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A lot of people call fencing “physical chess” because of the similar mental games that both athletes must play. I don’t like this very much. Cut and dry, this is a combat sport. I am holding a sword, my opponent is holding a sword, and we are both trying to stab each other without getting stabbed ourselves (the tip of the weapon is NOT sharp! It’s a spring, so no, it does not hurt most of the time!).
Fencing requires the ability to completely deconstruct a human being to beat them. When you are competing against someone who is truly your equal, or better than you, the winner is the one who understands how their opponent feels, what they are thinking about, what they want, and why they’re doing this. This sounds very dramatic, but it’s not. Aggressive humans fence aggressively, and timid ones fence timidly. If a fencer stubbed the toe of his back leg the day before, maybe he will have more difficulty moving backwards. If he is not very conditioned, then maybe prolonging a match will
exhaust him, even if he is better than you. If he has helicopter parents that are putting a lot of pressure on him, then starting the match aggressively will increase that pressure and put him on a downward spiral.
What I enjoy most about this sport, and what inspires me most, is that you need to understand someone to beat them. It almost becomes empathy in that way. Even if you are competing with someone that you know for a fact is not as good as you, the understanding that this opponent is not as skilled, is probably nervous, or isn’t thinking about tactics at all, is a form of empathy. I’ve learned that everyone is different, and what you see on your opponent’s outside is only 1% of who you will actually be competing against. You learn who people are, and I think it’s an incredible experience.
It’s “chess” in the sense that you must always be a couple moves ahead, but the goal is to make a match feel as simple as checkers. However, the best fencers don’t jump from square to square, but move freely along the lines.
As a fencer, I am passionate, patient, meticulous, and driven. I do it because I’m in love with it. I learned to be meticulous and patient because, sometimes, winning is not about doing something well, but waiting for your opponent to do something poorly, and capitalizing on that. I am driven to constantly improve and surprise myself by reaching new heights and bettering those around me.
For me, fencing requires a lot of training. 5-6 days per week for 6 hours a day is average. Part of training for athletes is finding which training schedule allows them to optimally perform. Some are successful training 2 days a week, and others 7. I found that this schedule allowed me to perform at my most optimal level. It can get frustrating to do the same thing every day. Of course, the intricacies of each practice are always different, but just practicing every day in itself can be repetitive. I’ve had to deeply think about the ways in which I practice to constantly make it new and exciting.