Sioux City Challenge
Another fencing weekend and another lengthy report. I have a good reason though. I am a glutton for punishment.
It was quite a stabby weekend for the fish this past weekend. This is because I was just down at one of my favorite tournaments of the season... Opener to the Heartland Circuit event; the Sioux City Challenge. There are a couple of things that make this event special to me.
One is the venue itself, an oddly out of place fitness club in the middle of what can only be described as an industrial rail yard. If that isn't odd enough, the club itself is very well run. Lots of machines and equipment, a number of different rooms with a variety of activities, a little cafe type place and a large locker room.
The second is the diversity of participants it draws. The folks from Lincoln come in force since the drive is relatively easy. However, this event draws any number of people from Chicago, Des Moines, Kansas City, and of course, Minneapolis.
Our contingent was pretty small at the start. Chris and I drove out early in the afternoon to beat the rush hour traffic, and though we ended up missing the easier turn to get there, we still made it to Sioux City in decent time. We checked in and then sought out a leisurely dinner and then retired for the evening.
As some of you may know, I've slackened in my competitive exploits in foil. There are any number of reasons I could give for this behavior, but the one that gives me the most trouble is that of equipment maintenance. I can't keep the bloody weapons working. Perhaps it is just a function of experience and perseverance, but it is a hump I have not bumped. You may recall the tongue-lashing I got when I forewent the weapon at Des Moines, especially from Dave, who has some fascination about fencing foil with me.
Since I was just going to be sitting around anyway, I tried and succeeded in getting a couple of my foils in working order, just for him.
He had an awfully pleased look on his face when he saw that I was suited up for the tournament. Though we didn't get a chance to warm up together, I said that karma would probably put us in the same pool. His smile went ear-to-ear when that was exactly what happened.
With 32 fencers, it was a B2 event and my pool had, Brad, Van, Kristian, Dave, Grete and Brian.
Brad is a tall, lanky redhead from Lincoln. I've had a long history with the lad, usually crossing swords with him in epee. In the last two years his fencing has really matured and I have had trouble with him ever since. Today was no exception as I coughed up some quick touches to his long attacks. Though I managed to duck under and get in a counter attack, I still lost 1-5.
Van was next. Cut from the street-fighting bolt of fabric, he would rush right in with a series of blade actions and then plunge forward for a fleche. When he got me searching for his blade, he was very effective. I have found that the best way to deal with this sort of fencer is to attack into him. The trick then is persistence to get him to back off, out of his gameplan. Tough to do in a five touch bout however, and it became a bit of a war of attrition. I came away with a 5-4 victory by mixing up the lines of my attacks so he didn't know where I might be coming from.
Then it was my turn to fence the A in our pool, Kristian. Nice guy... though naturally intense whilst on the strip, I've never seen him lose it arguing with a director about a call. That speaks volumes to me about where is head is when he is fencing. Anyway... knowing that he likes to close quickly, I extended my distance a little bit. I managed to pull off a couple of counters by ducking under his attack and even made a beautiful opposition attack where I entrapped his blade and snuck in for a quick lunge. I ended up presenting him with the first of three upsets he would face in the pool. 5-4.
Next up was the big bout with Dave. Dave's also on the tall, thin side. Whereas many try to adopt an athletic approach to fencing to score touches, Dave takes a more acrobatic route. If you attack him, he crunches into a dot with a hand outstretched for a counter. If he attacks you, he'll chase you down and then vault himself into the air and bring death from above. Add a dash of solid form and you have an opponent that can attack you from anywhere and whose target area will never be where you expect it.
We started off pretty conservatively with each other, trying to feel out the distance and spot the opening. Dave then launched into a quick attack before I could bring a proper parry up. The second touch was similar, only I found the parry and riposted to tie it up. He then took the lead back with a rather nice opposition attack. Then I found him with fleche I had lead off of an extended blade. Dave caught me searching for his blade on the next attack and I found myself down again 2-3. I tried to fleche at him again, but he managed to duck under it this time and got the counter. Silly me, I did it again the touch after that too. Good bout, though I had wished it was closer. 2-5.
