There was a good crew there. I managed to fence Nick L. before he left, then Jessi1, Tom, Dick J., and Dangerous Dan. I told DD that if he hurt me the bout was over, and he made a valiant effort not to.

Oh! And I took 5th in the pride challenge we were conducting on Mondays and Wednesdays up to Sabre Khan, and Ahren gave me my prize--what looks like about ten dollars--and a couple of printouts of all the results. I had very few fifteen touch bouts in the challenge because I always have a lesson on Mondays and Wednesdays, so my tally of touches in the 5-touch bouts was 254 for 5-touch bouts while it was only 228 in the 15-touch ones from March 24 through May 14. I fenced 61 five-touch bouts (more than Ahren) but only 16 15-touch ones. So I took fifth, based on overall cumulative touch total. Mike won, Ahren took second, Jessi was third, and Meng was fourth. I'm pleased and I can see the effect on my pool bouting, but I need some more 15-touch (well, 10-touch, actually) bouts.

Lara says she'll suit up and fence me a little bit before Summer Nationals, and I asked Nick M (another foilist) if he would do the same. I need some practice against people with a smoother game because I can just mess with the sabre fencers.

My lesson with Ahren was push-pull. I concentrated once again on controlling the final step, with emphasis on making the back foot crisp and sharp. If the coach does nothing, finish. If he makes counter-attack, finish. If he starts as I start, make beat-attack with the back foot. If he started as I was finishing my retreat, make half-step in, pull (two deep retreats), half-step in, parry-riposte; if he makes preparation on the second half-step in, I can either make attack, stop-hit, attack in preparation, or (what amused him) counter-attack with opposition. The second half of the lesson, student chooses when to go, makes attack, coach either does nothing or makes parry. If he makes parry, I stay in the lunge and make a relaxed remise, then recover, retreat, and parry.