Customer Reviews

Fencing: Basic Beginners Training

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This video, available in both VHS (listed by the director, Bill Myers) and DVD (listed by the instructor, Michael Bradley) formats, offers a very useful and clear introduction to essential (foil) fencing techniques. Some of the information is wrong (points are no longer scored against the receiver, but for the toucher), and others I disagree with (his en guarde stance is more epee than foil), but most of the instruction is very good, and the quality is also good. Overall, this is the best instructional video I've seen for fencing, and I wish there were more like it.

I bought Bradley's video in order to help my students review the basic forms of foil fencing. The instruction on this presentation covers all of the basic ideas of foil fencing: advance, retreat, lunge, parry, and riposte. Bradley covers the ideas of basic attack and defense and deceiving the opponent. It is a good introduction to the basic ideas of the sport.

There are a few quibbles. The presentation is fairly static, with a single, fixed camera throughout. This makes for an overall dull presentation and the youngest fencers in my group have a hard time sticking with it. Adding camera angles and a more polished presentation would help. Adding chapters in the menu for each section would have helped in using this video for class instruction. The video also needed some distinct drills at the end of each section to help reinforce the learning. As it is, the drills are spotty, placed randomly throughout the presentation.

The style and technique of fencing is a bit dated, going back to the pre-electric era. For the foil purists, this may be a good thing, but for the modern sport of foil fencing, some instruction on the modern sport would have been helpful. I know this is a basic video, but I also would have liked to hear at least an introduction to the ideas of time (tempo) and distance - two concepts often ignored in basic instruction because they are thought to be too advanced. Technique is nice, but learing basic tactics of attack and denfense must be addressed.

Overall, a good buy for those who want a visual introduction to foil fencing.

I ordered this for my husband and son, something they could do together. It's very informative...I've read other reviews that said the information isn't the most current, but since my husband and son aren't using the video to become "professionals", it's a lot of fun to do. The video quality is acceptable, my son says the music sounds like it was taken from the 80's, but it doesn't bother him..They enjoy learning the fencing moves; it's actually a good workout!

I thought this was a great DVD for beginning fencers. It was basic - but not boring. It covered many aspects that I have seen taught in fencing classes that I have attended. I wish there were more videos/DVD's like this one.

Overall, we liked the video since it was so basic. But we were disappointed with the actual video footage, there were times that we were suppose to be copying his footwork but the camera angle wasn't low enough to actually see his footwork. That was frustrating.

This video is very practical for the beginner, it covers the most basic elements of the sport, and provides specific instruction and details on basic fencing techniques and terminology.
However, the filming style and narrative techniques leave little to be desired.
Shot with a single camera in a gymnasium, we follow the lessons from our instructor who is clearly qualified to teach, but is not an engaging host.
There are some sound and lighting glitches that give the film a very homemade quality.
This is a practical video for those who want to see specific drills and tips for actual fencing.
Definitely for the beginner...but this is what it aims at.

This information was very very old. The video was very amaturish, and I have seen better. However, for a beginner, and someone not the least familiar with the sport, it is an introduction. Not a good one, but at least they have the idea and basics. At least they can see what is being taught as opposed to looking at a picture in a book. I would not buy it again, or recommend it to a student.

A dated effort with terrible production quality. Comes off as smarmy and cheesy. Accurate information but the same amount of knowledge you would get in your first 1-3 hours of basic group introduction. Only useful if you want to look like you know what you are doing in the beginners class, otherwise completely unnecessary. I wanted to like this very much but was sorely disappointed.

The instructor and his instruction in this video seem to be good, but the quality of the video is lacking. There is only one video angle used during the entire video, which makes it difficult at times to distinguish the details of his instructions. Other times the camera isn't focusing on the technique the instructor is describing.

All in all a very amateurish video. While some of it might be a decent review for a novice fencer, everything in this video will have been taught in the first couple of fencing lessons. This video will not teach you how to fence. At most it will introduce you to some of the skills and terms, but without real training will not be much help.

Fencing students will get more understanding from various perspectives. This video does not have enough footwork detail, arm positions, wrist detail, posture, and other subtleties the fencing student needs to be aware of.