Grete was the only woman in our pool and though she looked like she was getting a slow start, I could see her fencing improve as the morning drew on. It is all too easy to prejudge a fencer only to find that they have your number. Grete, didn't have mine. Her footwork was a tad too slow to keep up with my attacks, though she did make me pay a couple of times for my insistence on cheating the distance too close. 5-2.
Last but not least was Brian. I had warmed up with the lad in the morning and felt that I could take him. He had fenced more foil that I had, so I wasn't resting on my laurels just yet. As opposed to Grete, Brian's footwork was too large. It can be useful to close the distance quickly, but if someone times into your advance, you have very little option but to suck it up in mid stride. Though it took a while to adjust to a safe attacking distance, I worked a series of touches that kept him guessing. 5-3.
Considering that it had been at least six months since my last foil tournament, a 4-2 record was a pretty good result seeding me 11th in the direct elimination tables.
My first DE bout was against a girl named Ally. She fences out of Lincoln, but I swear that she is cut right out of bad anime. The face, the hair, the sheer energy she emitted was enough to set off a number of fetish alarms.
Oddly enough, for as much energy she seems to have off the strip she seemed rather timid on the strip. Part of it could be that I started off pressing pretty hard, but I guess I expected a bit more fight in response. So, for most of the first period, I worked a series of fleches and opposition touches that developed into a 5-6 point lead at the break. Her coaching had helped since she finally decided to attack into me somewhat, but it was a little too late to change the momentum and I ended up winning the bout 15-7.
The next DE was against Amanda. She was a smallish woman with hair that I can only describe as cranberry red. My bout with here was pretty refreshing because Amanda seemed to be the anti-Ally. She was like a charging bull from the moment the director said "fence".
It certainly made it difficult for me to get the right-of-way for the attack… and my epee instincts were kicking in pretty hard to put my blade out for a counter. The funny thing is that I was finding a way of getting the counter in before her attack landed. I also mixed it up a little by attacking into her. It was a good plan, but short-lived when she adjusted my pressure and punished me with a few crisp parry-ripostes.
So there we were… she playing a bit of the physical game, and me playing the tactician… and no one could really get the upper hand. We went to the third nearly tied and I think that was where I started getting a little sloppy.
I had tried to sneak into her guard, but it was too slow and she opposed me out for a touch. With this, she was ahead by two and only served to fuel her aggression. She did another heavy attack which I subsequently countered, making it 12-14. Amanda remained undaunted by the last and chased me down to my end of the strip and fleched. This time, my counter didn’t work and she won the bout 12-15. It occurs to me that I could have used more bladework in my bout with her, but felt that hers was tighter and that I needed to work the distance more.
For a casual foilist, I landed in 14th place out of 32.
Chris had a good day in foil as well, until the end. He was in the final with Brad and had a relatively commanding lead on him until the third period. Brad pressed a bit, pushing Chris out of his game. With time running out and Chris holding onto his last touch lead, he was fending Brad’s insistence off. We could see the clock here and, for a moment, it looked like he was going to get away with his defense until Brad then fleched at him in one last attempt and managed to score a touch with one-tenth of a second remaining on the clock.
Chris then coughed up the last touch in overtime to give Brad the win. The jaws of defeat are large, and serrated.
Once the day’s events wrapped up, we made our way back to the hotel for a quick shower and then met up with others for some bbq. After a hearty meal of fine, fine brisket, I went back to the hotel to soak away some of the fatigue in the hot tub. It was glorious.
The only thing more glorious than the relaxing therapy of the hot tub was the concept of sleeping in because the epee event wasn’t supposed to start until 11:00. We took our time getting out, but during the trip I found myself churning something in the back of my mind.
