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 27.
Respondents share their input on their Ideal Practice or training program.
The theme for this page: more ________.
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 AEth. ~ More structured instruction for beginners so new folks don't spend most of practice standing around watching. ``Miriel
Φ AEth. ~ I would like to see far more emphasis on drills. My ideal practice would be much more _focused_. In other words, when sparring, instead of just goofing around, each person would be consciously focusing on something - their footwork, their parries, their attacks, or whatever. The problem I guess is that in our group, everyone is at very different levels and areas of interest, so I'm not sure how you would get people to agree on one set of drills or one style, etc. ``Jean
One idea is to take turns among those willing and able to lead, switching every N weeks, where N is whatever number works best...
Φ East ~ More time needs to be spent on the basics for newbies. If their form is bad in slow sparring, it's not going to be miraculously fixed when fast sparring. Practice authorizations would be useful too. That way, they'd know what to expect and would be less nervous during the real thing. ``Lilia
More of several things
Φ AEth. ~ More teachers - much more time to actually fence.
Φ AEth. ~ A large variety of fencers at all levels. People willing to try new styles. OTHER people willing to teach who are actually good at it.
Φ Anst. ~ Indoors, better than 3 to 1 student to teacher ratio, good teachers, advanced fighters to work with each other. ``Benedict
Φ Caid ~ well, you said Ideal . . . 8 - 12 regular fencers with up to 20 in peak season. 1 White Scarf (or skill-equivalent) for every four lesser fighters. These fighters willing to TEACH. Specific training goals, footwork, dagger, lunges, or something like that, at least for the first 30 minutes. ``Meala
Φ Eald. ~ Lots of partners to dance with, lots of space to dance in, and no arrogant so-and-so insisting that I take part in drills. ``Nicholas
Φ Eald. ~ Largely [the same as our normal practice], but possibly with more people, and enough space to keep going in more constant rotation.
Φ East ~ We'd have at least four hours of time, and enough room that the complete new fencers could be trained separately from the others. We'd start with a warmup, then do a lecture on one aspect of the game, then do an hour or two of drilling on that aspect, then do some bouting, and at the end do some strength and stamina work.
Φ Tri. ~ Regular, Dry, well lit with at least 5 folk, more is better.
More competition
Φ AEth. ~ Not significantly different from my normal practice except that there is always at least one fencer who can clean my clock. ``Miguel
Φ East ~ Good friends, folks who are at or near my skill level to push me and plenty of water.
More fast sparring
Φ An Tir ~ Less drills, more stabbing people not that im violent or anything... drills are all good and such for reinforcing movements and posture ect.. but theres a real tendancy of late in some areas to not let a newbie actually fight anyone till nearly 3months in.. i can't agree with this cause one there's no real way to gauge your hits, and how hard they actually come across on different people unless you actually get to feel it contact people. we've one person with us right now who's done nothing in her previous area but fight walls and footwork drills, she's playing with us now and the biggest obstical and we've seen this with others is she's not used to a wall that fights back and it slightly frustrates her..im all for warm ups and drills but not to the point it interfers with the actual sport of it all.
Φ Nor. ~ I love it when we have new people to play with, we get fencers from other shires over to visit, one is a bronz ring who is dateing one of our fencers, we used her for bait LOL, just kidding, but he is great fun to play with, and I always learn alot from him. I like to also learn new moves or techni. but do not like to spend to much time on the slow stuff, figure it out and then go with it until you get it. I always come out of the bear pit feeling even more confidant with my skill because I learn best if I can use a new move or techn. fast, put it to real use at real speed, the slow just does not do it for me. ``Gabrielle
More fencers (nearby)
Φ AEth. ~ We are doing my ideal local practice. Althouh I wish there were more people so that our MIT's could get some experience.
Φ East ~ Simply put: I love a lot of people to fence against, and at the same time more time to get instruction and give instruction. I know, I don't ask for much. :) ``Ian
Φ East ~ I've actually been happy with the [local] practices... More people is generally better the less, and I generally travel a hour to make sure I am able to make a good practice with a fair number of people. ``Ronan
Φ Mer. ~ People will actually show up-with equipment, and do something other then talk about their present brewings.
