I bought this book by Rudy Volkman recently. It seemed to be being promoted as an important book on the subject. I haven't had time to read it yet but here are some initial impressions:
The book is spiral-bound with a paper cover and hence does not make a very good first impression for the price ($25.00 plus $3.50 Shipping and Handling). Typesetting is simple and the photos are photocopier quality. Indeed, some pages have the text appearing at an angle on the page as though miscopied. No publisher is credited so I assume the author is having the pages copied and bound at Kinko's or the like. I didn't notice many distracting copyediting issues (spelling and grammatical errors) on my skim--a misplaced parenthesis and questionable use of colons and semicolons on pg. 53, for example. Language is sometimes a bit technical but a non-fencer like me was able to follow it. A glossary would have been a nice touch. Other discussions are informal.
The author states that: "You can't learn to fence from a book. But you can learn significant things about fencing from a book." The book is for those who have learned fencing by fencing with quality fencers rather than from a Maitre d'Armes who is trained to teach, not just practice, the sport.
The book is very complete--history, techniques, rules, equipment and troubleshooting thereof, drills, refereeing, teaching, making a fencing dummy (though the author also mentions that he sells them), and so on. The book certainly justifies its name--it covers the whole range of information one might need as a fencer.
The technique sections have a nice "WHAT CAN GO WRONG" subsection for many techniques. This is a nice touch. Descriptions are detailed and contain the little points that are so important (hip an inch too high, etc.). I could imagine this being a useful book for the fencer who is no longer a beginner but hardly an expert.
If you only intend to have one fencing book on your shelves, the completeness of this text may be attractive. However, my guess is that you could find a better quality book for the money and might be disappointed with this manual. Perhaps the author will be able to find a publisher for the text and produce a version with a more polished finish.
Table of contents (from the above-referenced site):
The book is spiral-bound with a paper cover and hence does not make a very good first impression for the price ($25.00 plus $3.50 Shipping and Handling). Typesetting is simple and the photos are photocopier quality. Indeed, some pages have the text appearing at an angle on the page as though miscopied. No publisher is credited so I assume the author is having the pages copied and bound at Kinko's or the like. I didn't notice many distracting copyediting issues (spelling and grammatical errors) on my skim--a misplaced parenthesis and questionable use of colons and semicolons on pg. 53, for example. Language is sometimes a bit technical but a non-fencer like me was able to follow it. A glossary would have been a nice touch. Other discussions are informal.
The author states that: "You can't learn to fence from a book. But you can learn significant things about fencing from a book." The book is for those who have learned fencing by fencing with quality fencers rather than from a Maitre d'Armes who is trained to teach, not just practice, the sport.
The book is very complete--history, techniques, rules, equipment and troubleshooting thereof, drills, refereeing, teaching, making a fencing dummy (though the author also mentions that he sells them), and so on. The book certainly justifies its name--it covers the whole range of information one might need as a fencer.
The technique sections have a nice "WHAT CAN GO WRONG" subsection for many techniques. This is a nice touch. Descriptions are detailed and contain the little points that are so important (hip an inch too high, etc.). I could imagine this being a useful book for the fencer who is no longer a beginner but hardly an expert.
If you only intend to have one fencing book on your shelves, the completeness of this text may be attractive. However, my guess is that you could find a better quality book for the money and might be disappointed with this manual. Perhaps the author will be able to find a publisher for the text and produce a version with a more polished finish.
