Many shooters enter the arena with only a rudimentary idea of how they intend to beat their opponent. As a result, the fencer is constantly trying to find a way to strike, switching from technique to technique with no clear plan of how best to deal with the opponent. The clichés that “to fail to plan is to plan to fail” and “if you don’t have a plan, any outcome is successful” really capture the challenge for the fencer. So how do we train shooters to develop a tactical plan for a fight?
First, a warning. Most beginning and intermediate level fencers will never attempt to plan their match on a useful level. Either they lack the necessary desire or brainpower to succeed. As a coach you have to accept that. Those who want to learn how to plan the match, those who plan and carry out their plans are the fencers who deserve your efforts to develop them as serious competitors.
The initial step in developing the fencer’s planning ability is to develop the ability to see what is happening on the piste. This is a two part process. First of all, every fencer should spend as much time as possible observing fencing. Videos of major competitions, online videos, and simply sitting through tips at the club when not fencing all contribute to a fencer’s ability to see the action.
Second, every fencer must learn the process of refereeing a match. This is a step-by-step progression: (1) recognize which shooter originates the attack, (2) identify if the opponent’s actions deceive, stop, or block the attack, (3) recognize the opponent’s response, etc. The fencer must be able to recognize the flow of the match and then recognize what specific techniques are being used. In practical umpiring tips, the fencer’s ability to recognize actions improves when he is asked to identify how the hit was made, not just make the correct hand signals.
Seeing what is happening is a critical first step in planning, developing intelligence about the opponent’s physical, technical, and tactical capabilities. Other information is equally important. If the fencer, or members of the fencers’ club, have met the opponent before in a competition, they should have taken and shared notes as part of a regular debriefing process after tournaments. The debriefing process is a critical part of every competition. The availability of competition results on FRED gives up-to-date information on the standings, competitive record, who the opponent has fenced before their club, what the scores were, etc. Collecting and sharing this data is a significant effort, but even a rough idea of the opponent’s strength can be valuable in planning.
All this can be modeled and practiced in club competitions. Like all fencing skills, the various steps of making a plan must be practiced until they become automatic. In the next article in this series, we will examine how to teach the fencer how to inventory and compare his own skills to the opponent’s as part of the plan.