Yowzah
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Posts: 6
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Post by Yowzah on Aug 25, 2005 19:47:05 GMT -6
Hi all,
In my first post here (despite making good use of the personal message feature since I joined recently), I want to announce that foil instructor Kamilla Skladanowska has left BCFA to return to Poland.
I will miss her dearly. I will miss her passion for fencing and her commitment to students who showed a likewise interest. She is a four-time Olympian, but she never wavered in her devotion to her beginner students. She had a strong desire to develop brand-new fencers, whether children or grandmas.
In my mourning phase (okay, I WILL get over it and find a new coach), I'd love to hear about any experiences and thoughts you have -- good, bad or indifferent -- regarding Kamilla.
On a personal note, she's excited about being with her family in Poland and vows to keep in touch by e-mail with her Texas friends.
I don't know where Louise is as far as hiring a new foil instructor. Anybody else know?
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Post by staciared2 on Aug 25, 2005 21:30:29 GMT -6
My 12 year old really liked Kamilla. She will be sad to hear she is moving as she always hunts Kamilla down to give her a hug at tournaments.
Don't ask how many times Kamilla rolled her eyes and said "Where is Kristin?" and "Kristin you are SOOOO slow. Get your equipment on NOW! Uh, where is your arm protector?!?" LOL Kristin dresses faster these days. I still put on my best Polish accent (well, you know, for being from the deep south) to tell her she is being exceedingly slow and we get a big laugh out of it.
Good luck Kamilla!
Stacia
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Post by schlager7 on Aug 26, 2005 6:37:16 GMT -6
I can't say it came as any great surprise to my wife or I. For the last year, everytime we saw Kamilla, she was showing us recent photos she had received from her family.
She was definitely homesick. We will miss her, but I know she is happy to be returning to Poland.
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Yowzah
Apprentice
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Posts: 6
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Post by Yowzah on Aug 26, 2005 7:55:24 GMT -6
I'm enjoying reading your comments about Kamilla. Sometimes she scared new students with her tough demeanor, but the ones who stuck with her learned that she respected her students by having high expectations, and they started noticing that smile lurking under the words.
One thing I'm curious about is teaching techniques. It seems to me that Kamilla very much stressed natural instinct and timing as the key weapons of a novice foil fencer. She didn't waste much time on complicated parries or even lunges. She wanted her fencers to be able to execute a direct attack at the right time to score a point. She'd often give two points instead of one for direct attacks that landed without use of the blade. She was fond of fleches as well.
In her private lessons, she got more detailed in the sequences she taught. But overall I believe she thought natural instinct, reinforced by lots of actual bouts instead of drills, was the way to go.
How is this the same/different from other coaches out there? Any thoughts?
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Post by schlager7 on Aug 26, 2005 11:36:01 GMT -6
There are so many different styles among the coaches just in our area, that is a thread all by itself.
OTOH, I recall several times hearing Kamilla speak on the lunge and she was not particularly fond of it. I know that she seemed to feel that, by executing a lunge, a fencer placed themselves in a vulnerable position, especially with regard to counter attacks and parries with a flick riposte.
I remember showing her a photo I once took from a balcony looking down on two young women who fencing at a local tournament. One was a student of hers and I was giving her a copy. It showed her student in a lunge. She thanked me and said she hoped this would convince her student not to lunge in the future (the lunge/attack was being parried into quarte in the shot).
I also know a number of coaches who would disagree, but that's MY Kamilla story.
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Post by Flamberge on Aug 29, 2005 22:49:28 GMT -6
......... I also know a number of coaches who would disagree, but that's MY Kamilla story. When I read this comment about a former Olympian fencer (4 times?) I became really curious to know who the "coaches" are who disagree? I am all for dialog and dissenting opinions as long as there is a minimum of consideration for the qualification of the person criticized as compared with those of the critics. I had few personal interactions with Kamilla, but every time I did she clearly impressed me as one who knows a thing or two about fencing. I was surprised by the apparent lack of following among the local foil fencing community. If real qualifications matter, there is no doubt that she left everyone else of our local experts in the dust. Does an ex Olympian a true coach make? No, but in our the desert of real knowledge I'd expect her to have legions of trusty followers. But we ail know that nothing is what it should be ... in particular when we want to give the real experts a chance to emerge and succeed. It is a shame that Kamilla is leaving the local scene and I like to join everyone else wishing her all the best in her next endeavor.
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Post by fox on Aug 30, 2005 8:14:20 GMT -6
I didn't really set that much emphasis on the remark. I know plenty of coaches who still set great store by a well-executed lunge.
Coaches frequently disagree on the effectiveness of the lunge, the flick, absence of blade vs sentiment du fer.
I always found Kamilla to be very encouraging and demanding (at the same time). Socially, I enjoyed her company quite a bit. She had strong and well-thought out views on many subjects. I did not always agree with her, but I always appreciated her position.
Local fencing will be the poorer without her.
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Yowzah
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Posts: 6
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Post by Yowzah on Aug 30, 2005 9:41:07 GMT -6
I've not met anyone who trained with Kamilla who left her program because they were unhappy with her as a coach. I've heard nothing but good things about her. All the former students whom I've met left BCFA because they wanted a different club, not a different coach.
The way I see it, BCFA is largely a club for beginners. It has a large after-school education program, where it sends coaches out to schools. It also caters to special groups like Boy Scouts, Leisure Learning students and that sort of thing. Kamilla often was busy with those classes instead of teaching private lessons to serious students.
