Over the years, I have been fortunate to mentor some of the best fencers in the world.
I knew very little about the sport when they first came to see me, but these athletes have educated me on the world of fencing.
A fencer who knew very well the mental aspects of this sport described it as “chess with spades”.
I consider fencing to be a lot like boxing and martial arts. To succeed as a fencer you need a series of physical and mental skills:
1. Shooters need a great sense of balance.
2. Good reflexes are fundamental to this sport.
3. They need a great understanding of the space between them and their opponent.
4. They need to be able to recognize when they are on the offensive and when they are on the defensive. This can change very quickly in this game.
5. I often encourage shooters not to pay too much attention to the draw. Many shooters are distracted by the knowledge that they may be up against a high-ranking competitor. Rather, I encourage you to go out there and fence your way no matter who you’re up against.
6. Good shooters have a variety of ways to attack their opponents. They need to be flexible and creative in how they defend and attack. Being predictable can be a problem in this game.
7. Like a boxer or martial artist, fencers must anticipate what their opponent is about to do on the piste.
8. Fencers need to know how to mentally eat downtime between matches.
9. There are some tough and difficult decisions in this sport and sometimes officials make mistakes. Good shooters know how to tune out the distraction of a bad call.
10. Like most individual sports, fencing requires extensive training and the relationships between the fencer, the coach and the parents in the case of the young athlete are key.
11. Fencers need to identify their brand or style of fencing. Some shooters do better when they are very aggressive. Others are more comfortable and effective like what I call counter fencers.
12. Great fencers are resilient, they know how to bounce back in a match, in a tournament, or after a loss to a fencer they feel they must beat.
13. After a match, most fencers need some time to rest and relax. Once they calm down, coaches and parents may want to ask these two questions: Did you enjoy it? You learned?
14. Many of the fencers I have worked with use a combination of hypnosis, self-hypnosis and meditation before competition, between matches, between points and in practice. These techniques help shooters with confidence, focus, relaxation, and resilience.