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I have written elsewhere about making classes coherent - pick a topic and make sure everything in the class contributes towards that topic. The same idea can be applied to developing a course, whether for a standalone module or for the entire operation of a club. Here ‘coherence’ needs to be evaluated not just inside each lesson, but also by looking at whether each lesson is helping to make progress towards the overall goal of the course.

Identify your goal. This seems obvious, but often people don’t really think about this in any depth. Work out what the actual goal of your course is. As you have more time in a series of classes than in a single lesson, you can potentially have sub-goals as well - if you choose to do this, be clear in your mind about the relative importance of these goals. There may be cases where your various objectives are in conflict, and knowing which is more important will be invaluable here. For example, a beginners course might be designed to “bootstrap new students into free fencing as soon as possible” or to “introduce the core concepts of system X” or to “teach basic body mechanics” or even “provide a taster of the different topics offered at this club”. Each of these may need to be structured very differently. A critical part of this is identifying the audience. Courses with the same basic goal but different intended audiences (non-fencers/new fencers, experienced practitioners, people changing system, etc) will need to be structured differently.

Problems before solutions. One of the simplest and most powerful ways to create a coherent course is to introduce problems first. A given fencing technique (for example, disengage a parry) is a solution to a problem - if the student already recognises the problem, then the solution will naturally ‘fit into’ their model of fencing and be much easier for them to incorporate. So if you want to teach disengages in your beginners course, you can teach parries in the previous lesson - then students will already be thinking about the problem of “what if my attack gets parried” and the disengage will instantly fit into their mental model as a solution to the problem they’ve been facing.

Stay on target. Much like when designing an individual class, when you’re preparing a coherent course it’s important to stay on target. There are many topics which could be included and worth teaching, but they still might not contribute towards the overall goal. If you’re aiming to introduce the core concepts of a system, spending hours on the fine mechanics of a lunge may not be as useful. If you’re aiming to help students discover the range of possible actions in your system and select their ideal specialisations for later development, then spending six sessions on variations of one particular attack is a poor use of time.

Last year I took an introductory course in modern fencing, which was particularly well designed from this perspective. The target audience is adult beginners with no real fencing background. In six sessions, they covered:

1. History and modern practice of fencing; basic footwork
2. Holding the weapon, basic attack
3. Parrying inside & outside, riposte
4. Disengaging the parry
5. Basic counterattacks
6. Informal tournament

This is a very efficiently arranged course. The basic principles of fencing are all addressed, each session provides an answer to the natural problems raised in the previous session, and the overall course introduces the idea of fencing as a competitive sport very directly and effectively.

Finally, none of these are totally hard and fast rules. Sometimes the most ‘direct’ way towards the goal of the course can involve taking what look like detours along the way; or you’re trying to solve for multiple goals and need to compromise on how you’re achieving each one of them. In these cases, it becomes particularly important to understand what compromises you’re making and why you’re choosing to make them. Deliberately going off-piste can be effective. Doing it accidentally tends to just make things a mess.

I welcome questions, comments or feedback on this article. You can reach me by email:

tea at fechtlehre dot org