FENCING UPDATE!
Alright, I wasn't too sure I wanted to go fencing today, but I did anyway.
Parents are out of town, Jamie picked me up.
Got there, stretched out, did some footwork. Learned a fleche (pronounced "flesh" which is where you pop out, run towards the opponent and attack, still running. It's hard!
Practice with Charlie: phrases this time. A bit more complicated but I got it down. He attacks, I parry and riposte (attacking after having defended myself), he parries me and attacks, I parry and lunge, making a hit. I think that's how it went.
We were told to suit up. We suited up and watched a sabre bout (absolutely wonderful.. looks awesome!!) then we sat down. Charlie finished helping another student and told Pat and Jamie to fence. Another coach (who seemed nice, but was rather bulky so I was a bit intimidated) was our referee. Jamie won the bout (woo!). It's now me and Max. He was blocking his back from me (learning from past experience that I tend to go for the back in a bout as it's easiest to reach), but he left his front wide open! So I won the bout. (Yay!)
Then the coach had me stay up there and I fenced Max's mom, Pat. She won by a point, and she also had her back covered. Bah! =D
So by then I had fenced to bouts in a row and I was exhausted. Max and Jamie fenced and Max won.
Earlier, while practicing the footwork, a guy was next to me and he gave me a tip on footwork (your advances are too big; I'm much taller but you're making even bigger advances than I am. Make them smaller-- put your heel where you toe just was.)It was then that I noticed he was a lefty! So I was determined to ask that he fence me so I'd get a feel on fencing a lefty, which I hadn't done yet.
So after my two bouts he went to get a foil and the referee gave us both some tips on fencing our "own kind". The trick is, when a lefty fences a righty, you both seem a lot closer than you are, because your blades are right next to each other. But when a lefty fences a lefty you both seem much farther apart, even though you're the same distance away. So you have to use that to your advantage by changing the distance between you so they can't get a feel for how far away you are.
The guy I fenced kept falling short when he attacked... but since he was like an advanced fencer, he did a fleche (which I deflected ... he seemed so surprised!)And he did like a crouch and hit my hip. He came in slow, (referee labels this as very sneaky, trying to get me to attack) and he moved his blade so that he was open a lot. But, me being a suspicious person, I never went in and feel into the trap. But he was really nice, and he asked once if he had hurt me, which was just funny. And he kept folding his hands together when the bout was halted. He looked like, since I was a beginner, that he felt bad. But, oh well. I'm glad he fenced me.
Anyway, I think I did pretty well, considering he was like a really advanced fencer. He won by two points (3 to 5), and it made my day, even though I lost. Not that I expected to win, but it felt good to have a close match like that.
You know, Jamie and I were talking and it's like... it's just as fun losing as it is winning. At this points... we're beginners, winning a bout doesn't matter; it's learning what to do and trying your best and learning from your mistakes that matters. [/speech].
And I mentioned to Charlie that the other's in the beg. class didn't know that your side and back are on target (which I knew, thank you very much, and which they did not, therefore not counting basically ANY of my hits, which is why I lost so often last time >=( ), so he said to remind him next class to talk to them all about what's on target and what's not. So hah! I was right. And now I'm kind of angry because I bet you I could have won at least one bout last time. Eh... let me contradict myself here. It’s not exactly that I could have won so much as I lost because they didn't to listen to me/ignorance/unsure-ness.
Parents are out of town, Jamie picked me up.
Got there, stretched out, did some footwork. Learned a fleche (pronounced "flesh" which is where you pop out, run towards the opponent and attack, still running. It's hard!
Practice with Charlie: phrases this time. A bit more complicated but I got it down. He attacks, I parry and riposte (attacking after having defended myself), he parries me and attacks, I parry and lunge, making a hit. I think that's how it went.
We were told to suit up. We suited up and watched a sabre bout (absolutely wonderful.. looks awesome!!) then we sat down. Charlie finished helping another student and told Pat and Jamie to fence. Another coach (who seemed nice, but was rather bulky so I was a bit intimidated) was our referee. Jamie won the bout (woo!). It's now me and Max. He was blocking his back from me (learning from past experience that I tend to go for the back in a bout as it's easiest to reach), but he left his front wide open! So I won the bout. (Yay!)
Then the coach had me stay up there and I fenced Max's mom, Pat. She won by a point, and she also had her back covered. Bah! =D
So by then I had fenced to bouts in a row and I was exhausted. Max and Jamie fenced and Max won.
Earlier, while practicing the footwork, a guy was next to me and he gave me a tip on footwork (your advances are too big; I'm much taller but you're making even bigger advances than I am. Make them smaller-- put your heel where you toe just was.)It was then that I noticed he was a lefty! So I was determined to ask that he fence me so I'd get a feel on fencing a lefty, which I hadn't done yet.
So after my two bouts he went to get a foil and the referee gave us both some tips on fencing our "own kind". The trick is, when a lefty fences a righty, you both seem a lot closer than you are, because your blades are right next to each other. But when a lefty fences a lefty you both seem much farther apart, even though you're the same distance away. So you have to use that to your advantage by changing the distance between you so they can't get a feel for how far away you are.
The guy I fenced kept falling short when he attacked... but since he was like an advanced fencer, he did a fleche (which I deflected ... he seemed so surprised!)And he did like a crouch and hit my hip. He came in slow, (referee labels this as very sneaky, trying to get me to attack) and he moved his blade so that he was open a lot. But, me being a suspicious person, I never went in and feel into the trap. But he was really nice, and he asked once if he had hurt me, which was just funny. And he kept folding his hands together when the bout was halted. He looked like, since I was a beginner, that he felt bad. But, oh well. I'm glad he fenced me.
Anyway, I think I did pretty well, considering he was like a really advanced fencer. He won by two points (3 to 5), and it made my day, even though I lost. Not that I expected to win, but it felt good to have a close match like that.
You know, Jamie and I were talking and it's like... it's just as fun losing as it is winning. At this points... we're beginners, winning a bout doesn't matter; it's learning what to do and trying your best and learning from your mistakes that matters. [/speech].
And I mentioned to Charlie that the other's in the beg. class didn't know that your side and back are on target (which I knew, thank you very much, and which they did not, therefore not counting basically ANY of my hits, which is why I lost so often last time >=( ), so he said to remind him next class to talk to them all about what's on target and what's not. So hah! I was right. And now I'm kind of angry because I bet you I could have won at least one bout last time. Eh... let me contradict myself here. It’s not exactly that I could have won so much as I lost because they didn't to listen to me/ignorance/unsure-ness.