The Tactical Wheel is a development of actions normally utilized to educate methods to fencers. Despite the fact that there are substantial concerns in the use of the wheel in all 3 weapons, as a preceding posting of mine pointed out, it does provide to get fencers wondering about how to decide on the correct tactic at the correct time to score a touch. But how does an teacher get the beginning or intermediate fencer to recognize the interactions in this device? One particular approach I have successfully made use of is a modification of the video game Rock, Paper, Scissors.
The first move is to make guaranteed your fencers know the aspects in the wheel. As a standard section of our heat-up we recite the wheel out loud as a team. I want my fencers to know the stream of simple assault, defeated by the parry and riposte, deceived by the compound assault, intercepted by the cease hit, and in convert defeated by the basic assault.
The 2nd step is to assign figures of fingers to every action: 1 for straightforward attack, 2 for parry-riposte, 3 for compound assault, and 4 for stop hit. Instead of the balled fist, flat hand, or forked fingers of rock, paper, scissors, the fencers will toss out just one to 4 fingers.
The third phase is to outline which motion beats which other steps. To some diploma this is dependent on your evaluation of the wheel and the weapon the fencers fence. For case in point, 2 (parry riposte) beats 1 (easy attack) in all three weapons. Even so, 4 (stop strike) will lose to 1 (basic assault) in foil, but may well consequence in a double strike or good results in epee or sabre from time to time (a coin toss can be utilized to inject this degree of uncertainty).
Last but not least you are completely ready to fence. This drill can be done as a pair of fencers, a staff of a few as opposed to a different crew of three, or as two lines opposed to every other with fencers rotating from 1 line to the other as they are defeated. If the intent is to use the drill as a heat-up action, the number of repetitions ought to be confined. A single resolution in the rotating structure is that the winner of a contact stays up and loser rotates. Even so, it can also be employed in 5 contact (bout), 10 or 15 touch (immediate elimination), or team formats. The for a longer time formats permit fencers to get started to assess opponent patterns (although the 4 selection composition likely helps prevent software of pure iocaine powder logic), and for crew mates to notice and share that info. Use the regular instructions “on guard,” “all set,” and “fence,” with the fencers throwing out one to 4 fingers on “fence.” The amount of tension on decision-creating can be greater by lessening the interval involving instructions to fence.
It could possibly appear to be that you could realize the very same coaching by actually fencing, but the isolation of the decision as to which motion from the variable of fencer skill to execute it emphasizes the decision of technique. The drill does not need tools, and so suits perfectly in heat-up or cool-down activity. It is more quickly than a bout, but maintains a large degree of competitiveness among the fencers. We have found it to be an effective teaching device in our endeavours to enhance our fencers’ tactical feeling.