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I’m always excited when a new student has taken Asian Martial Arts classes or dance classes. That means their footwork will be decent. The same goes for RPS. I love it when a student likes playing and likes to learn strategies that help them develop as mini “strategizers.” I know that they will be well-prepared for thinking on the strip when the time is right. Thinking move, counter-move is not too tough. However, learning to think about counter moves very rapidly is an acquired skill in wich not everyone will excel.

During September, TTFC students will be learning strategies that help them win an RPS game. RPS is a skill game. Not a game of luck. I’m hoping to help mold a clever fencer. A fencer who thinks quickly under pressure can often beat a more-skilled, even faster opponent who might  try to rely too much on power.

So, if you want to spend some time with your kids playing games, quick! Get to the strategy games like RPS. Even some video games can help students think like a strategy expert. Fighting games like Street Fighter II teach the attentive player to watch out for mismatches when choosing characters. Choosing a line of strategy while playing certain games can insure a win. While I would much rather have my students running at the park or practicing footwork than playing video games, there is no denying the power behind children learning strategy games early on in life. So, take this opportunity to play RPS with your kids. And if they have been taking classes in September they will be taking home some deadly strategies. Please ask them which strategies they are working on. They should be able to explain them to you. Then, they should be able to use them against you. My average 10-yo student will probably beat the average adult, guaranteed!

Keep working hard.

Coach Tedd

“En Guard.” Two twelve-year-olds lay on their bellies. Their sword-arms are already extending forward in anticipation of finding the opponents foil lame with their tip.

“Ready?” The two youths begin crawling forward despite the fact that they have not heard the “fence” command from their referee.

“Fence!” As the fencers wriggle towards one another they begin pushing off of their toes in an improvised lunge. With their distance closer, they begin parrying and riposting as well as one might on your belly.  One student, Gabe, hits “on-target” on the lamé for a point. He immediately stands and celebrates with a fist pump. Onlookers giggle and look at each other knowingly.

Why are the TTFC athletes wriggling around on the ground like worms? That’s because they both cast spells on each other called “Earthworm Metamorphosis.” While playing Drake’s Claw, a fencing game geared toward youth fencers, athletes can give their opponents handicaps like fencing on their knees, or fencing on one foot. They can even force their opponent to fence on their tummy. With over 100 “spells” to cast fencers can be as silly or as competitive as they wish. Most “spells” have a serious tactical or strategic edge. But a few cards are sprinkled in just to be silly.

Objective of the Game

The objective of Drake’s Claw is to use your spell cards and action cards to attain an advantage during a fencing match. Action cards can be played repeatedly. An example of an action card is a “parry four riposte,” a “straight attack,” or something more technical, like a “coupé fleche.” Action cards are played face down because you want to keep it secret from your opponent. These cards are similar to “calling your shot” in pool. If you can score with this planned move you not only get a “bonus touch.” “Action Cards” are intended to encourage a fencer to practice a challenging skill: setting up your opponent for a planned action.

The game’s design of Drake’s Claw began with using these action cards only. Quickly, we found adding a new type of card made things much more interesting. “Spell Cards” soon gave fencers the ability to play specific strategic advantages over one another. Play a “Fire Shield” spell and your opponent can no longer score on you with parry ripostes. Play a “Cobra Charmer” spell and limit your opponent to only using parry ripostes against you. Or, get a little silly and turn your opponent into a turtle who must fence on his knees.  While this is a little silly, so what???!!! Life is too short; lets have some fun!

Why a Funny Game?

Kids love Drake’s Claw because it is something different for summer months. Coaches love it because this game forces their students to analyze tactical situations. But no matter what, children and adults stay interested in poking each other.

Secret of Fencing and Drake’s Claw

6 months ago, some students and I came up with the idea of “The Secret of Foil Fencing.” At first, we laughed at the name and at the notion that there was a strategy out there we did not know about. But the truth is there was a strategy that I have been using most of my life. However, I had never put a name to it. This strategy involves only 3 fencing actions and it works a bit like Rock, Paper Scissors. I combined this strategic concept with a specific way of moving and predicting your opponents’ actions and voila! We have something powerful to teach to our students.  I’ve been fencing for about 20 years. I have never heard a coach explain fencing in this light. I doubt we are the first to discover this “Secret of Foil Fencing.” However, with this new concept in place our competitive fencers are improving at a remarkable clip. I have found that even my fencing is improving and my actions are becoming cleaner. My aim has even improved! I can’t wait for next season. With this new strategy I plan to fence some national events again. I’m really fired up about foil fencing!

