No Promotion Like Self Promotion

The Alpharetta and Roswell Revue and News did a story this week on Alpharetta High School's surprisingly successful fencing season. I of course give all credit to the hard work of the kids. :-)

At Least 8th is Better Than 12th

Ouch. So, I committed to only dropping one pool bout at AFC Easter Bash, but my opponents refused to cooperate. My first loss came against a kid who refused to let me hit his hand. I should have just taken his blade and fed mine to him - but I didn't. The second lost came against a man who could fight harder than anyone in my pool, and I just couldn't keep my point on.

So with a 3-2 record, I faced the other guy with a 3-2 record. It was close, and we traded the lead a lot, but I couldn't get more than one point up on him. At 14-13, I tried to set up a flèche, but he picked off my hand twice in a row.

It is not a happy result, but I have one more local tournament in South Carolina before Sectionals. I am hoping to have happy news there.

Getting out of the 8s

In fencing, 8 is not enough. In 4 of my last five events, I landed in 8th place. In one of them, I needed only to advance to the round of 4 to improve my rating. In the rest, I needed to make or win the final.

Also true of the last five events is my pool record has suffered. Early mornings, early afternoons - no matter the start I have been dropping two bouts instead of the one bout I used to drop earlier in the season.

Most of the reason for the losses is that I am rushing actions. However after reviewing myself on video, I find that my footwork gets sluggish as my actions get larger when I rush. So I think I am going faster, but I am really slower.

On the flip side, 8th place is a lot better than my results from last season. Again, after reviewing the tape - my point control has increased tremendously. Any point on the hand is available target to me, even on a flèche. My flicks are much cleaner, and I have a great parry-riposte against the flèche. All I need is to clean up my pool bouts and start beating people from my own club and I will have my A very soon.

As an aside, few people - including myself truly look good in a fencing uniform. Here is me at my best in my FIE uniform.



Ugh, I still remember my pants nearly falling down. I got the touch though!

Why Beginning Lady Epeeists Should Fence Men

After refereeing At the Georgia divisional qualifiers, I noticed that with few exceptions, the girls who fenced extremely well were the ones who fenced men or large boys on a regular basis. In the High School and at regional and National tournaments the fencing events are segregated by sex, but not so at the local events. There is often a call for more local female only events, but at least in the Southeast the major players never seem to come out.

My thought is that I'd rather train girls to beat or at least hold their own against the toughest boys, and in turn they will run roughshod over all but the best girls. The theory comes from an inspirational short story I heard years ago. A version of it is below.
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There once was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Saviour appeared to him.

The Lord told him He had a work for him to do, and showed him a large rock explaining that he was to push against the rock with all his might. This the man did, and for many days he toiled from sunup to sundown; his shoulder set squarely against the cold massive surface of the rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man showed signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture - placing thoughts in the man's mind, such as ``Why kill yourself over this?, you're never going to move it!'' or ``Boy, you've been at it a long time and you haven't even scratched the surface!'' etc. giving the man the impression the task was impossible and the man was an unworthy servant because he wasn't moving the massive stone.

These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man and he started to ease up in his efforts. ``Why kill myself?'' he thought. ``I'll just put in my time putting forth just the minimum of effort and that will be good enough.'' And this he did or at least planned on doing until, one day, he decided to take his troubles to the Lord.

``Lord,'' he said, ``I have labored hard and long in Your service, putting forth all my strength to do that which You have asked of me. Yet after all this time, I have not even budged that rock even half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?''

To this the Lord responded compassionately, ``My friend, when long ago I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you to push against the rock with all your strength and that you have done. But never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. At least not by yourself. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed, ready to quit. But is this really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled; your back sinewed and brown. Your hands are calloused from constant pressure and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your ability now far surpasses that which you used to have. Yet still, you haven't succeeded in moving the rock; and you come to Me now with a heavy heart and your strength spent. I, my friend will move the rock. Your calling was to be obedient and push, and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom, and this you have done.''

Less Foolish in Newberry

First off, Homewood Suites rocks. A two bedroom king/queen has four beds (including fold out sofa) for just under $200. It's a great deal for 4 adults, and the room is gorgeous and comfortable to boot. Thanks Homewood Suites-Gainesville!