I had heard of an extra award that they hand out and it was my impression that it was given to the highest combined placings out of all three weapons. I was to be corrected to late to do anything because I got it in my head that seeing as not too many people were doing all three weapons that I might have a good shot at winning the sucker myself.
So yours truly signed up and fenced the only weapon I do more casually than foil. There were 18 of us and I had some familiar faces in my pool: Jim, Kirkpatrick, Amanda, Erik (from our club), and Corbin.
Jim and I traded slashes at my last lapse of insanity into saber. In fact, he sported a rather prominent patch on his lame that I made with one of my attacks with the point. Having seen my tricks thus far, he really didn’t fall too much for my unorthodox style for saber. He’d immediately take the initiative and chase me down. This is not to say that I did not hold my own. I found a couple of holes to exploit but still lost the match 2-5.
Kirkpatrick was second. Also a former opponent from my first saber tournament, he tried to follow in Jim’s footsteps. Though he used pressure, it was wild and I think he did receive a warning for losing control trying to chase me down. He still won the bout, but I felt that I was starting to get back into the right frame of mind for the weapon. 3-5.
Amanda. The bull. I could only imagine how she would be in saber. As expected, she used much of the same strategy as she did to beat me in foil the previous day. The only trouble was that I was countering her attack, but it was more effective here than in foil. I beat her handily 5-2 and it felt good to get in a little bit of payback.
Then came Erik. Like I had asided, the lad is from my club and one of the more senior members of the teens and quite the character to boot. He and I trade barbs on a regular basis because it is always nice to keep the wit honed any chance you get. You can well imagine some of the smack talk he was doling out up until this point especially since he was sweeping the pool so far.
Though I doubt that I put the fear into the lad, I did start off the bout with a couple of sneaky touches to lead the bout 2-0. After that, he pretty much knew what I was capable of and pushed the right buttons to then score the next five. A 2-5 loss, but I did note a hint of respect in his eyes. I must have made him work a bit.
My last bout was against Corbin. He was all business and didn’t take too long to hand me my ass. He blanked me 0-5, but then again, I was pretty much done with the pool after I fenced Erik.
The one victory seeded me 16th and my first DE was against a guy named Joe.
Joe is part of the Sioux City club and relatively new the to sport. That’s not to say he was a push over because he does focus on saber, where I just have experience to draw from. Still, my experience was enough to figure out that though he was aggressive, his perception of distance was pretty poor. I’d keep a large gap between us and start retreating. When I stopped, I’d lean back while he took a swipe. He’d miss me and then I would come back with my own attack. I would have to say that a bulk of my touches where that way. A bulk of his touches arrived when I decided to get cute. In the end, I came out on top 15-5.
Joe did leave me a souvenir though. I had chosen poorly with the direction I had my guard facing as he changed his line to come from the other side. His attack landed squarely and fiercely on the meat of my thumb. Lots of pain, even though I still managed to pull out the touch on it. The bruise is still very apparent though the swelling isn’t so bad now.
Anyway, having won my first DE in saber, I then had the opportunity to fence the number one seed, Josh. This would be where I tell you that he is a tall thin man, if you haven’t caught on to the stereotype yet.
Right out of the gate, he tried a simple attack that I ducked under and countered. Then I came in with an attack on my own that found its way behind his guard. Then a parry-riposte. He then strikes with an attack that I tried to defend with an epee parry. This was the signal of the end. Though I did work a couple more touches, he took advantage of my weakness on that side and started racking up the points. I lost 5-15, but had fun doing it.
Hell, placing 16th and winning a DE, I think it was about right for someone whose bread and butter is a point weapon.
For the coupe-de-grace we had 34 for the epee tournament. There were four A-rated fencers there too and some other talent making it a solid A2 event. In my pool: Josh, Michael, Matt, Kevin, Daniel, and John.
Yep, it was that Josh too. But to warp your mind a little bit, our pool bout was before our saber bout. I’m just going this route for the sake of continuity. Now that I think about it, Josh fences epee a lot like he fenced saber. He puts the put out there and then uses that long reach of his to put the point on as quickly as possible.
