12/17/2025
Lesson Review No.1 “What I look and listen for”-Jimmy’s Reflection: Every fencer and every student, no matter the age, will need clear objectives for the lesson. In teaching we call this the success criteria, the learning target or if you’re feeling fancy the “Aim”. Call it whatever you like, the teacher or in this case the coach needs to adapt to the need of the student. Success looks different for each individual. The lesson structure can change, sometimes the targets will change but for success to be felt there needs to be repetitive success of an action. In this lesson the setup was a strong powerful lunge to chest, recover and step back counterattack to the crease of the elbow, and a retreat with parry 6 riposte (extension not a lunge) followed by a parry 8 while advance lunging. That is at first thought 4 actions, but really for a students mind this is about 10 separate actions. The best approach, in my view is to complete a step at a time. Build upon each one, talk about the actions in real time and make adjustments. In all, a lesson is a private conversation with a student about their growth. So those 20 minute lessons, for me are equally important for goal setting, reflections, feedback, and celebration of the effort. I love what I get to do in this sport, and in my role as an educator in NYC. We are just starting our 6th year as a club, and as a certified 7-12th grade teacher I would like to think of this as our senior year. We’ve come a long way since the growing pains of “middle school”(2019) Here is to 2026 and to the families that support this program every week. The sport in the hands of your children means the world to us, happy fencing!
