Dr.Sc.Phil. S.B. Kulikov^1
1Tomsk State Pedagogical University, Tomsk

Keywords: artistic fencing, time factor, sport psychology, natural science, sport, ancient heritage, modern natural science.

Background The study was designed to assess influences of ancient heritage on the modern training process in the artistic fencing sport discipline. The time aspect was found pivotal for the theoretical groundwork to develop the training process models in artistic fencing referred to as the special sport discipline that, as provided by the Federal Physical Culture and Sports Agency Order #40 of 01.02.2008, demonstrates elements of bouts, swordsmanship and competitions with application of non-standard cold steel. We applied analysis of the time factor and its transformation from the objective change measuring tool (Aristotle) to the basis for relativistic understanding of the global processes (Einstein) and basis for a subjective perception of reality (Bergson) to differentiate the physical momentary aspect and cultural-psychological activity in modern artistic fencing.

The study has demonstrated influences of the time factor on how the bout is perceived by athletes, referees and spectators. The notion of time (“vremya”), that in Russian is derived from the word “rotate” (“vereteno”) [4, p. 170-171] or move in circle was connected to the repeated actions of athletes and referees. Our clarification of the time factor specifics gave us the chance to assess the degrees of the linear and non-linear components in these actions. It should be noted that this issue is still underexplored in the modern study reports. The researchers’ interests have been dominated by the history of weaponry manufacturing industry [6; 9] and the fencing art progress in specific time periods [7; 8]. A variety of psychological, educational, philosophical and cultural aspects of the fencers’ training process were either neglected or considered in the aspects different from the ones addressed in this study [2; 3].

Methods and structure of the study The study methodology was dominated by the process modelling as the key design method for the theoretical educational study of the training process; and we also applied an overt observation method. Subject to the study were competitors of the IX Russian Artistic Fencing Championship (November 26-27, Saint Petersburg). The study was designed to specify and compare the artistic fencing training models applied in different historical periods and at present. The comparison of the training models made it possible to identify the time factor and its influences on the general perceptions of a bout in artistic fencing. The above methods and study data allowed us to specify what was referred to as eidos of a bout in the ancient philosophy. We strived to specify and describe this eidos to open up one of the key factors of influence of the ancient heritage on the modern research and education ideas largely driving the athletic training process.

Study results and discussion. The study was designed to check the hypothesis that the time factor forms a basis for the bout perception and analysis with the bout being viewed as a cultural event evolving in the psychological timeframe determined by perceptions of spectators, competitors and referees. It was found that the time factor in artistic fencing may be interpreted within the frame of the time assessment relativity. This phenomenon was found by A. Einstein and A. Bergson in the first half of the XX century long before the artistic fencing was qualified as a special sport discipline. We applied the physical, philosophical and psychological basics of the above theories versus the classical conceptions formed in the Aristotle epoch to address the issue of the time factor being applied to secure integrity of the bout perception process in modern artistic fencing.

In the context of different time interpretations, we used the relativity theory developed in the early XX century in application to natural sciences and the multisided interpretations of the essence of time in modern philosophy – to modern artistic fencing. When specifying and demonstrating the effects of time relativity on the artistic fencing practices, the following considerations must be taken into account:

1. A. Einstein showed time being either accelerated or slowed down when watching two moving objects conditional on one of them moving with the speed close to the light speed (3×10⁸ m/s), depending on the observer’s position [5]. A hypothetic object launched from the Earth and moving at the light speed may reach some star and come back to the planet, with its travel time taking years, whilst observers on the Earth will wait for it for decades.

2. In artistic fencing, much like in the general case considered by Einstein, the qualitative characteristics of time are not determined by the object movement speed. The object movement speed determines the number of moments in every individual event. In the above considered example by Einstein, the object moving with the light speed demonstrated an array of the time periods shorter in quantity compared with those for the objects moving slower than the light speed.

No less important for specification of the time factor in artistic fencing was the A. Bergson’s discovery in the early XX century that interpreted time differently from the natural sciences. The relevant scientific achievements made it possible to complement the study results as follows:

3.  A. Bergson offered the concept of psychological (or intuitive) time as opposed to physical (scientifically tested) time [1, p. 58-59, 63-66]. Physical time was interpreted as a totality of invariant unites used to compute variations of some object, its effects on the other objects and/or at least variations of its own or other objects’ spatial positions. Time in psychological dimension related to an individual perception could not be interpreted as a totality of invariant unites. Perception determined by a variety of factors including memorising specifics, emotional background etc. could be of “slowing” or “accelerating” effect on time perceived by specific individuals, with every individual experiencing moments and spans of “fast” and “slow” time. A. Bergson was one of the first researchers to note relativity of time as such. It should be emphasised that the individual time “extension” or “contraction” were not considered as denying time being interpreted as a sequence of computable “now” moments (in the Aristotle’s interpretation). In psychological dimension, an individual could perceive seconds lasting as long as hours. Objectively it could mean, however, that only the number of the events perceived by an individual per second increased rather than the seconds as such.

