Setting goals and starting competitions

[Carnacki]

Hi,

Apologies if this has been covered before but I wanted to canvas opinion.

I'm come back to fencing after a long absence. My original fencing period was never very grand!

I was wondering about setting some goals for myself, one of which would be to enter a local competition.

I currently fence sabre and epee (better at sabre but I have started epee and really enjoy it).

I go to two clubs each week (total two nights a week fencing, one night sabre, one night epee), which is a mix of training and free fencing. I am not garaunteed a one-on-one lesson with the coach each time - I think if I can get in every second week for a lesson I'm doing well.

So, assuming I collect the required gear, what should I be aiming for? I've been fencing now for 5 weeks (plus 4 years in the distant past - I'm 30 now). Would aiming to enter a competition in 1 year from now be too much?

[AdamH]

Get thee to a tournament, lad.

Go, see what everyone is doing when the chips are in and how you get on in the fencing. Talk to people and try to get a measure of the difficulty of the competition, then set some goals based on this. Speak with your coach, tell him what you want and see what he says. Fence as many good people as you can.

You're not some 14 year old French schoolboy. So, potentially the sooner you get the tournament head on, the better you'll be to use your experience to guide your own path. You'll be able to work out if the club shenanigans are social or conducive to helping you develop as a fencer (or both).

If the moon is tiding and the stars are looking favourably, maybe you'll meet someone with a similar body type who's fencing appeals to you and is reasonably successful. Ask that person what they are doing and how they do it, go get kinky with their coach and off you go

[RkfdFencer]

That was a much livelier reply than I was drafting. :smile:

I agree that the first tournament should be used for learning. I agree that you should talk to your coach(es) about the goals you want to set for your own fencing. He/she/they are there to help you work towards those goals. A lot of other fencers will give you advice as well (not sure you need to get kinky, but maybe I'm just too reserved).

A lesson every other week and your own focus on improvement could have you performing well enough sooner than a year - depending on the level of tournament you go to. So, again, talk to the coaches and other experienced fencers. (I'm surprised there haven't been several 'talk to your coach' replies yet)

[wwalkerjr]

I have a similar story. I took a 25 year layoff. In April, I returned to fencing. After two weeks, I entered a D and under epee tournament (despite muscles so sore that I thought I had broken my buttocks). I had a great time at that first tournament and I've continued fencing at the club and in tournaments all summer and into the fall. Tournaments are a compressed learning experience and add purpose to your workouts during the week.
The reason that you are considering waiting a year is that you are afraid your results won't match desires/expectations. Change your expectations and just enjoy the action touch by touch. There are some great people out there that you're going to enjoy meeting.

Bill

[Carnacki]

Hmm, I picked the one year goal because I found a couple of websites which suggested it! But yes, I'm not really concerned about winning anything, I just want to have fun and get better at fencing. Sounds like competitions are the way to go, once I've got all the required gear.

I guess I am worried that there will be a bit of an elitist attitude at these things, and as a not-so-good fencer I'll be considered a waste of time. This may stem from a particularly bad club I used to go to several years ago. It was supposed to be open to all levels, but everyone there was at national competition level. As it was all electric sabre, we ran a rota on the pistes, so you presided, fenced once, swapped sides and fenced again, then left the piste and went to the back of the queue (and so on and so on).

When I got to presiding/first fence/second fence, it was plainly obvious that people didn't want to fence me, and they mostly ignored my presiding. The aim of the game was to get rid of me quickly and send me to the back of the queue so they could fence properly for a bit until I was next up.

So yeah, I know that's probably not common, but it upset me at the time and I'm still trying to shake it off!

[Applesauce and Foils]

Horrible fencers at the last club! So not in the spirit of fencing. As others have suggested, just enter a competition, or at least go watch one. But there's a big difference between watching and being in a meet.
See if someone from your club can go with you to explain what's going on.
Don't worry about where you place, just have fun. My first two tournaments I worried and came in last. Last tourney I didn't worry and did better than even I expected, and I was fencing sabre for the first time (in a tournament and only after a few far and between lessons).
Have fun!

AF

[Applesauce and Foils]

Oh, one more thing. Whereas in free fencing/lesson nights you don't have to sit around for long, at tournaments there's a lot of waiting around time in between bouts. So get a notebook to jot down fencing-related thoughts, scores, things you've noticed about your game, etc. It'll pass the time and be good to look back on when lessons resume.

AF

[Onward and Upward]

Thank you for this post. Actually, I was going to post a similar question (except from the point of view of a beginner over 40) and really appreciate the insight in these replies.

Although age-wise I'm a veteran, I'm fairly new to fencing - I have been taking classes for two months and love it. I, too, have the goal of competing in a year's time. I'm glad to see that it's not an impossible goal (I hope ), and that it's not crazy to want to get my feet wet even sooner. I now see that thinking of it as part of the learning process is the key.

p.s. Hey, this is my first post!

[greaterthangatsby]

Originally Posted by Onward and Upward

Thank you for this post. Actually, I was going to post a similar question (except from the point of view of a beginner over 40) and really appreciate the insight in these replies.

Although age-wise I'm a veteran, I'm fairly new to fencing - I have been taking classes for two months and love it. I, too, have the goal of competing in a year's time. I'm glad to see that it's not an impossible goal (I hope ), and that it's not crazy to want to get my feet wet even sooner. I now see that thinking of it as part of the learning process is the key.

p.s. Hey, this is my first post!

I, too, have a goal of competing eventually. I started last month, and progressing (sloowwwly), but eventually, I will get there...

[CanAm]

I have just started fencing in the last month and have only had a couple lessons.

Is it wrong that I want to jump headlong into tournaments (local, small ones)?

I don't yet have my own gear (we borrow it during class at my college), but as soon as I get gear, I'd like to compete- regardless of skill and style.

Sure, you can work on the fundamentals constantly and you'll be a stronger fencer, but in my (unexperienced) opinion, you need to put that foundation into use through real application. You can always speculate about how well you can lunge in practice, but you need to see it in action to grasp it.

[keith]

Originally Posted by CanAm

Is it wrong that I want to jump headlong into tournaments (local, small ones)?

Nothing wrong at all, just bear in mind there are two bad outcomes;

You get despondent because you fence like your coach wants you to and you fail to score a single point.

You decide that your coach knows nothing since you fenced like a crack addled giraffe on roller skates and won the competition.

[lizziebaba]

*shrug* i've only been fencing three months and i just had my first competition last saturday. i didn't do too bad (9th place out of 64).
I say go for it.

[Old Fencer]

Setting obtainable goals is the key to success. When refereeing I often witnessed young and new fencers suffering from discouragement pertaining to their tournament results. Did anyone ever enter their first competition and win (excluding some no named in the middle of nowhere unattended lackluster event). My first nationals came at a young age competing against some of the better fencers in the country. Did you say lamb to the slaughter? You bet! I did not have the benefit of a national coach to guide my way so thereafter I set an obtainable goal to finish ahead of my seating. May sound small, but play it out sooner or later you would have to be seated to reach the finals. After finally reaching the finals my goal was not to give away touches, but rather make my opponent take them from me. It may work for you too.