Feints in fencing...
.. Today wasn't so bad, I guess :<
I woke up early and went to training, which I haven't actually attended for a while. It was fun~ When I got there, they were still playing a game as a warm-up. It was ice ice water, except a bit.. different. We were limited to the half court, and if somebody stepped out of it, they'd be it. It was pretty amusing :)) Afterwards, we had a one-minute break. I had to do my stretching since I came there late. Though, at some point, I realized something was wrong with my right knee. It felt extremely uncomfortable whenever I bent my right leg, especially if I were to squat. I didn't really tell my coach about it since I didn't think much on it. It was distracting, especially when I had to go to an on guard position, but I managed to ignore it for the most part.
After legwork, we were going to free fence. My coach wanted me to perfect my feints, which was a little difficult for me to do since he taught it to me around a week or two ago. I hadn't practiced it besides that time. In my first bout, I already managed to score four points against my opponent without even using them. She was also actually practicing her feints, since she tried them against me. Though it was a little slow.. But my coach kept telling me that I also had to apply them, so I let my last point be a feint. It was total luck that I managed to pull it off, since I'd actually tried using them three times in the bout. First time I did it, it worked against me since I wasn't able to observe her reaction. Second time, she caught my blade so I had to do a parry-riposte instead. But still, I won that bout so I was pretty happy with myself.
What I wasn't happy about was that my next bout was against the guy who was the most advanced out of all of us sans coach. He was a lot faster in reacting compared to my first opponent, which was pretty much a given. Apparently, my coach gave him instructions beforehand about demonstrating feints to me and also being more on defense so I could practice my feints. The first two points he won against me were all feints, one of which pretty much seemed like a thrust. ._.ll I won the next point with a feint, which he didn't seem to be expecting. I tried it again, but he saw it coming and did a parry-riposte. He won the bout, but I managed to score one point with a feint and another with a parry-riposte, so I was okay with it.
My last bout was against the assistant coach. She was sort of out of it, though I'm not really sure why. We were chatting beforehand, and I could already tell she was distracted. At any rate, I guess I also got a bit distracted. When we were tied at two, coach noticed I was out of it since my feints were too slow so she kept parrying them. I was able to counter-parry and riposte, so I wasn't that bothered. But coach was, since he was waiting for me to do a successful feint. I was a little annoyed, which boosted me to actually execute a proper feint. As long as I managed to do it once, I think coach would be okay with it. But I tried it again anyway. At any rate, I won the bout as well though I think it was because my opponent was really distracted.
We played a game afterwards, where all of us were against our coach. Five against one. We had to hit him five times. He also had to hit each of us five times. If any of us got hit for 5 times, then we were out of the game. If we manage to hit him five times, we win. Apparently, they played this game before, and they never managed to win against him. In my opinion, I don't see how that was possible. Even without a decent strategy, if we all just kept attacking him simultaneously, he wouldn't stand a chance. Anyways, we had two rounds, both of which we won. The last part was actually pretty amusing, since all four of them (I stayed behind a bit, discreetly so it looked like I was still attacking, so I could watch) were slowly cornering our coach. With four blades all pointed at him, he did some weird parry that looked like it came out from the movie Zorro :)) It failed, of course, but still very amusing to watch.
Afterwards, training ended. But I stayed behind a bit to ask coach if he could train me in foil as well. He only trains us in sabre, but he told be before that he was willing to train me in foil (though he doesn't actually have one, so he's going to use a sabre to train me in foil xD) He agreed, though he was still thinking of a schedule that would work.
I went home, planning to do homework as soon as I got there, but I fell asleep instead. As in, seriously. I woke up only two hours ago, which meant I slept for around four hours.
I woke up early and went to training, which I haven't actually attended for a while. It was fun~ When I got there, they were still playing a game as a warm-up. It was ice ice water, except a bit.. different. We were limited to the half court, and if somebody stepped out of it, they'd be it. It was pretty amusing :)) Afterwards, we had a one-minute break. I had to do my stretching since I came there late. Though, at some point, I realized something was wrong with my right knee. It felt extremely uncomfortable whenever I bent my right leg, especially if I were to squat. I didn't really tell my coach about it since I didn't think much on it. It was distracting, especially when I had to go to an on guard position, but I managed to ignore it for the most part.
After legwork, we were going to free fence. My coach wanted me to perfect my feints, which was a little difficult for me to do since he taught it to me around a week or two ago. I hadn't practiced it besides that time. In my first bout, I already managed to score four points against my opponent without even using them. She was also actually practicing her feints, since she tried them against me. Though it was a little slow.. But my coach kept telling me that I also had to apply them, so I let my last point be a feint. It was total luck that I managed to pull it off, since I'd actually tried using them three times in the bout. First time I did it, it worked against me since I wasn't able to observe her reaction. Second time, she caught my blade so I had to do a parry-riposte instead. But still, I won that bout so I was pretty happy with myself.
What I wasn't happy about was that my next bout was against the guy who was the most advanced out of all of us sans coach. He was a lot faster in reacting compared to my first opponent, which was pretty much a given. Apparently, my coach gave him instructions beforehand about demonstrating feints to me and also being more on defense so I could practice my feints. The first two points he won against me were all feints, one of which pretty much seemed like a thrust. ._.ll I won the next point with a feint, which he didn't seem to be expecting. I tried it again, but he saw it coming and did a parry-riposte. He won the bout, but I managed to score one point with a feint and another with a parry-riposte, so I was okay with it.
My last bout was against the assistant coach. She was sort of out of it, though I'm not really sure why. We were chatting beforehand, and I could already tell she was distracted. At any rate, I guess I also got a bit distracted. When we were tied at two, coach noticed I was out of it since my feints were too slow so she kept parrying them. I was able to counter-parry and riposte, so I wasn't that bothered. But coach was, since he was waiting for me to do a successful feint. I was a little annoyed, which boosted me to actually execute a proper feint. As long as I managed to do it once, I think coach would be okay with it. But I tried it again anyway. At any rate, I won the bout as well though I think it was because my opponent was really distracted.
We played a game afterwards, where all of us were against our coach. Five against one. We had to hit him five times. He also had to hit each of us five times. If any of us got hit for 5 times, then we were out of the game. If we manage to hit him five times, we win. Apparently, they played this game before, and they never managed to win against him. In my opinion, I don't see how that was possible. Even without a decent strategy, if we all just kept attacking him simultaneously, he wouldn't stand a chance. Anyways, we had two rounds, both of which we won. The last part was actually pretty amusing, since all four of them (I stayed behind a bit, discreetly so it looked like I was still attacking, so I could watch) were slowly cornering our coach. With four blades all pointed at him, he did some weird parry that looked like it came out from the movie Zorro :)) It failed, of course, but still very amusing to watch.
Afterwards, training ended. But I stayed behind a bit to ask coach if he could train me in foil as well. He only trains us in sabre, but he told be before that he was willing to train me in foil (though he doesn't actually have one, so he's going to use a sabre to train me in foil xD) He agreed, though he was still thinking of a schedule that would work.
I went home, planning to do homework as soon as I got there, but I fell asleep instead. As in, seriously. I woke up only two hours ago, which meant I slept for around four hours.