question

[wadadli]

how do you guys feel having your coach/teammates/family/etc watch you fence at tournaments?? the one tournament i fenced with my coach watching it felt weird..i couldn't concentrate and subsequently lost the bout he watched me fence. on the other hand, when i'm in a "hostile" environment, perhaps fencing someone from the host club with his whole group watching, i can usually focus and these are the bouts i win.

i just can't fence with people i know watching/cheering me on. i need to be the one backed in a corner up against everyone cheering against me to do well (or more for my opponent than against me but you get the point.

what about you guys??? any thoughts??

[noodle]

i fence best when my coach is there, i like his support and advice teammates are great for cheering but sometimes fencing drama arises and im sure you know thats usually not fun... family usually makes me nervous, but ive only had them at one tournament.

[noodle]

i'm ok with everything except family
i feel i have to perform when they're around
everyone else is ok though

[mrbiggs]

I used to like to have my coach around, but I really don't need him DURING the bouts, for the most part. I'm very strong in strategy in fencing, so I usually find my opponent's weakness by myself. Of course, it never hurts at all.

I'm completely unaffected by other people watching, for some reason. Even when I get frustrated. I probably make a fool out of myself once in a while... . But anyway, yeah, I'm pretty much unaffected by outside influences.

[SouthPaw]

I like it when cute girls watch me fence *shrug*

Coach I don't mind, I don't think about it really, until he comes up during a break to tell me something, at which point it's very nice (a luxury I don't often have).

[mrbiggs]

I like it when cute girls watch me fence *shrug*

That was assumed from the start.

[ls14evar]

I like it when cute girls watch me fence *shrug*

And I like watching cute girls fence.

[mrbiggs]

And I like watching cute girls fence.

I was going to post that, too.

[gamerdork]

And I like fencing cute gals!!!

[wpotere]

Performance Anxiety!

This is actually pretty common for people. Rather than focusing on the task at hand, you are more worried about ensuring that you perform well for your coach or family. There is a movie that I suggest you see....

It is called "The Perfect Game" and is about a baseball pitcher (Kevin Costner).

Basically when he steps on the mound, he flips a switch in his mind to tune out the crowd and focus on his job. You need to find a way to do this yourself to tune your coach out and then tune him in between points for direction.

I do something very similar and it seems to work for me….

[Grasshopper]

Wow, this must be the first time Kevin Costner's name has ever appeared on a fencing forum.

[Inquartata]

It's a moot point for me---the world off the strip goes away for me when I fence. If people are cheering, or booing for that matter, shouting advice, or what ave you, I don't hear it. I don't see the spectators. They might as well not be there. So it doesn't bother me if they are not, nor invigorate me if they are.

I do dislike being coached at the break. It only scatters my focus. I end to pretend that the break is just a particularly long pause between phrases, or else that it's the beginning of another bout. Of course it annoys my coach a little that I don't want to listen to him, but hey, I'm the one fencing, it's not about the coach...

[wpotere]

Wow, this must be the first time Kevin Costner's name has ever appeared on a fencing forum.

It is the only movie that I like from him. If I could have thought of another, belive me, I would have!

[Boo Boo]

It's a moot point for me---the world off the strip goes away for me when I fence. If people are cheering, or booing for that matter, shouting advice, or what ave you, I don't hear it. I don't see the spectators. They might as well not be there. So it doesn't bother me if they are not, nor invigorate me if they are.

That sounds like the best way to be.

Personally, I like my coach to be around and I like advice during the break - just to make sure that I am channeling my focus in the right direction...

I get rather nervous at big gala finals - I am really quite shy (don't like to think that everyone is watching me) - need to work on visualisation to sort that one out...

Boo

[JackSparrow]

For me, the more spectators on my side the better. My best ever competition was on home soil and I fenced way above myself.

[DangerMouse]

It depends on the coach. I've had one coach that I felt I needed to perform for, but at the same time his advice was always useful. I've had other coaches that can really read what I need. One would come up to me during the break and tell me I need a swift kick in the @$$. He would then proceed to kick me. This took my mind off the bout and let me relax and start over.

[oiuyt]

There is a movie that I suggest you see....

It is called "The Perfect Game" and is about a baseball pitcher (Kevin Costner).

The US title is "For Love of the Game" and I agree that it's a very good movie. Most sports-movie lists (or the editors of such lists) strongly disagree however. I guess a lot of people didn't like the interweaving of the flashback/love-interest story-arc with the in-game story-arc. Personally I thought that it was well conceived and well executed. A MUCH better movie than "Field of Dreams" which is, clearly, the Costner baseball movie that generally features near the top of many "Top 10 Sports Movies of all Time"-type lists.

The "clear the mechanism" bit (what wpotere is referring to) was nice. Also the changes in how effective it was throughout the game. Lots of little things about how to movie was done that I greatly appreciated, and some aspects of those scene bits are definitely among them.

-B :)

[oiuyt]

My mom isn't allowed to watch me fence. Haven't had problems with the rest of my family, with coaches, with teammates, friends, etc. Frequently they are helpful, rarely if ever is there any detrimental effect, but I fence well with large numbers or no one (or anything in between). I also historically have performed well in semi-hostile environments (haven't been in anything really hostile, but have certainly been at tournaments where 100% of a fair-sized spectator group was rooting (at times loudly) for my opponent). Most of what I do and think and concentrate on isn't affected by things off of the strip.

It's possible that now my mom wouldn't be detrimental, but she was banned after the first couple of times, when I was a relatively new fencer and had trouble with performing well at several tournaments that she attended (whether or not due to her presence is largely irrelevant). Not going to try experimenting now to find out either.

-B :)

[darius]

The US title is "For Love of the Game" and I agree that it's a very good movie. Most sports-movie lists (or the editors of such lists) strongly disagree however. I guess a lot of people didn't like the interweaving of the flashback/love-interest story-arc with the in-game story-arc. Personally I thought that it was well conceived and well executed. A MUCH better movie than "Field of Dreams" which is, clearly, the Costner baseball movie that generally features near the top of many "Top 10 Sports Movies of all Time"-type lists.

No! The Costner baseball movie which tops most critics' lists is "Bull Durham", which is easily the best. I also preferred the introspection of "For the Love..." more than "Field of Dreams", but neither movie comes close.

I believe it's Michael Marx's favorite film, too.

darius