What to log during a fencing pool: a tournament-day checklist

Pools are the cheapest data you’ll ever collect on a fencer. Six bouts in a couple of hours, against five different opponents in your weapon, on the same day you’ll see them in the DE if you’re lucky.

The trap is that pools also move fast. By the time you’ve shaken hands, walked back to your bag, and reset, the next bout is being called. Whatever you wanted to capture is competing with refueling, equipment, hydration, and a coach trying to tell you something.

This is a checklist for what to log per bout, in priority order, so the things that actually matter for the bracket get written down.

Priority 1: the score (and round + period for DEs)

Sounds obvious. It isn’t.

When you’re behind in your own pool and your last opponent is now warming up two strips over, the temptation is to skip the bookkeeping. Don’t. The final score is the spine of every other piece of analysis. I lost 4–5 after leading 4–2 tells you something very different than I lost 4–5 in a quick string of touches. The first reads as nerves under pressure; the second reads as a slow start.

For pool bouts, score is essentially all you need. For DE bouts, also capture the round (T64, T32, etc.) and which period the deciding touches landed in. Piste IQ’s bout entry defaults to your weapon’s standard ranges so this part is almost automatic.

Priority 2: one note about how it ended

Not how the whole bout went — just the last touch.

The last touch is disproportionately memorable to your opponent. They’ll come back to the DE later in the day, or the next time you face them, expecting the bout to resume from how it ended. If the last touch was you parry-riposting their attack to the head, they may be more cautious with that attack next time. That’s useful intel for the next bout.

One sentence is enough. “Beat me on a flick to the back when I was pressed.”

Priority 3: one tendency you saw

Tendencies are the macro patterns — push/pull, offense/defense, patient/aggressive. You only need one per bout. The cumulative effect of five tendencies logged across five pool bouts is a sketch of how the fencer fences. Five separate bouts of “no notes” give you nothing.

Pick the most salient tendency. Did they push you off the line every time? Did they hold center and counter? Did they look at the clock?

Priority 4: their favorite action, if you saw one

If a fencer goes to the same action twice in a five-touch bout, it’s their favorite for the day. Write it down. “Flèche against a counter-attack.” “Lunge to the hand off the en-garde.” “Counter-six parry into riposte.”

This is the most actionable piece of scouting you can get from a pool: a named action you’ll see again if you fence them in the DE.

What not to bother logging in the moment

There is a temptation, particularly for new scouts, to capture everything: every score, every action, every observation. Don’t. The cost of comprehensive logging is the bout you forget to log entirely because you spent ten minutes writing up the last one.

In the pool, capture the minimum. Score + round + period. One sentence about the last touch. One tendency. One favorite action if obvious.

Save the long-form reflection for after the pool round closes — see Priority 5.

Priority 5 (after the pool round): the reflection

When pools are over and DE seeding is being calculated, you have a window of maybe fifteen to thirty minutes where you can actually breathe.

Use it. Go through your five bouts and write one paragraph per opponent on what worked and what didn’t. Update your tendency notes if a pattern got clearer. Promote any “favorite action” observations from “I saw this once” to “this is something to expect.”

If you have any opponents who showed up in your pool that you’ll plausibly fence in the bracket, this is where you scout them. Look at their video if any was filmed. Look at your notes from any previous bout. Bring three things to mind that you want to remember mid-bout.

Observing other fencers during the pool

You’re on the strip for six bouts in your pool. There are typically five other strips running similar pools — fencers you might face in the DE.

If you have time between your own bouts, watch one or two of them. Log observed bouts the same way you’d log your own, minus the score (since you didn’t fence). You’re capturing their tendencies and actions from a different angle: how they fenced someone who’s not you.

Observed-bout notes age slower than your own — they’re less colored by your own performance and more about what the fencer does generally.

After the day is over

Reflection during the tournament is structured. Reflection after the tournament is the high-value debrief.

Piste IQ has a post-tournament summary field that’s worth using. The fields capture energy, focus, and fight on a 9-point slider, plus a free-text reflection. Six months from now, when you’re trying to remember whether you were exhausted at the American Challenge or whether the wheels just came off in the round of 16, those sliders are what you’ll wish you’d written down.

The minimum, summarized

Per bout, during pools:

• Score, round, period
• One sentence on the last touch
• One tendency
• One favorite action (if obvious)

After pools, before DE:

• One paragraph per opponent: what worked, what didn’t
• Bracket scouting on plausible DE opponents

End of day:

• Post-tournament reflection with energy/focus/fight ratings

Do this for three tournaments and your scouting notebook starts to look like something you’d want to read before any bout.