Results and comments from the Aug/Sep 2003 survey.
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Ýves’ big SCA rapier survey #1 ~
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| 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.
To get YOUR name listed with YOUR comments, just give me permission. See the e-mail button and information at the bottom of the page. Let me know your SCA name and kingdom (as of Aug/Sep 2003), and I'll add the attribution to your entries.
# 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
The comments below were sent in response to Question 26.
Respondents share their input on what happens at their typical local fencing practice (past and present).
The theme for this page: most or all of it is fast sparring, which can include bear pits, melees, and the like.
Sometimes there is training for newcomers, but not always.
The comments
Note: Any remarks in the comments below from Yves look like this.
More comments on this topic are on separate pages.
See the links at the bottom of this page.
Fight – not spar, not fence...
Φ An Tir ~ Most other attendees - slap on their gear and fight, not spar, at speed. Very little effort is made to work on specifics.
Φ West ~ Most practices, don't teach at all, they just let people fight. (Note that I did not use the word "fence" there).
Æthelmearc
Φ Set up, wait, wait, wait...some practcum, sparring.
Φ People show up and talk, then fence, thentalk, then fence.
Φ Pickups with another fencer, bear pits, team tactics, melee tactics, using various forms, discussion.
Φ Thescorre: Almost entirely free, pickup sparring - newbies are taught until they're able to spar, occasional tourneys.
Φ People show up, shoot the bull, get dressed, spar at full-speed until tired, take off masks and gloves, chat with friends some more. Repeat until time is up or too tired. ``Jean
Φ 4 to 12 fencers, 3 to 4 hours, starting with phys. warm up (stretching) then a period of collegiate sabre "warm-up" bouts, followed by several hours of SCA fencing, using several weapons forms. ``Po
Φ Show up talk about stuff unrelated to the sca. twenty minits later get gear inspected. talk about sca politics or continue of non sca related discusion. then maybe fence for twenty minits then go home.
Φ Usually start out with a couple of footwork and/or parry drills, then on to sparring and one-on-one teaching. If there are enough people (usually 6 or more) and we have enough room we do melee work. ``Charles
Φ One on one sparring, discussion usually involving observers, melee sparring... and more discussion between those involved. We have always encouraged all fencers to be involved in observation and discusion with all other fencers present.. our practices are usually 2 1/2 hours - 3 hours long.
Φ Years ago- [1990s] Arrive, gear up, check weapons and B.S. while getting ready. During winter months practice was inside and there was space for only 1 or two sets of fencers. Each set would switch out every 5-15 minutes depending upon the type of bouts/drills etc. that were being done. In the summer months practice was held outdoors. Many separate bouts would run simultaneously. Small senarios were also done. Average practice 3 hours, one per week. ``Allyne
An Tir
Φ Sparring. ``Ramon
Φ Mostly, we just fight.
Φ All we do at our local practice is free fencing.
Φ Typically they seem to be just giant spar-fests.
Φ Most practices consist of a bunch of fighters picking bouts and fighting.
Φ Mostly people come out, talk, and fight one-on-one. Then they go home. ``Juana
Φ Some stretching, very little slow work then right into combat, no cool down time. ``Duncan
Φ Most practices in this area are all fast sparring. other fencers in the area do not seem to be interested in drill work or slow sparring.
Φ Usually 100% sparring. Maybe some drill work if the number of newbies is high. Usually a few teacher student pairs rather than formal drills.
Φ A typical fencing practice locally is stretching, gearing up, and sparring. Very little instruction, unless you were in a newbie class or someone's Special Project. ``Laurin
Φ Typically, it's arrive, stretch, people chat a little bit, then mostly fast sparring, though newer fencers usually always are doing drills or being taught slow sparring or drills. ``Tristan
Φ Our local practices are only occasionally structured. In the last while we've been trying to include more drills and slow work but much of it is just sparring at speed. Too much time spent with social talk. ``Alicia
Φ Portland and Vancouver practices are outside, so people usually start fighting as soon as they get armored up. People tend to just pair up and fight. Newbies usually end up working with only one or two people during a practice, and those two people switch off to make sure there's always someone helping the newbie. ``Rois
Φ Traitor's Gate (SUMMER) - Our favorite place for fighter practice is a park smack in the middle of town ... We love the spot because 1. draws a crowd, from which we tend to in turn draw new people out to try, we have all the spare equiptment there for them [and] 2. it's the middle of where everyone lives so it's equally convienent or inconvient for all of us.. and [3] many other reasons as such the way we've gotton permission to play in the park is to tout ourselves to the town as a tourist attraction and heritage club,, which means we don't do a lot of foot work or drills in the summer cause we'd be a very boring attraction and our excuse would never fly.so in the summer we are very theatrical, noisy and showy.
