This entry is an attempt to capture my thoughts on the NAC E in Chicago before they drift away altogether. To sum things up, I fenced four days in a row, I had fun, I learned a lot, but I forgot to pack my "A" game.
Day 1
Div III - I started off the day (7am) with few expectations of success or failure. I knew that the talent I would be facing was, in general, better than similarly rated talent I find locally. I don't think I underestimated anybody. I got a very good ref for my pools. This guy was 100% on top things and awarded me the touche all three times (important later) that I pushed my opponents (three different ones) off their end of the strip. I am grateful for that.
When the pools were done, I found that I had won one and lost the rest. In retrospect, I needed to work on two things:
1) Riposte with opposition - I often fell back into a foilesque method of parrying, then riposting from a neutral line. This resulted in numerous double-touches that could have been single-lights for me.
2) Beat attackers - my nemesis - I am getting pretty good at defeating their beat, but the defense consumes my attention and I don't mount an effective attack against them. Even if I defend well, a few of their attacks will get through. If I am not making attacks of my own, the law of averages will favor them. It did.
Side note - somewhere along the way, I got hit in the ribs HARD! This played against me for the rest of the weekend. There were times I could not breathe without pain. When other opponents hit the same spot, it stunned me long enough to affect the next point.
I lost the DE. I cannot recall the details.
Day 2
Vet 50+ - This day is a blur. Two pool bouts stand out in my memory.
1) I faced one shorter fencer. I jumped out to an early lead. I must have fallen into the old trap of changing my game and settling for double-touches because he came back and won the bout. I should have been able to win this bout. He was gracious saying that he was "lucky". From my perspective, he had is point in the right place at the right time and that takes more than luck.
2) I faced one tall fencer who flicked to the arm frequently. I had faced him in pool bouting on day 1 and lost. Today I knew his game and Chuck had reminded me to "defend with the bell guard. I got an early lead on him, getting ahead by a touche to make the score 2-1. I noticed that the clock had 1:30 on it. This is normally too much time to try to play a defensive game, but I felt I had a handle on his flicks and I decided to try to play the clock out. I controlled the distance, drawing back to burn time, pushing forward to buy space, defending against his flicks perfectly. As time clicked down in my head, I drew him to my end of the piste so he could not see the clock. When the time expired, I still had my 2-1 lead. It was the only bout that I had won.
My DE was against someone seeded MUCH better than me. I was lucky to get three touches on him.
Intermission
After the day's activities, Chuck said to me, "You know what I noticed about Scott? He always looks threatening. You should look more threatening!" I countered saying that if I make myself look threatening, I put myself in a position that I don't have sufficient reaction time to deal with my opponent's response to my threat. Chuck and I argued back and forth without resolution. I also pointed out that on day 1 I had pushed three opponents off their end of the piste and if that wasn't looking threatening, I didn't know what was.
Day 3
Div II - Knowing that I would never hear the end of it if I did not at least try, I set about fencing and trying to look more threatening. The result was no surprise. I got hit - a lot! My opponents responded to the threat. The next thing I knew I had an epee sticking into my ribs. (Ouch!) No surprise. Still, I learned two things:
1) Don't change your fundamental game at a tournament. Try it at practice. Work out the kinks. Decide if you like it or not. Get good at it. THEN use it at a tournament. I will not make that mistake again.
2) I have a simple tactic that I use against people who respond to invitation or people who counter-attack my arm in response to a low-line attack. I displace my arm and hit them in the shoulder. It works really well. Against certain opponents, it is like money in the bank. I tried this against a lefty in my DE and it was disastrous. When I displaced my arm, I moved it directly onto the tip of his weapon. Note to self - when fencing a lefty, don't do this!
Day 4
Vet Open - It is day four and I am tired. That being said, I have recognized that while I have a talent for stealing time from my opponent and scoring a touche with a simple, direct attack, I cannot rely on this for all of my touches. I approach the day with the intent of making many of my attacks more complex with feints and good plans for what to do when my opponent responds in various expected ways. The result is that I scored more points. I still lost all my pool bouts, but not as badly as the day before. Even my DE was better. I was even or a touche or two behind the whole way. It finished with a score of 10-8 for my opponent. It was one of the more fun bouts of the weekend.
Conclusions
1) I have slipped back at least one plateau. I go to tournaments to measure my performance. Looking at how I performed at the NAC, I can honestly say that I am not fencing as well as I was six months ago. It is not that I don't know what to do; it is that I am not doing it.
2) "Looking threatening" and "Controlling the action" are two entirely different things. I can give ground - looking not at all threatening - and still be controlling the distance and the action. If I do so correctly, my opponent thinks they are in control, when they are not. I feel this is a powerful tool and one that I can be good at using. I would rather "control" than "threaten". That's my game. I have to stick with it for now.
3) I have to stop fencing epee like foil. Too many times I had to remind myself of the basic tenets of epee - keeping the tip close to the opponent's bell guard, economy of movement, control of the piste, complex/deceptive attacks. I have all that. I need to bring it all together at one place and one time. I should not have to be thinking about these things. They should be automatic.
4) I have a lot of work to do before going to another NAC. I was under-prepared for this one. While I got four times as much fencing as a local tournament, it cost me ten times as much money. (not even counting what it cost at home for my wife to "get even"!) Not a good ROI. The lessons learned were not anything I could not have learned at a local tournament. My criteria for being ready for another NAC are:
a) Finishing consistently in the top third of the field in local tournaments
b) Having earned my D rating. (If I achieve "a)", I expect "b)" will follow easily.)
03-14-2008 04:38 PM