We had traded the first few touches when he fleched at me and I moved into one of my infighting moves. I thought I got the touch. The director thought that I got the touch, but Josh thought that I hit the floor instead. I could have kept it because I had the director on my side, but agreed instead to anull it. Josh then pulled a little ahead and then we doubled out to win 3-5. I suppose the extra touch would have meant something and in a bigger tournament, I might have kept it, but I guess I felt like starting off the event with a handicap.
The capping continued as I coughed up the next bout to Michael. I’ve fenced the man before and was pretty sure of what to expect, but I was still stuck in a lower gear and ended up losing this on 3-5 as well.
Matt took the brunt as I tried to get my head back in the game. He wasn’t too fast on his feet and I just lunged into him repeatedly to win the bout 5-2.
Then came Kevin. Pretty fast guy, and not tall, for a change. I knew that he would try to press the distance with me like others he had fenced and cheated to the side of the strip to cut off his lane to fleche. With him less likely to close with me, I started to put together some quick actions that got him searching and won the bout 5-3. It wasn’t until later that I found out that he was one of the A’s in the tournament.
Daniel was next. Now that I was warmed up and trying to salvage my pool, I took advantage of his relative inexperience and blanked him 5-0.
My last bout was with John. We fenced in the Kansas City open this past year and though he had beaten me in pools, I eliminated him the DEs shortly thereafter. He had said that he had been practicing and working on his stamina ever since and we were both eager to see how this one would play out. Much like Kansas City, we plugged away at each other until we were 4-4 and then he managed to get the last touch in to win the bout, 4-5.
Well crap. Instead of a 4-2 record to place higher in the bracket, I was 3-3 and seeded 15th. Fighting my way up.
My first DE was against Kasey. I don’t think I have ever fenced him before and didn’t know what to expect. What I did find amusing was that one of his clubmates was given him some coaching out of my line of sight… or so he thought. I was putting on my mask when I saw that he was instructing Kasey to do a push-pull type of thing where you take a half step back and then blast forward.
Sure enough, this is what Kasey plays out first and I have the distance just right to close him out as he is advancing. Then, for good measure, I put on a lot of pressure myself with attack after attack. At this point, he I can see he is starting to grasp at straws trying a desperate attack which I score on as he passes me.
As I extend my lead, I can see that his mood change from desperation to defeat. At the break, the score was 12-3 and he was pretty much through with the bout already. To his credit, he did manage a rally in the second period. I had tried some other strategies that he obviously had some experience with and though he was scoring touches, nothing would get him back in the game. I won the bout 15-8 to find that I am one in line to fence the number two seed.
Which happened to be Brad. He is one of the other A’s in the tournament and as I had previously stated, had not performed well against him in recent bouts. Today was different apparently.
Though Brad did hold a lead in many cases, I was right behind him, thwarting every action he threw at me. I found that I could finally fleche at the man and land a touch. I found that could get him searching enough to grab a toe touch or two. Above it all, I found that anytime he passed me, I hit with my infighting.
At the first break, I had joked with him that I was pleased that I was at least making him work for a change. He gave me a quizzical look and shook his head. I said, “Come on, give me some credit.” And he replied, “It’s not that. I just didn’t know that I would have to work this hard.”
Into the second period, he was ahead by a couple. With fleche and a toe touch, we were then tied at 13-13. Then Brad found a nice opening and took a touch for himself. Then I had the misfortune of falling into a double touch to lose the bout 14-15. It was heartbreaking to keep up with him every step of the way to crap out on a double touch, but it was a good bout and a reminder to me that I’ve got the mojo to compete with the higher echelons. It’s just a pity that it was in the 16 round because of my lousy performance in the pools. My final place was 13th.
It was a lot of fun, but my body has put up some major protests today for putting it through three events as opposed to the one or two it is used to. It may just have to suck it up because pain is fleeting and sanity is overrated.
