Last weekend I fenced Easterns and did OK until I let Yann get a lead on me and failed to display any patience trying to catch up.

Since then I practiced once, on Wednesday, because my back had been acting up a bit from over training. I fenced terribly and without energy or creativity at practice but I felt really good the morning of the World Cup.

I had a solid breakfast and got to the venue at around 7:45 because I still needed to have my stuff checked. There was no line so I had a lot of time to warm up. I warmed up well and my 2 new weapons appeared to be in good condition.

I felt like I had a pretty tough pool, relative to the field:
Ben (from my club)
JP Seguin
Adam Rodney
Minobe
Szumski
Penso-Tsai

JP and Ben fenced first and their match set the tone for the entire pool. Their match was tightly-contested, patient, low-scoring and looooong. I'm unsure of the exact numbers but I would be unsurprised if the majority of bouts went into OT. I talked to JP after the pool and he told me that every single one of his bouts had gone into extra time.

My first match was against Ben, and although we train at the same club we haven't fenced together for quite a while, due to a combination of me not showing up because of coaching commitments and just weird luck. I fenced patiently and took it 4-2 mostly by getting him to come too close while searching for my blade.

My match against JP was frustrating, I got the first 2 touches of parry-ripostes in another very slow match. With about 25 seconds remaining he did another attack. I parried 8 but didn't get the blade too cleanly so we both stepped in. I made my riposte... but was blocked by his back hand. He quickly remised. The ref awarded the touch and I was furious. We were right in front of him and he was on the ref's right so the action should have been clearly visible. All he could say was, "I didn't see it." JP didn't say anything and the touch stood.

The next bit was my fault - I got so angry that I completely lost control of the match. I became mentally unbalanced/unfocused and allowed JP to tie it up and win in OT.

Next, I got schooled by Minobe. He made good, FAST, simple actions from long distance and my head wasn't quite screwed on enough to stop him from capitalizing on his reach and speed advantages.

Penso-Tsai is, like Minobe, a left-handed french-gripper. Before our match I listened to music and got myself into a more appropriate mental space. The match was tight. He made some good low attacks and long attacks to the body but I was able to score by keeping my tip near his guard and going into him. I won that one in OT off a lunge to his arm.

Ben had beaten Szumski fairly convincingly and gave me some good advice before our match. When I listened to it I did well and got a good lead. I was leading 4-3 or 4-2 before he increased the tempo of his footwork and I lost my calm patience. He tied it up, and got the winner in OT.

My last match was against Adam and with my record at 2-3, I felt a lot of pressure to get a win. Maybe too much pressure. I made a couple of early mistakes and Adam fenced calmly to get up to a 3-1 lead. I started fencing better as the match went on and brought the score to 4-3 him. He ended my comeback hopes with a very fast lunge to the knee when I prepped from too close without being ready to retreat.

I finished the pool 2-4 with a -5 indicator and survived the cut.

To make the 64 I had to fence Delattre, a French fencer. It is worth noting that despite my mediocre pool record I was still feeling very strong and confident at this point.

Dellattre sat way low on his legs and moved well. He had a very traditional en guard with his arm pretty far out there and a wickedly good point. I started the match fencing in absence with my blade low in 8. As soon as I moved to bring my hand up to perform an action though, he nailed me on the wrist. After a couple points like that I began to fence with my hand high and my arm pretty far out there.

Delattre was aggressive as anything. He loved to push and attack with his point either pushing me into opening my hand, making multiple disengages to the body, or feinting high and finishing to the foot. He controlled the first, as I just tried to move with him and get a feel for the bout. Score at the end of the first was 5-3 for him.

In the second I began to push and pull more with my footwork. Most of the action took place towards my end still but in an area I was very comfortable with (about 1/3 the length of the piste from my end). I was able to get him to go from too far and discovered what would be essentially my sole weapon for this bout - opposition sixte on his extension. Because of how much (frequency and length) he liked to extend his arm I was able to get a lot of singles with well-times counters with opposition. Eventually I was able to take his blade in 6 and attack with a simple lunge as well. The second ended 10-8 for me.

I felt good going into the third because I had something that worked. I couldn't out-technique the guy in any way, but I was more patient and my (one) action was working. However, after the third started my opponent made a change that threw me off a lot. He didn't change his actions or his strategy - he just sped everything up a lot and ruined the timing that I had been able to feel for his attacks. Just like that he began to pile up points. He caught up to me at 10, but I was able to make 2 good actions to get up 12-10. At 13-13 he caught me again. The next touch, he threw me off balance with his high tempo footwork and then made an attack from too far away. I countered, but missed low with my tip and hand. He continued with a fleche and got up 14-13. Now that I finally had to press him again, he was able to pick my hand as I tried to engage his blade and won it 15-13.

Nationals are next month. In the meantime I'm going to start taking lessons again.
Also, I think I'm going to start trying to get guys to fence me for money in timed and refereed matches. My fencing style is so radically different when pressure is being applied, I feel like I need to try to simulate that more often. Practicing different techniques and tactics is good a lot of the time but I need more pseudo-competitive experience.