Fight With Your Opponent: Not the Referee

SPORTS SCIENCE

BY JUSTIN TAUSIG

One conversation often overheard at competitions is when a fencer complains to a teammate about how a referee cost them a match. They bemoan the poor quality of the referee and how they didn’t call the actions “correctly.” There are two distinct problems with this conclusion:

The first problem with this line of thinking is it takes away the fencer’s perceived agency to do anything to help change the outcome into a more positive one. Following this train of thought, if the fencer doesn’t have any agency, then there is no reason to practice or take lessons. Just show up and hope the referee allows you to win. Read that again and understand how foolish it sounds.

The second problem is it doesn’t help to put the result at the feet of the referee. Imagine the following: In pools, the match is tied at 4-4 when you execute a beat-attack. Both lights go on and the referee calls it as a parry-riposte for your opponent, so you lose the match. The referee’s ruling cost you the match, right? Not necessarily!

In this scenario, when its 4-4, if you execute an action where both lights go on you have given the referee the power to decide the outcome of the match. Single-light actions make much more sense since that turns the referee into a scorekeeper.

The referee decides the conditions under which the bout is fenced. If a beat-attack is judged as a parry-riposte, you have two choices: you can continue to execute beat-attacks in the hope the referee with start calling it the way YOU think the action should be called, or you can change what you’re doing and avoid actions that could be interpreted in that manner. Only one of these options is useful for you! (Hint: it’s the second one!)

When you see the referee as a secondary opponent, then your focus is divided between them and your actual opponent in a given match. The referee is not your enemy unless you choose to make them so. If you don’t understand a particular call, it is perfectly acceptable to ask for clarification in a respectful manner. “Excuse me, but was there blade contact before the hit?” What causes negative tension is when the fencer/coach/ parent screams at the referee about an action being called “incorrectly.”

What further escalates this type of situation is when the fencer turns to their coach/parent/teammate and asks, “Was that my touch?” They agree, wanting to see things from their fencer’s point of view. All this does is worsen the situation, since you are just insulting the referee and making the fencer think they are correct in responding emotionally, rather than tactically.

The match wasn’t lost at 4-4 on a call you with which you may disagree. The match was lost when you fenced in a sloppy fashion earlier in the bout and gave away a few touches or took your opponent lightly and didn’t start the bout ready to fight hard for every touch. If you’re leading 4-2 and the referee makes a call against you, there is still time to win the bout. At 4-4, anything can happen.

Focus your attention on setting up actions and executing them!