It was quite a stabby weekend for the fish this past weekend. This is because I was just down at one of my favorite tournaments of the season... Opener to the Heartland Circuit event; the Sioux City Challenge. There are a couple of things that make this event special to me.
One is the venue itself, an oddly out of place fitness club in the middle of what can only be described as an industrial rail yard. If that isn't odd enough, the club itself is very well run. Lots of machines and equipment, a number of different rooms with a variety of activities, a little cafe type place and a large locker room.
The second is the diversity of participants it draws. The folks from Lincoln come in force since the drive is relatively easy. However, this event draws any number of people from Chicago, Des Moines, Kansas City, and of course, Minneapolis.
Our contingent was pretty small at the start. Chris and I drove out early in the afternoon to beat the rush hour traffic, and though we ended up missing the easier turn to get there, we still made it to Sioux City in decent time. We checked in and then sought out a leisurely dinner and then retired for the evening.
As some of you may know, I've slackened in my competitive exploits in foil. There are any number of reasons I could give for this behavior, but the one that gives me the most trouble is that of equipment maintenance. I can't keep the bloody weapons working. Perhaps it is just a function of experience and perseverance, but it is a hump I have not bumped. You may recall the tongue-lashing I got when I forewent the weapon at Des Moines, especially from Dave, who has some fascination about fencing foil with me.
Since I was just going to be sitting around anyway, I tried and succeeded in getting a couple of my foils in working order, just for him.
He had an awfully pleased look on his face when he saw that I was suited up for the tournament. Though we didn't get a chance to warm up together, I said that karma would probably put us in the same pool. His smile went ear-to-ear when that was exactly what happened.
With 32 fencers, it was a B2 event and my pool had, Brad, Van, Kristian, Dave, Grete and Brian.
Brad is a tall, lanky redhead from Lincoln. I've had a long history with the lad, usually crossing swords with him in epee. In the last two years his fencing has really matured and I have had trouble with him ever since. Today was no exception as I coughed up some quick touches to his long attacks. Though I managed to duck under and get in a counter attack, I still lost 1-5.
Van was next. Cut from the street-fighting bolt of fabric, he would rush right in with a series of blade actions and then plunge forward for a fleche. When he got me searching for his blade, he was very effective. I have found that the best way to deal with this sort of fencer is to attack into him. The trick then is persistence to get him to back off, out of his gameplan. Tough to do in a five touch bout however, and it became a bit of a war of attrition. I came away with a 5-4 victory by mixing up the lines of my attacks so he didn't know where I might be coming from.
Then it was my turn to fence the A in our pool, Kristian. Nice guy... though naturally intense whilst on the strip, I've never seen him lose it arguing with a director about a call. That speaks volumes to me about where is head is when he is fencing. Anyway... knowing that he likes to close quickly, I extended my distance a little bit. I managed to pull off a couple of counters by ducking under his attack and even made a beautiful opposition attack where I entrapped his blade and snuck in for a quick lunge. I ended up presenting him with the first of three upsets he would face in the pool. 5-4.
Next up was the big bout with Dave. Dave's also on the tall, thin side. Whereas many try to adopt an athletic approach to fencing to score touches, Dave takes a more acrobatic route. If you attack him, he crunches into a dot with a hand outstretched for a counter. If he attacks you, he'll chase you down and then vault himself into the air and bring death from above. Add a dash of solid form and you have an opponent that can attack you from anywhere and whose target area will never be where you expect it.
We started off pretty conservatively with each other, trying to feel out the distance and spot the opening. Dave then launched into a quick attack before I could bring a proper parry up. The second touch was similar, only I found the parry and riposted to tie it up. He then took the lead back with a rather nice opposition attack. Then I found him with fleche I had lead off of an extended blade. Dave caught me searching for his blade on the next attack and I found myself down again 2-3. I tried to fleche at him again, but he managed to duck under it this time and got the counter. Silly me, I did it again the touch after that too. Good bout, though I had wished it was closer. 2-5.