Φ Mid. ~ Lots of fencers and non stop fencing.
Φ Nor. ~ ...never thought about it. A warrented Marshal of Fence in the area (i.e. within 2 hours' drive!) would be nice! ``Maisy
Φ Nor. ~ Various fighters with different skill levels. We have 3 authorized fighters that always show up, and we spend a lot of time training new students. We are close to a collage so we get a lot of people who don't stick around.
Φ Out. ~ Having enough people to run some melees and do pick ups on the side.
Φ Tri. ~ Same as our normal practice, but add more people and Dons.
Φ West ~ More than one other fighter to show up. ``Etain
More focus on improvement/learning
Φ East ~ Some desire on the part of the fencers to improve their skills and/or practice/learn a technique. Some drills to cement the moves and some sparring or melee to see how well you've learned them. ``Brita
Φ Out. ~ Lots of people of all skill levels working on learning rather than just fighting.
Φ Out. ~ A group of people who want to drill doing it, moving to slow work and then out on the field. A place where there is less ego, more learning. (And I'm as guilty as any of the ego thing, on a given day). ``Charles
Φ Tri. ~ Pretty much what we do, but with a litte mre direct instruction ie, "try this more" ore this parry will counter this shot etc..
More free time
Φ Atl. ~ Ideal...sheesh...I'd be able to devote all the time of a committed martial artist to this art...life just gets in the way all to often.
Φ Mid. ~ In an ideal world where I don't have a fulltime job and a toddler and a marriage and very busy SCA service schedule, I would train with cardio everyday, and work on point control everyday, and practice the period forms and finally be like Inigo Mantoya. But instead I will fence at one practice a year and keep my marshallate active so I can be the emergency back-up marshal.
For those who do not know, Inigo Montoya is a fictional Spanish fencer in a wonderful movie that's very popular with the SCA called "The Princess Bride".
IM: "You're using Bonetti's defense against me, ah?"
MB: "I thought it fitting, considering the rocky terrain."
IM: "Naturally, you must expect me to attack with Capo Ferro."
MB: "Naturally, but I find Thibault cancels out Capo Ferro, don't you?"
IM: "Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa . . . which I have."
More marshals/teachers/teaching, guest teacher
Φ AEth. ~ Same as [our normal practice] but with the occasional addition of a guest teacher.. maybe once every six months.
Φ AEth. ~ [Same as our normal practice] but with a larger number of fencers (making the variety of regular opponents greater), and a larger and more frequent appearance of marshals (allowing more frequent authorizations for those ready to make the attempt.) ``Po
Φ An Tir ~ To have a Don come and run the practice would be ideal... none in our area though.
Φ An Tir ~ Just like [our normal practice] except I'd have a guest instructor - the more exposure I and my fighters can get to other styles and techniques, the better. ``Vincent
Φ Atl. ~ Fencing with instructors - basically fencing with people that can recognize weak points (something I'm not able to do yet), correct mistakes, and help you get better. Being able to get a decent balance between fighting people my own skill level, and fighting people much better than me that can teach (and fighting complete newbies, because they have a style all their own). Having better fencers doesn't do much (at least quickly) if they can't teach, or help you correct what you're doing wrong without frustrating you. ``Costanca
Φ Caid ~ Lots of people of various skill levels, interactive teaching based on observations, some drill work.
Φ Caid ~ I perfer to have someone teaching good fundamentals whom I know can teach the right stuff to the newbies, but that really hasn't been a problem so far. ``Lot
Φ Caid ~ I'm just going to have to say at least a practice that i can attend every other day or more... eatch one having a good veritay of people to play with including Dons and Provost at eatch practice.. also having loaner equipment at eatch enough for at least 3 or more people can go out and play.
