True knowledge is to know to know what you do not know
Long ago in a university communications class, or maybe it was psychology I forget. Anyway, I remember something about conversation theory (or some such), intersecting rings, and the simple notion that at any given moment there is what you know, what you think you know, what you think you don't know, and what you actually don't know. In watching my fencing students I have come to realize that this applies here too.
It is much easier to witness in beginners because due to experience level, the part that they "know" is small enough you can see them reach the "actually don't know" much faster. I suspect this is common in all sports but since I know fencing, I will relate it to that. It all starts so well....
"En guard! "
"Ready! "
"Fence!"
Those three little words define pretty nicely in beginners the portion of the bout where they know that they know and are correct. OK, that was an exageration. A beginner knows where they stand at that point and one point beyond that. When the referee calls "Fence!" the fencer knows exactly what they intend to do.
1. I will attack.
2. I will defend.
3. I will wait.
If the opponent is similarly skilled it comes out like rock paper scissors, attack beats waiting, defending beats attacking waiting beats defending. The difference is that in Rock Paper Scissors, if both opponents choose the same thing it is a draw and they start in over. In fencing, it is just the beginning and they have to do something new quickly. They know what they want to do, they think they know what their opponent is going to do, they don't have a clue what is going to happen next.
It looks like this. The referee says "fence" the beginning fencers do what they intend to do, if it works great, someone gets a touch and they move on. If it fails they end up falling into chaos to the point where they resort to a single tactic and keep doing it over and over again, the first person to actually hit anything stops the action.
Coaches and parents have come to think of this beginner behavior as "cute". I am sure a little part of us dies every time it happens but that little piece is reborn when the fencers get more experience and fall into that panic pattern less and less.
Experience brings a greater bag of tricks to start with, more future planning, and some understanding that they will be more successful if they understand their opponent better. Eventually even the most seasoned fencers reach a point where they and their opponent has no idea what is about to happen, but in most cases someone's landed a touch before that point.
So to help the experience go along I offer these tips.
1. Practice the things you know such that you don't have to think about doing them anymore. "Know yourself."
2. Practice the things you don't know until you know them. "Know to know what you do not know."
3. Study everyone's fencing so you have a greater feel of what their tendencies are. "Know your enemy."
Master these three things and you will have true fencing knowledge. Now hurry up you only have your lifetime minus your age left to figure it out!
