Slump

[childlik3faith]

Hi! I've been fencing for nearly three years now (I've also been steadily improving since then). Recently, I've been feeling low and haven't been improving. Any tips?

[Walrus]

After my personal experience..... I get those moments too... the last thing you have to do is panic.

Try to find the reason why you're not making any progress, talk with your coach about it. Changing something in your training program can help.

I don't know what you already know or can, but what I do when I'm feeling I'm not making any progress:

Find something you want to learn, and focus on it, fence relaxed, don't stress, and don't put a time limit like: "I want to master this in a few weeks."
Do simple and small things. Change is good sometimes.

And remember to relax, find the reason and the solution will come by itself.

[Sabresque]

One of the things I know for sure about fencing as a sport is that the learning curve is very jerky. At the start, it will probably shoot up, or at least be gradually increasing. Then at a certain point, it will come in jerks and starts. The learning plateau is ever present. I myself am on one of those plateaus and the moment,and the only thing I know I can do is try and not get too frusterated, and keep working jsut as hard as I was before. If you know specific things you can improve on, work on them. At these points you need to learn to look for the little things improving, not the big ones. "My god, I actually got that parry right... that means I can do it again!" In practice, don't focuse so much on winning as practicing what you do in your lesson. I dunno, that's about all I can say. I think we've all been there, and other people will have better advice than me.

[CvilleFencer]

I work with a lot of fencers in different clubs in my area (more on that in a second) and have found this to be an almost universal problem, and have experienced it myself.

I have known people to get so frustrated that they just walk away from one weapon so they can begin all over again in another. I am all for trying the different weapons, but if you switch make sure the reason is not just a stall in your training program.


What I have found helps me immensely is going around to different clubs and fencing in competitions I know I am going to get creamed in. I am a firm believer in the saying "You can only improve by fencing those better than yourself".

While the people in your club or your instructor may have a wealth of knowledge and experience, there will come a time that you can only absorb so much of what they have to offer until your skill level/point of view catches up. Everyone learns in a different way and we learn some things better in one format than another.

The wider you cast your net, fencing with other people and clubs and learning from others experience the faster you skills base will grow and the more well rounded a fencer you will be.

If your current club is very classical (hand behind your back, French grips, an almost churchlike somberness in the club) try finding a strictly sport fencing club and play with them for a while or vice versa. If you just fence with other clubs you will find a big difference usually.

You will learn a lot and grow as a fencer. You also should not consider that you are betraying any one group or club, nor are you insulting anyone as a teacher by seeking out other styles or points of view. Once you come back to your old club a better fencer with new skills and abilities to share this should be obvious to them.

Tourneys are also a great way to improve your game. Even if you get killed every time treat it as a learning experience. If you are just destroyed by someone in pools, talk to them afterwards. Ask how they did whatever it was, and if they have any suggestions for you to improve your game. Fencers are by and far a great group eager to help others in the sport.

Treat your fellow division competitors as members of one big decentralized team and learn from them. I do not know about other divisions, but the monsters (A's and B's) of my division are all really great people and love to answer questions and help younger/less experienced fencers along. Try it out and I think you will find the fencing community at large to be a great resource!

I do not know where you fence, but if we should ever be at the same event, look me up and I will introduce you to some folks!

[nadia7880]

Thanks for the help! I'll keep working at it.