Results and comments from the Aug/Sep 2003 survey.
 |
Ýves’ big SCA rapier survey #1 ~
|
| Updated: May 24, 2005 |
You are here: Home » SCA » Rapier » Survey 1
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 27.
Respondents share their input on their Ideal Practice or training program. The theme for this page: they begin with drills or emphasize drills (which for this usage includes footwork).
The "Ideal Practice"
Note that people differ in their standards. Note also that the responses regarding actual practices/training reflect one person's impression of what it was like. This may have been long before this survey (Aug-Sep 2003).
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.
Choice picks
Φ An Tir ~ Drill yer [buttocks] offf then drill some more... ``Dormouse
Φ An Tir ~ Structured, where there is a program of drills, slow-work, lesson, and sparring. Sparring is the least important part of it.
Φ Atl. ~ All practices should have footwork drills; it's the basis of everything we do, and too many people (even in Atlantia) suck at footwork. An ideal practice, includes footwork, some free sparring time (except for newbies), and generally a lesson with drills.
Φ Caid ~ For beginners: The first month is footwork. The second month is footwork. The third month I allow them to hold a sword and practice footwork. ``Vladimir
Φ Drach. ~ Drilling, slow-work, footwork for the majority of time to get the basics down. Time for sparring later once the basics are automatic. When you look at the top fencers at any given event, how many of them are really skilled martial artists as opposed to people who have learned just a few tricks that keep them on top of their circle? Its a lack of training in the basics. ``Raphael
Φ Mid. ~ A beginning hour or two dedicated to footwork and sword drills, probably including some slow, maybe partially choreographed partner work, followed by free sparring to see how much of it stuck and actually works. Those not interested either show up later or spar on their own. ``Kyrstyan
Æthelmearc
Φ Drill, fence, melee, drill, drink (at the pub). ``Ivan
Φ 1/3 practice devoted to drills or class; 1/3 single sparring; 1/3 melee practice. ``Sasha
Φ Promptness, footwork and drills, sparring using those techniques, round robins/bear pits.
Φ Half an hour to an hour of group drills led by an experienced instructor, followed by free sparring with individual instruction for less-experienced fencers.
Φ My practice starts with drill work (i show up early) the drill work ranges from Destreza to xingi. then streaching then talking and bouting. I try to end with my drill work.
Φ Discussion of up coming events and other fencing practices in the area, then we drill, then fence pick ups. I also like to discuss a specific topic, such as melee, RBG use, authorizations, etc...
Φ It would consist of alot of individual sparring with as many different people as possible. Spend some time of multiple person drills, and a general aquintance with melee. Focus on individual sparring.
An Tir
Φ Heavy focus on drills and technique.
Φ Drills followed by sparring with psychology.
Φ Foot work, Slow work, Drills, Fast sparring, Small unit tactics.
Φ One hour of drills and 2 - hours of sparring with feedback from each combatant.
Φ Practice should start with some footwork drills. Then move to some drills with a partner. Then some free fencing.
Φ 30 min or so of warmup drills, lesson - some continuity from one week to the next, practice of lesson skills using slow work, sparring at speed. ``Alicia
Φ ... start with fencers doing drillwork and ehlping each other see what they need to work on. then spend time sparring and applying what one has learned during the drillwork.
Φ About 50% drills, a nice even mix of footwork, sword work and footwork+sword work, with about 50% sparring with the intention of applying the drills from earlier in the practice.
Φ Organized drilling/class (first 30 minutes). Slow sparring. (30-45 minutes) Free sparring. (rest of evening). First of every month, hold a tourney to give experience with that concnept. ``Ramon
Ansteorra
Φ Chat, drill warm ups, general teaching, sparing, specific teaching, sparing, chat.
Φ Twice a week, first hour spent drilling, short break, then sparring, with Q&A afterwards to clean up technique.
Φ Show them some stuff and work on drills, fight. Repeat. I don't like to just drill/teach as it is boring to me and the student.
Artemisia
Φ The first half-hour to hour would be spent doing group footwork, followed by breaking into groups of two to do sword/distance drills for another half-hour to hour while the teacher person walks around them and offers single lessons and advice, then free fencing for all. ``Spanish Dan
Atenveldt
Φ Twice a week - Drills for the first 30 minutes, then group work (by level of training/skill) followed by open sparring. ``Egan
Φ 15% to 20% drilling first, 15% to 20% of slow movement practice, 15% to 20% of teaching or learning new moves, 15% to 20% of practicing new moves or refining students if teaching., the rest of the time practicing whatever. ``Sebastiana
Φ My ideal training program would be to meet at least three times a week. We would then work on footwork for 20 minute. 10 minutes on parrying drills followed by a lesson on a certian master of fence. At the end of the night a hour to half hour of free fencing.
Φ Training program going over all the basics moves until success and then moving on to the next step, moving to intermingling moves one at the time until success and then moving on. Repetative for us slow learners. Maybe something like a formal training class for beginners that is repeatable if necessary.
