I am the owner and founder of the Sheridan Fencing Academy in NYC. After earning my fencing master degree under--and spending several years training with--Zbigniew Czajkowski in Katowice, Poland, I have for the last few years been coaching in the US. I have trained top youth and teen fencers in sabre and epee; most recently ('07-'08): CWS Junior Olympics silver medalist; Y12 WS Summer Nationals finalist; JWS Summer Nationals finalist. This blog contains advice for both fencers and coaches.
It's a statistical truth. Of all the people in the world who fence, only one person every four years (per individual event, naturally) can be Olympic Champion.
The important thing to understand about statements like that is that they exist to weed out the weak. If someone says, "You will probably not be X," and you allow that to dampen your motivation, you are accepting weakness.
It is a fact that most people who fence will never be Olympic Champion or make a World Team or even medal in a Senior event at the Nationals. However, it's important to recognize that the odds of achieving anything are not the same for everyone.
At 12 years old, Romankov was, statistically speaking, "probably" not going to become a fencing legend. If those statistics--and anyone citing them--was enough to ruin his morale, it would have meant he was, in fact, too weak to actually ever become a legend.
The first thing to understand in order to become superior at anything is that "probably" doesn't matter. You probably suck at fencing. In fact, you probably suck at most things. This is not an insult; it's statistics. Your own development as an athlete and a person has nothing to do with statistics. If you want to be superior, don't believe in "probably" and don't believe in luck--it's loser-thinking. Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is, unfortunately, a loser.
Becoming superior means differentiating yourself from everyone around you. It means being better than statistics. It means recognizing that what you want to be is more important than what you "probably" are.
Being superior is a choice. Being weak is also a choice. Decide what you want. You will probably achieve it.
12-01-2007 09:51 PM