Fencing threatened to look the same today as yesterday. My left contact lens popped out before we reached the venue, and my left spectacle lens popped out in the middle of my third bout. I ended up 2-2 in yet another 5 person pool, the Bain of imperfect fencers.

DEs worked out a bit better. I faced the 21st seed out of 22, a small kid who didn't believe in remises. Knowing that I had much stiffer competition after him, I tried to fence him as strong and conservatively as possible. We ended up 14-2 after running out of time.

The next DE was against the 5th seed, and based on his attitude you would have thought he was an A. His fencing was a different matter. Attacking in distance and not landing is deadly in all three weapons, but he just wouldn't stop. Aside from a few attacks to keep him honest, most of my touches were easy counterattacks. I know I have a date with P90X and some situps, but do I really look that slow?

The following DE was against my club mate, the same one who beat me 15-9 in Statesboro, and won the event. Winning was the only option, but experience and history were trying to dissuade me. I got down 3 early in the bout, but I managed to bring it back to 11-11 by the second break. Sure, the event was an A1, so I wouldn't renew my B with a win, but I still wanted it. At 14-12, I figured hitting the hand would bring me to 15, and I saw his hand enough under his bell guard to get me to believe it. Unfortunately, I didn't count on not being able to fight for touches after the action got ugly, and I lost 14-15. A loss, but a significant improvement.

I am still annoyed that I lost, and that the event fell from an A2 to an A1, but my fencing (at least in DEs) is both consistent and showing slight improvement with every encounter. Plus, I am still continuing the tradition of getting knocked out of the direct elimination round by a current or past member of my club.

Foolish in Statesboro

The best thing about Statesboro is the waitstaff. Not the service, the look of the staff. The fact that a waitress/kitchen can't tell the difference between ranch and blue cheese dipping sauce is a lot easier to swallow when the waitress looks both hot and attainable.

Fencing wasn't as pretty. Less is more in most avenues in life, and fencing is no exception. My parry 8 is strong like the Earth, but if someone simply jabs at me it is useless. Add that to yet ANOTHER 5 person pool, and I ended up 2-2 after pools. My first DE was against an older C who was both lefty and crafty. I was slow and doing too much, and only my strong 8 parry-riposte saved me from a 15-14 defeat.

My next DE was against my club mate/coach, who has a Junior World Cup medal and 20 years of fencing experience. And he's only 26. No one was more shocked than I when I jumped to a 4-2 lead, my best competition result of any kind against him. Since these things go to 15, there was still a ways to go. My actions got large and sloppy, when small was getting it done. I lost 15-9.

After beating me, my club mate asked how would I coach myself if I could see myself. It's a curious question, and it helped me really analyze what went wrong. The biggest thing was I needed to own my lead, and force my opponents to work to my strengths instead of the exact opposite. Hitting the hand, flèche, and parry riposte work well. I need to focus there.

From there we drove to Gainesville...

Still trying to Renew my B

March is almost gone, next weekend I am ref'ing. I have 8 months to renew my B rating, or I drop to a C12 on Jan 1st, 2012. Of course, there is a tournament on that day and I could try to re-earn it then... But I would rather it not come to that.

Personally, having a C is better than having a B. You can still fence Div2 events and beat up on beginners, and at Div I events the ratings below A don't tell you much anyway. Even so, losing it would be embarrassing.

Last Saturday I was in Huntsville, AL for the Rocket City Open. The event was rated a B1, but I knew there were high level fencers in the area that still could come out and make it a A2 event at the last second. Ahh, no such luck. It was good to get out of Georgia and fence different styles, especially with Southeast Sectionals coming up.

My pool seemed to hum along until I lost to the other B in my pool. I rushed the bout, even thought it was to my disadvantage to do so. Then I lost to a girl who fences for her club at Indiana U. Badly. The score after 2:20 was 5-1, and my only touch was a double. Thank heavens no one told me she was a U - I would have done something stupid.

Worst of all, these losses made me forget all about my awesome beat-disarm attack with lunge earlier in the pool. It was pretty cool to see.

