Craig Harkins posts footwork and blade drills to his "Fencing Announcements" listserve. He has given permission for us to use his drills as part of TFA MAGAZINE. This quater we present his simple attack drills. Look for his simple defense drills in next quarter's issue. We with to thank Craig for his kindness and we encourage you to visit his Fencing.Net site. --Ed.

Simple Attack Drills by Craig Harkins of Fencing.Net

I recently unpacked my fencing notebooks and have a lot of drills and exercises to share. The drills come from a variety of different coaches with markedly different techniques, so I think you will find them interesting.

If you come across actions that you do not think that you would use in a bout, please try them out anyway. By learning how to execute the actions, you know better how to defend against them and also learn more about the strategies of the fencer using the actions.

The drills that I post are written with foil in mind, but they are easily adapted to other weapons.

This set of drills was used by Ron Miller, coach of the UNCChapel Hill fencing team. The goal of these drills is to familiarize the fencer with different attack tempos and timings.

You will see references to the different tempos to be used. They are:
1. Preinitiative Tempo - Fully extending the arm before any movement. (Point in line)
2. Initiative Tempo - Beginning the extension of the arm just before the beginning of the attack footwork (advance-lunge or lunge)
3. Simultaneous Tempo - Extending the arm at the same time as the attack footwork
4. Saved Tempo - extending the arm after the lunge has begun
5. Lost Tempo - extending the arm after the lunge has been completed

Each tempo has its proper place in a bout. (Ex: Lost Tempo, while at the end of the scale in priority, is very effective against the fencer who defends by closing distance and making multiple parrys.)

Here are the drills:
Simple Attack Exercises
P = Pupil, L = Leader

1. Saved lunge with undetermined destination (From long lunge distance)a.
P. Begins lunge (no extension)
L. No reaction
P. Continue (extend and accelerate to the target)b.
P. Begins lunge
L. Counterattack (late)
P. Continue (extend and accelerate to the target)c.
P. Begins Lunge
L. Counterattack (early)
P. Continue with beat attack d.
P. Begins lunge (no extension)
L. Parry (early)
P. Deceive (extend and accelerate to the target) e.
P. Begins lunge (no extension)
L. Parry (late)
P. Continue (extend and accelerate to the target)

2. Incremental Distances with Extension, Advance, and Lunge (initiative tempo) a.
P. Establishes distance
L. No movement or reaction
P. Simple attack to the appropriate distance (all possible distances from extension to longest lunge) b.
L. Establishes distance
P. Simple attack to the appropriate distance (all possible distances from extension tolongest lunge)

3. Preconceived Simple Attack (Example - Disengage) a.
L. On guard (6)
P. Disengage attack (from closed line) executed with maximal speed from optimal distance. (simultaneous tempo)
L. Attempts circular parry (c6)

4. Advance-lunge option exercise (from advance-lunge distance) a.
P. Advance in preparation (no extension)
L. No reaction
P. Straight attack b.
P. Advance in preparation (no extension)
L. Establishes line
P. Beat attack c.
P. Advance in preparation (no extension)
L. Attack on preparation (lunge)
P. Parry and ripost (holding ground - no movement following the advance)

Special thanks to Ron Miller for creation of these drills.

--Craig Harkins

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