Manual — Fencing Coach Pro

Main menu

The main menu is your control center. From here you reach all the important areas of the app — from fencer management to starting new tournaments and viewing rankings.

Overview of the buttons

In the center you find the buttons that take you straight to the respective features:

FENCERS — opens fencer management. Here you create fencers, organize them into groups, import lists and manage their master data. (Always active.)
RANKINGS — shows your ELO or ranking list per group with a filter per group and a detailed history per person. (Active as soon as at least one fencer exists.)
SINGLES TOURNAMENT — starts a classic singles tournament with pools and/or direct elimination. (Active with at least four fencers.)
RANKING TOURNAMENT — a standalone format based on a manually maintained seeding list; ideal for club and league fixtures. (Active with at least four fencers in at least one ranking group.)
TEAM TOURNAMENT — team competition, either 2 vs. 2 or 3 vs. 3, each with an optional substitute fencer. (Active with at least four fencers.)
CLIENT MODE — connects this device as a client to a running master tournament on another tablet. (Always active.)

Buttons whose prerequisites are not yet met appear dimmed and don't react to taps.

At the top of the main menu you find two controls:

Menu icon (☰) top left: opens the settings (see Configuration).
Flag top right: quick language switch — one tap takes you straight to the language picker. A total of 18 languages are available.

Resume saved tournaments

List of saved tournaments below the main menu buttons — List of saved tournaments

Directly below the main menu buttons, the app lists all saved tournaments — both interrupted (currently live) and already finished ones. Tap an entry to open the tournament:

For an interrupted tournament you land exactly where you stopped — whether in the middle of a pool round, in direct elimination or in a team match.
For a finished tournament you see the final evaluation with all tableaus, brackets and the final ranking — and you can export the PDFs again.

The current state of every tournament is saved automatically after each action — you can close the app at any time, restart your device or change the battery without losing any data.

Configuration

You reach the settings via the menu icon (☰) in the main menu. The following sections follow exactly the order of the menu items shown there.

Backup

You can create a complete backup of your data as a ZIP file at any time. It contains:

Fencer master data — first name, last name, club, birth year, gender, weapon, weapon arm and all group memberships.
Fencer groups — all ELO and ranking groups together with their names, systems and members.
ELO and ranking values per group, including the complete bout history.
Saved tournaments — all finished or currently interrupted tournaments with their full state.
All settings — app language, AI key and AI model, connection mode, zoom level, view configurations per screen (which columns are visible in fencer management, rankings and tournament selection, in what order, by which column the list is sorted), most recently chosen filter, master/client status and pending-final data.

You share the backup via e-mail, cloud, messenger or save it locally.

To restore, tap the ZIP backup in your file browser or e-mail attachment — the app intercepts the file tap and offers to import it. Alternatively, you can restore a previously created backup directly from the backup list in the settings. On restore, the existing data is fully replaced by the backup — you land in exactly the state of the backup at the time it was made, including your personal column arrangement.

Help mode

Here you turn the help mode on or off. When on, the app shows small explanation texts or tooltips on many screens. Once you've gotten used to the controls, you can switch the help mode off again — this manual remains available on the website at all times. On many screens you also find a help icon (?) at the top right of the toolbar that, when held with your finger, displays tooltips for all the other icons in the toolbar (see Help mode via long press).

AI assistance

AI settings with API key and model picker — API key & model

The optional AI integration with Google Gemini is completely optional. As soon as you've stored your own API key, the app uses the AI in several places:

Voice entry of results — from a voice command like "Müller beats Schmidt five three", the AI recognizes the intended bout and the touch counts, even when names are inaccurate, abbreviated or spoken with a nickname.
Generation of team names in a team tournament — the AI automatically suggests fitting, creative team names.
Image-based import — you take a photo of a fencer list, a pool tableau or a seeding list (or load an existing image from the gallery). The AI automatically extracts names, clubs, birth years and, where applicable, touch counts.

Setup:

Get a free Gemini API key at aistudio.google.com.
Paste the key into the settings under "AI assistance".
Pick a model (the list is loaded automatically once you've entered the key).