Thanks to a 3-2 record, I had to face my teenage girl student whose mother drove us to the event. Well, walking is good for the soul, right? I won 15-6, and kept my distance until the frustration wore off.

Next was the IU girl again. I watched her in her first DE. She never moved much, but she never stood still. And she took away the low line attacks by shifting her butt back and her shoulders forward. Did I mention she was tall? And the weirdest thing was that she was strong. Not really strong, but enough to remise or counterattack through anything I was trying. So I was down 5-3, and we doubled all the way to 13-11. She seemed content to just double out. I wasn't about to lose this early. Since I hit her hand early on, I kept beating and working to her hand. I figured I would either see it eventually, get her to counter and I would catch the top of her arm, or out of frustration or fatigue she would drop her hand. Eventually, she dropped her hand and I fléched for her shoulder. She didn't see it coming because I am just that damned good, and because I hadn't done it to her. It had to be fast because a beat attack would draw her counter, and since I was aiming for her shoulder there was nowhere to remise. Three in a row got me to 14-13. I figured she was all set to counterattack on a fourth flèche, so a nice deep medium speed lunge would be worth a double. 15-14 is good enough.

The next round I faced a guy who is fast enough for his new C11 rating, but still has an en garde of his old E rating. Once I established a lead with touches to the hand, I knew I wouldn't lose it.

The final for my B was against another club mate and child of my ride. Only he was talking smack and not interested in losing. While I executed nice hand touches, most of my points came by punishing his mistakes, not actually making things happen. When in distance I got gun shy instead of mowing him down. When he earned the 13th touch, I fought back hard to make a game of it, but by then I was fencing for pride and not for the gold.

Next time.

10 Worst Misses in Epee

I am training for Sectionals/Nationals right now, and I am trying to correct some of the crazy stuff going on in my game. I don't think I am alone. In no particular order, here are what I see to be the worst almost touches in Epee. Feel free to disagree in the comments.

1. You reach and give your all, but your all is half an inch short. This one sucks. Most likely because the back shoulder is too far forward.

2. You reach and give your all, and your all equals 749 gram-force. Maybe you are looking back at the light, maybe you missed your opponents half-step back, maybe your barrel needs cleaning, maybe you are a pathetic weakling.

3. You go straight for the arm, he dips his hand and extends. Both points land over/under, but only his light is on. It's a gamble, and you lost.

4. He's an ass anyway, flèche to the face! Only fencing masks are molded with a vertical edge with sloping sides - and your point rides one of the sides without catching. Too bad your butt doesn't have sloping sides for his risposte behind his back. The oohs, ahhs, and golf claps don't help either.

5. He attacks just inside distance. You parry in four in opposition, finishing to the neck. But wait, your barrel gets caught in a channel created by his bending bib not allowing a touch. It's unclear whether the curse word you dropped was for the "no touch" or his remise to the nuts.

6. You see it, it's not going anywhere, so you lunge for the foot. Only you should have aimed for the toe and you glance along the shockingly smooth side of that nice unscratched shoe. It's amazing what clarity your eyes can perceive as you are about to be hit in the face.

7. What a fast hand he has. But some of his glove is always open. You go for it with a lunge, and as you land you can feel him smile when you point lands harmlessly on the edge of the bell guard. You've been discovered, and the man is coming...

8. You see his footwork pattern, and you are timing a lunge just below the shoulder just as he steps forward in the middle of a double advance. Your only worry is making sure he doesn't break your blade. You shoot, you miss, you hit solid in the chest. Who knew he would raise his arm?

9. He's short, and/or he ducks. You don't like it. Fie on him. You step forward, he drops, and you extend and advance with a thrust to the face. Only you land on the top of his mask. A little more pressure and you could catch the back rubber edge of the mask. A little less and you could turn it into a sure flick. But here you are in the muddy middle, your point uselessly on his head, and his point in your neck. Fie on you.