Traitor's Gate winter practice.
Ansteorra
Φ Public practices are usually just sparring and, in general, more of a social event. ``Henri
Φ Most official practices are also social events so they tend to be mainly fast spar and visiting.
Φ Mostly just free sparing/fighting with people working on what they have wanted to work on. ``Benedict
Φ Most are just show up fight and leave not much training going on in the places I have visited. ``Pieter
Φ Nothing but free sparring, except with there are new people and then they are pulled aside for drills while everyone else free spars.
Φ Get there, stand around and wait for someone to stop talking with their buddies long enough to spar or wait for your friends to show up to start fighting, I do not like waiting. ``Chiara
Φ We'll tend to just spar really, sometimes we'll do some melee scenarios, but its mostly just sparring. About 20 percent of the time we'll have some sort of education and drillwork.
Φ People show up, pair up, and play. With a newcomer, one person will work with them individually in a training mode. If there are several newcomers, one or more experienced fighters will work with them in a class-like training mode. ``Walter
Φ In Ansteorra (primarily Bjornsborg/San Antonio, TX) most practices would consist if simply sparring, usually at a more lax pace (not slow, though) for the starting bouts, but quickly working up to full speed as folks would work out the kinks. ``Lionardo
Artemisia
Φ Two to seven hours of fencing.
Φ Little training, little drill, lots of play.
Φ Just go fight, some individual training. ``Christian
Φ People get their swords and start fighting. ``Spanish Dan
Φ Barony of Loch Salann, Artemesia: Practice consists of paired off sparring interupted when teaching opportunities present themselves and new techniques are pur into practice with more sparring. Newbies are tought in a linear manner (i.e. the same things in the same order, more or less, to each newbie) the last 45 min or so are often used for melee practice. Group oral critiques afterward. ``Nathaniel
Atenveldt
Φ Caerthe (many, many years ago): six to twelve fencers, open sparing. Rare melées. ``Guillaume
Φ It is mostly people getting together and just fencing. There is no real structuer like footwork drills or anything esle.
Φ Quick...and usually too hot. The first 30-60 mins is spent visiting & warming up. Then it's find someone to fence with time, go out onto the field and fence to your hearts content...or until you tire out or pass out from heat stroke whichever comes first! :) ``Bethia
Φ Two here in Phoenix ... one in Tucson ... are outdoor practices, primarily free fencing, occasional instruction, and occatoinal melee and melee drills. There are also a number of other, smaller practices in our kingdom, and I have been to most, but they usually amount to 3 or 4 local fighters plus whoever goes with me, with some training but mostly free sparring.
Φ Arrive, gear up, check weapons and B.S. while getting ready. Practice held outdoors year round 3 practices available each week when transportation (I have no car) and time is available. Practice consists mostly of bouts for the experienced, with significant time spent on drilling/slow work for newer folks. As war approaches (Estrella) more time is spent with tactical senario practice. Average practice 2.5 hours. ``Allyne
Atlantia
Φ Mostly sparing with little drill work.
Φ Nowadays our practices are just sparring. ``Keelin
Φ Sacred Stone and Salisbury Glen - one on one.
Φ Mill about while warming up. Then free fencing.
Φ Mustly just go do pick ups very little in the way o drill.
Φ My local practice have been almost all 100% open sparring. ``Cam
Φ Stretching, then breaking down into skill-level based groups.
Φ Nothing but sparring at full speed...no drills, no training program.
Φ Get suited up and find an opponent. drink water, find another opponent.
Φ Dress, gossip, warm up sparring, gossip,more sparing, gossip, more sparring.
Φ Lots of seperate sparing matches with some "we're working on this today" type of action. ``Celric
Φ It varies from place to place, and sometimes from practice to practice as to whether we do anything BUT fast sparring. ``Alejandro
Φ Stretching, warm-ups, maybe drilling, pick-ups (usually involving someone teaching me something), maybe melee scenerios. ``Ihsan
Φ In all of the places I've attended a practice session, the typical practice is totally free sparring at full speed. It has been this way since my first day. ``Royce
Φ A typical sunday practice is some stretching and pick ups till everyone is to tired to continue. I usually show up an hour earlier to teach anyone who shows up.
