Who was there? Aside from Jessi2, Ben, and Nick, who left early, there was Meng, Jessi1, Kiersten, Mike, Tom, Bob, Ahren, Matt, Dan (back from school) & Dick. I think I fenced all of them--did I fence Matt? I don't remember--five touch bouts, except for Tom whom I fenced a ten-touch bout because he's not participating in the pride challenge. Ahren was, as usual, practicing something, but I beat him 5-0 because I was doing what he taught me last week, so he wins anyway. I lost to Mike; my distance sucked and I was rushing because I knew Ahren was waiting to give me my lesson. If I want to beat Mike I have to really take my time.
The lesson was all bladework, one of those lessons where the coach has a weapon in each hand. He's getting pretty good at those. The first one was beat-cut to hand, then beat-cut hand, beat-cut arm, beat-cut head, alternating sides depending on which weapon he presented, finishing with beat-through. I worked on keep my guard where it belonged, having a light hand, practicing squeeze-relax with my fingers, and taking my time. It produced some very nice tempos. In the second part, he presented the two blades crossed so that they fanned either side of my blade, and we did a series of beat patterns. He would beat my blade with one of his and first I had to beat the same side and cut, then beat the opposite side and cut, then beat the same side followed by the opposite side and cut, and so on, finishing with the whole fandango AND cutting head/cheek/cheek. The third part, again with the coach wielding two weapons, was with movement. I had to stay in the cut until there was a genuine threat, from which side and in which line I was never sure, and then make parry-riposte to a variety of targets. It was quite weird and a little hard on my shoulder (because of staying in the cut) but as it progressed I could feel my brain starting to work properly. None of it is stuff I can use in a bout, just technique and automaticity, but it felt pretty good.
The Sabre Khan is this weekend. Ahren has gotten some good referees, including Charles Washburn, Ivan Lee, Charles Astudillio, Lisa Campi, and someone whose name is John Johnson--I am not sure if I know him. There are 44 fencers preregistered with another 12 who haven't paid; it could be an A2--2 A's, 8 B's, and a good distribution of the other ratings, a nice all-around event. Until I went into fencing tonight and realized I was alternating good fencing with ugly fencing, I was feeling optimistic about the event, because I've done moderately well at the last two, but now I don't know.
05-14-2008 09:35 PM