Table of contents (from the above-referenced site):
Code:
Table Of Contents
i. Dedication
ii. Author's foreword
iii. Acknowledgements
I. Introduction
A. Overview of the sport as it is played
1. Why Take Up Fencing?
2. Necessary Equipment
a. Dry fencing or Lessons
b. Electrical Competition
c. Parts of the Weapon
d. About Canting
3. A List of Fencing Supply Companies
4. Competing at Fencing
a. Organized Fencing
b. Strip Rules and Roles of Officials
c. Overview of Competition Types and Formats
d. Overview of Right-of-Way Principles and Rules
B. A Brief History of the Game
1. In the Social Sense
2. Of Style and Stance
3. Fencing as a Sport
II. The Stance and Moves available and used by fencers
A. Overview of Moves and Positions
B. The Absolute Basics
1. Beginnings
a. Holding the Weapon
b. The Assembled Position
c. The Salute
2. On Guard Position an overview
a. The Carriage
b. The Upper Body
c. The Grip
3. The Advance
4. The Retreat
5. The Lunge
a. An Overview
b. The Final Position
c. The Front Arm
d. The Front Leg Kick
e. The Rear Arm
f. The Rear Leg Drive
g. The Landing
h. The Short Lunge
6. The Recovery
7. The Forward Recovery
8. The Redoublement
9. Additional Thoughts on the Front Arm Extension
10. Additional Thoughts on the Rear Leg Drive
11. On the Choice of Orthopedic Grips
C. Offenses
1. Right of Way or Priority Review
2. Offensive Footwork besides the Lunge
a. The Pattanando (Advance Lunge)
b. The Fleche - an Overview
i. The Distance Fleche
ii. The Timing Fleche
c. The Jump-Lunge (unique to sabre)
d. The Lunge with Appel
e. The Ballestra
f. The Passe Avant (Forward Crossover)
3. Entropments/Derobements -- "Esceives" Overview
a. Disengages
b. The High-Low
c. The Drop and Dig
d. Counterdisengages
e. Coupes (Cut-Overs)
f. Esceives in Combination
i. An Overview
ii. The One-Two (Two Consecutive Disengages)
iii. The Disengage-Counterdisengage
iv. The Counterdisengage-Disengage
v. The Counterdisengage-Counterdisengage
vi. Other Combination Considerations
4. Attaques au Fer -- An Overview
a. The Beat
b. Flying Coupes
c. Pressure (The Quick Press)
d. The Coule (The Glide)
e. The Froissement (The Slice)
f. About Binds as Offense
5. The Flick Attack (Or Arc Attack)
a. An Overview
b. Procedure
D. Defenses and Ripostes
1. On the Nature of Defense
2. Parries--an Overview
3. About Opposition Parries
a. The Four Supinated Parries
i. Quarte, or Four
ii. Sixte, or Six
iii. Septime, or Seven
iv. Octave, or Eight
b. The Supinated Parries in Combination
i. Lateral Combinations
ii. Semicircular Parries
iii. Circular Parries (Counterparries)
(1) Countersixte
(2) Counterquarte
(3) Counterseptime
(4) Counteroctave
c. Pronated Parries
i. Parry Seconde, or Two
ii. Parry Tierce, or Three
iii. Parry Prime, or One
iv. Parries Quinte or Five
4. Prise de Fer (in the modern usage of the term)
5. Prises de Fer (in the traditional usage of the term)
a. Liement
b. Croise
c. Envelopment
d. Some Modern Binds
6. Yielding Parries
a. Against the High Outside Line
b. Against the Low Outside Line
c. Against the High Inside Line
d. Against the Low Inside Line
7. Flying Parries
8. Cross Parries
a. High Septime
b. High Octave
c. High Seconde
d. High Foil Quinte
e. Low Quarte
f. Low Sixte
g. Low Prime
h. Low Tierce
9. Parries Against the Shoulder Flick Attack
a. The Raised Guard
b. The Adapted Flying Four to Lateral Flank Flick
10. Additional Defensive Footwork
a. Passe Arriere (Back Crossover)
b. Back Jump with Kick
11. Ripostes
a. From Quarte
b. From Sixte
c. From Octave and Septime