Φ Our practices are generally all sparring. I have tried to get others interested in doing drills, but noone else is willing to spend the time. Our practices tend to be 40% sparring, 60% chatting.
Φ Black Diamond: Find a sparring partner and have at. If the weather is good, we may run some melees, but in general practices are unstructured, and usually involve more talking than playing. ``Costanca
Φ Sometimes someone leads footwork drills early on. Usually practice is pick up fights. More experienced fencers are usually glad to help you with a particular skill you'd like to work, but it's all very loose and flexible.
Φ Jump right in. Practice multiple weapons, multiple opponents, disadvantaged position defense. At the end of each practice bout, talk about weaknesses you've spotted in an opponent or one of your own that you'd like them to target.
Φ The practices I have been too have been more bash sessions than training. I would say there is 5% drills/slow work and 95% thrashing. I am aware of others that I would much rather go to, but they are not conducive due to major traffic headaches. :-( ``Nikolai
Φ 90 percent fast sparring because rarely do people particularly experienced people want to do the drill that actually improve thier skills rapidly. It is more fun to play. I include myself in that. As reflected in my answers above, I know what should be done 80 or 90 percent drill and slow work, but I too prefer fast sparring.
Φ Ponte Alto practices tend to involve sitting around and talking for 15-30 minutes at the beginning of practice, and then picking a fencer to spar with. I usually got in fights with 3-4 people at a practice. Then we sit around some more and cool down, then go out to dinner. Very occasionally, there will be footwork drills, and if there are newbies, other fencers might join in when the newbies are being drilled. (Usually one or two people take charge of newbies) If there are enough people, we do melees. if there are fewer people, we probably do bear pits. ``Rois
Caid
Φ Sparing. Some drill sometimes. ``Hob
Φ Unfortunatley everyone just goes out and fights.
Φ Lots of fighting with my fellow companions and occassionally some melee tactics.
Φ Casual warm-up. Full speed sparring. Maximum-speed sparring. (As fast as possible.) ``Vladimir
Φ Start with warmup sparring partner, then go challenge the experienced fighters/ white scarves. ``Curteis
Φ In the beginning we did footwork drills, then some instruction, then fighting. Now it is almost all fighting. ``Stefano
Φ Show up, talk awhile. Get armed up, warm up by fencing acouple newbies, move on to more challenging fencers. Then go out to dinner with everyone... fun stuff.
Φ Every one is just a little late,talk for a bit after that, fence for a couple of hours (until its dark or we are tired)melee once a month.... most of the slow work & drills are done this day.
Φ Typically we simply get geared up and stretch so that we dont get hurt, then spar for about 15-20 minutes or untill we cant any longer. once done with that we sit around talking about strategy, skills, drills, and analisis of the other fighters.
Φ Western Seas: Either fence with the instructor or one of the other students. In both cases, the instructor is watching, and making note of things that need worked on. Which then get worked on, even if it's something as simple (or not) as agression. ``Costanca
Φ I've only been to the local practice and once to another in a neighboring barony. Typically, everyone gets their gear on and goes out to fence with others. Ocassionally there are some footwork drills, but generally only when new people are around for their first or second session. The local practice averages 5-10 fencers. There are a few White Scarves who come out to the local practice to teach, but as they are not local, they aren't "in charge" and usually do one on one teaching. Unfortunately, the local rapier marshall in charge imo doesn't really know how to run the practice.
Φ When I started fighting I was too young by our Kingdom standards, so I drilled and practiced point control for at least four months, before putting on armor and sparring. Now a typical practice is go, put on armor, stretch for five minutes, and then pick up fights with everyone for the rest of the night. Since Caid is so dense, there's the opportunity to go to a lot of different practices, if you want to. The thing I like about the practices I go to is that you can just go, fight, try out new things, and get decent feedback from most people on what they thought of it. If you're having a problem, people will generally be open to troubleshooting with you until you figure out how to fix it. ``Leonarda
Drachenwald
Φ Mostly sparring.
Φ Mostly free play, some drills.
Φ Entirely sparring. No time put into real instruction or drills. ``Raphael
Φ Warm up fights, some drill, some teaching, lots of fighting.