Grete was the only woman in our pool and though she looked like she was getting a slow start, I could see her fencing improve as the morning drew on. It is all too easy to prejudge a fencer only to find that they have your number. Grete, didn't have mine. Her footwork was a tad too slow to keep up with my attacks, though she did make me pay a couple of times for my insistence on cheating the distance too close. 5-2.
Last but not least was Brian. I had warmed up with the lad in the morning and felt that I could take him. He had fenced more foil that I had, so I wasn't resting on my laurels just yet. As opposed to Grete, Brian's footwork was too large. It can be useful to close the distance quickly, but if someone times into your advance, you have very little option but to suck it up in mid stride. Though it took a while to adjust to a safe attacking distance, I worked a series of touches that kept him guessing. 5-3.
Considering that it had been at least six months since my last foil tournament, a 4-2 record was a pretty good result seeding me 11th in the direct elimination tables.
My first DE bout was against a girl named Ally. She fences out of Lincoln, but I swear that she is cut right out of bad anime. The face, the hair, the sheer energy she emitted was enough to set off a number of fetish alarms.
Oddly enough, for as much energy she seems to have off the strip she seemed rather timid on the strip. Part of it could be that I started off pressing pretty hard, but I guess I expected a bit more fight in response. So, for most of the first period, I worked a series of fleches and opposition touches that developed into a 5-6 point lead at the break. Her coaching had helped since she finally decided to attack into me somewhat, but it was a little too late to change the momentum and I ended up winning the bout 15-7.
The next DE was against Amanda. She was a smallish woman with hair that I can only describe as cranberry red. My bout with here was pretty refreshing because Amanda seemed to be the anti-Ally. She was like a charging bull from the moment the director said "fence".
It certainly made it difficult for me to get the right-of-way for the attack… and my epee instincts were kicking in pretty hard to put my blade out for a counter. The funny thing is that I was finding a way of getting the counter in before her attack landed. I also mixed it up a little by attacking into her. It was a good plan, but short-lived when she adjusted my pressure and punished me with a few crisp parry-ripostes.
So there we were… she playing a bit of the physical game, and me playing the tactician… and no one could really get the upper hand. We went to the third nearly tied and I think that was where I started getting a little sloppy.
I had tried to sneak into her guard, but it was too slow and she opposed me out for a touch. With this, she was ahead by two and only served to fuel her aggression. She did another heavy attack which I subsequently countered, making it 12-14. Amanda remained undaunted by the last and chased me down to my end of the strip and fleched. This time, my counter didn’t work and she won the bout 12-15. It occurs to me that I could have used more bladework in my bout with her, but felt that hers was tighter and that I needed to work the distance more.
For a casual foilist, I landed in 14th place out of 32.
Chris had a good day in foil as well, until the end. He was in the final with Brad and had a relatively commanding lead on him until the third period. Brad pressed a bit, pushing Chris out of his game. With time running out and Chris holding onto his last touch lead, he was fending Brad’s insistence off. We could see the clock here and, for a moment, it looked like he was going to get away with his defense until Brad then fleched at him in one last attempt and managed to score a touch with one-tenth of a second remaining on the clock.
Chris then coughed up the last touch in overtime to give Brad the win. The jaws of defeat are large, and serrated.
Once the day’s events wrapped up, we made our way back to the hotel for a quick shower and then met up with others for some bbq. After a hearty meal of fine, fine brisket, I went back to the hotel to soak away some of the fatigue in the hot tub. It was glorious.
The only thing more glorious than the relaxing therapy of the hot tub was the concept of sleeping in because the epee event wasn’t supposed to start until 11:00. We took our time getting out, but during the trip I found myself churning something in the back of my mind.
I had heard of an extra award that they hand out and it was my impression that it was given to the highest combined placings out of all three weapons. I was to be corrected to late to do anything because I got it in my head that seeing as not too many people were doing all three weapons that I might have a good shot at winning the sucker myself.