4.  In the above ideas of Einstein and Bergson being applied for the purposes of the artistic fencing training system, we may use the following analogy – that was applied to interpret, among other things, the competitive performance in the IX Russian Artistic Fencing Championship in Saint Petersburg on November 26-27. The competitors reported some cases when they were lagging behind the leader and perceiving time as “flying away” very fast. The same time span for the winning competitor was perceived as “dragging on” very slow. The leader of competitions reported to repeatedly face the situations when every action or a few actions of the backward competitors could totally change the course of event. The number of potentially winning actions within the time periods was contracting with every next competitor coming to action. Moreover, some actions were perceived as “spread over” the specific time spans, with the latter perceived as dragged time fragments with the time dragging on slowly in them. Actions of the leader were perceived by the lagging-behind challengers as restricted by a single time span i.e. the artistic fencing routine. In perception of the would-be losers, every such time span was much shorter than in reality, with every single moment of time perceived as flying or rushing away.

Our study of the competitive performance in the IX Russian Artistic Fencing Championship (November 26-27, Saint Petersburg) verified that the time factor largely determines every action of the referees, athletes and spectators in their assessments of every individual bout/ routine in particular and the competitive process on the whole with the time perceptions varying from “dragging on” to “flying away”. The psychological dimension of the competitive time perception process resulted in the extra internal tensions and associating temporal gaps in transmission of (and responses to) signals from/to some or a few elements of the system to the other system elements (in the competitors-referees-spectators system). The process subjects were found to perceive the events in totally different timeframes, with the individual time perceptions being largely different from the objective chronometric time.

Conclusion. The study data and analysis generated grounds for the following recommendations to improve the artistic fencing training process:

First, fencing in its primary meaning is interpreted as the art of attack and defence to win the bout, with an artistic fencing bout designed to demonstrate the ways to success. Therefore, it is important to bear in mind in the training process design that every single action reflects the logics of the whole process, and in this sense the modern artistic fencing logic is similar to the ancient beliefs that every single moment in life is determined by the individual faith.

Second, every artistic fencing bout may be interpreted within the relativistic time interpretations as the computable variations of a few moving objects’ positions, with the computation process depending on the time reference system of every competitor, spectator and referee. The study findings based on the Einstein’s and Bergson’s theories gave the reasons to believe that the competitive process participants apply at least three time reference systems and time versions that need to be synchronised; and such synchronising may be referred to as the goal of the winning strategy. It is the competitor that succeeds in the most effective actions being concentrated in the bout within the timeframe and rules of the competitions that secures a decisive advantage in the bout.

References

1. Bergson A. Dlitelnost i odnovremennost (po povodu teorii Eynshteyna) [Duration and Simultaneity (Concerning the Theory of Einstein)]. Transl. Fr. A.A. Frankovskiy. St. Petersburg: Academia publ., 1923, 154 p.
2. Kulikov S.B., Podberezhnaya A.A. Kulturno-istoricheskoe vremya i vizualizatsiya fehtovalnogo poedinka v teatre i kinematografe [Cultural-historical time and visualization of fencing duel in theater and cinematography]. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federalnogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye i sotsialnye nauki, 2016, no. 4, pp. 72-82. DOI 10.17238/issn2227-6564.2016.4.72
3. Kulikov S.B. Teoreticheskie osnovaniya modelirovaniya kultury poedinka v artisticheskom fekhtovanii [Artistic fencing bout culture modelling: theoretical basics]. Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury, 2016, no. 7, pp. 55-57.
4. Chernykh P.Y. Istoriko-etimologicheskiy slovar sovremennogo russkogo yazyika: v 2 t. [Historical-etymological dictionary of modern Russian language: in 2 p.]. Moscow: Russkiy yazyk publ., 1999, 642 p.
5. Einstein A.K elektrodinamike dvizhuschikhsya tel [Electrodynamics of moving bodies]. Transl. from Germ., ed. V.K. Frederiks, D.D. Ivanenko]. Collected research: in 4 Vol. Moscow: Nauka publ., 1965, vol. 1, pp. 7–35
6. Amberger J. Ch. The Secret History of the Sword: Adventures in Ancient Martial Arts. Burbank, CA: Multi-Media Books, 1999, 294 p.
7. Clephan R.C. The Medieval Tournament. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1995, 240 p.
8. Oakeshott E.A Knight and His Armor. Chester Springs, PA: Dufour Editions, 1999, 128 p.
9. Tylecote R.F. A History of Metallurgy. 2nd ed. London: Institute of Materials, 2002, 219 p.

Corresponding author: kulikovsb@tspu.edu.ru

Abstract

The study analyses the role of the adapted ancient and modern ideas of natural science and psychology for the modern athletic training process design on the whole and artistic fencing in particular. Artistic fencing is referred to as the sport discipline that includes elements of single combat and competitions with non-standard cold steel. We applied analysis of the time factor and its transformation from the objective change measuring tool (Aristotle) to the basis for relativistic understanding of the global processes (Einstein) and basis for a subjective perception of reality (Bergson) to differentiate the physical momentary aspect and cultural-psychological activity in modern artistic fencing. A special emphasis on the timing factor in the modern artistic fencing makes it possible to identify the core idea of a bout. Process modelling and involved monitoring tools were applied as the core methods of the theoretical and educational study of the athletic training process. The author came to the conclusion that a special emphasis on the time factor in artistic fencing must be made to find the lags in the competitors-referees-spectators perception system i.e. the temporal gaps in transmission of (and responses to) signals from some or a few elements of the system to the others.