Φ Typical practice, bunch of pickup fighting. Rare practice, some drills, some practice, some sparring, ending with some melee. ``Gerhardt
Φ We spend the frist 30 min tlaking and then armour up then warm-up on are own (usuly no one dos). Then we fence full speed till ti gets dark and go to the pub. ``Gottfried
Ealdormere
Φ Mostly line work for those who want it to warm up with lots of sparring.
Φ Basically just open sparring. I teach on occasion, but only if there isn't someone more qualified. ``Sebastian
Φ [In another group] The practices are show up spar with whomever and new people have to find someone to help/teach them. ``Wilhelm
East
Φ Many free form bouts.
Φ Minimal drill work - lots of sparring. ``Fei-Hong
Φ Barren Sands: ... gossip open sparing for 2 hours.
Φ Mixed weapons form aginst varied skill level fencers.
Φ It rocks. Bhakail has great fencers so you fence the best every practice.
Φ No such beast...except everyone shows up and picks a partner and fights... ``Alain
Φ Carolingia: One to one fencing (teaching or not) through most of the practice, rare melees... ``Cynan
Φ Spend the first 20 min's or so getting ready. Then over the next 1 1/2 to 2 hours getting about 4-5 bouts in. ``Maire
Φ Armor up, maybe some footwork drills, maybe some skills drills, and then bouting with assorted opponents. ``Pascual
Φ In Thescorre, mostly singles, a few drills and basic training for novices. Here in Dragonship, singles, bearpits, melees.
Φ Thankfully we get lots of fencers at our practices so there is always someone to play with, floorspace to play may be lacking at times with so many people.
Φ Most practices I've been to recently teach the bare bones to new fencers, but once somebody authorizes, it seems that the teaching stops and the practice is just a 'fight club'. ``Armand
Φ Dragonship Haven: people schooze, I armor up and start looking for people. Nobody wants to drill much, so we mostly bout or bearpit all night. There are generally a set of people lined up to take lessons.
Φ About 6 fencers, mostly advanced, many marshals. A lot of sparring, not much drilling or teaching. I do not attenmd on a regular basis. The practice at the next group to mine has more fencers, but basically the same plan. ``Brita
Φ Bergental, Carolingia, & Dragonship Haven -- heavy on fast sparring with teaching opportunities arising from what occurs; drillwork and slow sparring do occur, but typically only between gentles who have formal student/teacher relationship (and not in the practice as a whole). ``Matatias
Φ Hurry up and wait. Actually, my original practice was a lot of fast sparring, but with several different people. There was not much drillwork, which I think would have been helpful. A few people occasionally stop to break down moves, give criticism, etc, but in general, they were really experienced fencers who just wanted to play. ``Lilia
Φ For the baronial practice I run, I usually try to arrive early to set up and drill before people start to arrive. There is generaly as much shmoozing as there is fencing during practices here, I try to get armored early so as to be ready as soon as possible. If I can't get full on drilling done, I will at least attempt to do wall work from advance and lunge distances, and as many laps of footwork as I can force myself to do. Then there's pretty much free sparring and requested lessons for the remainder of the eavening. Then more shmoozing. ``Ian
Φ [The local practice is] just reviving. We are fortunate to have marshals from other areas come. more newbies. sometimes footwork is run in the front but generally it is loose bouts of fighting with each person getting to fight the few more experienced fighters at least once. Mid-level fencers often spend time instructing as well as more advanced fencers. newbie intensive. we talk a lot about different blade styles. socialization tends to center around fencing discussions...also we do a lot of fabric drop tests so that people can make their own armor. ``Astridr
Φ There are usually between three and six fencers each week. We bout until everyone is tired. When we have more people we're more likely to do melees early, otherwise we might only do ten-twenty minutes of melees at the end of the night (two-on-one is normally no fun, and two-on-two normally degrades into two simultaneous one-on-one fights). We do individual instruction for the newbies, and teaching style for them depends on who teachs them. Often we just drill them a bit, teach them the basics of footwork, parries and ripostes. The second time they show up we teach the lunge and see if they're ready to bout with us. Beyond this we just bout, and teach each other when we see things the other needs to learn that we can teach. ``Domenego
Φ [A retrospective on fencing practice in Dragon Dormant]
[circa 1994-1995]
Dragon dormant really old days (9 to 8 years ago):
ist hour: one on one instruction of new fencers at the same time as one on one practice bouts between authorized fencers if there are any not paired with a newbie.
