1.5 Basic Footwork
Overview
The feet are the delivery system for the sword, and hence good footwork is the foundation upon which all fencing is built. This requires clean precise steps to make it work effectively. Each step should be no more roughly the width of one's shoulders. Each step should also only involve one foot movement for each step, with no extraneous corrective movements. The objective is to move so that the torso does not bob up and down, and as efficiently as possible.
Clean footwork requires practice, a lot of practice. There is no magic to developing good footwork, just hours and hours of repetition. Footwork drills should form a part of each training session. We can't emphasise strongly enough how much you will benefit from learning good footwork. Suffice to say that the majority of the time, we have discovered that poor footwork is the promary contributer to poor fencig actions, and difficulty in learning new fencing actions.
The basic steps and how to perform them
Left Step
From the basic stance, step directly left with your left foot, then follow with the right foot to retake the basic stance. The length of the step is determined by the first step taken with the left foot, and typically is the same as the width of your shoulders.
Right Step
From the basic stance, step directly right with your right foot, then follow with the left foot to retake the basic stance. The length of the step is determined by the first step taken with the right foot, and typically is the same as the width of your shoulders.
Back Step
From the basic stance, step directly back with the rear foot, then follow with the front foot to retake the basic stance. The length of the step is determined by the first step taken with the rear foot, and typically is the same as the width of your shoulders.
Teaching note: Moving weight onto the front leg before moving the back leg will make the body sway and the movement slow and awkward. Some students (especially female ones) may find it easier to move backwards smoothly by thinking about pushing with the front leg rather than moving the back leg. Start by tensing the front thigh to give stability then push with the front leg while thinking "move backwards". The back leg will move of its own accord. Another reason students may do this weight shift is because they feel unstable when moving back, and telling them to push off the front leg doesn't solve the problem. For these students, it may help them to teach them to tense the thighs of the front leg and then step or reach back with the back foot, trying to keep the back foot flat during this step. The front foot will then come back cleanly. The tensed thigh will give them a feeling of solidity in the stance, and also helps prevent the weight shifting to the front leg.
Inside Step
From the basic stance, step obliquely forward and to the inside of your opponent with the front foot, then follow with the rear foot to retake the basic stance. The length of the step is determined by the first step taken with the front foot, and typically is the same as the width of your shoulders in length, and about half the width of your shoulders sideways. (For your typical right hander vs right hander action this would be forward and right.)
Outside Step
From the basic stance, step obliquely forward and to the outside of your opponent with the front foot, then follow with the rear foot to retake the basic stance. The length of the step is determined by the first step taken with the front foot, and typically is the same as the width of your shoulders in length, and about half the width of your shoulders sideways. (For your typical right hander vs right hander action this would be forward and left.)
Classifying the steps
For ease of understanding it helps to classify the steps into 2 broad catergories of step, that being voiding footwork and closing footwork.
- Voiding Footwork
- Voiding footwork is footwork that protects the body from an incoming blow by removing the body from the point of contact. (ie avoiding the blow) The left step, the right step and the back step are all examples of voiding footwork.
- Closing Footwork
- Closing footwork is footwork that brings the body closer to your opponent, usually to provide you with an opportunity to land a blow. The inside step and the outside step are examples of closing footwork.
Distance Drills
- Exercise
- Student and instructor both on guard in terza facing each other at perfect distance. Instructor moves using simple steps, student must use simple steps to maintain the distance. Swords should be kept in terza, tip should not drop, arm should be 3/4 extended at all times, point at centre of mas.
Post-it notes:
Inside, outside, left, right, back
voiding footwork, closing footwork
objective is to get them a sense of where their feet are
foot position and balance
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