Φ In addition to fighting in the SCA, I am also a member of the Tattershall School of Defense. We are currently in the middle of a 16 week course on basic single rapier. This will be followed by an 8 week class on rapier and buckler, then an 8 week class on rapier and dagger. I believe that we have a comprehensive teaching curriculum.
We start every class with footwork drills for about 15 minutes, then we review techniques which will be built upon in the new lesson (another 15 minutes), then we cover the new lesson (usually 1 hour of concepts and slow work). This is followed, if there is time, by bouting. The instructors pair up students to fight based on skill level, usually one student is advanced while the other is a beginner, and they are allowed to bout while supervised by an instructor. Holds are called by the beginning student, to ask questions and for clarification of technique; by the advanced student when he sees something that needs to be corrected, allowing the more advanced students to teach under instructor supervision; and by the teachers, when there is a safety issue unnoticed by either combatant, and to correct blatantly wrong technique. Afterward, all three discuss the bout. Depending upon time, the instructors may bout with students as well.
Atlantia
Φ Drill: blade and footwork, slow work, * spar. Discuss. Repeat at *.
Φ Gossip, 15 drill on foot work, warm up sparring, dress drill with blades, discuss , open sparring on set topic, drill , gossip.
Φ I would love to have a practice that spent the first half hour on drills, an hour of sparring, and dinner together after for the talking part.
Φ At least the first hour would be spent on drills, slow work, and conditioning. Then individual sparring. Some practice melee, and close with a few laps around the field in full armor as a group to aid in conditioning and unity.
Φ 20-30 minutes of foot work. 10-15 minutes of solo blade work. 30-45 minutes of paired foot and blade work. rest of the time free sparing with experienced fighters taking turns watching the newer folks and offering suggestions.
Φ Warm up with footwork for 20-30 minutes. Do some line drills for another 30 minutes. Add some more complex bladework drills for another 30 minutes, and then let people play. That is my fantasy. Some day I may see it happen. ``Nikolai
Φ Ideally, practice for me would begin with footwork drills focusing on maintaining distance relative to your oponent. Then point control drills. Then free sparring. And finishing with melee drills/sparring. The melee drills need a discussion period afterwards. ``Royce
Φ Each practice should have a focus which would be announced in advance. It would be gin with drills that have that focus in mind and end with sparring and melee practice. Obviously, in an ideal practice there will always be more than enough people to do melees. ``Constanza
Φ First drill: footwork chase (like dancing, one person leads, the other stays at distance). Second drill: Attack/Defent (first person attack, second defend... switch -- almost always start with those two... Take a drill from William Wilsons book, depending on what I'm working on that week. End with free form bouts.
Φ Tough one, because I prefer to customize the program for each student. Start with drills in footwork then add paries, and finally point control and attacks. Then start sparring a month or two into it. Authorization is aobut 6 months in for the average person, but they zip right through it with no problems this way rather than being shaky.
Caid
Φ Footwork drills, Lunge Drills, Tactile Drills, then free sparring.
Φ For me, 2 nights per week, 2 hours each session. 1st seesion: 30 mins learning new techniques, 1 hour on drill work, followed by 30 mins sparring. 2nd session: 15-30 mins drill work, followed by sparring.
Φ Begin with drills, either a set pattern or one long one each practice. Next, spar for a little while, warm up. Then practice a specific "thing", learning something new or practicing something you don't normally use (case, sword/cloak, etc), more sparring. If a war or melee is coming up, practice melee. ``Hob
Φ I'd love to see more drills and teaching on a regular basis, not just waiting for a White Scarf to show up and asking them to teach me something. I'd really like to see an emphasis on learning the basics rather than having the marshall in charge just say "go fight those guys". I'd of course like to get myself to do more solo practices but it always seems I have zero time. :)
Φ I don't think I have a "ideal" practice. To have a practice that incompasses all I would likt to acheive would be really a long practice indeed. I would like to see most practices perhaps spend a little more time drilling the basics as a warm up for even the "experienced" fighters. I know that periodically it's good to do a refresher of sorts to remind the body sense memory that "ah yes. That's the way I should do a proper attack in 4!" ``Colwyn
Φ Start with footwork and slow drills for the newer fighters (teamed up with the more experienced fighters) and then progress to single sword work, and then on to whatever areas we have decided (as a group) need the most work that practice. Depending on the skill level of the student, the practice can consist of only, some, or very little work with drills and control work. When the practice is large enough, split into squads to practice melee tactics and generally finish by having a King of the Hill session where each fighter comes out one at a time and works through each weapon combination. ``Eogan
Φ I would like to be one of the teachers. Everyone would get at least one warm up fight before drills were started to get everyone in the right mind set. We would warm up with some drills in a group (less than 10 minutes). Then the fighters would pair up and do drills in the round (distance, parry, voids, offhand parry). Then we would gather again and learn "the trick of the day" which would be something like a new void, or a new counter attack, or something along those lines. Then after 30 minutes of those drills people would spar with whomever they chose. After about 2 hours of that, there would be organized melee practice. This could vary from 2 on 1 to 5 on 5. ``Briana
Drachenwald
Φ Building up levels of drills, with free play for amusement.