2nd hour: melees if possible by turn out
[circa 1996-1997]
dragon dormant old days (7 to 6 years ago):
1st 30 minutes group drill/formal instruction
next 45 min: one on one instruction for new fencers practice bouts if there are unpaired experinced fencers.
last 45 min: melees if possible by turn out.
[circa 2000-2003]
Dragon Dormant (last 3 years or so):
1st hour: one to one fencing/instruction
2nd hour: melees sometimes /provided a good turn out and desire) ``Cynan
Lochac
Φ Many places ... open sparring. ``Francois
Φ At the moment it is usually just fighting against people with different weapons and things like king of the hill.
Φ In my local group practice is all full speed sparring. So far we are lucky to have more than 2 of us. I am hoping that this will change .....
Φ Pair off with people, and fight , usually starting with an experienced fighter fighting a newbie, or two newbies and an experienced watching fight.
Φ Fast bouts. Occasionally drilling and movement work. Ocassionally discussion on methodology and rules. Ocassionally King of the Hill or other scenarios.
Φ Start with about 20 mins of gossip followed by a 15-20 minute bout with whoever is more interested in fencing than gossip. By the end of this bout another fencer has usually turned, comments are made about late for own wedding but whoever feels like fencing more has a bout against the new arrival. The other person goes back to gossiping. From there its a struggle to get anyone into enough layers to be SCA legal fencers. [This] is only partly tongue in cheek.
Meridies
Φ Kill people, get killed.
Φ Pick ups and alots of talking. Too much to suit me. ``Leon
Φ Mostly free sparring with little drill or "slow sparring".
Φ Typical practice consists of fast sparring. No drills, slow sparring, parry work. Not happy with this.
Φ Iron Mountain: Almost all sparring, very little drill. This helps because I spend a lot of time on my own training.
Φ All sparring and little if any "drill work". The only drill work I've ever seen at a practice was drill work I instigated.
Φ Depended on the practice but usually a little time on drills, most of the 2 hrs on 1-on-1 sparring, then the last 15-20 min on melees.
Midrealm
Φ Get in gear, then fight.
Φ Find a partner and play.
Φ Some places - all sparring.
Φ Dress fight, undress, go home.
Φ Unfortunately, mostly sparring.
Φ Armour up and poke each other.
Φ Sparring session, mixed with mundane gossip.
Φ Perhaps 15 minutes of drills, about 3 hours of sparring. ``Gunther
Φ Some stretching, maybe a little drill work, lots of swordplay.
Φ Blackhawk: free spar most of practice with some slow work and drills if someone needs them.
Φ Mostly fast sparring with very little pre-planned drills (except when I am running the practice).
Φ Get suited up, and poke at each other for a few hours with the one experienced fencer, taking turns.
Φ Sometimes we do drills, sometimes we practice melee most times it is one on one sparring full speed.
Φ Most practices are just free fencing opportunities. Some split out into drill time and fencing time (which is my preference). ``Christian
Φ General "Bearpit" style sparring. Some melees. Slow drills and sparring if new fencers are present. Tips and instructing done by observers who are not currently fencing.
Φ Get to practice, individuals streach or warm up as the chose, people ask others to spar. Newbie fencers are either given instruction by a willing teacher, or ask for assistance.
Φ Almost always fast sparring. We really don't have anyone here willing to teach drills and slow work. I and my Lord are attempting to learn some drills and such to bring back. ``Catalin
Φ People arrive, talk a lot, put on gear, and fight with each other. I often ask my opponent if they are working on anything in particular, and they usually say, "No." And then we spar some. Sometimes people ask for feedback, but not usually. ``Luisa
Φ General all out bout. Initially as a newbie all slow work then gradual inccrease to all fast. I enjoy going out and just letting loose because I don't get to many events. However, I see more improvement when I take the time to do some slow work and incorporate that.
Φ Folks show up between 1:00 and 2:30 and chat a bit before warming up. We grab whoever's ready or getting ready to fence and go out on the field, generally with single rapier first. Each pair fences until they're a little tired or thirsty, then takes a break and usually splits apart to find new partners. Practice continues with people using varying weapon forms based on mood and personal preference until about 4:00 or 4:30.
Northshield
Φ Mostly pickup fighting. ``Rodrigo
Φ Just fighting with critique.
Φ A few drills, warmup & fighting.
Φ We usally just spar changing partners.
Φ Small warm up then pair off and start fighting. ``Fiskr
Φ Practices vary greatly depending on who is teaching. It would be nice if there was a generalized manual (not to detailed, just giving a general outline). Some do a lot of drill, some do none.
