| In one of my many sessions on the Internet I came across this article, "Caging the Bear" by a gentleman named Rich Hamper on his web site the "Rth Dimension". His incite on the trials of competitive fencing and the person who does it has helped me to understand myself not only as a fencer but as a person. I hope you enjoy. Tom Evangelisti Fencing Alliance of Saginaw |
| HOW TO FENCE BETTER AND STILL HAVE FUN How many times have you seen a fencer vehemently curse, throw his mask, whack his weapon into the floor, or verbally abuse others in the vicinity when he´s lost a bout or point he thought he should have won? Did he look like he was coping with the situation intelligently? Did he fence better subsequently? Did he look like he was having fun? Or did he remind you of Dr. Jeckyl's transforming into Mr. Hyde? All too often when a fencer gets frustrated so badly that anger takes control, his fencing performance degrades significantly. When that happens, "The Bear" has its claws firmly embedded in the fencer´s psyche. "The Bear" is a metaphor for what "fear of failure" does when it combines with "thwarted expectations" leading to "continual frustration" which mushrooms into anger. Let's take a closer look at the factors that give rise to"The Bear". "Fear of Failure" is probably obvious to you. Everyone wants to succeed. None of us like to fail. Failure implies an unmet expectation. Expectations are the objectives you set for yourself or "shoulds" you feel compelled to subscribe to; for example, "I'm going to finish in the top three", or "I should have no trouble with Smith in this event." How you set your expectations is critical; set them high or set them wrong and you set yourself up for having them thwarted easily. A thwarted or unmet expectation, by itself, typically leads to disappointment; but, combine a thwarted expectation with a strong "Fear of Failure", and you feel more than disappointed. You feel diminished in some respect . . . and you feel frustrated. You´re compelled to “redeem” yourself, so you tell yourself, "try harder". And, of course, your expectation is that you'll do better as a result of "trying harder"... ...Will you?...Maybe...if you're lucky. If your brain is still in gear, you may harness the resulting energy and manage to score a touch. Or if your opponent messes up, you may manage to eke out a touch. Most of the time, however, this doesn't happen. Instead, you get an adrenaline flow. Although you feel more alive, your thinking becomes muzzy and fine motor actions (like tiny disengages) become tougher to execute. Your emotions move to the forefront, gaining more control of your actions; your brain moves to standby mode. Not good, especially if the opponent is relaxed, moving well, and thinking clearly. The situation worsens if, yet again, you don't score the touch. Frustration increases. You tell yourself "try even harder". The resulting adrenaline flow is usually greater, resulting in even less fine motor control and brain functioning . . . and, all too often, continued frustration. If this pattern persists, your frustration eventually morphs into anger. Your gut heaves. Your brain shuts down. Your actions get faster and wider, your fine motor control evaporates. All your thoughts move to the darkside, becoming negative, nasty things. You decide to really take it to your opponent. If your expectation of scoring on him is thwarted a few more times while you´re in this state, psychological meltdown occurs, and all you´re good for is clubbing dinosaurs. Inevitably, the opponent wins. That's The Bear at work--a Grizzly at best. How Do You Cage the Bear? To be an excellent fencer, you need your brain working at all times, and you need fine motor control. So, getting rid of the "Fear of Failure", choosing more realistic expectations, and learning how to relax under fire (as you're trained to do in almost all oriental martial arts) is the way to "cage" and "starve” "The Bear". Let's look at these in more detail. Eliminate Your Fear of Failure Eliminating the Fear of Failure involves a “reframe”--a change in how you view mistakes you make and what happens to you as a result. How do you do that? Accept your mistakes, and don´t flog yourself over them. We all make mistakes. They aren´t inherently bad as long as they don´t cause buildings to collapse, people to get hurt, or planets to be destroyed. In fact, we need to make mistakes to some extent. How else are you supposed to learn if not from your own mistakes or those of others? He who accepts his mistakes--rather than regarding them as ego-decimating personal defeats--and learns from them, will profit immensely. Don´t look at the opponent as someone you have to beat or destroy; look at them as nothing more than a potentially difficult problem, “The Problem” that should be fun to solve. If you solve it this time, you´ll “win”; if you don´t, have faith that patience and persistence, coupled with what you learn each time you fence "the problem", will eventually yield a solution. Take joy in the challenge, instead of in destroying your opponent. The more difficult the problem; the greater “high” you´ll get when you finally solve it. To be an excellent fencer, you have to eliminate the "Fear of Failure" by transforming it into a strong desire to solve "The Problem" well, while still being willing and able to learn from situations where you don't perform so well. If you do this, to paraphrase Tony Robbins, “there will be no such thing as failure; only results.” The more results you tally; the more you´re likely to learn. The more you learn; the more likely you are to solve the problem. Patience and persistence in learning will inevitably yield a solution. Change Your Expectations Set your expectations reasonably. If you don't, "The Bear" will dig its claws into you. By “reasonably” I mean set your expectations so that you have a reasonable chance of meeting them, while at the same time providing yourself with some sort of challenge. A reasonable expectation might be that you´ll at