Sabre and life...
Tonight turned out to be a teaching sabre night for me. The first lesson was to introduce one of my intermediate students to the weapon. (I teach the first two courses using the foil. At the end of the second course, I use 2 lessons to introduce the saber & 2 more for epee. That gives them a taste of each & helps direct further training.) This
( Read more... )
Comments 1
(The comment has been removed)
Sabre fencers, especially dry sabre, tend to hit hard, both from a tendency to use too much elbow & wrist, and from wanting to be sure that the opponent and the judges acknowledge the touch...
The first is dealt with by drilling them over and over to use the arm to position the blade and the fingers to make the cut (with as little help from the wrist as possible). Then I deal with the second issue by insisting on dry sabrist to acknowledging the lightest of touches... Also putting them in electric sabre bouts helps that a lot...
Yeah, I know, classic Italian and the later (1880 - 1950) Hungarian schools taught that actions should move from the elbow, but that's only of value with the old, very heavy blades. today's lightweight sport weapon should be finger driven as much as possible. Just like the relationship between epee and rapier...
John
Reply
Leave a comment