I would also like to add that you are free to leave comments. Please understand that I will probably have the urge to snap back and reply to comments which I deem to be heinous.
I've been making a list of things that keep me from dominating a tournament. Hopefully i'll remember to correct them. Hopefully you'll learn from them. These aren't in any meaningful order btw.
1. Overconfidence, and screwing around in the pools, getting too many touches against, and then getting placed 2nd instead of 1st.
2. Overconfidence, and getting ambushed by some kid with straight gypsy tactics.
3. Hot ref's. I can't keep my elbow in and land a flick to save mankind when all the blood is rushing to my genitals. I just can't. Friggin hormones playing havoc with my tempo... Basically, if i enter a tournament, and i have a hot chick reffing my pools, i need to be prepared to take out the number 1 seed for my first DE. Heaven forbid i have to put up with her perky... nature for 15 touches.
4. Getting thrashed the night before. I think Golubitksy could do it (or he wrote about doing it in his autobiography), but I cannot drink like testosterone poisoned ukranian. Nor can i fence like one. Nor can i put all the regret of last night's mistakes behind me to focus on the bout at hand.
5. Hot fencers. this is a lot better than having a hot ref for some reason, but it still an obstacle. How do I mac to somebody I just demolished using boob thumping AiP's? This makes me less inclined to use AiP, which would have other wise been the most effective way of doing things. Also, i have found that my success in talking up girls is inversely correlated with the number of times I score using counter attack with opposition. Learn from my mistakes everyone.
6. Finicky weapons. Having to replace weapons, body cords, etc, ruins my flow. Momentum is actually really important. I need to be careful not to lose it.
7. Not believing in a touch. Sometimes if i would only reach and believe that my hand knows what to do, i could disengage and hit with no problem. When i don't do that, i get parry riposted (blade or distance) and i waste a lot of energy. Relaxing and believing are tough for me. Especially for double 4 and double 6 parry's. I can move my foil in circle twice to avoid the blade. I do it all the time in practice. I'm fast enough... but i'm too pussy to believe in it come competition time.
8. Focusing on the touch at hand. I've comeback 7 points before in a DE. It's possible. It's tough. I don't think it's possible when you regard it as scoring 7 touches in a row. It's mentally more acceptable to just score once, 7 times. Funny, but true for me.
9. Giving up. Sometimes, i try a suite of tactics that normally work for competitors. If that suite doesn't work, i sometimes get really nervous and i lose desire to win. Everyone has a weakness. Everyone. I need to believe that I can find it, and i can use it.
10. Looking at the opponents rating. Why the crap should I care. It doesn't help me. A fast attack at the right time gives me a touch no matter if the person behind the lame is a U, A, world cupper, or plastic surgeon.
11. Getting bored on strip. Sometimes i think i'm lulling the opponent into a rhythm, when really i'm just putting myself to sleep. They attack, I have enough time to wake up and look suprised when they hit me. This is one that just floors me everytime i think about it.
12. Parrying 2-3 times. ONCE. one parry is enough. ONE. no need to hit their blade a bunch of times.
10-07-2009 03:37 PM