With the introduction of Drake’s Claw to our programs I noticed that it would be a perfect time to teach the “Secret of Foil Fencing” to our students. So I piggy-backed both ideas. Now, most of the Drake’s Claw “Action Cards” and “Spell Cards” are designed to help teach important concepts and strategies to our TTFC students.

I’ve known for a long time that the key to improving a student with out getting her burnt out is to make learning fun. I feel that Drake’s Claw is going to be a perfect way to accomplish this.

Friends and family of our young fencers are charged with the duty of rallying friends and family to the duelist’s battlefield: the fencing strip.  This tournament is geared towards parents and friends who have always wanted to give the sport a shot. Never fenced before? No problem! Neither has your competition. Your mission: make some touches, have way too much fun!

• Tournament geared for friends and family of all ages. Anyone can try.
• Friends and family get a first-hand peek into what their youngsters have been learning in Team Touché Fencing classes.
• Young athletes create a family/friends patch in class for their team to wear.
• On Saturday June 18^th’s Open House we will invite parents and friends onto the floor. Young athletes will have the honor of training the beginner fencers on their team from 1115am- 1145am.
• 1145am-145pm will be the time of the tournament. Poke your way to an astounding victory or suffer an honorable defeat!
• New! Extra padded fencing jackets for the comfort of beginners.
• Participants need to sign waivers. You will also need to bring loose clothing, sweat pants, tennis shoes and a smile. All other safety equipment is provided by Team Touché.

Questions? Email Coach Tedd:         tedd@teamtouche.com

Great plug and I cant wait to do another radio or TV demo. This is where I belong! ITs too much fun, man!

Coach Tedd

Check out the awesome time here:

One of the parries often left out of a sabre student’s repertoire is counter three (or circle three). If you are not familiar with this parry in Sabre and you are used to using “umbrella” parries like 4 and 5, you are missing out!

While slightly slower than parry 4, you’ll find that parry 3 will help you in several ways as a sabrist. It will allow you to search for the blade from further away. Drop your tip lower towards your opponent and then fish several times in 3. You’ll likely find an early parry; you can then make a prise d’ fer attack. Another reason that parry 3 will help you is it clears the low line. Personally, it drives me nuts when I get hit in the 2-line. A strong counter 3 will be able to pick up sneaky attacks under your forearm. Parry counter 3 will also allow you to hit with opposition (against right-handers) if you choose. This is very helpful in the age of all those dirty remises that plague the modern sabre game. Lastly, this parry can be very good in “the box” if you are not sure where your opponent will attack. Counter 3 will clear several lines at once taking some of the guesswork out of your counter time riposte.

Warning: Don’t attempt a counter 3 parry riposte from too close. You’ll likely just drag your opponents’ blade across your target and get hit with a dirty remise. Instead, use a check and a large retreat (not a cross-over) to accomplish keeping distance to succeed with your parry.

Good luck and happy hunting, Sabre Wolves!

-Coach Tedd Padgitt

He was completely right. If you cant score a touch because your tip is failing. Oooor… if your body cord fails and you get a yellow card, it could throw you mentally. As soon as you have to change out your body cord, you are now thinking about something other than defeating the other fencer. So the answer is easy, check your gear a couple of nights before.

A few easy tips to keep you from experiencing this kind of anxiety at an event:

• Use an ohmmeter to check the connectivity of your body cords. Wiggle the cords a bit to make sure the cord won’t break down later. Don’t be afraid to tug a bit.
• Clean your tips. All you need is a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a cue tip and a jewelers’ screwdriver to clean out the barrel. Make sure there is no gunk anywhere on the tip itself, not just the barrel.
• Retape your foil the night before to make sure there are no problems grounding out on your opponents’ lame.
• Sew your lame or bib with dental floss. Not regular string. It will last 10 times longer.
• Pack your gear the night before so you don’t feel rushed. You may avoid forgetting your knickers that way.
• Bring a competition lame instead of your club lame. With two lames in your arsenal you can keep the junky one at the club and take the other out of the closet to use at the next important event. Then there are no surprises. It’s hard to accurately test your lame the week before. So just stock an extra.
• Advanced Tip: fence with all your foils/ epees and body cords the week before your tournament. Then you’ll get to see how different combinations of gear work together (eg one foil might not have a very good connection with a certain body cord).
• I have found it to be true that certain scoring machines read “flicks” differently. Not sure why. You may find that your foil’s flicks are more readily registered by some scoring machines than others. The answer is to be willing to change your weapon when the second flick does not register on the competition strip. Don’t take a chance. Just change it out! You are within the rules if you change your foil out for a technical reason like, “my flicks aren’t going off.”
• Never have a lucky/ favorite sword. What happens when it breaks at the tournament. Now you have a disadvantage over your opponent? Not smart. Thulsa Doom (played by James Earl Jones) in Conan the Barbarian says to Conan, “What is steel compared to the hand that wields it? Look at the strength in your body, the desire in your heart….” Thulsa Doom suggests that the fighters’ hand, psyche, and heart are what are really important. Relying on a favorite sword, charm, or other object that might break or could even be left at home accidentally is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Steel is just steel. What matters is “the hand that wields it.”

