Coaching Resources

The Academy exists to support the work of professional and amateur coaches in the United Kingdom, and provides a range of services and support materials for coaches at all levels.

Our resources include a comprehensive set of documentation to assist coaches in preparing for all levels of exams. Details of these may be found in Examinations. In addition to this is our network of regular training days around the country, run for trainee coaches by senior members of the BAF. We also run a proficiency awards scheme for coaches to use in clubs and schools.

A Bibliography of useful texts are below.

Works penned by Academy Members

Over the decades former and present members of the Academy have contributed much  of the influential literature on the subject matter of sport, fencing and swordplay in general in the English language. Fencing has always been an art and science in continuous development but as the Academy looks to developing new pedagogical methods and coach education pathways, we can always draw inspiration from the past work of previous Masters.

Professor Leon Bertrand

  • Cut and Thrust (1927)
  • The Fencers Companion (1948)

Professor Roger Crosnier

Former Secretary of the British Federation of Fencing Masters and Secretary of the BAF. He was instrumental in forming over 300 fencing clubs in Post-War Britain and setting up the Amature Fencing Association coach education courses.

  • Fencing with the Electric Foil (NY A.S. Barnes and Company) (1961)
  • Fencing with the Epee. London: Faber and Faber. (1957)
  • Fencing with the Sabre. Instruction and technique. London: Faber and Faber.(1954)
  • Fencing with the Foil (London Faber and Faber) (1951)

James Devine Aylward (Member of Honour)

Honorary member of the BAF and student of Professor Wladimir Zaaloff, who was at the top the foremost historian in Britain on fencing related subjects and still regarded today as a seminal author.

  • The Small-Sword in England Its History, Its Forms, Its Makers, and Its Masters (1945)
  • The House of Angelo – A dynasty of swordsmen (1945)
  • (1953) The English Master of Arms – From the Twelfth to the Twentieth Century (1956)

Professor Wladimar Michael Zaaloff (1968) (Member of Honour)

Fencing instructor to the Russian Imperial Cavalry and the son of the last Tzar before moving to Great Britain and helped set up many fencing clubs in North West England

  • The Foil Fencer’s Pocket Book (1949)

Ronald Alexander Lidstone

Member of the BAF and former chairman of the British Kendo Association

  • Fencing: A practical treatise on foil, epeé, sabre (1952)
  • Introduction to kendo (1964)

Professor Robert ‘Bob’ James Anderson

Former President of the BAF and famed Fight Choreographer

  • All About Fencing. (1970)
  • Tackle Fencing (1978)

Professor Alfred T. Simmonds

  • Start Fencing (1989)
  • Fencing to Win -Sportsman’s Press (1994)

Professor Brian Pitman

  • Fencing: Techniques of Foil, Epee, Epee and Sabre (1989)
  • Know the Game: Fencing:

Professor Tom Norcross

  • Fencing the foil

Professor Ed Rodgers

  • Fencing: Essential Skills Training (2003)
  • Advanced Fencing Techniques (2013)
  • High Performance Fencing The Seventh Essential (2015)

Professor Jonathan Katz

  • Counselling Skills Handbook for the Sport Psychologist (2009) (Co-Authored with Brian Hemming)

Prevot Andrew Sowerby

  • Fencing – Skills. Tactics. Training (2013)

Ziemowit Wojciechowski (Honorary Member)

  • Theory, methods and exercises in fencing – Amateur Fencing Association (1993)
  • This Is Fencing! (2019)

Professor John ‘Jeb’ Smith

  • Foil Fencing: The Techniques and Tactics of Modern Foil Fencing (2003)

Andy Wilkinson (OBE)

Member of the Academy and Fight Director

The Fencers Codex: A reference of Fencing terminology (2023)

Take one, Action! (2021)