In the gallery of interviews with world renowned people in fencing
Schermaonline.com has added a conversation with the colorful
Paolo Milanoli. What follows are excerpts of Part One of the interview.
http://www.schermaonline.com/scherma...rder=1&thold=0 Paolo Milanoli
Born in Alessandria, Italy, 36 years old. His most important victories:
Olympic Team Champion Sydney 2000 World Champion Nimes 2001
Presently involved in the political scene of the city of Novara as City Councilman in charge of tourism, sport and leisure.
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SCHERMAONLINE:
When and with whom did you start fencing?
MILANOLI: ..... When I was 9 ... with maestro Ireneo Gonzales (he is not Spanish)! SCHERMAONLINE:
Did you start with epee?
MILANOLI: Like most of us I started with foil (I wasn't bad), but around 14 I fell in love with epee. No regrets whatsoever. SCHERMAONLINE:
Who was your most important maestro in your career?
MILANOLI: Even if diplomacy is not my forte, I must say that each of the teachers I had was important at a certain time. Gonzales put the first foil in my hand and encouraged me by saying "there is something here we can work with." Orlandini taught me the essential touches of my career and the first principles of tactics. Since he was himself a first class fencer he tried also to make me learn the modesty of the great champions, but here he failed! Kulcsar reshaped me completely and deserves half the credit for everything I've accomplished. He taught me to respect all my opponents and not to take myself too seriously. If I wasn't doing well he used to tell me "don't worry." If I was doing great, he'd tell me "not bad." When I was lounging at super speed h'd tell me "my grandma was quicker."
Our initial arguments helped us focus on things, then everything became smooth as glass. He was really one of the great ones, but his GRANDMA must have been even greater!
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I've had the opportunity to take lessons from many others, more or less famous and I can honestly say that I've always enjoyed it. I would have liked to work with Giulio Tomassini....
All in all I find that I've been lucky. SCHERMAONLINE:
Who's your trainer now?
MILANOLI: Now my Maestro is Massimo Zenga. Once more right man for the right time. He is a student of Kulcsar and one of my former team mates at the club. He learned his trade from the Hungarian. His best quality? He knows how to handle me. SCHERMAONLINE:
What advice would you give to a young person who'd decide to start fencing, epee in particular?
MILANOLI: I'm not good enough to explain what I understood from fencing, but if I'd have to give one advice, I'd tell him to always keep in mind that on the strip you carry with you what you are as a person. I've uncovered the weak points of my opponents more in the hotel halls or at parties than during bouts. A fencing match is synthesis, not analysis. SCHERMAONLINE:
Paolo, how does one become a champion?
MILANOLI: I'd like to know this also. Really, I don't consider myself a champion. To be a true champion one must dedicate all energy and aspirations to the activity in which one wants to excel. This is hard, but can also be dangerous. When you retire from the activity you've chosen, what else is left? Why so many champions of the past have such a hard time adapting to today's reality? I'd rather have a panoramic vision even if this means that I'm not a champion. By doing so I feel that I have always an exit strategy. SCHERMAONLINE:
Can one become a champion even without a special natural talent?
MILANOLI: Everyone has talents. The problem is that often one stubbornly tries to emerge in fields that are not his. Failure and frustration are not a consequence of the lack of talent, but only of the inability to find out what we are really good at. SCHERMAONLINE:
Is there a "magic" moment, a key instant in the career of an athlete? A moment when everything seems to click and he realizes that he's a winner? Or the growth of a fencer is rather constant and gradual, the result only of one's hard work? In the end, what is irrational and metaphysical in victory?
MILANOLI: This is an area where mere words are never enough nor appropriate. The growth of a fencer, in particular an epee fencer, is for sure a gradual process over many years, which needs dedication, training, and why not, studying. It comes a point though that all of a sudden something clicks, a light goes on, and right then and there you feel that you are invincible. Doubts disappear, problems are solved instantly, and the technical execution becomes the right and logical consequence of your thinking process. I think that this state of grace happens to everyone, sooner or later. Problem is that unfortunately it last very shortly and nobody knows what the triggering mechanism is. Luck is when this happens to you the day of a World Championship. This is what happened to me in Nimes. That day I could have won even saber! SCHERMAONLINE:
What is your present weekly training schedule?
MILANOLI: Since I've been appointed on the Novara city council few months ago, in charge of tourism, sport and leisure -- something extremely interesting which takes quite a bit of time -- I train less. Six times a week. SCHERMAONLINE:
Do you train more or less than when you were very young?
MILANOLI: Generally, I stress quality over quantity in my training sessions. Now for sure I train very differently than before. As a kid, the desire to attain my goals and understand about fencing kept me on the strip from 4 to 9 pm. I could never tire and enjoyed to challenge everyone else, even though I did not have a well defined plan in my head, nor a goal to pursue.
"Getting older," I started training sessions which are much more focused, working at a specific defect or at improving a touch which comes more natural to me.
All this is very important and must be done, but you must be careful to preserve the spirit of the kid who used to train for 5 hours, without specific targets. In any case ONE CANNOT CONSIDER FENCING AS A JOB! SCHERMAONLINE:
What is in your opinion the role of the physical preparation as far as the fencer's performance is concerned?
MILANOLI: There is a great debate going on about all this and I'm sure that there are people more qualified than me to give a technical answer.
I can only say that in fencing there aren't winning ingredients, but only winning Recipes. The athletic preparation is for sure an important ingredient, but certainly not the only one, like some people sustain. SCHERMAONLINE:
Even though you're a 'giant' of more than 6'4" you've also practiced a sport which is more suited for 'shorties' i.e., artistic gymnastics. Do you think it's useful for fencers to crosstrain in other sports like martial arts, for instance, or tennis?
MILANOLI: I believe it's helpful to try other sports irrespective whether this helps you in fencing or not. I never tried to grow in fencing, but only to grow...
To understand what our "colleagues in other sports" go through and what means to high jump 2.45 meters or run 5 K in 12 minutes, it all helps.
(to be continued)
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