Φ Rigid .. structured ... much like a school rather than a place to go and fight all day. Footwork .. Parries... Drills .. slow exercises .. routine.. slow sparing..
Φ I feel it is necessary to spend the first part of the practice on drills and slow work, so that the fencer can warm up and keep in mind what is being worked on. This way, when they go to fight, they are better able to use the methods that were practiced. ``Muirghein
Ealdormere
Φ 2.5 hrs twice a week. practice 1 is: 1hr instruction/drill work, 1hr open sparring, .5hr discussion. practice 2 is: 1hr individual 1-on-1 time, 1.5 hr group time (melee/practice tourney/etc). ``Wilhelm
Φ I like it more formalised, I find drills really helpful and would like more support for that kind of learning style. In a 3-hour practice I would like to spend about 1 hour drilling, 1 hour doing partnered slow work, and 1 hour sparring.
East
Φ Footwork drills, followed by blade drills, open sparing, melee practice.
Φ Begin and end with some sort of drill (footwork and/or bladework), but mostly sparring :-) ``Fei-Hong
Φ 15-20 min's of drillwork, 1 1/2 of bouting, last 1/2 hour to 45 minutes of melee scenarios(if enough fencers are present). ``Maire
Φ A class with multiple newbies at the side, with experienced fencers joining in the drills, group footwork drills. The last hour and a half are for free bouting.
Φ 20 min footwork drills; 30 min skill drills; 30 min individual skills drills (small groups wanting to learn specific attacks etc); 1-2 hours open bouting/ melee practices. ``Pascual
Φ Two times a week, a bit of drills, a bit of slow sparring, lots of bouting with individual attention of the higher-ranked fencers, and lots of melee work (not just melees for the fun of it). Then, once more during the week we bout and do melees just for the fun of doing them, without any formalized teaching. ``Domenego
Lochac
Φ Written lesson plans and drills as well as full speed drills.
Φ General footwork, drill, followed by sparing at the end to wind up.
Φ Drill 20 mins, spar using what you've been drilling 20 mins, repeat, finish session with open sparring.
Φ Drill, slow sparring, and maybe 30-40% open sparring - with set lessons for trainees, and a rotation of elements of set lessons for others. ``Francois
Meridies
Φ Well planned out, 50% drill, 25% 3/4 speed sparring 25% full speed sparring.
Midrealm
Φ Dress, drill, fight, cool down, undress, go home.
Φ .5 hour drill work, 1.5 hours sparring, 1 hour melee.
Φ Drills, slow sparring covering drilled moves. free sparring.
Φ When I run practices they are normally run this way: 1-2 hour of drills. 1.5 hours of coached bouting. 1 hour of free sparring.
Φ Group slow drills or foot work. Learning a new slow something or footwork to take home. Lots of fighting with talking between.
Northshield
Φ 15% drillwork slow spar 70% fight 15% drill work with 1/2 doz regulars and a couple experienced people from other places.
Φ Ideal practice: about 8-15 people. 1-2 experienced/senior fighters supervising drills and slow work for about about 30-40 minutes, then equal or more time fast sparring... ``Margalit
Outlands
Φ <gah> I almost don't know anymore. A little bit of drill to open with (basics, by preference), a new technique or two offered in a group for the newer fencers, and one for intermediate fencers if that's at all possible, then lots of playing. ``Rivka
Φ Start off doing drills and footwork. Then go into fighting a bear pit and get everyone warmed up. Move into melee practice and use of secondaries and schlagers. End with an "every one for themselves" melee, with a resurrection point for about 15-20 minutes. ``Peryn
Trimaris
Φ Foot work for warm up, weapons drills, malee practice then sparring.
Φ Drill warm-ups, round robin 2 minute bouts, , and practicing 1 specific technique to try and drill it into muscle memory.
Φ Newbies get a 15 minute overview, then some footwork and bladework. Then slow drills, then slow sparring, with commentary. Eventually sparring with commentary and full bouting. ``Coinneach
Φ Start with about 20 minutes of footwork drills and parrying drills. Then we would do some single "pick-up" fights, to warm up. Finally we would end with either some melee' practice (8-10 people) or a mini-tournament. ``Thorunn
West
Φ Line drills. Point control drill. Free sparing with dissembler weponds so you can get use to combat (you never know what you will fight next). ``Tallon
Φ Usually I work my classes half and half. the first half is drils and theory the second half is practical application of what they just drilled on with me coaching.
Φ For those who want spend the first 10 minutes or so working on a move/footwork drill. Spar for a while however your group normaly enjoys it. Try to add in one small event a little melee if enough people. End with going over the drill/move/footwork from the start of pratice. ``Crispy
Φ [Response is below.]
Footwork - Basic, Advanced.
Bladework - Parries, Attacks.
Secondary - Off-hand, Defensive, Offensive.
Compound - Attacks, Defences, Combination.
Free Sparring. ``Staffan
| Up to index | ||
Question 26  |
Question 28  |
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.
The address for this page is [ www.therotunda.net/rapier/survey-1/q27-drill-first.shtml
]
Nothing on my Web site is the official publication of anyone else. Unauthorized use for profit is not permitted.