10. And he messed up. He got a hair too close and you have a hair trigger. You fire with a straight lunge to the chest. You feel the tip touch him and begin to retreat into the barrel when... No f'ing way. He takes your blade near the barrel in a high parry, off his chest, and ripostes back to yours. His single light, his touch. You check you weapon in disbelief, it works just fine.

Bonus for foilists. You are rated high in Epee, but learned to fence in foil. You're up against a pure foilist who has no intention of losing in front of his girlifriend. It's 14-14, and you've kept it close by being careful and simple. And then he steps in, chest exposed, as naked as Chrissy Teigen is in your dreams. The fact that his weapon arm is creeping forward at half a snails pace is immaterial, he will never get there in time. Let's end this. Two colored lights fire on the scoreboard. Your planned attack in preparation turned out to be a counterattack. You lose.

Good Coaching Week

If you are a good club mate, a social fencer after you win or lose in a tournament, or you enjoy schadenfreude - chances are you've coached before.

Two weeks ago I certified as a Prevot d'Epee through the US Fencing Coaches Association. Last week one of my students, who didn't fence in a private club at the time, won the ladies High School State Championship. This weekend four of my ladies fencers earned third place in the ladies High School Team State Championship.

Two things were evident from these occurrences. Clearly, I know what I am talking about, because many of my fencers have minimal outside training. And also, I really really hate losing.

Watching one of my fencers win easily feels like watching a flower grow and blossom. Watching one lose badly is like standing on the deck of a sinking battleship while saluting the flag. That last bit feels horrible. Seriously, I haven't had a long island ice tea in about two years, but I needed two last night.

The worst is when the match was winnable, but carelessness made the difference. Ugh, oh well.

Cool Link and U! S! A!

Just found this not too long ago. It's a link to an article on the Italian Fencing Federation website. It celebrates one of their fencers competing in the Men's Epee World Cup held as part of the 2009 Arnold Classic Sports Festival.

Yea, I beat him.

Struggling in Practice

Right now I am in training for no tournament in particular, but Sectionals will be in Georgia extremely soon, and the Queen City ROC in Charlotte comes up in March.

At practice, when I am not coaching, giving lessons, etc. I end up fencing someone in a bout that if it were all on the line, I would beat 10/10 - but lately that ain't happening. I'm not getting blown out, but I am not absolutely dominating the person. Sure, my bodycord maybe having issues, as are my weapons, and last Saturday was my first day back after a high fever, but still. Epee fencing is the wrong sport for someone with a lot of pride, but I would almost rather take a touch in practice then needlessly put 100% into an attack and still fail. Then again, do I have enough gas in the tank to put 100% into every single attack against every opponent at the club 4-5 times a week? My ego is much happier finding a weak spot with a given fencer, exploiting it 5-15 times, and being done with it.

It's one thing if everyone is simply getting better, but I am not sure that's the case. Unless I take care of myself and push myself, I am bound to get slower - that's just life. Maybe I should go ahead and finish P90X before I let my pride get involved.

100 Tournaments Later...

Last Saturday was a heartbreaker: the Atlanta Falcons were knocked out of the playoffs and I was only a few touches shy of renewing my B or even getting my A.

Even though I actually got a good nights sleep, it was a chancy morning. I lost my first pool bout to an unrated fencer who kept swiping at my legs out of range of my counterattack. I didn't know his rating at the time, but he looked like easy pickings so I didn't proceed as carefully as I should have. This development killed me because I still had an A to face in the pool, and I knew he would want to avenge his loss to me from two months ago. While it was a close bout, I couldn't control the distance and got doubles when only singles would do. Thanks to the tiny pool, I only had a 2-2 record. For those following at home, this result breaks my streak of only losing one bout in the pools the last few events.

DEs were better, but disappointing. I faced a new fellow Dunwoody FC fencer in the first round (had I won the U bout I would have had a bye), and while he tried his best, it was over pretty quickly. When the ref starts calling epee bouts like foil with all the phrase d'armes terms to keep busy, you know it's gotten ugly. The next round was against the 6th seed, who at first fenced my seeding, not me. Once I got untangled from his multiple circle parries, it was just a matter of controlling the distance and keeping the score gap uncomfortably large. The next round didn't go so well. I got down by 4 touches right away, which forced me to attack to make a game of it. I caught up, but I never controlled the distance, so any miscues and miscalculations were costly.

