Training Flow in Fencing

“If a person sets out to achieve a difficult enough goal, from which all other goals logically follow and if he or she invests all the energy in developing skills to reach that goal, then actions and feelings will be in harmony and the separate parts of life will fit together and each activity will make sense in the present, as well as in view of the past and future” - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Flow, also known as “being in the zone,” is an undeniably powerful tool in an athletes tool box. Absolute focus is talked about across a variety of sports as being the difference maker between a good performance and a historic performance.

Fencing, being both extremely mentally and physically demanding, is a sport which can gain a large advantage through being able to utilize the skill that is flow. In this course I will outline my thoughts, as well as those from other sources on the subject, on how to structure your training and competition preparation in order to best facilitate the development of this skill.