PASO Day 5/6

At the PASO conference, the practical sessions are set up in 2 sessions, one running from 8:30-noon, and the second running from 2:00-5ish.

On the second day, we started with the footwork necessary to make the false-counterattack / false-parry actions work; the role of the half-step or check-step is crucial, since it creates the illusion that the distance is either expanding or collapsing faster than the opponent might want. Buckie also ran us through some footwork exercises involving catching gloves and dodging extension cords.

We reviewed video of the Nam/Salvatori bout from the 2007 Women's Foil Grand Prix in Japan, as an example of a bout where tactical progressions from half-steps were really well-defined, and then did tactical progressions off the false-counterattack. Buckie also showed a more traditional technical lesson.

The final day was spent working on a variety of parries (extended v. medium distance v. close), and actually teaching the techniques necessary to hit at infighting distance. We wrapped up with a soccer game, an off-campus fiesta (alcohol isn't allowed on the OTC grounds), and then many of the attendees went out dancing before coming home to catch their 4:30am airport shuttles.

All in all, I'd say the conference was a success. The Olympic Training Center itself is a special environment; when you're there, you're surrounded by people whose purpose is helping others achieve greatness, and you have to be pretty jaded for that not to rub off. More important, it was inspiring to work alongside so many people who shared a common motivation - there was a divergent set of skills, but everybody in my group wanted to learn as much as possible.

The USOC International Relations group and the USFA (specifically Andrea) put in a large amount of time and effort into making this work well, and it showed. Hopefully the USFA can show that it used its grant money well, because this was an excellent opportunity for the domestic coaches who came. If this type of conference becomes more commonplace, it will only be good for our zonal relationships (a good thing -- stronger fencers in our zone mean stronger competitions outside of Europe) as well as the development of American coaches.

My advice for anybody who goes to such a conference (whether USFCA, Coaches' College, or something similar to this) is to maximize the number of teachable moments. They may come in the formal instruction, but often the moments that stick are little tidbits in a lecturer's ADD tangent, an extra Q&A session in the weight room, or something shared over a beer.