Fencing

Preparation for Competition - some observations

The benefits, purposes and mechanics of the warm-up lesson prior to competition have been presented in earlier articles in Academy. However warm-up is only part of a much broader spectrum of preparation which also includes attitude and mental preparedness.

The propositions that follow are based on my learning, observation and experiences. I do not claim originality or exclusivity. The ‘Black Box’ technique referred to later was developed in 1979 by Syer & Connolly, and their works (including “Sporting Body, Sporting Mind” and “Think to Win”) are necessary tools for the serious athlete. As fencing coaches we think in terms of ‘warm-up’, Syer & Connolly refer to ‘attunement’.

Taking control of the venue.
Need the lavatory or just to know where your piste is; remember where you left your kit? Any disturbance to preparation can cause fluster and leave the fencer unsettled during the first vital minutes or so of a bout. We all know of home team advantage, so as visitors we need to make ourselves at home. A visit to the venue prior to competition allows the performer to identify friends and foes. Friends: where to find refreshments, first aid, information etc. Foes: that area of a continental sports hall that always seems to catch the smell of the sewers, is overheated etc. So familiarisation helps reduce stress, but we can go further; we can take command of the venue, we can turn inconvenience to advantage and become the home team player. Some examples -

1) At a competition in Paris, the GB ladies squad arrived after the local French and had to be satisfied seating themselves on the rear, higher steps behind the first comers who had occupied the ‘prime’ front ranks near the pistes. I observed that the British girls were frustrated and apologetic at having to circumnavigate whenever they needed to reach their kit. They acted like unwanted visitors. Taking several fencers aside, I suggested that they go directly to their kit, stepping over the home players, being polite but disruptive. Within a short time the front ranks ceased to be a ‘prime’ location as the locals moved their kit away and created passages for the traffic flow. The visitors had now captured the home team advantage, and it was worth at least a further round’s promotion to some of the girls as their confidence lifted.

2) At the Criterium Ladies Epee in Orleans, whilst visiting teams practised on the eve of competition in side rooms or on peripheral pistes, the French competitors took their lessons on the raised finals piste. Officials ensured that only the home team had access, and the GB officials obligingly kept team coaches from the arena. Hardly surprising that later the final was fought between two French girls. Whenever possible train and warm-up where you want to fence.

3) After the Whistler Commonwealth Championships, I received a ‘phone call from the England ladies captain to thank me for my contribution to their gold medal, although I was several thousand miles away at the time. She remembered that I had taught her to take control of the venue, and, so, at the commencement of the team final against Canada before a partisan home crowd, she went to one end of the piste where the Canadians had started to place their kit, and announced that it was the ‘England end’. The Canadians apologetically moved to the opposite end, lost the first two fights and never recovered from the initial upset.

Offloading distraction.
During competition and especially prior to performing the competitor needs to focus on the task ahead (and the method not the result) but may be distracted by thoughts or concerns that intrude from outside. These intrusions need to be isolated and put aside. Visualisation techniques such as the ‘Black Box’ can be used. In this visualisation the performer relaxes and visualises a calm room, the view, a desk and paper; then proceeds to write the distractions - those things that intrude now but have to be postponed until after the event. The paper is then placed in a box, locked and the key placed in a drawer. This drawer only to be opened after the event. A variation is to give the paper or key to an imaginary guardian or supporter from whom it can be retrieved later. Another intrusion that may need to be ‘offloaded ‘ is advice. Others can be too free with their views or advice. So often have I seen officials, other team players and peripheral staff and acquaintances proffer their wisdom at a critical moment of a performers preparation - even promoting strokes unfamiliar to the fencer. The fencer should take advice through a single reliable and trusted source - it might be a coach or a colleague. Advice should always be positive, and all negative advice should be rejected. The helpful official “Don’t counter-attack” versus the trusted supporter “Use counter-time” or “Draw the attack into your sixte line.” Negative information never informs what to do but only confirms a difficulty and often prompts the very action advised against. Further a single piece of advice does not give choice, two limits flexibility and more than three is over complex. So in summary, the fencer should learn to control advice by accepting it in digestible, clear and positive statements through a trusted source. All other advice can be offloaded into a mental dustbin.

Ritual.
Some athletes have developed their own rituals, some of which are no more than a form of superstition. These superstitions are often based on association with earlier success and the need to recreate it. There was one Dutch fencer who would always place their kit in a certain order at the side of the piste because it associated with an earlier competition victory. The fencer would become obsessed with this ritual, and if the kit was disturbed then so was their concentration. To offload this type of superstitious ritual, it can be replaced with goal-oriented rituals. For example visualisation of earlier success or positive performance, stretching, breathing or relaxation exercises. Mastery of the latter is also useful to cope with those moments of tension when there is unexpected interruption or delay in the proceedings of a competition.

Attitude has to be equally as well prepared as the fencer’s skill and equipment.

Academy News
Sept 2003