Dear Instructor, Welcome to Week 15, almost halfway through Level 2. We have spent the last few sessions exploring the idea of timing in sabre, focusing on rhythm. Much of this has been on applying timing to the main attack move – the advance-lunge, a 3-count move consisting of two linked actions – the advance … More Week 15: Counterattack Timing

Dear Instructor: Welcome to Week 14. We continue our exploration of timing in sabre as per the rest of Level 2, but indirectly this time: we introduce the concept of technique backups, and reinforce the role of rhythm in attacks, with the advance-lunge / double-advance lunge combo. Accelerate moves with increasing duration Sabre moves should … More Week 14: Advance and Double-Advance Lunge

Dear Instructor: Welcome to Week 41, the beginning of Level 5. Up to this stage, we have taken your students through a large number of moves and countermoves, and their underlying mechanisms, as a single large moveset with complementary tactics within a single style. We have probably mentioned to them that this is not how … More Week 41: Archetypes in Sabre

Dear Instructor: Welcome to Week 10. This is the last session for Level 1; we typically use these end-of-Level sessions to revise everything we have done in the Level and prepare your students for the Level 1 grading. The organising structure for this session is the concept of the Tactical Wheel. Tactics can be organised … More Week 10: The Tactical Wheel

Dear Instructor: Welcome to Week 7. This session covers the most conceptually simple but technically challenging move in Level 1: the Counterattack. Counterattacks are all moves by the Defender, without priority, to hit the Attacker without the Defender being hit, as per Rule 1 of Sabre. We classify counterattacks into two groups: Counterattacks complete the … More Week 7: Counterattack