SchermaOnline.com - The Importance of Physical Preparation in the Sport of Fencing

by Maestro Antonio Di Ciolo

Many clubs and their owners/administrators often offer a PE program in conjunction with fencing instructions to their members mostly to ensure that their members will not leave and to keep up with the competition of other clubs.

In reality I find this to be an inadequate approach.

I view the physical preparation as a fundamental and essential element necessary to develop and strengthen all the associated motion skills and abilities which are central in the practice of fencing as a modern sport.

This is why with young children I use a set of games/plays (small balls, sticks, shapes, etc.) and I encourage and push them to utilize in the most natural way possible for each one of them all the moves (extension of the arm, step forward, step backward, lunge, etc.) which will be very helpful to them when they'll actually fence. The fencing lesson on the techniques of this sport has the goal to refine these gestures and movements within the context of various fencing situations.

[PHOTO: Maestro Simone Piccini, Maestro Antonio Di Ciolo, Fencing Instructor Sabrina Balestracci, Maestro Enrico Di Ciolo]

What has distinguished me from other fencing Maestri is that I always considered the physical conditioning and preparation a substantial part of the formative process of a fencer and of his learning curve. The scope of the physical preparation lays in the implementation and fine tuning of the genetic qualities and the psychological and sociomotorial skills and abilities which are part of the physical baggage of each fencer.

I am always aware of the necessity to teach my pupils, through the appropriate physical preparation, the fencing positions (on guard, lunge, step forward and step backward), the agility/adroitness, the choice in tempo, the when, where, how, and why of any move to be executed. Through games/plays for the younger ones and specially devised drills for the older ones one can achieve the goal to develop those motor skills which are needed to execute the appropriate fencing actions and which the sport of fencing contributes to develop and strengthen.

As a fencing maestro and as a coach I always follow this teaching methodology, i.e., to develop motor capabilities and abilities in my students. I put my son Enrico [PHOTO: Maestro Enrico Di Ciolo --->] in charge of the older pupils' physical preparation and conditioning, where children's games are replaced by specific drills (weights, sprints, jumps) which strengthen the capability and ability already acquired (as youngsters) and to develop what is still missing (power, speed, elasticity, endurance).

I did not delegate this aspect of the athletes preparation to my son by chance but because of specific facts and reasons.

In 1986 Enrico became certified as fencing maestro and in 1994 he graduated from ISEF (College Program for PE Instructors) in Florence where he wrote a thesis about fencing and the handicapped. His research and studies covered both theory and practical knowledge which are necessary to follow all athletes in the gym.

Enrico immediately adapted his general knowledge from the study of the theory of physical preparation to the specific and special situations in the sport of fencing and he brought out the best results with this training of our fencers. For example, from 1989 until 2000 Enrico programmed and followed the physical preparation and conditioning of Alessandro Puccini. And today he is in charge of the physical preparation and conditioning of Toti Sanzo and all our other athletes at all levels.

[PHOTO: Maestro Antonio Di Ciolo between his students Frida Scarpa and Toti Sanzo]

Given the national, international and world and Olympic results of our fencers, I can assure you that having a pro like Enrico, acting not on the side but in syntony with the specific technical drills of each fencing move is the sine qua non to continue in the future with the successes we have earned so far.

At each and every stage during the fencing season Enrico concentrates on and develops a specific physical ability until his pupil reaches by the end of the season a complete physical improvement which allows the perfect execution of the moves in their fine components.

We also noticed that on the basis of the physical preparation and training, the way a fencer executes a fencing move changes during the fencing training period. Similarly I, as the maestro, have learned to recognize from the way my pupil executes the fencing moves, what particular skill/ability is he practicing during his physical preparation and conditioning.

Simone Piccini, our other maestro and collaborator has also a formation similar to Enrico's.

[PHOTO: Maestro Simone Piccini between Margherita Granbassi and Giovanna Trillini] First of all Simone was my pupil and therefore he's direct experience of my methods and techniques I use to form my fencers. Second, he became Maestro di Scherma in 1996, he was also one of the promoters of the "Fencing in School" initiative in 1997, and he was also a graduate from ISEF in Florence in 1998. I am 100% convinced that such a formative process is essential to understand all the problems connected with fencing as a medium to develop the general motor ability of the individual and to develop all the skills related to this sport.

The curriculum followed by Maestri Enrico Di Ciolo and Simone Piccini was followed also by my daughter Luciana who was also a graduate of ISEF in Florence, became both Maestra di Scherma and Youth Counselor and worked at my side in the salle experiencing directly my work methodology. Furthermore Luciana was the author of a series of drawings which illustrate the daily games and drills given to the young children in the gym for their physical preparation and to help them develop and strengthen the various skills which are very important in fencing such as equilibrium, hand-eye coordination, dexterity, etc.

The conclusion is that the two facets of the physical preparation and technical fencing lesson are intimately connected as in a phenomenon of osmosis. Should one wish to attribute a numerical value to the importance of both, it is just like what Alessandro Puccini says, that the entire career of a fencer consists of 59% physical preparation and 50% of fencing technique lessons. Therefore the maestro must also be the PE coach of his pupil or have an osmotic relation with the PE trainer to really know 100% his own pupil.

A maestro who just trains his pupil in fencing techniques only, without an emphasis on the general physical preparation makes a fundamental mistake because the good fencer will be so only if he is in the proper physical condition to be able to do it. In other words, physical preparation and conditioning cannot be an option that the club offers its members but a fundamental element of the instruction offered by the club and which is part and parcel of the growth process of the fencer.

A maestro should never bend to the desire of the management of the club who might think that physical preparation is a separate activity distinct from the technical fencing preparation of the fencers. Both activities, physical preparation and technical fencing lesson, must not be experienced as two separate activities, but as two complementary activities, two sides of the same coin.

It is the task of the fencing maestro/coach to meld together these two facets and to make the pupil feel about them this way. The return on this investment on the part of the maestro will be a 360 degrees pupil and fencer.

Translation by G-man

Nota: "Physical preparation and conditioning cannot be an option that the club offers its members but a fundamental element of the instruction offered by the club and which is part and parcel of the growth process of the fencer." Antonio Di Ciolo