The Game: Beyond Technique

and The Personality Traits of Fencers and Coaches

By Rich Jacobson, Head Coach, Minnesota Sword Club

The game of fencing is a continuous exchange between two opponents. It is a relationship of perception and awareness, all encased in time, distance and strategy. Originally, ignoring the perceptual aspects of swordsmanship, technique was often taught exclusively as the game. The understanding of fencing has changed. Now we know that neither awareness of the opponent nor technique can exist without the other in high level fencing. Following are some points about the various aspect of the sport that many fencers do not realize exist, but which effect the game they are playing.

Not long ago, new concepts of fencing developed from psychology and, in particular, from the area called motor learning. The Polish coach Czaljkowksi introduced the principles of anticipation, choice-reaction, kinesthetics, and visual perception to European and a number of American coaches. These concepts of perception in fencing are much less understood than technique, with the relationship between technique and perception even less understood. This interdependence of technique and perception demands a closer look by the fencing world.
 

Open vs. Closed Environment

The most important psychological principle for fencing is the "open environment", which refers to conditions that are constantly changing. In an open sport, the athlete's main requirement is to perceive and adapt to the opponent. All ball sports such as baseball and football are open sports because of the continual adjustments each player makes to the ball and other players. A fencer performs these same tasks but uses a weapon instead of a ball.
Because fencing is an open sport, adaptation is key. Each fencer's actions must be executed in relation to the opponent. Every movement, every preparation has meaning. Every change made by an opponent needs to be perceived, the consequences understood, and appropriate counter actions executed for scoring. Simultaneously, the opponent is making the same judgments and counter adjustments.

The opposite kind of sport has a "closed environment", where the athlete's surroundings never change, or change very little. An athlete in a technique oriented, or "closed", sport repeats the same action over and over for the purpose of form or accuracy, concentrating only on how his body moves. Examples of such sports are archery, figure skating and gymnastics. Learning technique in any sport takes place in a closed environment; focus is on oneself and not on an external opponent.

All martial arts, including fencing, are at the open end of the open-closed continuum, requiring continuous adaptation. The target moves constantly and intelligently, playing tricks to make the opponent's task impossible. Both opponents continuously try to disrupt each other's plans while attempting to score. Since fencing occurs in an open environment, fencers and coaches should be careful not to focus on technique when scoring is what counts. Technique needs to be so well learned it does not require conscious thought and therefore allows full attention to be on the opponent.
 
 

Awareness

A good fencer understands the consequences of his own movements in relation to the opponent's actions. This requires self-awareness and awareness of the opponent.
Self-awareness develops as a fencer learns technique. The fencer learns to anticipate how his movements relate to the opponent. This occurs with repetition; the beginner starts to relate his movements to the opponent's movements. Only then can the fencer begin to find the correct moment for execution. This applies to all attacks and defenses.
A fencer must learn the circumstances under which each physical action should be used, which attack or defense to use, and even when an attack should be discontinued. As skills develop, a fencer becomes aware of the abilities of his opponent: how accurate, how fast, favorite attacks, what rhythms are used and how well the opponent relates to changes.
These awarenesses are critical to success. For example, identifying an opponent's rhythm helps the fencer anticipate when the attack or defense will occur and how long it will take to execute. By recognizing a habit or favorite action of the opponent, a fencer gains the ability to anticipate correctly and hit. Visual recognition provides this information. But it takes years to understand how to integrate one's movements with an awareness of the opponent's actions.
 

Technique

No matter how great a fencer's awareness of the opponent, there is no substitute for good technique. Without control over one's body and weapon, a fencer will move inappropriately or at the wrong time, allowing an unwanted hit. A fencer with little technique, or body control, will have poorly executed and poorly timed actions, opening the door for an opponent's hit. As a fencer works on developing technique, he learns to move correctly, gaining body awareness and physical self-knowledge.

To learn technique, conscious attention must be focused inward while moving. For example, attention should be directed to the position of the legs when on guard or to the hand position when attacking. The best method to develop excellent technical skills requires repetition, conscious awareness and feedback from a coach regarding movement.
Technique, in the end, is a tool. It must be blended with observation for success. Even a perfect parry is irrelevant if it's not executed at the right moment. Some fencers learn technique so well they project the perfect image of a winning fencer – but that's where it ends, with the image. Likewise, some coaches spend so much time developing technique their fencers mistake technique for the game. Technique is not the game of fencing.
 