Model recommendation:

Voice input & team names: smaller/faster models like gemini-2.5-flash-lite are entirely sufficient and free to use within the Free Tier.
Image recognition (fencer lists, tableaus, seeding lists): here a current top model such as gemini-3.1-pro delivers massively better results — especially with handwriting, tilted photos, illegible cells or multi-column layouts. If you regularly import lists or tableaus by photo, switching to the most recent Pro model is clearly worth it.

The API key is stored exclusively on your device. Data is only sent to Google when you actually use one of the AI features.

Language

The app is available in 18 languages. You select the language in the settings menu or directly in the main menu via the flag at the top right — the choice instantly affects all texts and the speech recognition as well.

Important: The app language is independent of your phone's system language. You can use the app in German, for example, even if your phone is set to English.

Speech-recognition pack missing: If your device is offline and the appropriate speech pack isn't installed, a dialog will appear on the first voice attempt, in which you can select an alternative recognition language. The app language stays unchanged; the choice can be remembered permanently if you wish.

Test mode

In test mode you can try the app safely — every bout fenced here is not ELO-relevant and does not appear in the bout history. Ideal for trying new features or modes.

When test mode is active, additional controls also appear. In the tableau view a "Random Fill" button is available that fills all open bouts of a round with random values — practical for running through a complete tournament cycle in seconds.

Connection

Here you choose how the master device communicates with devices in Client mode:

Wi-Fi — the master device provides a local hotspot, the clients scan the QR code and connect automatically. Recommended: longest range, fastest synchronization, no existing venue Wi-Fi required.
Bluetooth — alternative pairing entirely without Wi-Fi. Works even when the master device can't or shouldn't open a hotspot.

Range in practice:

Wi-Fi hotspot: typically 20–40 m in a hall, with clear line of sight (outdoors) up to 50–80 m. Usually plenty for a complete hall with multiple pistes.
Bluetooth: typically 10–15 m, with clear line of sight up to 25 m. Practical for 2–3 pistes close together.

Rule of thumb: If the master device can provide a hotspot, Wi-Fi is always the first choice. Bluetooth is useful mainly when the hotspot isn't available.

Note: The Wi-Fi mode always requires the app's own hotspot — connecting via an existing venue Wi-Fi is not currently implemented.

About & legal

Here you find version information about the installed app as well as links to the imprint and privacy policy. For questions or problems, you can reach the developer contact directly from here.

Fencer management

Concept & overview

Fencer management

Before you start your first tournament, you create your fencers once. They stay permanently in the app — together with their master data, ELO ratings per group and full bout history. The list in fencer management is your central, global collection of all fencers you have ever fenced with.

In the list you see all fencers with the columns you've selected — e.g. first name, last name, club, gender, weapon, birth year and ELO. Tapping a column header sorts the list; via the column-configuration icon you decide which columns are shown at all and in what order (see Configure columns).

Fencer groups

Group management

Fencers can be sorted into freely configurable groups — for example training groups, classes, clubs or leagues. A group has a name and a type:

ELO groups — every fencer has an individual, group-specific ELO rating. The ELO evolves through training tournaments and competitions within this group and is independent of other groups.
Ranking groups — manually maintained seeding lists with a fixed rank position per fencer (place 1, 2, 3 …). Ideal for club rankings, league-style standings, club championships.

Via the group icon in the toolbar of fencer management, you open the group management, in which you can create, rename or delete groups. A fencer can be a member of several groups at the same time — and have an individual value in every ELO group. When you create or edit a fencer, you choose the memberships via a checkbox list.

Add a fencer

New-fencer dialog with all master data and group selection — New fencer

Via the green plus icon in the toolbar you open the creation dialog. It is built in tactical style and shows the label "NEW" in the header along with the title "Add fencer", and the buttons "Cancel" and "Save" in the footer.

