Caid   = 49/400
Drach. = 21/76
Eald.  = 12/77
East   = 46/480
Loch.  = 22/120
Mer.   = 27/140
Mid.   = 52/640
Nor.   = 25/164
Out.   = 26/214
Tri.   = 46/237
West   = 14/70
Unk.   = 2

The gist

Based on the responses:

• About 70% of us did some form of solo practice during the 12 months before the survey.
• Those of us who did averaged about one per week.
• At our peak as of the survey, those of us who have done solo practices did about 20 in one quarter.
• The rest of us probably hadn't done a solo practice during the 12 months before the survey.
• About 16% of us have NEVER done a solo practice.
• We generally support spending time on drills and slow sparring for new fencers — about 50-75% of field time during the first four practices depending on the fencer's background and aptitude.
• We also generally support the idea of spending time on drills and slow sparring at a typical practice, nearly 30 minutes per 90 minutes of field time on average; and that includes all of the people who said ZERO minutes because they prefer full-speed sparring.

Question 22. Practices

Over the past year, how many solo fencing practices have you done per quarter (three months)?

Solo practices are BY YOURSELF and can be done at home (mine usually are) or somewhere else. Let's say the minimum amount of time for one unit of solo practice is 15 minutes. If you do five minutes of rapier-related exercise (footwork, point control, sparring with an imaginary opponent, etc.) on your own three days a week, let's call that one practice.

However, even if you practice for SEVERAL HOURS on a given day, that's still one practice.

Response: 550/567. Answer was zero: 152 (over 27%).

Average of all responses = 9.0. Average of the 398 non-zero responses = 12.8.

Median (middle) value: 3. Mode (most frequent answer): 0. Highest: 90.

I now know that I should have also measured time spent practicing.

Question 23

How about during your peak quarter ever?

Response: 547/567. Answer was still zero: 90 (16.5%).

Average of all responses = 16.2. Average of the 457 non-zero responses = 20.0.

Median (middle) value: 10. Mode (most frequent answer): 0. Highest: 90.

Question 24

In your opinion, how much of the time on the field ... should be spent on drillwork and slow sparring (rather than fast sparring) for the first four practices overall?

Total number of responses: 567.

KEY

N: Number of responses.
Avg: Average value of responses.

Question 25

In your opinion, for a typical practice, how much of the time on the field ... should be used for drillwork and slow sparring rather than fast sparring?

Total number of responses: 567.

The comments

Note: Any remarks in the comments below from Yves look like this.

Φ Atl. ~ I don't get the breakdown in [Question] 25. I would prefer about 30 drill/slow work/practice. But its not something that I feel like starting.  ``Cam

Φ Drach. ~ In refence to the numbers above, I like people to get a chance to fight/relax/have fun. That keeps them coming back to get the additional practicing.  ``Gerhardt

Φ East ~ I feel that the balance depends a great deal on the individual fencer and what their goals and attitudes are.

Φ Tri. ~ For the question concerning the speed of practice. that should depend on the fencer and what they are trying to learn or un-learn. Some students are quick leaners others may require more time. For the experienced fencer, sometimes it is good to slow down. It will let you get a better handle on what one may be doing out of habit or sub-consciously.

Your feedback is most welcome!

My nifty email form stopped working ... but you can still send me email if you would like to.

Original page posted: October 18, 2004. Last tweaked: July 1, 2006.

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