Technicians vs. Warriors

Fencers who work diligently on technique – to the exclusion of adapting to opponents – are aptly named Technicians. They develop a high degree of skill in technically correct movements, but in a way that may not relate to individual opponents. These fencers find winning difficult, although they look wonderful while losing. Technicians are usually the hardest workers, but never become champions because they train as if fencing takes place in a closed environment.

The error of Technician fencers is in not learning to relate or adjust to an opponent. This is because their focus is always on themselves. Learning technique involves focusing internally on how to move, ignoring unexpected external changes. Internal focus is about developing control over oneself, not about competing. In an extreme case, when awareness of the opponent is left until after technique is fully developed, adaptation will probably never be learned well.

The opposite of the Technician is the Warrior, a fencer with poor technique who relates well to opponents. Warriors are externally focused on the opponent, which helps for winning. The open environment is the playground of the Warrior fencer. This type of athlete uses physical actions transferred from other sports, with a smattering of fencing technique thrown in. While they typically spend little time learning to move with control, Warriors have a tendency to win because they relate so well.

When competing, the Warrior usually triumphs over the Technician because Warriors relate to what a technical fencer does and can take advantage of the situation. While the Warrior has a tendency to miss the target a lot, due to poor control, he usually manages to get enough hits to win. Unfortunately, because they never see the need for technique, Warriors soon reach a level of skill they can never exceed. Both the true Warrior and true Technician are doomed to be low-level competitors.
 

Who are the Champions?

If a continuum were drawn between the two extremes of total Technical fencer and total Warrior fencer, the champions would come from the middle ranks, with the largest number coming from the Warrior side of the center. The personality of typical champion fencers is that of moderate Warriors who are willing to learn technique. The remaining champions are the moderate Technicians who are taught to relate by a coach.
The stronger the Warrior traits the greater learning technique is difficult and disliked. Many only go part-way in learning the technical aspect of the game. The strong technical fencer will diligently work at relating, if directed by a coach, and has a chance of adapting his personality.
 
 

The Role of the Coach

Coaches need to understand the personality traits of their fencers. A beginner who is a perfectionist will surely become a Technician. The gung-ho extrovert is definitely a hard core Warrior.

Adults tend to favor the technical side of learning, while children favor the fighting drive of the Warriors. Children love strategy, but at their stage of development, they don't have the technique for correct execution. Most teen and young adult beginners have some Warrior and some Technician in them. They're looking for the fun of the fight, but are willing to learn technique, if guided correctly. Knowing whether a fencer has a tendency towards Warrior or Technician traits should help the coach create a quality fencer.
During bouting, the fencer's true personality exerts its influence, revealing either a Warrior or Technician, unless the coach's teaching had intervenes and created a fencer with balanced abilities. Coaches must teach in a balanced manner so a fencer learns all aspects of the game from the beginning. To do this, the coach must vary instruction as each fencer progresses through lessons.

A simple sequence of instruction for coaches starts with technical drills that lead into choice drills. Further development is with multiple-choice drills and eventually situational exercises.
Just as fencers are Warriors or Technicians, so are coaches. Technical coaches – who primarily teach technique – have developed many high level competitors. This seems to contradict the idea that technical fencers will not be winners, but it does not. When examined, success was attributed to having Warrior students, who naturally saw relationships and were forced to learn the required technique. The students' focus on winning when competing is complemented by the learned technique.
On the other side of the coin is the Warrior coach, who teaches the fight and observational skills of the bout. These coaches create fencers who have a small repertoire, fast actions and a good head for tactics and strategy.

Though the Warrior coach teaches little technique, body awareness is somewhat developed because the same movements are repeated numerous times. This repetition creates some technique, and more importantly, awareness for specific situations. The downside is that the technique is often unorthodox and performed too fast for the situation. In the point weapons, this leads to a lack of point control and, at other times, weaknesses in a specific skill area.

The best coach is one who can teach a balance of technique, perception, and tactics. Such a coach is not common since most coaches vary to one or the other end of the Warrior-Technician trait. A fencer who is willing to take lessons from both Warrior and Technical coaches can benefit from the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, this tends to be confusing to young fencers trying to gain a clear, specific picture of the sport. .
 
 

Tactics

Two fencers are in a bout. Both have excellent technical and observational skills. Which wins? A factor that often determines the outcome in an otherwise equal bout is tactics. Tactics is the use of traps and counter traps to create situations in which one fencer gains a momentary advantage over the other. The power of tactics is in the use of a fencer's observational skills to set up situations in which the opponent can be hit.
There are many, many tactics used to trap a fencer both offensively and defensively. The simplest and best known is a feint attack. On the defensive side is counter-time. To take the strategy one step further, a counter trap can be used against a fencer setting a trap. If the trap is recognized, the fencer can pretend to fall for it and, just before being hit, use a pre-planned counter action to score.

