Advance and Retreat: Keeping Fencing Distance with a Leader

A fencing footwork warm-up in pairs: one leads and the other keeps the same distance at all times. It wakes up the legs and trains reading distance before any bout.

How to play

1. En garde position: feet at right angles, knees bent, weight centered; practice advance and retreat in a straight line (2 min).
2. Partners face each other with a noodle between them, each touching one end with an open palm; the leader advances and retreats and the follower keeps the noodle from dropping (2 min).
3. No noodle: same task, now at two steps of distance; the follower calls "short" or "long" when they feel they've lost it (2 min).
4. Rhythm changes: the leader mixes slow steps, quick steps and jumps back; when the leader raises a hand, the follower lunges into the air without touching (2 min).
5. Switch and wrap-up: the follower becomes the leader; at the end each pair says which rhythm change was hardest to read (2 min).

Rules

• Lunges go into the air, with no contact.
• Each pair stays inside its own cone lane.
• Hold the noodle with an open palm; never push it into the chest.
• If anyone loses balance, the leader stops and you restart.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair user: the student moves forward and back in the chair and the partner matches step length to that rhythm.
• Hearing impairment: the leader uses agreed visual signals (hand up for the lunge) instead of voice.
• Ankle or knee injury: higher stance and short steps, no jumps or deep lunges.

Learning goals

• Activate the lower body with fencing-specific footwork.
• Perceive and keep fighting distance with an opponent.
• React to an opponent's changes of rhythm.

Equipment for a class of 25

• cones: 30
• pool noodles: 15

Teacher tip

Mark lanes of about 6 m with cones so pairs don't cross. The usual mistake is crossing the feet on the retreat: the front foot moves first going forward, the back foot first going back.

More activities like this

More warm-ups for High School