d. From Prime
e. From Seconde, Tierce, and Foil Quinte
f. Infighting Ripostes
i. Pull-Back
ii. High-handed Chest Flick
iii. High Flick to the Back
iv. Pronated Dig
12. The Point-in-Line
E. Counterattacks
1. About Counterattacks
2. Attacks Into Offensive Motion Made in Time
a. Pointe de Arret, or Stop Hit
b. Attack Into Preparation
c. Attack After Derobement
d. Immediate Remise
3. Time Hits (old term), or Counterattacks with Opposition
4. Target-Removing Counterattacks
a. Passata di Soto
b. Inquartata
c. Deep Squat
d. Vertical Leap
e. Mark Forrest Camel
f. Reassembly
III. Pedagogy and Training
A. Pedagogy and Training Overview
1. Using a Mirror
2. Target Practice
3. Video as a Learning Tool
4. Using a Dummy
5. Doing Drills with Others
B. Daily Warmups and Exercises
1. Initial Stretch Routine
a. Achilles Tendon and Ankle
b. Light Running
c. Hands and Arms
d. Neck
e. Waist
f. Hurdlers' Stretch
g. Leg Stretch-Squat
2. Leg Strengthening Exercises
a. Ankle and Foot
b. More Stretch-Squats
c. Isometrics
d. One-Legged Jumps
e. "Partials"
3. Lunges and Recoveries
4. Doing "Strips" for conditioning
C. Action-specific Pedagogic Observations, Exercises and Drills
1. Distance
a. Overview
b. Tennis Ball Drill
c. One-Minute Distance Drills
2. Basic Footwork
a. On Guard
b. Advance and Retreat
c. Lunge and Recovery
3. Target Practice
4. Parries
5. Esceives
a. Disengage
b. Counterdisengage
c. Coupe
6. Adding Footwork
a. Beat Attacks With The Advance
b. Beat Attacks With Advance and Esceives
c. The Coupe With Footwork
7. Option Drills Overview
a. Retreat or Attack Option Drill
b. Parry or Not Drill
c. Fight or Flight Advance Lunge Drill
d. Immediate Reprise d'Attaque Drill
D. Exercises with a Dummy
1. Straight Attacks, Flicks, Timing, Distance
2. Beat-Lunge
3. Esceives
4. Against a Point in Line
E. On Learning from Informal Bouting
F. On Learning from Competition
G. Keeping a Record Book
IV. Thoughts on Tactics
A. The Three Tactical Modes
1. Initial Intention
2. Riposte Mode
3. Second Intention
B. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid)
C. On Time
D. On Distance
E. Random Thoughts
1. For Complete Openers
2. Dealing with the Point-in-Line
3. Drawing a Stop for a Riposte Attack
4. The Point-in-Line Sucker Move
5. The Immediate Reprise Attack
6. On Bout Concentration
7. On Style and Form
8. Some Brief Parting Thoughts
V. Directing (Thoughts on Directing and on Being Directed)
A. Thoughts on Directing
1. Characteristics of a Good Referee
2. Gaining the Fencers' Confidence
3. Controlling the Piste
4. Making Your Calls
B. Thoughts on Being Directed
VI. General Overview of Electrical Fencing Equipment
A. Necessary Tools
B. How It Works - General Circuitry
1. Foil Circuit
2. Epee Circuit
3. Sabre Circuit
C. What Goes Wrong and How to Fix It
1. General Considerations
2. Trouble-shooting Foils
3. Trouble-shooting Epees
4. Trouble-shooting Sabres
D. General Repairs
1. Rewiring an old blade
2. Assembling Foils and Epees
3. Assembling Electric Sabres
4. Thoughts on Body Cords
E. Appendix I Foil Tips Other Than the Prieur Tip Design
1. Leon Paul Tip
2. Allstar/UhlmannTip
3. Scherma Sport Tips
F. Appendix 2 The Two Scherma Sport Epee Tip Designs
VII. Building A Fencing Dummy
A. Materials List
B. Tools Needed
C. Pre-Assembly Tasks (Making the Parts)
D. Assembly Instructions
E. About Bases
F. Specifications for Wooden Parts
G. Full-Size Pattern for Metal Hand Piece
VIII. Classes, Syllabi
A. About Classes
B. Class Routines
C. A Typical Syllabus
IX. Bibliography