Imagine hitting that perfect parry-riposte every time, or nailing your distance on a tricky fleche. What if a coach could give you precise, personalized feedback on every action from your last bout, without spending hours reviewing footage? A recent research letter from the world of surgery offers a surprising window into how AI-assisted coaching is already working — and why the same approach applies to fencing.
Published in the International Journal of Surgery (2025), Ke Cheng and colleagues at West China Hospital introduced SmartCoach, an AI-assisted coaching program for laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy — one of the most technically demanding operations in surgery. While the paper is about surgeons, the core problem it solves is one fencers know well: video review is valuable, but getting expert feedback on it is hard.
What They Found in the Surgical World
The researchers surveyed 17 senior surgeons — chief and vice-chief level with years of experience — and uncovered some striking gaps:
- 64.7% had never been exposed to formal coaching, despite being highly experienced. The most senior practitioners, who handle the most complex cases, actually had the least access to structured feedback — an ironic gap that echoes fencing, where competitive fencers often outgrow local coaching resources.
- 88.24% regularly used surgical videos for self-improvement, but 58.82% said their biggest barrier was lack of expert guidance during review, and 17.65% found the process too time-consuming.
- 64.71% preferred reviewing their own procedures over watching others — they knew self-review was more valuable, but couldn't get expert eyes on their own footage. Sound familiar? Most fencers would rather get feedback on their own bout video than watch someone else's highlight reel.
- When asked what type of video they wanted to review most, 41.18% chose procedures they subjectively felt needed improvement, while 29.41% wanted to review cases with adverse events or complications. They gravitated toward their weaknesses, not their successes — exactly what good fencers do when they watch their losses more carefully than their wins.
- Well-being was also a factor: 58.82% reported physical exhaustion, and some indicated concerns about job satisfaction — a reminder that even top performers need support systems, not just more pressure to review video on their own.
How SmartCoach Actually Works
The SmartCoach workflow is structured and repeatable — not just "here, watch this video":
- Pre-coaching workshop: Both the coach and the surgeon learn coaching principles, establish rapport, and set goals before any video review happens.
- Surgery + video recording: The procedure is recorded, then the AI processes the video.
- AI-generated report: Computer vision automatically identifies surgical steps, tracks instrument usage, flags adverse events, and scores critical outcomes — no manual review needed.
- 30-minute coaching session: Using the AI report as a starting point, the coach and surgeon discuss problems, develop solutions, and make a plan for the next procedure.
The key insight: the AI doesn't replace the coach. It does the time-consuming analysis work so the coaching conversation can focus on strategy and improvement. The same team's prior randomized controlled trial using a similar system (SurgSmart) on laparoscopic cholecystectomy had already shown significant improvements in both operative performance and patient safety.
The Bigger Picture: Challenges They Faced
The paper is also honest about obstacles — ones that apply to any field adopting AI coaching:
- Resistance from experienced practitioners: Senior surgeons who had been operating for 15+ years were sometimes reluctant to accept structured coaching — a cultural barrier, not a technical one.
- Volume doesn't equal quality: The paper noted that some surgeons had performed a large number of cases but the quality still wasn't satisfactory — proving that repetition alone isn't enough without structured feedback. Every fencer who has drilled the same flawed lunge a thousand times knows this feeling.
Why This Matters for Fencing
The parallel is direct: surgeons review video of procedures to improve technique. Fencers review video of bouts to improve technique. In both cases, the bottleneck is the same — there aren’t enough expert coaches, and manual review takes too long. AI can help by:
- Automating the tedious parts: Identifying key moments, patterns, and errors so the coach (or fencer) can focus on what matters.
- Providing objective data: Consistent, unbiased analysis that doesn’t depend on who’s available to watch the video.
- Making feedback accessible: Remote, on-demand analysis regardless of where you train or compete.
The surgical study’s finding that senior practitioners — not beginners — benefited most from AI-assisted coaching is especially relevant. In fencing, it’s often the competitive fencer traveling to national events who has the hardest time getting consistent video review.
What This Means for Your Training
- Smarter, Faster Video Review: AI can surface key moments from your bouts — missed parries, well-timed attacks, footwork patterns — so your coach spends less time scrubbing video and more time giving you actionable feedback.
- Personalized Improvement: Objective analysis of your technique over multiple bouts can reveal trends that are hard to spot in a single session.
- Remote Access: You don’t need your coach physically present to get useful analysis of a competition bout.
At FencingBuddies.com, our AI Video Review lets you upload a bout video and ask AI about your fencing — available to Basic and Premium plan subscribers. Upload your video and use Ask AI About Your Bout to get feedback on your strengths, weaknesses, footwork, blade work, and more. We continue to build AI capabilities into our platform, working toward the day when every fencer has a personal assistant coach.
Whether it's surgery or fencing, the lesson is the same: video review works, expert feedback is scarce, and AI can bridge the gap.