Random Acts of Good Sportsmanship

[D'Artag-NOT]

There have been a number of threads lately about bad sportsmanship--what it is, who's most guilty of it, yadda, yadda, yadda. So now . . .

Let's hear it for the good guys!

Post your stories--the gracious winner--the valiant loser--the fencer who loaned you a body cord so you could fence that crucial bout--the encouraging spectator--the steady, dependable clubmate.

And name names!!

[Sabresque]

Well when Keeth accidentally bumped shoulders in the bout against (was it france?) and knocked his opponent over he ran over and picked him up, making sure he was ok.

[veeco]

- When Timea Nagy in her semifinal helped Maureen Nisima attach back her groin strap.
- When Erik Boisse annouced a touch on himself twice in the event: once fencing his teammate Fabrice Jeannet, and once in his semifinal against Marcel Fisher.

[edew]

She didn't give her an atomic wedgie at the same time, did she?

[whtouche]

When nemcsik seemed genuinely concerned about montano's foot, after he landed on it akwardly, during the MS final bout.

[veeco]

When nemcsik seemed genuinely concerned about montano's foot, after he landed on it akwardly, during the MS final bout.

Yes, that was a good one, too.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

When I loaned my weapon to my opponent.... and lost.

[Sabresque]

Haha I understand that one DFP. I flew to europe for a competition, loaned a teammate a manchette and lost my first de against her. At my next euro competition I loaned a bodycord to a teammate and lost to HER second DE. Since those two I'm not ever loaning anyone anything again. (I know, I know bad sportsmanship... but it hurts to fly all that way to lose).

Hmm...

I see good sportsmanship everyday when a fencer can be completely angry and aggressive on the strip and be able to step off it and joke around/be nice with their opponents and competitors. Not everyone can do that, seperating the sport from the person.

[MyraTrue]

I had a friend who was showing me a championship bout of a large international competition. I don't know which, when or where. I think it was in mens foil- two fencers of different nationalities- that somehow corps-a-corps occurs and one fencer has his mask slammed into his face. He staggers back, and collapses off the strip, taking off his mask and holding his face. The other fencer practically sprints over and crouches next to him, trying to see if he is ok.

I've seen too many fencer who would stand there and wait for the card to decend, but think its not their concern.

[Purple Fencer]

If I felt a hit I landed was particularly hard I usually ask if my opponent's okay, regardless of weapon or locale. And I've also done the loaning of my gear to an opponent...I just wanna fence!

[DanInMI]

There have been a number of threads lately about bad sportsmanship--what it is, who's most guilty of it, yadda, yadda, yadda. So now . . .

Let's hear it for the good guys!

Post your stories--the gracious winner--the valiant loser--the fencer who loaned you a body cord so you could fence that crucial bout--the encouraging spectator--the steady, dependable clubmate.

And name names!!

great idea....!

[DanInMI]

Well when Keeth accidentally bumped shoulders in the bout against (was it france?) and knocked his opponent over he ran over and picked him up, making sure he was ok.

LoL....that was hilarious. the other fencer was doing the it's-my-touch-give-me-the-point hand pump when keeth bumped him. he pumped his hand a couple more times before it occured to him to fall down, and then he flopped like a brazillian soccer player. That was classic.

[DanInMI]

This past spring my son was fencing in a local tournament. He was having a good day and was undefeated in his pool bouts until the last bout. Halfway through that last pool bout he suddenly couldn't score a touch and he lost the bout. Shortly after the bout he and the other fencer, Brian Martisius, discovered that my son's tip was broken. Although my son told Brian that it was his own fault that he had not discovered the malfunction during he bout, Brian went to the director tried to get him to allow them to fence the bout over.
They would not let them, of course, but I thought it was great sportsmanship for him to try.

[Victor]

There are some who see such politeness or "acts of kindness" as insulting patronization, as though the person who has shown consideration is really only trying to play a game of one-upsmanship. You know, the classic image of the downed warrior batting away the hand that's been offered to help him up.

[Monkeyboy]

This past spring my son was fencing in a local tournament. He was having a good day and was undefeated in his pool bouts until the last bout. Halfway through that last pool bout he suddenly couldn't score a touch and he lost the bout. Shortly after the bout he and the other fencer, Brian Martisius, discovered that my son's tip was broken. Although my son told Brian that it was his own fault that he had not discovered the malfunction during he bout, Brian went to the director tried to get him to allow them to fence the bout over.
They would not let them, of course, but I thought it was great sportsmanship for him to try.

I learned this lesson the hard way, with several different reasons. One bout I lost after the end of the last period tie in a DE scored by one of those fancy machines with a remote. The Director told us "Fence" but had not re-set the box...it wasn't until my SECOND good hit that I decided something was wrong. I asked the director to check my tip, and sure enough, neither mine nor my opponents would work. The box was reset, but as cruel fate would have it, I didn't score the next touch and lost. Lesson learned: check your tip often; and don't worry about holding up the bout. Being a good sport is one thing, but giving away points something else!

[Scott Allen Abf]

When Tan Xue did the splits while fencing Sada Jacobson (and pretended to be hurt, IMHO) Sada walked over and patted her on the back and showed concern; that was decent.

[MyraTrue]

When Tan Xue did the splits while fencing Sada Jacobson (and pretended to be hurt, IMHO)

I didn't see the bout, but I will say this much: even if one can physically do the splits, slamming down that hard and fast on the strip STILL hurts. Quite a bit. Its not so bad you can't walk, but you're waiting for the pain to stop and you hobble a bit.

Sadly, I wish I didn't know all that.

[grotto]

Every time I see a advanced rated fencer slow down for the noob, and keep it simple and challenging for the noob at the same time, rather than seeing if they can score 15 touches in under a minute. Training time is precious and this sort of sportsmanship ranks up there in my book.

[DanInMI]

In my division, many older, more experienced fencers have gone out of thier way to encourage my sons, compliment them on thier fencing performance, and give advice (in a very non-condescending way.)

In my youngest son's first open epee tournament when he was 13 he was eliminated by the only A rated epeeist in the tourny. That fencer came over to him and told him what a great job he did and how hard it was for him to score touches against him. He really spent some time talking to him and gave good advice. It made a big impression on him that he made that much effort.

[P00Man]

what nemcisk did was awesome. a true olympian.