Its main facility in Meyerland offers, I believe, only two nights of foil fencing per week for its regular students, on Tuesday and Thursday. Fencers who want to train more than two times per week must travel to Sugar Land or out the Woodlands (Delfina is coach out there).
I'm sure that if Kamilla ran her own club, instead of being employed by BCFA, she would have had her club open every day and given more private lessons.
In addition, though I have not experienced this, I have heard from former students who say Kamilla was not allowed to coach them at certain tournaments because the BCFA owner did not want to support those tournaments. I know Kamilla was very fond of competition, and I'm sure she would have liked to be able to take her students out more.
From a student point of view, I, too, am interested in hearing about coaches who might disagree with Kamilla's teaching style, as described earlier. Anybody care to describe their coaches' style, if it's the same or different from Kamilla's, from what you can tell? Thanks.
Oh, and yep, she is a four-time Olympian: Mexico, Munich, Montreal, and Moscow.
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Post by fox on Aug 30, 2005 10:31:06 GMT -6
I know I saw Kamilla and Delfina referee at tournaments in Clear Lake.
BTW: Who coaches BCFA's classes in Sugar Land. Where are they held?
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Yowzah
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Posts: 6
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Post by Yowzah on Aug 30, 2005 11:23:11 GMT -6
Kamilla coached the Sugar Land classes. They were on Wednesday nights at the civic center down there. Some of the older students from Sugar Land had started attending the Meyerland classes because there were more adult fencers in Meyerland.
Has anybody heard if Kamilla has a replacement yet?
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Post by augustskopik on Sept 3, 2005 13:19:56 GMT -6
Dear Ceedee,
I will put my foot in my mouth, but I will give you my "opinions" on this subject. As a competitive fencer, I love scoring touches with timing and distance. I find that if my timing is focused, I can score more readily than required with a taking of the blade action. My opponents never seem to stick their points out there and let me take it, as often as I have asked them to.
That being said, I still score quite often with parry ripostes. I like to think of fencing as being a conductor of an orchestra, with the offensive movements with the blade, offensive movements without the blade, defensive movements with the blade and defensive movements without the blade all being part of the score. I teach all beginning immediately, because repetition and good form are required to execute any fencing move.
I am a salesperson, so I am lazy. Defensive movements without the blade, (retreats!), and offensive movements without the blade, (disengages), are my favorite moves. I can still execute the other movements sometimes when they are available.
I am not prepared to argue with any of the local coaches on what is the best teaching style. We are blessed in that we could see many, many top international coaches in action giving lessons and asking questions. As a coach, you have to personalize your lessons for your students. They have to accomplish something, or they get discouraged.
As a student, ask your coach to explain their position on a movement. You will find if you understand what they are trying to accomplish it will help your lesson.
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Post by schlager7 on Oct 16, 2005 20:39:18 GMT -6
I just received an email from Kamilla the other day with a couple of jpegs for good measure. One will be running on the rogue site in a few minutes (I am back home, updating it as I type this).
It shows her with her son, Filip at the World Championships in Liepzig. Part of her message read:
"My son came with the business to Germany. He sells the program called Total Integration Scoring System, MASK 2005. Such a system works in Europe from a few years, but Filip has something better to offer than is used now. "
Good luck to them both.
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Post by Pru Reardon on Oct 17, 2005 6:26:21 GMT -6
As you all know Delfina, Kamilla, and Vitold were my very first coaches, but it was Kamilla that really helped me prepare for my first summer national tournament. The one thing she strongly urged me to do and the one thing she couldn't stand about my fencing was that I didn't bend my knees enough. I remember her making me advance and retreat up and down the strip a million times until she was convinced that I was "making fencing better and doing bending of the legs." At the time I felt stupid bending my knees in such an overexaggerated manner, but now I'm thankful that she made me focus on my foot work.
I will really miss Kamilla because she's such a sweet person, and always hunted me down at tournaments to talk to me. God bless.
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Post by fox on Nov 28, 2005 15:11:12 GMT -6
You know, re-reading Pru's post, for some reason, got me to hearing Kamilla's voice in my head. I recalled how I enjoyed how terribly excited she got as she began to explain things and the reasons she had for teaching this technique or another.
It was a very infectious excitement and I miss it.
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Post by captain jon on Nov 29, 2005 0:06:59 GMT -6
I didn't hear anything about this until just now. I'm feel bad that I didn't get to say goodbye, but I too think she will be much happpier now-she WAS limited in many ways where she was. I hope wherever she goes she ends up teaching the true beginers, because I think that's where her perky, never-say-die mindset serves her well. On a side note, I always thought of her as a former wild party girl, and I regret that I never tried to get her out on the town for a night of bar-hopping.
So with that out of the way, here is my Kamilla story:
Witold was about to begin our warm-up and exersise drills, when he was called away to give a young student who had to leave soon a personal lesson. There was no other coach available , and Kamilla had just said her goodbyes to her beginning class. She was asked to fill in, and as she gave her assent she walked into the center of our group and gave us a good once-over. (now, mind you she hdn't had much exposure to the BCFA epee group, but she knew we were all realatively fit and had been fencing for some years) Even I could see her changing gears from her beginers class into one we weren't ready for: OVERDRIVE! The best way to describe it (and I have recounted this story to many others) is that she had just had WAY too much coffee...she work us so hard, and with so much enthusiasum, that the fencing afterward was mostly pretense. We were just too beat to move fast and fence to win. I hope she never loses that drive. I'll miss her
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