fencing again
At the beginning, most of us stood around saying how out of practice we were. Many of us had new kit or weapons; my black Allstar T-shirt was admired. I was oen of three women wearing black T-shirts with white breeches - our new team colours, perhaps.
The warm-up was gentle . Just as well, given my slow reactions. Footwork practice was just stepping forward and backward, with the occasional lunge and recover. I don't think I'd have managed a balestra and I would certainly have fallen on my face had I tried to fleche.
The new jacket is spendid and light, though the suddenly humid evening meant no clothes were entirely comfortable. The mask has moveable padding but, however I move it, it squahes my face. I could use that as an excuse for my poor foil fencing, but actually I was just slow and clumsy.
It still felt good and right to have a sword in my hand. And while the foil felt heavy at first, I didn't notice the weight of the epee. I even managed a fair number of wrist and arm hits, thanks to kind opponents who must have slowed down to give me a chance. One of the many good things about epee is scoring doubles, which means I usually manage a few points. I even won a bout, though I think there was some kindness from my opponent involved. And there was nothing discreditable in losing 15-8 to a much better fencer. (He slowed down to give me a chance, of course, but at least I managed to take that chance and score a few hits).
I've looked at the programme for the term - coaching in all three weapons and a range of competitions: a one-hit epee as well as the club championship and a handicap competition.
I'm tired, bruised and aching - but happy too.
The warm-up was gentle . Just as well, given my slow reactions. Footwork practice was just stepping forward and backward, with the occasional lunge and recover. I don't think I'd have managed a balestra and I would certainly have fallen on my face had I tried to fleche.
The new jacket is spendid and light, though the suddenly humid evening meant no clothes were entirely comfortable. The mask has moveable padding but, however I move it, it squahes my face. I could use that as an excuse for my poor foil fencing, but actually I was just slow and clumsy.
It still felt good and right to have a sword in my hand. And while the foil felt heavy at first, I didn't notice the weight of the epee. I even managed a fair number of wrist and arm hits, thanks to kind opponents who must have slowed down to give me a chance. One of the many good things about epee is scoring doubles, which means I usually manage a few points. I even won a bout, though I think there was some kindness from my opponent involved. And there was nothing discreditable in losing 15-8 to a much better fencer. (He slowed down to give me a chance, of course, but at least I managed to take that chance and score a few hits).
I've looked at the programme for the term - coaching in all three weapons and a range of competitions: a one-hit epee as well as the club championship and a handicap competition.
I'm tired, bruised and aching - but happy too.
posted by kathz | 11:16 pm
4 Comments:
Sounds like a really good night of fencing - hope you weren't too sore the next morning. The Y is closed this week so I am in fencing withdrawl - thanks for the fencing post
Not too sore at all - I feel much better for having fenced last night and today I whizzed through a few chores at home and work. Fencing seems to raise my energy levels. It's good to be back.
Do you guys wire up for practice, use quarter judges, or just sorta wing it?
We usually have three electric pistes and take turns at using them, sometimes just for practice and sometimes for proper bouts. We may use a ref. as well. (Of course, for epee, being a ref is much easier than for foil as there's no need to pronounce on right of way. Even I can ref with reasonable competence and confidence in epee, though I'm no good as a ref in foil.) Apart from that, we tend to fence steam, with one judge if we're lucky but more often deciding between us or - quite often - deciding that we can't come to a decision. Sometimes - not often enough - we work together on specific aspects of technique. And quite often there's an informal exchange of advice - well, I'm mostly on the receiving end - and people sharing tips.
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