It’s easy to forget how interwoven fencing is and how our lessons play into one another.…

A little study

I’ve been anxiously awaiting Woodland War and thought I’d stretch my fencing muscles a bit with a little study. A focused experiment and deep-dive into a particular subject, in hopes that some new light may come of it or at least get my “wiggles out”.

In this case, I wanted to explore the Newcomer Lessons’ influence on the rest of the Training Program.

When you’re new to fencing, the Newcomer Lessons lay a foundation of how to get involved and started in the sport and with the group, but after a student moves on to Novice, they kind of get forgotten. In an effort to expand capabilities, gain access to new weapons, or move closer to that Swordsman Rank, more emphasis is placed on the Required and Elective lessons. But as Captain Edward has been teaching this year, so much is influenced by the foundational skills of fencing. And those are taught to Newcomers.

So let’s find out the truth behind that statement.

Connecting the pieces

In the video above, I plotted out each lesson and categorized them into groups. The green dots are Newcomer Lessons. The blue dots are the Required Lessons. The red dots are all of the Electives. Visually, it’s split about 50/50 between Newcomer/Required and the Electives, which is fascinating. Half of our time is designed to be spent on what the group considers foundational and half on more optional or selective subjects. I wonder what our ratios would be based on what we spent our time on…food for thought.

After that, I connected each lesson with its prerequisite. Turns out that Theory of Melee unlocks the most lessons with 7 and Range & Placement comes in second with 6. Not what I expected, but Theory of Melee applies to the Parts of an Army lessons and Tactics lessons, while Range & Placement unlocks several offensive sides and movement-based classes. In either case, its obvious how crucial those two lessons end up being.

For a bonus nugget, Preparing to Be a Swordsman comes in third with 3 lessons, but those are the more preparatory lessons like How to Teach, How to be an Officer, and How to be a Master/Apprentice. Overall, there are not many prerequisites to bar students from any particular lessons, but it’s another sign that fencing skills are interwoven.

Finally, we get to the main goal of the study which is “How influential are the Newcomer Lessons”. To do that, I went through each lesson and connected what Newcomer lesson(s) I felt directly played into or could benefit a fencer as they were taking a particular lesson.

The newcomer influence

This is where things started to blow my mind. Having been in the group for over 15 years, I did come into this with some expectations, but getting to see things visually really brought home some truths and some new discoveries. This is why I love studies. They are so good about opening new boxes and new possibilities of thought that can lead to more questions and more learning. Now, let’s look at the data.

Basics of dueling

Usually, the very first lesson we teach to Newcomers Basics of Dueling played into 33 lessons. There are currently 50 lessons and so well over half of the lessons can be benefitted by having a strong understanding of how to duel and just the basics of one-on-one fighting.

Basics of Melee

Our group emphasized a lot of melee, so getting Basics of Melee done and taken care of unlocks a lot of play time with the group, but it also plays into 32 lessons. Once again, a solid understanding of melee basics is going to help with a ton of lessons and a ton of what our group does from week to week.

Four Levels of Importance

One of the first “talking” lessons. This is less about swordplay and more about the philosophy and mentality of our group. Four Levels of Importance are connected to 36 lessons. You could argue that it plays into all of them, which it does, but directly understanding the Four Levels of Importance would help anyone better learn 36 lessons. I was not expecting that.

Gauging & Breaking Shots

Gauging & Breaking Shots is a subtle art, but one we hear about all the time. We’re not trying to hurt our friends so I would imagine this lesson to be a heavy hitter (pun-intended) for the Newcomer lessons. Overall, this directly impacts 25 lessons.

Basic Blocks

If you boil down fencing, you really only have four options: Move, Attack, Block, Die. Seeing how defending yourself is literally where the Art of Defense aka fencing comes from, Basics Blocks has always been one lesson I try to emphasize when I teach. In the end though, Basic Blocks plays into 27 lessons. Another data point I was not expecting. Obviously we’re going to be blocking a lot, but it brings to light how much we teach that isn’t directly about defending yourself.

Basic Offhand

As one of the main differences between our type of fencing and say the Olympics, our ability to use our offhand comes up a lot. It only plays into 19 lessons though. That doesn’t mean it’s not influential and foundational to fencing. It highlights more that your offhand skills are something we are unconsciously expecting students to develop earlier on in their training program.

Gear Care & Requirments

Our other “talking” lessons, expect this lessons ends up being more hands on as we learn about our gear, how to care for them, and what’s required. Gear Care & Requirements plays into 12 lessons, which is the lowest number among the Newcomer Lesson. It shows that again, we are expecting students to learn this stuff and master it well before they are a Swordsman. But it’s also really interesting how much the finer points of gear come up later in our fencing journey. When fencers start discussing the bend of a blade, the weight of the pommel, or the feel of a glove, that familiarity with gear demonstrates an experience and expertise that’s hard to argue with.

Heed the Captain

I set out to put Captain Edward’s words to the test. He’s repeated over and over again, “Refresh yourself on the training program and focus on the essential skills.” But why? Well, in just a little study I can now see why. The Newcomer Lessons have a HUGE impact on our fencing. They are foundational for a reason and they should not be forgotten.

I implore you to heed the Captain. Assess how much time you’re spending on the essentials compared to the non-essentials. As our Captain Emeritus Shay, also said, “Fall in love with being bored.” Fencing is not boring, but there is wisdom is focusing on the basics.