quality of time: Social vs. Athletic

[Redblade]

Nice bell curve so far.

[zxcvbnmnbvcxz]

Nice bell curve so far.

I noticed the same thing. Beautiful bell curve skewed to the left. I bet a statistician would be proud.

[Redblade]

I can't help but wonder how well the reality matches the perception.

[epeemike81]

I noticed the same thing. Beautiful bell curve skewed to the left. I bet a statistician would be proud.

skewed to the left with a peak at 7?

you're making some weird formatting choices on your graph...

-m

[Mr Epee]

I had a friend (a very serious fencer) who told me once that he could gauge the nature of a club by walking in and looking at the number of places there were to sit: the more couches, chairs, and so forth that there were, the less "serious" the training environment.

I'm not sure I believe this metric -- in fact, I can think of one or two clubs were this is NOT true -- but I found it an interesting one.

Allen

Ha...

In a moment of clarity, I tossed a bench out of the training room just last week.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Wow.

I can just imagine you throwing the bench out and seeing it shatter against the pavement.

[gh02t]

Wow... a perfect statistical distribution.

[Mr Epee]

Wow.

I can just imagine you throwing the bench out and seeing it shatter against the pavement.

2nd story balcony.

It was pretty cool.

You would have enjoyed it.

[RoninX]

I can't help but wonder how well the reality matches the perception.

Yeah... I'm guessing most people tack on an hour or two, or at least think only of "max" weeks without taking into account sessions skipped to to sickness, session lag, other priorities etc. Of course that would center the bell curve even more precisely towards the... center. :lookingspooked:

[Allen Evans]

Ha...

In a moment of clarity, I tossed a bench out of the training room just last week.

If you want a big improvement in fencing at the club, casually mention that if medals don't start coming in, a few of the fencers might be next!

Allen

[Redblade]

There's a master's thesis topic hidden here somewhere.

[samh]

People seem to have the overall impression that the more serious a person is about fencing, the less socializing is done at the club. However I'm really not sure if this is true, people who train a significant amount (eg. 1 or 2 times a day) end up spending a LOT of their time with that group of fencers. I'm going to use myself as the example here, because I find myself being very social at my club just because I know all the other "serious" fencers so well. Also when I train a lot, it cuts into the time I would spend with my non-fencer friends so I end up just becoming more socially connected to fencers.

[Durando]

2nd story balcony.

It was pretty cool.

You would have enjoyed it.

Come over here, please. We have bleachers that seat 500. My "yelling in English" routine is losing some of its former clearing force.

[Phaeton]

People seem to have the overall impression that the more serious a person is about fencing, the less socializing is done at the club. However I'm really not sure if this is true, people who train a significant amount (eg. 1 or 2 times a day) end up spending a LOT of their time with that group of fencers. I'm going to use myself as the example here, because I find myself being very social at my club just because I know all the other "serious" fencers so well. Also when I train a lot, it cuts into the time I would spend with my non-fencer friends so I end up just becoming more socially connected to fencers.

I spend the majority of my waking free time with fencers.

Therefore socializing with fencers is true to me for a degree, a lot of my friends are indeed fencers and I'd argue that the majority of my socializing time is spent with fencers. The difference is the second I walk into practice: It's practice. Talking stops, and everyone focuses. We're there to improve. We are there to fence. I show up early and stay late to talk to people, but while things are running I'm as focused as possible. People are on my time, and I'm on everyone elses the second practice starts until it ends; I feel obligated to work, and feel that everyone has an obligation and responsibility to me to focus.

There's actually a (albiet somewhat loose) no sitting rule during practice. If you are physically capable of standing, then you're either standing or you're fencing. And if you're standing for more than a few minutes at a time to take a break, there's something going on that shouldn't be. If you don't want work, leave the salle and just chill, leave the salle and chill outside. If you don't want to warm up and focus at all, I don't know why you're coming to practice.

My club is far from having a strict fascist attitude toward these things, but everyone wants the most they can get out of practice, and thus we relegate socializing to afterwards. Things are very much self enforced, but not on a boarish stubborn way. We might head somewhere after practice, or grab some coffee before, but during it's get in as much quality fencing as we can.

[Coldfire]

I chose 8. When I practice I focus entirely on what I am doing, ignoring everything around me for the most part, unless of course I see someone doing something wrong that needs to be corrected. I go to practice to better myself as a fencer, as an athlete, and as a person. I can only do this by secluding myself from those that arent as serious about the sport. I am willing to herlp them when I can but I mostly focus on what I am doing. The only talking I do is about fencing when I'm there. I know I may sound like a robot but thats just how I better myself.

[PulsarCA]

When I go to practice that is all I do. I walk in, say Hi to anyone I immediately recognize, practice, say goodbye, and walk out. The only exception being to occasionally ask for advise. When it comes to socializing I prefer the anonymity of an online forum. But then, fencers scare me, at least online they can't poke at me with their stick thingies.

[Morgant]

I go for pure athletics, but we invariably end up at a restaurant afterwards if not simply chatting somewhere, which I'm also happy to take part in. Don't really know where to put that on the scale, so... This poll is flawed (I voted 7).