From Prep to Podium
What’s the ONE THING that most fencers forget to train for?
It’s not a parry, a footwork sequence, or even conditioning drills. It’s not about your cardio or how much weight you can lift.
As a coach, I’ve seen this ONE THING overlooked time and time again—and it’s so much more basic than you might think.
I call it Tournament Craft.
Mastering it could be the difference between just showing up and truly excelling.
Basic Tournament Craft
Imagine two fencers of equal ability enter the same tournament. Who has the advantage? Without more information, it is hard to say.
Now consider digging deeper at the start of pools to find that among these two fencers of equal ability:
- Fencer A has warmed up properly, has gone to the bathroom, has tested weapons, and packed extra wires, water, tip screws, and tools.
- Fencer B has just arrived after getting stuck in traffic, hasn't had time to test weapons, or even pack a strip kit, let alone warm up.
Which fencer would you rather be?
Tournament Craft is the set of skills meant to put you in the best case scenario. Not just during pools, but at every moment of the tournament. This includes the lead up to the event and analyzing the performance when it is done.
On the "Competition-Track" membership end of things, mastering Tournament Craft is pretty much the reason that this platform exists. Wherever you train, we aim to provide tools and resources to master the fencing tournament in your own community.
It may sound basic, but in over 20 years of fencing, I have seen countless students fail to consider mastering the tournament as its own skill. From first-timers all the way up to national champions.
The Building Blocks of Tournament Craft
It's important to note there is no intention to dismiss a fencer's regular training routines.
The building blocks of Tournament Craft lie in good practice hygine.
The long version of what "good practice hygine" means is a post for another day, but the short of it would be: fencers should never believe that "practice makes perfect".
Doing something a thousand times doesn't help if you're doing the thing wrong a thousand times.
That doesn't just apply to the bladework skills you’re honing in practice or the fitness you’re building over months of training.
It applies to the entire tournament experience:
- For new fencers this journey begins when you pack your gear and ends when you’re back home, unpacking and (hopefully) washing it all.
- For more experienced fencers, Tournament Craft continues indefinitely before and after events.
At higher levels, practice is more a function of the Tournament than the other way around.
Getting Started: A Few Good Tips
Explore the member area for an ever-growing collection of guides and features designed to help you master Tournament Craft.
To kick things off, we’ve included a few essential tips here to get you started on the right track.
Before The Event
| Tip | Description |
|---|---|
| Make A List | Fencing requires a lot of gear—so much that there’s a common saying: “Getting to the strip with everything you need is the day’s first victory.” Creating a packing list is essential to avoid forgetting anything. But don’t stop there. Think about other lists: your goals for the event, new strategies you want to test, and even specific opponents you’d like to challenge. The possibilities are endless, and a little planning goes a long way. |
| Make A Timeline | Once your packing list is ready, it’s time to map out your event itinerary. Since check-in times aren’t always reliable, work with relative timeframes instead. For example, plan to start warming up 45 minutes before the scheduled start time or locate the bathrooms within 10 minutes of setting down your bags. Don’t overlook practical details like when to hydrate and snack—they’re small but critical to peak performance. |
| Pack for Action | With your list of needs and event timeline in mind, the next step is packing your gear systematically. Avoid the chaos of rummaging through your bag when time is tight—like during a one-minute break between periods. Instead, organize your bag in a way that works for you. Whether it’s using compartments for specific items or embracing an “organized chaos” system, the goal is to stay prepared and efficient. |
👉 Find Much More Inside
In the members area, you’ll discover a growing collection of advanced guides, tools, and micro apps designed to streamline every step of your Tournament Craft journey—from packing and planning to peak performance on the strip.
During The Event
| Tip | Description |
|---|---|
| Stick to the Plan | Having plans is great, sometimes sticking to them takes a little discomfort or sacrifice. If you're supposed to be warming up when your friends strike up conversation, politely let them know you've got to get your jog in but would love to chat later. |
| Find the Bathrooms | Hey, the basic stuff that gets overlooked the most is the stuff that can cause the most stress. I can't tell you how many venues I have fenced at where there is only a single "known" bathroom that gets overcrowded. Ask around—there are almost always additional, less obvious restrooms in the venue. Finding them early can be a lifesaver. |
| Pre-Check Your Gear | This seems like an obvious one, but there are a lot of moving pieces in fencing. Countless times, I have seen enigmas where some combination of wires and voltages and reels from different decades leads to gear that works at home suddenly not working on the actual fencing strips. Save yourself a yellow card and check everything on the actual fencing setups. |
👉 Find Much More Inside
In the members area, you’ll discover a growing collection of advanced guides, tools, and micro apps designed to streamline every step of your Tournament Craft journey—from packing and planning to peak performance on the strip.
After The Event
| Tip | Description |
|---|---|
| Watch the Finals | There's no better way to engage with the community than to support fencers in other events. |
| Have a Breakdown Plan | Once the competition is over, it’s tempting to just crash, but having a structured breakdown plan can make a big difference. First things first: cool down, refuel, and rehydrate as needed. Come up with a system for packing used gear to prolong its life. For example, avoid packing sweaty jackets with body cords--a surefire recipe for corrosion and odors. |
| Have a SWOT Plan | Don't just reflect on your performance, have a system that you use to analyze strengths and weaknesses. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is a powerful tool for improving your performance. After the event, take some time to evaluate yourself using this framework. What were your strengths during the competition? What weaknesses held you back? Did you notice opportunities for improvement or areas to exploit in future matches? Were there any threats—external or internal—that disrupted your focus? Documenting these insights can provide a roadmap for targeted training and strategic growth in your fencing journey. |
👉 Find Much More Inside
In the members area, you’ll discover a growing collection of advanced guides, tools, and micro apps designed to streamline every step of your Tournament Craft journey—from packing and planning to peak performance on the strip.
Wrapping it Up: One Skill To Rule them All
At its core, every community is built around shared experiences—rituals that repeat, evolve, and define the group. In the fencing community, that defining experience is the tournament.
As a fencing platform, we believe that the ultimate reason to keep practicing isn’t just to refine your fencing skills—it’s to master the art of the tournament.
The odd part? If you are really good at Tournament Craft, you can actually out-perform someone who is way better than you at just fencing.
Think about it this way: When two fencers of equal skill enter the same competition, the one who’s mastered Tournament Craft has already stacked the odds in their favor.
In fencing, the stakes are even higher than in other sports:
Take running, for example—Two runners of equal ability in a 5K race can predict their finishing times within seconds of each other. A 20-minute 5K runner will never beat a 15-minute runner...it’s just not possible.
Fencing is different: A well-prepared, D-rated fencer can unseat a distracted, A-rated opponent in a heartbeat. That’s the disruptive power of Tournament Craft—it bridges gaps, disrupts expectations, and creates opportunities for success.
Ready to level up your game? Join our platform for guides, tools, and insights to help you master Tournament Craft: the one skill to rule them all.
On this page
- From Prep to Podium
- Basic Tournament Craft
- The Building Blocks of Tournament Craft
- Getting Started: A Few Good Tips
- Before the Event
- During the Event
- After the Event
- Wrapping it Up: One Skill To Rule them All
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