Fields:

First name — required.
Last name — optional. First and last name are used in the list, in tableaus and in the PDF export.
Club — free text or pickable from previously used clubs.
Birth year — four-digit, with validation (1925 up to current year − 1). Invalid values are highlighted in red.
Gender — segmented switch (M / F).
Weapon arm — segmented switch (right-handed / left-handed, multiple selection possible).
Weapon — segmented switch (foil / épée / sabre, multiple selection possible).
Training groups — checkbox list of all groups with type badge (ELO or Ranking). When a ranking group is selected, an additional input field appears for the rank within that ranking.
Starting ELO — only shown when the fencer is assigned to at least one ELO group. Default is 500, allowed range 490–510.

The dialog warns you visibly when a fencer with the same first and last name already exists — you can then decide whether to really create a new one or edit the existing one.

Edit & delete

Tap a fencer in the list to open the edit dialog — it has the same structure as the creation dialog. With the trash icon you delete a fencer permanently after a confirmation prompt. Already saved bouts remain in the opponents' history.

Configure columns & sorting

Column configuration

The list can be configured individually per filter context (All / ELO group / Ranking group). Via the columns icon in the toolbar you open a dialog with all available columns:

Show / hide via checkbox.
Reorder via drag-and-drop using the drag handle on the right.
Ranking groups: ELO and Bouts are automatically hidden because they don't have a meaning there.

Tap a column header in the list to sort by that column — a small arrow indicates the direction. Tapping again reverses the sort direction. Column choice, order and sorting are saved per context and restored on the next visit.

Import: CSV, image, camera

Choose import source

Via the import icon in the toolbar you start the import wizard. Three sources are available:

CSV file from the file system (first/last name, rank, club, gender, birth year are detected automatically; column mapping adjustable).
Image from the gallery — the AI reads fencer names, clubs and, where applicable, birth years from the image.
Camera — directly take a photo with the device camera and have it analyzed.

In the subsequent mapping dialog you specify which CSV column contains which field. You also choose the target:

New group with the entered name and type (ELO or Ranking).
Existing group from the list, optionally with "Replace existing membership".

After confirmation, the app matches every entry against your global fencer list: hits with identical first/last names are merged (master data is merged; in case of conflicts a merge dialog appears). New entries are freshly created. Membership in the target group is set in one go.

Help icons in the toolbar

At the far right of the toolbar in fencer management (as well as in the tableau, ranking and history) you find a help icon (?). Hold it down — above every other toolbar icon a small number appears, and below them an explanation list is shown in which each number is described briefly. Releasing hides everything again.

ELO & ranking lists

Concept & multi-ELO

In this app, a ranking always belongs to a specific group. If a fencer is, for example, in both the ELO group "Active A" and the ranking group "Club Championship 2026", they have an ELO value in the ELO group and a fixed seed position in the ranking group — both are displayed and maintained separately.

ELO calculation

The ELO rating follows the classic scheme. Simplified:

Before the bout, the expected win probability of both fencers is calculated (based on the ELO difference).
After the bout, points are shifted depending on the actual result — winning against a stronger opponent yields more than winning against a weaker one.
The size of the win (touch difference) also factors into the calculation.

Bouts fenced in test mode don't change any ELO values and don't appear in the history.

Ranking screen

Via the main-menu button RANKINGS you reach the ranking screen. The toolbar at the top has three icons:

Filter — switches between the available groups. ELO and ranking groups appear with the appropriate suffix ("(ELO)" / "(Ranking)").
Columns — show/hide columns and reorder them via drag-and-drop (ELO/Bouts are automatically hidden for ranking groups).
Help — tooltip overlay for the other icons.

Below it the list shows the fencers sorted by rank (in ELO groups by ELO value descending; in ranking groups by seed position ascending). When you tap a column header, you sort by that column; the rank stays independent — the rank column always shows the natural order of the group.

Fencer history

When you tap a fencer in the ranking, their history opens: every bout fenced so far with date, opponent and result. The toolbar at the top shows the filter icon — a tap opens a multi-select of opponents, so that at a glance you see the head-to-head balance between two fencers: How often has A won against B? How close were the bouts?