Φ Castel Rouge (this group was just getting started in fencing [circa 1999]): pracitice with "boffer" rapiers... supervized pairs of newbies sparring for the first few months with an occasional one on one with an experinced fencer and later on exposure to scholger, as well as melees. ``Cynan
Φ We start with the newer fighters and devote time to them, then we do some single bouts trying and perfecting new styles. We then either do melee work or bear-pit. I prefer bear-pit because it helps with my endurance and this way I am pretty must assured that I will get to face all of the fencers in the Shire, even the new ones. I like facing them all because no matter how new they are I learn things from them. ``David
Outlands
Φ 100% sparring. ``Sasha
Φ Get stuck in and start with the melees. ``Curteis
Φ Mostly sparring with some individual slow work.
Φ Little drilling, little group training, lots of fighting and individual work. ``Christian
Φ Usually a warm up, almost never any slow drills and then hold the field or other pick up fights. ``Doring
Φ Mostly pick-ups and sparring, no real work unless someone insists on practicing some move/form. ``Antoine
Φ Warm ups, one on one with authorized fencer, melees is there are enough people if not more one on one, take off armor and BS.
Φ Little in the way of drills or formal training for the most part; lots of chatting. Primary training is via combat, with some informal training for newer fighters. ``Charles
Φ Most are extremely unorganized and end up with sparing and the more experienced fencers attempting to get a system in place for newer fencers and failing. ``Diana
Φ Warm ups. one on one with authorized fencer. melees is there are enough people if not more one on one. take off armor and BS. Most practices I go to consist of my shipmates - all of us teach each other (with the exception of the newbies - they just try to absorb).
Φ Depending on who is in attendance, and if there is any agenda, typically, it consits of finding a partner to dance with, fight till tired, then repeat several times. Sometimes, a pit will start, or melees. And sometimes, if there are some new fighters, I will spend time with them, teaching, chatting, or duelling... ``Volker
Φ ... I find myself shy asking for a bout with someone I don't know well. I'll go about 10 passes with someone, maybe change weapons, maybe 5 more, then take a break, water, and repeat the same cycle with another one to three people for the practice session. ``Jalid
Φ Caer Galen (a few years ago): about two dozen fencers, all sparing - two or three dons giving private lessons (only one student per don). Hard to break in (find a partner) from the outside. Caerthe: about ten fencers, usually all sparing. When there are newbies, there will often be about 30 mins of drills. Only one volunteer seems to take newbies in hand to get them started. ``Guillaume
Trimaris
Φ If I am not running practice, its a bear pit or a melee.
Φ Narval Dorado: Mostly sparing (4 Don's, no waiting).
Φ Warm-ups followed by individual bouts with no real structure.
Φ Mostly fast sparring. Occassionally practice team melee tactics.
Φ Local practices are just sparring with observers offering advice.
Φ Mostly sparing with some slow work and a good bit of tactical theory.
Φ Usually we would do some single pick-up fights, to warm up. And then we would just do either some melee' practice or a mini-tournament. ``Thorunn
Φ Lots of fun, trying new/different styles, getting/giving constructive criticism-discuss melee tactics and put into use-round table discussion of current rapier rules, and where, if any improvements are needed.
Φ Pairing off for sparring, switching up & sparring more. sometimes slow sometimes not. occasional discussions of technique and footwork. recently alot of newcomers, so weve been doing more drills and "classes". ``Gavine
Φ Depends on what we feel like for the day but usually involves what we call one step sparing for at least 10 minutes. some one attacks the other blocks and counters. Then we will spar trying to use the techniques we practiced.
Φ At pratice where I am in charge, most of the time is spent observing, working with others. Some slow sparring to illistrate a point. With someone else in charge usually full speed engagments with other fencers with some slow speed work with beginners. ``Cathal
Φ Armor up. chose an opponent and fight till you needed a break. You and your opponent offer suggestions to the other on problems you saw and how the other could improve your game. Occasionally one of the more experienced fencers will watch and give input while you are fighting. But fighting is always at speed with very little style practice.
West
Φ 1 to 1 1/2 hours, warm up, little self drilling, then sparring.
Φ Not enough stretching or drilling. Most attendees yearn to spar more than learn it seems.
Φ We do streching, then warm up sometimes foot work drills or line drills then we pair up fof sparing. almost like the heavys do. ``Tallon
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