Exercise categories and training roles
We have made an attempt to categorise all the sporting content we encounter in our fencing in order to gain an overview in the first place and to be able to structure our training better.
The result is of course a simplification in many respects. It should be particularly emphasised that the transitions between all levels are fluid. The arrangement of the content in a pyramid is meant to express this.
By attempting to sort the demands on the fighters according to their difficulty and necessity for fighting, it is now also possible for us to attempt to do the same with exercises and games.
This means that the higher up a content is in the pyramid (e.g. a game), the greater the demands associated with its successful mastery (these are largely mastery-based). Of course, this does not preclude beginners from learning something in a game, since the basic requirements must continue to be implemented at higher levels. Therefore, the range of skills required of a successful fighter increases. The inverted pyramid is intended to take this into account.
Finally, it should be noted that the content of our sport is of course in constant interaction with general athletic fitness. On the one hand it is a necessary basis for fencing and on the other hand it is also developed through sport.
For further explanation, here is the qualitative structure of the Skills of fighters and the Skills of a group.
Exercise categories
Basic exercises
With the category of basic exercises we are more or less at the atomic level in fencing: Basic exercises are all exercises that aim at simple movements and create a basis for safe and effective movement. Here, very concrete, basic movement sequences can be practised, which usually cannot be further reduced or divided up.
Basic exercises hardly contain any interaction with others and if they do, it is only to have a reason or a goal for the movement in the first place. There is usually no winning goal, as the focus is on the individual.\
Basic exercises can be understood as partial movements from training exercises.
Training exercises
Training exercises can also be understood as building exercises, as these are all exercises that consist of or combine several basic movements. This happens both one after the other and at the same time. We are thus at the molecular level in terms of our sporting content.
Here there is usually a simple winning goal, but no or hardly any active counter-actions. It is not about winning in the usual sense by hitting an opponent, but by completing an exercise task.
Training exercises are thus usually carried out alone or in teams of two or three with a specific action in mind. In this process, the moment of initiative is always fixed on the learner. There are always trainers whose task is to create the exercise situation. Both sides therefore do not have the same tasks or goals
Training exercises are partial situations from games.
Games
Games recreate motivational or local partial situations, as they can occur in battles.
Here, at least two groups are in a confrontation in which both sides try to win the game. The division of roles into trainer and learner no longer exists here. The learning effect comes from dealing with the situation repeatedly. In order to learn as much as possible, it is worthwhile to vary one's own behaviour.
Games are much more complex than exercises, as the learning pace can no longer be adjusted individually and one encounters requirements from many different sub-areas.
Training roles
In order to be able to learn and train in a targeted way, it is necessary to distinguish between the roles of trainer and learner during the execution of the exercises. Of course, the exercise can be repeated with the roles reversed.
Trainer
The trainer's role is to create the exercise situation. A natural behaviour should be shown so that the learner can do the exercise. Prior knowledge of how the other person will behave should not be exploited to take countermeasures. The goal for the trainer is not to win, but to enable the other person to do the exercise and to recognise leeway in the exercise of the situation and to find a way of dealing with it.
Learner
The learner should concentrate on the exercise situation. Again, the goal is not to win, but to recognise the possibilities of the situation and to try out possible variations. In doing so, safe, dangerous and unrealistic variants should be recognised and distinguished and a suitable way of dealing with them should be found.
Exercise structure
In our sport it is common that people with very different backgrounds come together for training. Some do additional sports, others hardly have time to come to training; some have been doing it for a long time, others are completely new, etc.
This circumstance should be taken into account when organising a training meeting and the exercises and games should be modified to take into account as many people as possible. This maintains motivation and increases group skills in particular.\
For the trainers, this means that they have to assess individual abilities and classify which type of exercise produces which learning and exercise effects and is associated with which challenges (help on this can be found here). Then, a game or exercise should be chosen or modified to appropriately challenge the learners' skills.
Each of the learners should find challenges in the game or exercise that are within their learning zone. That is, one is challenged to the point of leaving one's comfort zone. Tasks that fall within this zone no longer pose problems because they can be mastered effortlessly; there is nothing left to learn here.\ Demands are in the learning zone when they are not effortless, but there is a sufficient chance of success. But if the demands are too high, they fall into the panic zone. Here, failure is virtually pre-programmed, no learning effect can occur. The scope of the individual zones is dynamic. The more learning successes one can record, the larger the comfort zone naturally becomes, where the larger it becomes, the better.