Singles tournament

The classic singles format: pool round first, followed by direct elimination (knockout bracket) — both optional and freely combinable.

Select participants

Who's fencing today?

The first screen shows your fencers — filtered by the chosen ELO group. Tap the people present today. In the toolbar at the top you find:

Plus — create a new fencer directly or pick one from the global pool who isn't yet in this group.
Import — CSV/image/camera import directly into the active group (see Import).
Filter — switch between ELO groups.
Columns — view configuration of the list.
Help — tooltips for the other icons.

The selection has to include at least four fencers for the tournament to be sensibly startable.

Round setup

Based on the number of selected participants, the app shows a list of suggestions for the pool layout of the pool round. Each suggestion clearly states how many pools with how many fencers each would be formed — e.g. "1× 8 fencers", "2× 4 fencers" or "2× 5 fencers + 1× 4 fencers" with 14 present.

Tap a suggestion to create the pools. The distribution happens automatically using the serpentine principle: the strongest fencers are spread across the pools so that ELO strength is as balanced as possible and not all top fencers end up in the same pool.

With only one pool, you jump straight into the pool tableau (see Pool round) — there is no separate pool assignment there because there's nothing to distribute. With multiple pools the app moves to the next screen, the Pool assignment, where you can manually adjust the automatic distribution.

Pool assignment

The "Pool assignment" screen shows all pools with their automatically allocated fencers. Usually the assignment fits right away — but you can adjust it manually at any time, for example to remove a clubmate from a pool, or because a fencer absolutely needs to fence in a specific pool.

Swap or move fencers between pools:

Long-press a fencer until they are visually highlighted (the device vibrates briefly as confirmation).
You now have two options:
- Swap: Tap a fencer in another pool — the two immediately exchange their pool assignments.
- Move: Tap the plus icon of another pool — the marked fencer moves into that pool, without anyone moving back.
The marking is removed automatically after the swap or move. Long-pressing another fencer selects a new one without your having to "cancel" first.

Move only works when the target pool still has space. Pools at maximum size have no plus icon — there you can only swap, not add.

Once the distribution fits, you start the round with the button at the bottom of the screen. From here on all pools are live and you can enter results (see Pool round).

Pool round (pool tableau)

Master · Tablet

Client · Smartphone

In the three modes with a pool round, the app distributes the participants into pools automatically by seed position (ELO-based). Pool size and count are suggested; you can adjust them manually. In the pool tableau you see all bouts of a round — tap a cell to enter a result.

The app calculates win rate, touch difference and pool ranking automatically in the background. For each group, an estimated end time is also shown. All tableau features (toolbar, help mode, auto-zoom, ETA, edit mode with add/remove and forfeit, wheel picker) are described in detail in the Tableau features section — they apply identically to all pool tableaus (pool round, final round, "single big pool", ranking pools and team round tableaus).

Master · Tablet

Client · Smartphone

As soon as a group has been delegated to a client, the blue LIVE banner appears at the very top of the master, showing the name of the running group, the current bout counter (e.g. 2/28) and the device ID of the client. Tap the banner to expand it and see the full bout list of the delegated group in chronological order — the running bout is marked with an arrow, finished matchups show their touch counts. That way you keep an overview across multiple pistes without switching devices.

Pool ranking

Intermediate ranking

Once all pool bouts of the pool round are finished, the next screen shows the cross-pool ranking: win rate, touch difference and touches scored determine the order. This seeding list is also the basis for the final phase — whether final round or direct elimination.

Final round

Main round with five final groups (A through E final), all bouts shown with statistics columns — Main round with five final groups

In the "Pool round → Final round" mode, the pool round serves as the seeding list: based on their placement, all fencers are split across an A-, B-, C-final and so on — the A-final contains the top placements of the seeding list, the B-final the next group, and so on. In each final group, a regular pool is fenced: everyone against everyone. The ranking per group is determined by the results of these final pools (with the pool results of the pool round as tie-breaker); the order of the groups determines the final placement in the overall standings. Operation is identical to the pool round (tableau, ETA, voice input …).