Remember to start thinking about your event at least a week beforehand. This will get your gear working properly and reduce the disadvantage that faulty gear may present to your performance. Fence hard! Have fun. Rest easy knowing that you have handled your equipment with plenty of time to spare.

Coach Tedd Padgitt

Owner Team Touche Fencing Center

Even though most of my days are primarily filled with coaching, I still love competing. One of the advantages I have tried to give myself throughout the years is a solid cheering section. I find that it really helps to have people making NOISE for you! I never forget to pack a cheering section. This is largely why I named my company “Team Touche Fencing.” There is a lot of value in having a crowd of fans that goes nuts when you are fencing in a tournament.

The first thing I do before I even try to enter an event is to invite my girlfriend, Kitty. She always cheers the loudest for me and I can’t thank her enough for this. Once I’m at an event and I’ve got Kitty in my corner I’m good to make it through the pools. Now the tougher rounds are coming and I’m not taking any chances. I round up ANYBODY with a TTFC patch (and their parents and their babysitter, possibly their dog trainer…). I want people cheering loudly for me. Not just because it helps get the adrenaline pumping in my system, but also because I want the other fencer to feel marginalized. What can I say? I’m at the tournament to win and often that means using every available resource to succeed, even a cheering section.

Now that I have established the importance of cheering for an athlete I’m going to address when and how you cheer during a fencing tournament. The crowd typically roots for their fencer after a touch is scored. Parents, friends and family are welcome to shout “great job” or other generic encouragement. Please refrain from shouting technical or strategic advice during this time. That’s why you hire a coach! If your child is on their own without a coach, it may be by design. I sometimes intentionally leave a student on their own during a bout. Sometimes a student may need to learn hard lessons on their own. The number one rule here is don’t shout out when the fencing is occurring. The referee of any given bout can also yellow card you (that means a warning) for disturbing the bout. Beyond that, go nuts! If you are having fun watching, its likely your athlete will have more fun fencing.

So now you know how to behave at a tournament. But what of the folks whose children have a hard time with their parents watching them fence and cheering?. I’ve had conversations with parents who are chastised by their children, believe it or not, for rooting them on during tournaments. I’ve even had a mom say that her child gets so nervous when she watches, she is not “allowed” to watch him fence. In the child’s defense, fencing can be extremely stressful as it is an individual sport! So when they are confronted with additional issues that distract them (i.e. the eyes of a parent watching) they react badly; often they get angry with the parent and shoo them away. This does not need to be the case. If this sounds familiar to you, then respect your child’s wishes (for now) and stop watching during the events. Instead, start watching them during a less stressful situation. Watch them fence during practice. This should not be too hard on them. But if it is still too stressful, try watching some bouting on a strip where your child is not fencing. When your child is taking a break from sparring ask them some questions about what is going on during the other fencers’ bout. This way you can show interest in what is going on the floor without causing any stress in your child’s world of fencing.

After you can accomplish this, try asking them to show you what their favorite fencing action is when they are not fencing. This may be a move that they are most comfortable using. Then, when everyone is in a good mood, have your child try that move when they are fencing while you watch. This should not be stressful for them because they are going to focus on a tried and true move that is easy and fun with which they can try scoring on an opponent.

“Cool,” you might say, “Now I see how that action works!”

Good coaches know that you must draw a bridge from practice to a tournament setting regarding fencing actions. In other words, if you want to flick to an opponent’s back you must first try it out during regular practice times. When it becomes effective in practice, then its time to take it to the next tournament. The same logic could be applied to becoming accustomed to a parent cheering. First, break the ice on cheering at practice. Then, try cheering at a tournament.

Parents should have a right to enjoy their children’s performance at a tournament. When they cheer in a positive, respectful way (and they stay the heck out of the way of the coach and referee) the support will be transformed from a distraction to a boon.

Coach Tedd Padgitt

Owner, Team Touche Fencing

Bring Family and Friends to experience Olympic Fencing, students’ theatrical performances, and Top Dog program promotions.