Fencing and Coaching During the Coronavirus Lockdown.

Introduction

Most of us are currently in lockdown due to Coronavirus. This has left many Fencing clubs scrambling to provide some level of service whilst social distancing is implemented.

At this time there are lots of on-line resources for Strength & Conditioning and Fitness. This is fine, but we felt it was important to provide Fencing related activities beyond the usual warm-up, fitness regime and footwork practice.

Here are some ways we have found of keeping folks training and entertained. Hopefully they will be of use!

Using Tech and Online Resources

It seems that almost everyone has managed to get on-line whether it is through Facebook Live, Zoom or YouTube content. In my opinion there is no point in “reinventing the wheel” when it comes to online fitness or Yoga sessions and use of these specific resources should be encouraged as an addition to the fencing specific sessions. As an example in the UK Joe Wicks and his “PE with Joe” has proved very popular for H.I.I.T type fitness.

A multitude of training resources exist online that are relevant to both fencing (or combat sports) and fitness in general. Many of these also provide options which allow you to work in the limited space many homes have.

One of my favourite channels is by Luka Hocevar. This channel provides fun exercises. One of his many videos is below.

When it comes to our Fencing sessions and 1-1 lessons we use Zoom. The sessions have been reduced to 1 hour slots. We also use Social Media such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for distributing club information. This can include session updates, challenges and other fun ideas to try at home.

How to Manage Limited Space

Fencing usually requires large areas such as Gymnasiums and that fencers meet at a club to participate. So how do we make it possible to provide a service with maximum participation that is fun, relevant and beneficial?

At our club we have developed all of our training to work within the length of a Yoga Mat.

Making Use of Household Items

It’s important to ensure that as many people take part as possible. Not everyone has an agility ladder, hurdles, or cones lying about.

We use items in our training sessions that almost every household has (or can quickly buy). The list is not exhaustive but some ideas include:

1. A tennis ball can be used for a multitude of games requiring co-ordination, balance, accuracy and timing.
2. A length of tape is used to mark the area of play.
3. Cups or toilet rolls can be used instead cones for fitness exercises and games requiring speed and agility.
4. A sock or glove can be used for games requiring speed, reactions balance and timing.
5. A shoe lace or other cable can be laid on the floor to mark the participation area and used for games requiring distance and timing.
6. A spoon can be used with a tennis ball for balance games involving footwork.
7. A ruler can represent a fencing sword but can also be used for hand-eye co-ordination games.
8. Stairs are excellent for cardio exercises.
9. Small Steps or home made practice targets are a great idea for practicing accuracy and technique.

If you are technical and looking for a more in-depth project then why not have a look at something like this one developed by our club armourer.

Our Club Training Sessions

First of all – West Lothian Fencing Club were aware that not all clubs or fencers would be ina position to train. So the club opened up its sessions to any fencer for free who wanted to attend. This meant we had fencers from all over the UK, America and Germany attending. We wanted to make sure no-one missed out!

Before lockdown our club sessions would start off with a warm-up, followed by Rhythmic Footwork. Fencing-related relay races based around the agility ladder would come next,with games, and finally lessons or free sparring.

To save space and for safety reasons we don’t use fencing weapons during our online sessions. Here is what we do instead:

1. Warm-up has more ‘on-the-spot’ exercises and stretches.
2. Rhythmic footwork places more emphasis on shorter movements forward and back within the assigned space.
3. Relay races make heavy use of agility ladder patterns executed in the defined space with greater repetitions forth and back.
4. Games are redesigned to take place in the smaller space. These emphasise co-ordination, timing, accuracy, speed and fun!
5. Shadow Fencing is led by the coach through visual cues that indicate attack or defence.

Online Fencing lessons

While we can’t give traditional 1-1 Fencing lessons during lockdown our online lessons make use of a target or fencing dummy (or rope in the parents :)).

We are lucky in that many of our young Fencers have a parent who participates at the club. This has allowed us to ‘outsource’ the lessons in general with a high level of guidance.

1. Ideally the lesson should be a game that both ‘Parent Coach’ and ‘Student’ can play equally.
2. Be very specific about the context of the coaching movements.
3. Reduce the amount of actions and outcomes to practice per session.
4. Build up the constraints and coaching over a longer period of time.
5. Ensure the lessons are not just drills but include options to make the student think.
6. Record the sessions so progress can be monitored and mistakes or misunderstandings rectified.
7. If a parent or sibling is not available actions can be practiced on a dummy or target.
8. Use online resources that already exist to solidify the understanding. This can be an example of a tactic or hit being executed.
9. Time can also be spent undertaking video analysis taken from the fencers previous bouts.

Issuing Weekly Challenges

To keep the competition going and the spirits of the club members up we have announced weekly challenges. At week 5 the overall winner will win our Lockdown Trophy, with medals being won for each of the individual challenges, too.

The challenges are varied, relevant of course to fencing and use standard housedold items. They span five weeks and allow members time to practice and work on their weaknesses in order to win the challenge. Of course they have to recognise what their weakness is!

To ensure fairness, attempts must be recorded and the video sent to myself as head coach to keep score:

Here’s our schedule:

1. Week 1 – Speed, fitness and efficiency of movement.
2. Week 2 – Accuracy and timing.
3. Week 3 – Hand and Eye Co-ordination.
4. Week 4 – Balance
5. Week 5 – Accuracy, Hand and Eye Co-ordination
6. Week 6 – Learn to Juggle – Special Trophy for anyone going from 0-1 min+ in two weeks.

The challenges are varied and demonstrate the benefit of practice and working on weaknesses. This means anyone with the right strategy will have the opportunity to win. None of them were based on strength and physical capability alone.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Hopefully this blog post has given you some ideas on what you can do to run your club online, with limited space and household resources during the lockdown. Let us know if it has been of use to you! And share your ideas with us!

For further information have a look at my YouTube Channel – Fencing Coach Kev or indeed read some of my other blog posts!

A link to our a 1 minute teaser session is below!

Also check out the West Lothian Fencing Club and Heriot-Watt Fencing Club websites!