The use of tactics is not a concept employed well by new fencers. They have little perceptual ability and are lucky to have any reliable technique; they may not even pay attention to what the opponent is doing. Usually, new fencers are more concerned with what they want to do instead of what is actually happening. As a fencer progresses in the sport, technical ability increases while focus becomes directed toward the opponent.
It is not necessary to wait until technical and perceptual skills are highly developed before introducing tactics. Children, Warriors by nature, will quickly understand tactics, even though their technical skills won't provide great success. If taught early in a young fencer's development, tactics will become integrated as part of the basic concepts of a mature fencer.
 
 

Rate-of-Adaptation

In addition to technique, perception and tactics, there are other factors that affect successful fencing. One which can't be taught is a fencer's Rate-of-Adaptation, a by-product of long hours of practice and competition. Rate-of-Adaptation is commonly confused with speed because actions appear to be so quick. In reality the movements are not fast, the transition from one movement to a parry or hitting action happens prior to the spectator or opponent being ready for it to occur. This causes the impression of speed when in actuality it is a matter of the fencer correctly relating to the opponent.

Most fencers, watching better fencers, comment, "They fence so fast!" or "Did you see how fast that action was?" If a cinematic study were made, it would show that experienced fencers tend to move slower, with more control, than younger, less experienced fencers who tend to rush their actions. The more experienced a fencer, the greater the patience, the better an action is timed, and the further distance when it is anticipated.

The greater the total number of hours a person has fenced, the faster recognition and adaptation to an opponent occurs. This means the fencer recognizes situations quickly and responds without hesitation. A fencer understands the situation as it develops, allowing greater time for a correct response. Contrast an experienced fencer to a new one. The new fencer relates to action after it is over. A somewhat more experienced fencer relates toward the middle of an action. A very experienced fencer adapts as an action starts. A truly high skilled fencer can relate even before an action begins, since the opponent's patterns gives away the next move. This is called anticipation. It is the highest form of Rate-of-Adaptation.

“Chunking” is a term used in psychology. It means putting together separate pieces of information (what you see) into one package or as one impression. A beginner learning to fence has to deal with so many different things. Moving correctly, knowing what is a threatening action, understanding right-of-way, how to hit, so many other things. As learning continues these separate items are “chunked” together as one item or as one piece of analysis. There is actually a lot of different things being related together making the fencer react correctly in movement and in context to the situation. The greater the “chunking” means grater amounts of information about what is occurring and what to do about it being put together. Advanced fencers have a lot of information “chunked” together and wonder why the less skilled fencers can’t relate to what seems obvious to them.

The appearance of speed by skilled fencers adapting to their opponents has led many coaches to copy the image of speed in lessons. They increase the speed/tempo of the fencer's movement without relating to the limitation of the fencers ability to see and understand. It ends with the fencer moving faster then he can relate and therefore often getting hit. The truly skilled fencer fences at a speed in which he can relate to the opponent. He matches his speed of movement to what he sees happening. He may slow down or speed up but always relating to the opponent. Two fencers who relate quickly, have a high Rate-of-Adaptation, make for a truly good bout.

 

The Heart of the Game

In fencing, the perceptual and strategic game is built on technique. Technique gives the fencer the physical control to play the game, but awareness and strategy provide the mental skills that characterize the highest level of competitor. An appropriate definition of skill in fencing is a fencer's ability to adjust the relationship of himself to an opponent, to gain a momentary advantage to score. This is the heart of the game and can easily define the purpose of all martial arts. Or, to rephrase in simple words, technique is the base that  the game of perception and strategy is played upon.

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Author's Note:

This paper took a lot of time to write. It was written because I have often listened to dogma about fencing concepts, from coaches, that was based on nothing more then their own master's dogma. I was tired of listening to incorrect or partially correct concepts. My studies at Columbia University in NYC during my doctoral program in Motor Learning, the psychology of learning and performing movement, taught me the under riding nature of fencing, and of all sports. I tried presenting some of this information here for others to know. It is only the tip of an iceberg though. I hope it helps. Zbigniew Czajkowski, in "Understanding Fencing", SKA Swordplay Books, presents a great deal more information, if your are interested in fencing theory.

I would really appreciate your thoughts of this paper. Please e-mail me with your opinion of what I wrote at rich.jacobson@mnsword.com  If you don't mind, mention your fencing experience (parent, beginner, advanced fencer, master) and your name if you want.  Thank you for a response. I appreciate it.


Drawing by Jim Biehold