Greetings,
The following article is about failure, a subject that some would like to avoid completely and deny its existence. These people do not learn from their mistakes and failures, they truncate their learning. Failure is important, it is an important chance to learn from the incident rather than some place to end. Depending on how we approach failure will determine the length of our fencing career, how much we learn, and the limits of our skill lists.
What is Failure?
Is a failure the end of the road or a chance to learn? This is an important question each fencer must ask themselves. If it is the end of the road, then they are not going to get very far because the process of learning fencing is all about learning from your mistakes and failures. This aspect of fencing does not change regardless of how experienced you are or how long you have been fencing, mistakes will be made and failures will still occur. The truly lucky thing we have is that the weapons are blunt, so we have the opportunity to live and learn. How fencers approach failure is different to many different types of people and this is important.
The following is from a study by Koncul and Slatman concerning fencing for the blind, “for fencers this failure represents an opportunity rather than a dead end. And, as Halberstam writes, fencers ‘work with rather than against failure’ (Halberstam 2011: 96)." I wrote about fencing for the blind in a previous POST, and it is a topic all fencers should be aware of, especially if they are concerned about inclusivity. However in regard to our current topic, the important part that is present is the idea of working with failure rather than against it. We should learn from the failure, and move onward, don't close the door on the incident, or the idea, or technique, until it has been completely evaluated for the reason that it failed; further training might be required, always look forward.
There are those for whom failure is the end. If they fail, then there is no point going any further, they close the book on that thing and move on to the next thing. This shows a very narrow view of the world and these people will learn and experience very little of the world. Think what would've happened if some of the great inventors had stopped at the first failure, we would not have man of the simple things we take for granted. James Dyson, the inventor of the famous Dyson system for vacuum cleaners said, "Enjoy failure and learn from it. You'll never learn from success." Edison, the inventor of the light bulb had a similar approach to failure, he felt that he just took a long time to invent the light bulb, rather than 1,000 failures.
Critical Evaluation
A fencer must look at their situation critically and without emotion, they must be able to evaluate their situation and find where things are working, and where they are not. They must also be able to critically evaluate their opponent and see where their opponent has things which are working and where they are not. This is the process of reading the opponent. The result of a bout is the opponent performing something and the fencer performing something, the two coming together for a result. The winner is usually the result of one performing better than the other. Lessons can be learned from the experience if they are examined analytically. Again, training may be required for correction.
A fencer only truly fails if they do not learn from the situation. A fencer only truly fails if they refuse to look at the situation an analyse the situation analytically and critically, with no emotion. Where the fencer simply throws up their hands and gives up, responding emotionally to the situation, the lesson is lost.
Losing
Losing is important, because we have the opportunity to learn from the loss. We have the opportunity to learn about our skills and the opportunity to learn about ourselves. Both of these aspects are important. How we bear the loss is important, how we respond to the loss is important; excuses can be made, but the truth will remain.
"I was not ready." Then why were you on the field facing the opponent? "This was not my sword." Why did you not have your sword, it is your responsibility to have your kit. The same goes for any excuse relating to equipment or weapons. "The field was unstable, rocky, too small, too large..." Clearly you need more experience fencing on different ground. The excuses simply do not stand. The fault lies with the fencer in all instances. Even in these instances, there are lessons to be learned in the failures, things to be taken away that can improve the fencer.
Learn from it...
Learn from your failures and your losses. Don't just relegate them to a the back of your mind, or even just remove them from your memories. Think about how you could've done things differently; learn from the experience; enact a plan to learn something from the experience; train more so the same will not repeat itself again. De-briefing after fencing is always a good idea, best done with a teacher, or even another fencer who was present at the tournament for an external perspective. This way you can learn even more from the experience.
The learning process for the fencer should never end, and every opportunity to learn should be seized. Failures are especially useful as they highlight areas where the individual needs improvement. Use these opportunities, don't throw them away because they are sometimes unpleasant. For the fencer who wants to excel, failure must mean an opportunity to learn, not the end of the road.
Cheers,
Henry