I am upset, but I am anxious to get out there and try again. Even though my pool record suffered (so drinking... helps?), I still made another trip to the round of eight, which is happening with more regularity. The key is focusing on the pools, and mastering the distance at all costs.

As I was researching my bouts on AskFred.net, I noticed a cool thing - I have reached 100 events in the database. Of course, AskFred doesn't record NAC or National Championship results, and I have at least 10 or so competitions that are pre-Fred acceptance - so I hit the magic number sometime in 2010. Still, I am hit by the significance.

The records start in May 2005, soon after I moved to Atlanta. Right away I went from an unrated fencer to an E in epee. I also largely gave up my interest in being a three weapon fencer, especially since the major three weapon clubs in town discouraged the practice. The trend from that point was strong results in D and under events, and respectable but not good results in the Open events.

Unfortunately, after I got my B, my Open results didn't improve all that much. In fact, in the first 10 events rated A2 or better after I got my B, I only broke into the top 10 once. And that event was on New Years Day and I was completely hungover. The scary thing is that I could guess if less or more drinking would have improved that particular result. The worst bit is that of the three or four folks in GA who have improved their rating to a B or better in the last six months, most have renewed in just a few tries.

In the last couple years I was more committed to work, and seeing friends, and fencing mostly in the Div I NACs - but my results there are in need of examination as well. Right now I have more flexibility to train, coach, and compete - which is showing up in my Open results. It just sucks that it's taken almost six years for me to get to a consistently good level.

My fencing goals now are to be a constant fixture in the top 4 in Open A2 events, and in the top 32 at Div I NACs. Right now, looking at my last five results I am averaging in the bottom half of the 8 - which means I need to win one more DE per event. Given I haven't been blown out yet, it is a reachable goal. My NAC results have not been so kind.

To reach both goals I need to focus and fight for every touch in the pool like it is the Olympic final, and to jealously guard the distance like a drunken princess.

Shoutouts and Postings

There's no promotion without self-promotion, so check me out on the new services website Betterfly. My posting on the Atlanta Sports page is here.

Also, check out RaiderFencing.com, the online home of the Alpharetta (GA) High School fencing team. These are the guys the snow demons have rescued from my training today. Seriously, three inches of ice and snow in Atlanta have shut down this city like the Death Star.

Eight Long Months...

High school kids in Georgia have it easy. My only exposure to fencing in rural Missouri was through the local public library and luxury car commercials. For a high school freshman interested in competitive fencing and the potential to be good, there are these options.

1. Georgia HS League Monthly tournaments
2. Under 14 Events
3. Under 16 Events
4. Under 20 Events
5. Local Open tournaments

And these are just the Open competitions. From there...
5. Div III D and Under
6. Div II C and Under

And if the kid gets good (after all that tournament exposure)...
7. Div I C and above events
8. World Cups (if invited)

That is a ton of fencing,which is why you see so many fencers go from U to A in epee in only a few short years. It look me much longer to get my B.

In any case, after a long eight month drought, I finally returned to the medal round and left with a bronze in Augusta. I fenced well, but ran into some minor stamina issues. Not that I was too tired to fence, I just was losing the ability to think critically while fencing. And that ability is my singular unique strength.

Getting Good Again

Years ago, I was a fan of a certain action. It's called ducking.








I used to be really good at it too. Unfortunately so many of the fencers above 6' tall (and therefore taller than me) in Georgia tend to fence everyone like they are children. They come on guard normally, then drop their arms half way to the ground. Every now and again I can take my opponents blade up and work my weapon into parry prime, but rarely do I see an opportunity to duck like above in a tournament. Given that the last two guys to beat me in DEs were over six feet tall, I need to find a way to bring this action back.

When a 5-1 Result Sucks

In a High School tournament, I once lectured a student after she won a bout 5-0. Even though she won handily, she made mistakes that other better fencers could capitalize on later in the day (and did). To her credit, she took my stern lecture with grace and maturity before celebrating her dominating win with her proud mother and friends.