So yours truly signed up and fenced the only weapon I do more casually than foil. There were 18 of us and I had some familiar faces in my pool: Jim, Kirkpatrick, Amanda, Erik (from our club), and Corbin.
Jim and I traded slashes at my last lapse of insanity into saber. In fact, he sported a rather prominent patch on his lame that I made with one of my attacks with the point. Having seen my tricks thus far, he really didn’t fall too much for my unorthodox style for saber. He’d immediately take the initiative and chase me down. This is not to say that I did not hold my own. I found a couple of holes to exploit but still lost the match 2-5.
Kirkpatrick was second. Also a former opponent from my first saber tournament, he tried to follow in Jim’s footsteps. Though he used pressure, it was wild and I think he did receive a warning for losing control trying to chase me down. He still won the bout, but I felt that I was starting to get back into the right frame of mind for the weapon. 3-5.
Amanda. The bull. I could only imagine how she would be in saber. As expected, she used much of the same strategy as she did to beat me in foil the previous day. The only trouble was that I was countering her attack, but it was more effective here than in foil. I beat her handily 5-2 and it felt good to get in a little bit of payback.
Then came Erik. Like I had asided, the lad is from my club and one of the more senior members of the teens and quite the character to boot. He and I trade barbs on a regular basis because it is always nice to keep the wit honed any chance you get. You can well imagine some of the smack talk he was doling out up until this point especially since he was sweeping the pool so far.
Though I doubt that I put the fear into the lad, I did start off the bout with a couple of sneaky touches to lead the bout 2-0. After that, he pretty much knew what I was capable of and pushed the right buttons to then score the next five. A 2-5 loss, but I did note a hint of respect in his eyes. I must have made him work a bit.
My last bout was against Corbin. He was all business and didn’t take too long to hand me my ass. He blanked me 0-5, but then again, I was pretty much done with the pool after I fenced Erik.
The one victory seeded me 16th and my first DE was against a guy named Joe.
Joe is part of the Sioux City club and relatively new the to sport. That’s not to say he was a push over because he does focus on saber, where I just have experience to draw from. Still, my experience was enough to figure out that though he was aggressive, his perception of distance was pretty poor. I’d keep a large gap between us and start retreating. When I stopped, I’d lean back while he took a swipe. He’d miss me and then I would come back with my own attack. I would have to say that a bulk of my touches where that way. A bulk of his touches arrived when I decided to get cute. In the end, I came out on top 15-5.
Joe did leave me a souvenir though. I had chosen poorly with the direction I had my guard facing as he changed his line to come from the other side. His attack landed squarely and fiercely on the meat of my thumb. Lots of pain, even though I still managed to pull out the touch on it. The bruise is still very apparent though the swelling isn’t so bad now.
Anyway, having won my first DE in saber, I then had the opportunity to fence the number one seed, Josh. This would be where I tell you that he is a tall thin man, if you haven’t caught on to the stereotype yet.
Right out of the gate, he tried a simple attack that I ducked under and countered. Then I came in with an attack on my own that found its way behind his guard. Then a parry-riposte. He then strikes with an attack that I tried to defend with an epee parry. This was the signal of the end. Though I did work a couple more touches, he took advantage of my weakness on that side and started racking up the points. I lost 5-15, but had fun doing it.
Hell, placing 16th and winning a DE, I think it was about right for someone whose bread and butter is a point weapon.
For the coupe-de-grace we had 34 for the epee tournament. There were four A-rated fencers there too and some other talent making it a solid A2 event. In my pool: Josh, Michael, Matt, Kevin, Daniel, and John.
Yep, it was that Josh too. But to warp your mind a little bit, our pool bout was before our saber bout. I’m just going this route for the sake of continuity. Now that I think about it, Josh fences epee a lot like he fenced saber. He puts the put out there and then uses that long reach of his to put the point on as quickly as possible.