least get one touch . . . and possibly more if you stay on top of The Problem. An even better expectation (since it can´t be thwarted) might be “The Zero Expectation” -- you set no expectation for yourself--you just intend to relax; you´ll fence one touch at a time, giving each touch played your best effort; and you´ll see how many touches you can score. The key is to not get upset when you don't meet an expectation. If your expectation was that you´d win at least one touch, it´s important that you know why and what happened to prevent you from winning that touch. If you lose a touch or a bout and learn from what´s happened, you've won something . . . something which may be even more valuable than the point or winning the bout itself. Make sure your perspective is accurate; give your opponent his just due. All too often a fencer doesn't give his opponent enough credit. He tends to think everything that goes wrong for him in a fencing bout is due to his own ineptitude (his own failure) so he tells himself he "should" have done better or he "should" have beaten his opponent. And he needlessly crucifies himself on the spot. Remember, the opponent has a brain too; and he shares responsibility for what happens in any fencing action. Since the correct Distance and Movement in Time (DAMIT) is essential to the success of any attack or counterattack or defense, an otherwise well-executed move on your part can be countered by the opponent if he changes the distance, counters your movement with a better one, or counterattacks/defends "with the tempo". Fencing time is so short that often you just won't be able to recognize and/or react to these changes quickly enough. So tell yourself you're sometimes going to run into these situations... . ...Accept that, and tell yourself you intend to learn from these situations even if you lose the point. Losing a point, after all, is not the end of the world. Losing a bout and not learning anything from it, however, is a serious waste of time. See, feel, and remember everything that happens in a fencing action so you can replay your “mental VCR” and:
...then, stop yourself from worrying about how you were hit and, instead, focus on how you´re going to score the next touch. Set a zero expectation if you can, and do your best to solve the problem. Treat the opponent as a neutral, but potentially difficult problem to be solved, rather than as a person to be beaten or destroyed. Allow yourself to learn from your mistakes, and you'll keep "The Bear'' off your back. Fence one touch at a time. Let the results take care of themselves. The minute you set expectations that you´re going to beat so-and-so or that you´re going to go undefeated in your pool or that you´re going to place so high in a competition, you´re needlessly setting yourself up for frustration. Don´t Always focus on playing for the next touch. Only pay attention to the score insofar as it contributes to the strategy you need to use in the larger context of the bout you´re fencing (e.g., if you´re good at counteroffense and you´re up by two points, stall; force the opponent to come to you. Then look for the counteroffensive touch). Change your attitude. If you´re fencing the sport to feed your ego at the expense of your opponents´, if winning is the most important thing to you, if winning makes you feel smugly superior to your opponent, or if fencing “defines” you as a person (i.e., you tell yourself you´re a failure if you don´t win), you´ve got the wrong attitude and you´re a prime candidate for "Bear attacks" . . . and you´ll have a love-hate relationship with fencing instead of just loving it. Consider this: all medals, trophies, and victories become meaningless over time (was it George Patton who said "All glory is fleeting" ?). No one remembers who won Super Bowl III except those into sports trivia. So too, with fencing results over time. Winning or losing a touch really has nothing to do with who you are as a person, and it certainly doesn't prove you're a better person than someone you defeat in a mere fencing tournament. It's the people you´ll have met, the weird experiences you will have had, the life lessons you will have learned, and the fun you will have had that you'll remember and profit from throughout your life. When All Else Fails... ...get control of the frustration and anger as soon as they occur. Even if you do a good job eliminating your "Fear or Failure" and "changing your expectations" beforehand, there will still be times when you'll get ambushed by "The Bear". When that happens, one of your best weapons is deep breathing. When a touch has been awarded to your opponent, take a little time to walk to the end of the strip and back, deep breathing and telling yourself to calm down. Take a second walk back if you have to. Re-tie your shoe. Only go back en garde when you´ve achieved some semblance of calm. Review your expectations as you calm down; it was probably an expectation that set up the ambush. Reframe the that expectation. Refocus. Relax. And go back and fence. The Problem. Putting It All Together Keep The Bear caged by--
When "The Bear" escapes his cage and ambushes you, get control of your frustration and anger as soon as possible. If you do these things, you'll enjoy fencing more, you'll meet interesting people, and you'll collect some fond memories. Other bonuses: you'll learn to recognize when you're fencing really well (and you'll get a lot enjoyment from that); you´ll eventually win more bouts than you lose; and you'll probably collect a surprising number of top-three finishes. Bottom line: do the right things and the results take care of themselves. One last thought: fencing is a metaphor for life. Learn to cage The Bear in non-fencing situations and you´ll enjoy life more. You´ll also be pleasantly surprised at the amazing things you can achieve. |
| Caging "The Bear" is essential to fencing better and, consequently, having fun. |
| What is The Bear? |
| Caging the "Bear" |
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