Yesterday, at the Dunwoody New Year's Day tournament, one of my clubmates was none too impressed with my 5-1 pool record. He wanted me to win them all (helping his place in the seeding), and he said my indicator was way too high, with my wins peppered with too many 5-3 results. I countered I had to spot my opponents 3 touches because I was completely nauseous and hungover from New Year's Eve. He wasn't convinced, nor should he have been.

Personally, I fully expected to get slaughtered by every fencer great and small, but having such a high seed after pools (6th of 27) and losing my first DE after the bye was horrible. I didn't expect to win the tournament or even renew my rating yesterday, but the landing hurts more from the higher you fall. I don't regret meeting the cute redhead from Columbia,SC just before midnight, but I wish I was more discriminating about what I drank.

The good news is that this is the third local tournament in a row where I have turned in a one loss record, and each DE loss has been to a Dunwoody fencer. Good pool results are essential at National tournaments and qualifiers, so this is very good. At some point I need to renew my rating this year, else I would drop to a C12 next year. At a local, this means I need to start winning DEs. So, either I start creaming my own on a regular basis, or hit the road and earn my rating out of the area.

Cody Mattern is Cool - 2010 Atlanta NAC

Finally, another NAC on home turf, less than 20min from my house. Plus I know where the good parking is, and I have brand new weapons. Unfortunately, even with plenty of sleep I still turned in the same result as the Cincinnati NAC, a 1-5 result but with a better indicator.

Again, I didn't feel outclassed, but at least this time my coach hit upon the main issue. As my footwork gets faster, I am tending to miss. Not by much, but I am missing enough to turn possible singles to doubles or worse. Back to the target speed I go!

However, I did get a chance to meet Cody Mattern, one of the top fencers in the US, and pretty cool too. He is fun to watch because he doesn't have many actions that a good epee coach anywhere can't teach you. He just happens to do them very very well.

Oh, and I did find one picture of me fencing. Too bad you only see my arm and epee, but I got the touch!

One Hiccup

There is nothing like disappointment. Failure happens to everyone. Few ever go undefeated. But to climb so high and trip on a stone at the summit hurts worse than anything.

Yesterday I fenced at the Crown Fencing November Tournament, and it was wild. I was in the large pool, and managed to come out 5-1, losing only to the C10 from my club and was #2 in the pool. After pools I was #4 of 25 in the tournament, and had a relatively easy path to the round of 4 and renewing my B. I also had a not so difficult path from there to the final. Given this, I was asked to help ref the other bouts, coach some of the kids in youth events, and when it came time to fence my first 15 touch bout, I lost. It wasn't a shellacking, it was a brawl. Eight double touches and four points traded off in the first 2:30 - this is not a bout I am controlling. I couldn't get command of the tempo, and I didn't have the presence of mind to just flèche at him over and over again.

The good news is that I have strung together two strong pool results in A2 level tournaments, and each DE loss so far has been against a clubmate. Losing sucks, a lot, but it is happening a lot less often, and it's against folks with insider knowledge.

So far, so good

Today I competed at the North Georgia Fencing Club November tournament. Last night, I was watching UFC 123 @ Hudson Grile with my closest friends that I just met. I wasn't sure how well I was going to do, but I resolved to be aggressive. My first bout didn't end up that way, until I woke up, but I ended the pool 3-1. When I saw how low I was vs. the other one loss fencers (4-1), it makes me wish I asked for a reseeding when I had the pretext.

In any case the aggressive fencing worked great against folks not from my club. Unfortunately I had to go through two strong club mates to make the round of 4 and renew my rating. I only won one of those bouts.

Cincinnati NAC - Increasing aggressiveness

I'm not sure if I mentioned it here before or not, but it is worth repeating - fencing Div I is like learning to fence all over again. What works at locals and regional tournaments just doesn't get it done at the higher levels. After watching fencers simply run away from a riposte, no matter how strong my parry, it seemed clear that attacks and counterattacks are the way to victory for me. Which means attacking 10 times more often than I do now. It also means I need to build up the endurance to sustain attacks for a long time. Which means I need to practice attacking over and over and over again.