Direct elimination

In the two DE modes, the knockout bracket is built based on the pool seeding. For every bout you tap the slot to enter the touch counts. Winners advance to the next round automatically.

Classic — only the winners' line is fenced out. Losers drop out and their final placement results from the round in which they were eliminated.
With placement matches for all places — losers fence out the lower places (3, 4, 5 …) in an additional losers' bracket. That way everyone gets a hard, fenced-out final position.
Byes are distributed automatically when the participant count isn't a power of two.
Use the zoom function to switch between overview (all rounds) and detail view.

Note on multi-device mode: In the direct elimination of a singles tournament there is no client delegation — the QR icon is hidden here. DE matches run sequentially and are entered directly on the master or reported via voice input. Pool groups (in the pool round) and team matches (in the team tournament), on the other hand, can be delegated to clients at any time.

Single big pool

In the "Single big pool" mode, the pool round is skipped. All attendees end up in a single pool and fence everyone against everyone. Once all bouts are finished, the final ranking results directly from this pool — no additional final or DE phase.

Especially useful for marathon competitions, where every fencer should get as much fencing time as possible against everyone else — but of course just as fitting for small fields, where splitting into pools and adding a final phase would not be worth the overhead.

This mode is most useful for smaller fields (around 6–10 attendees), where splitting into pools would unnecessarily fragment fencing time. All tableau features (edit mode, add/remove, forfeit, ETA …) work identically to the pool rounds of the other modes.

Single big pool with 30 fencers on a smartphone — only a section of the wide matrix is visible — Single big pool on a smartphone

A single big pool with many fencers can also be run on a smartphone: the tableau is zoomable and pannable — pinch with two fingers to zoom in or out freely, drag with one finger to pan the matrix in any direction. Even with 30 participants every cell stays reachable without having to switch layout.

Final result & PDF

Tournament final result

After completion, the final-result screen shows the final ranking with all placements. The ELO values of all participants are automatically updated here based on the results (outside test mode).

Here you can export the following PDFs — either "Save" or "Share" (e-mail, print, WhatsApp, Drive …): pool tableaus with final standings, final-round or DE bracket with all results, final ranking, or a complete tournament summary.

Preview of a pool tableau PDF in the share dialog showing pool 1 with all bouts and statistics columns — PDF export of a pool

The exported PDF contains, per pool, a compact matrix view with all bouts, touch counts and the statistics columns (win rate, indicator, touches given, final position) — ready to be posted on a notice board or sent to coaches and fencers.

Ranking tournament

Concept

The ranking tournament is a standalone format based on a fixed seeding list per group. Unlike ELO, where the value lives off the results, here every fencer has a fixed position (1, 2, 3 …) — ideal for club rankings, club championships or league competition days.

Choose or create a ranking

Selection screen Which ranking is being fenced today — Which ranking is being fenced today?

At the start the app asks which ranking will be fenced today. You can:

Tap an existing ranking from the list.
Via the plus icon, create a new, empty ranking — you only enter the name; the members follow in the next step.
Via the import icon, use a CSV, image or camera photo directly — the wizard either creates a new ranking or fills an existing one.

Present fencers

Once you have chosen a (freshly created or existing) ranking, you arrive at the attendance selection. Here you mark which members of this ranking are fencing today. Via the toolbar you can also add fencers (plus) or import directly (import) — the import goes directly into the active ranking, without having to enter the group name again.

Ranking format & mode

Ranking mode

Ranking tournaments build on the existing seed positions of the fencers. You choose whether the attendees fence in a single pool round (everyone vs. everyone) or whether multiple pools followed by direct elimination are fenced. The seeding stays determined by the ranking position, so the original order serves as the seeding criterion in the pool layout.

Evaluation

At the end of the ranking tournament the app writes the new ranking positions back into the corresponding ranking group. Whoever gains places moves up in the ranking — the order is automatically renumbered. The old ranking position remains visible in the history, so you can follow the development across several ranking tournaments.