We had traded the first few touches when he fleched at me and I moved into one of my infighting moves. I thought I got the touch. The director thought that I got the touch, but Josh thought that I hit the floor instead. I could have kept it because I had the director on my side, but agreed instead to anull it. Josh then pulled a little ahead and then we doubled out to win 3-5. I suppose the extra touch would have meant something and in a bigger tournament, I might have kept it, but I guess I felt like starting off the event with a handicap.
The capping continued as I coughed up the next bout to Michael. I’ve fenced the man before and was pretty sure of what to expect, but I was still stuck in a lower gear and ended up losing this on 3-5 as well.
Matt took the brunt as I tried to get my head back in the game. He wasn’t too fast on his feet and I just lunged into him repeatedly to win the bout 5-2.
Then came Kevin. Pretty fast guy, and not tall, for a change. I knew that he would try to press the distance with me like others he had fenced and cheated to the side of the strip to cut off his lane to fleche. With him less likely to close with me, I started to put together some quick actions that got him searching and won the bout 5-3. It wasn’t until later that I found out that he was one of the A’s in the tournament.
Daniel was next. Now that I was warmed up and trying to salvage my pool, I took advantage of his relative inexperience and blanked him 5-0.
My last bout was with John. We fenced in the Kansas City open this past year and though he had beaten me in pools, I eliminated him the DEs shortly thereafter. He had said that he had been practicing and working on his stamina ever since and we were both eager to see how this one would play out. Much like Kansas City, we plugged away at each other until we were 4-4 and then he managed to get the last touch in to win the bout, 4-5.
Well crap. Instead of a 4-2 record to place higher in the bracket, I was 3-3 and seeded 15th. Fighting my way up.
My first DE was against Kasey. I don’t think I have ever fenced him before and didn’t know what to expect. What I did find amusing was that one of his clubmates was given him some coaching out of my line of sight… or so he thought. I was putting on my mask when I saw that he was instructing Kasey to do a push-pull type of thing where you take a half step back and then blast forward.
Sure enough, this is what Kasey plays out first and I have the distance just right to close him out as he is advancing. Then, for good measure, I put on a lot of pressure myself with attack after attack. At this point, he I can see he is starting to grasp at straws trying a desperate attack which I score on as he passes me.
As I extend my lead, I can see that his mood change from desperation to defeat. At the break, the score was 12-3 and he was pretty much through with the bout already. To his credit, he did manage a rally in the second period. I had tried some other strategies that he obviously had some experience with and though he was scoring touches, nothing would get him back in the game. I won the bout 15-8 to find that I am one in line to fence the number two seed.
Which happened to be Brad. He is one of the other A’s in the tournament and as I had previously stated, had not performed well against him in recent bouts. Today was different apparently.
Though Brad did hold a lead in many cases, I was right behind him, thwarting every action he threw at me. I found that I could finally fleche at the man and land a touch. I found that could get him searching enough to grab a toe touch or two. Above it all, I found that anytime he passed me, I hit with my infighting.
At the first break, I had joked with him that I was pleased that I was at least making him work for a change. He gave me a quizzical look and shook his head. I said, “Come on, give me some credit.” And he replied, “It’s not that. I just didn’t know that I would have to work this hard.”
Into the second period, he was ahead by a couple. With fleche and a toe touch, we were then tied at 13-13. Then Brad found a nice opening and took a touch for himself. Then I had the misfortune of falling into a double touch to lose the bout 14-15. It was heartbreaking to keep up with him every step of the way to crap out on a double touch, but it was a good bout and a reminder to me that I’ve got the mojo to compete with the higher echelons. It’s just a pity that it was in the 16 round because of my lousy performance in the pools. My final place was 13th.
It was a lot of fun, but my body has put up some major protests today for putting it through three events as opposed to the one or two it is used to. It may just have to suck it up because pain is fleeting and sanity is overrated.