Φ Caid ~ I don't have enough teachers to be able to run an ideal program. I'm also not sure what an ideal program would be. All my experience is in SCA fencing and basically self-taught. I teach the drills I think will help my students, but I don't run a particularly structured practice. Maybe I should get a little more organized. ``Kelan
Φ Eald. ~ New people are introduced to different instructors and get to choose their instructor (there are situations where the philosphy in instruction and style clash so bouncing between instructors would be detrimental). Instructors work with students for 1st half and others can spar in the left over space. Second half is open to sparring, new students should only spar if their instructor believes they are ready (they may be told to spar with only more expierenced fencers or partiticular ones) other than that people find an opponent and spar when there is space available (and people should be fair in sharing the space/time). ``Wilhelm
Φ East ~ 2or3 instructors sharing techniques, drill patterns and crtique of form,followed by round robin practice fencing.
Φ East ~ 2-3 organized and dynamic instructors. 20 minutes basic drill work, including footwork. live sparring, with consultation and advice as followup. melee practice, with training and wrap-up discussion... some sort of aerobic training included. ``Alain
Φ Loch. ~ A bit more fencing and a bit less talking. Especially from those who really don't know how to teach.
Φ Mid. ~ Someone else to teach _me_. ``Purple
Φ Mid. ~ Would be nice to have someone, even if it's just 1/2 hr per practice, work me with one on one on different things, starting out slow with a drill then working up, or each practice work on just one aspect..i.e. sword and buckler, or sword and dagger.
Φ Out. ~ For me, a cadre of good teachers rotating through levels of fighters, teaching and duelling. Time spent together, followed by free sparring, followed by round table discussions on varios issues, some combat relaed, some not. A focus overall in creating a thoughtful, knowledgable fighter who is safe, skilled, and experienced. ``Volker
Φ West ~ Having small groups of 2 or 3 with one authorized teacher/ marshal. Each person is divided to the group according to their experience level or training. Start with a little sparring, then going over good and bad points that could be improved or done a little differently. Then, having two groups close in experience range do a little sparring. ``Alessandra
More melee
Φ Atl. ~ Would perfer to spend 20 mins.of a 2 hr. practice doing drills or foot work every other practice work on melee stuff.
Φ East ~ Good as it is; many of the local fencers belong to the same fencing household and have gelled. Would prefer some formal work in melee tactics.
Φ Mid. ~ I prefer to see people working on their off hand technique and doing things they would not normally do at an event. It would improve skills overall. More melee and specific technique work would be nice. Without melee experience, it's hard to do well with it at big events like Pennsic and Gulf Wars. ``Molly
Φ Tri. ~ About the same as [my typical practice], but with more melee practice. I need to wrap my brain around having more than 1 person at a time trying to kill me.... ``Melangell
More practices, stamina
Φ An Tir ~ Same as [our normal practice] but 5 nights a week.
Φ Aten. ~ I'd rather do it twice a week. Too much time goes by between practices and I don't own my own equipment, nor do I have a sparring partner at home, so a lot of things I think I could pick up more quickly if I got to have more frequent practices, even if they weren't quite as long. ``Reina
Φ Mer. ~ Fight till u drop.
Φ Nor. ~ One that never ends :)
Φ Tri. ~ Alot of people with stamina. excellent instructors.
More space
Φ AEth. ~ Big field to run around in, with perfect weather all the time during practice. Ten people minimum, ranging in skill from White Scarves to very inexperienced. Variety of drills to warm up, be they footwork, parry, point control, etc., followed by melee work or one-on-one sparring and teaching depending on what moods people were in, if people were trying to authorize, if there was a specific lesson someone wanted to teach, etc. ``Charles
Φ Anst. ~ Enough space, enough light, enough shade, a nice breeze, both flat and interesting terrain, LOTS of participants. ``David
Φ Eald. ~ Ideal would be a large gym, with spectator seating, that allowed space for instruction while sparing went on in the other end of the hall.
Φ East ~ A practice with alot of people alot of space and No politics. ``Griffith
Φ East ~ Someplace with lots of different people, and air conditioning, and room to fence. ``Jane
Φ Mid. ~ A cool, dry place inside with air circulation and room for everybody on the field at once and plenty of drill work. ``Uadahlrich
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