Most embarassing fencing moment?

[Coup de Grace]

What was your most embarassing fencing moment?

[Katman]

Breaking some of my blades with my own two hands while straightening them.

What about yours? I showed you mine now you show me yours.

[glowstix]

getting yellow cards at a NAC for equipment failure before a DE with everyone watching...only to go home and have them all work as if nothing happened.

[ThatReallyHurt]

What was your most embarassing fencing moment?

Hmm... so far, I think it was last weekend at a tournament - all of the people from my club who were there were watching and cheering for me. I'd never fenced in a space with more than one box/director at the same time. About 3 seconds into my first bout, I hear a box beep, and a director call a halt. Thinking it was my bout being called, I stopped, straightened up, and dropped my weapon arm.

I didn't immediately understand why my opponent lunged in and hit me, but I did as soon as the box right beside me beeped and the director of my bout called a halt.

Looked up to see everyone from my club either covering their eyes or shaking their head.

Never happened again.

[Go? Fencing?]

Well, this wasn't me, but I saw someone hit off-target when testing weapons. Talk about bad point control!

[UTEpee]

maybe going to your side of the strip, getting hooked in and your weapon checked, then realizing that your opponent is a lefty and you must unhook and walk to the other side while the spectators watch and say "what is he doing?"

[Boo Boo]

Not sure weapons failing or breaking blades is hugely "embarrassing"...

Probably the most embarrassing thing for me was "loosing it" after getting knocked out at a major national tournament and having a go at my husband in the middle of the sports hall (who had been standing completely meekly at the end of the piste whilst the referee let his guide dog make some decisions which majorly affected the outcome of the fight). I was yelling (straight after fight, very angry), took my glove off and through it in his direction (not specifically at him). The glove hit him in the face and knocked his glasses off - apparently, from the side, looked like I whacked him with it. Well, a large proportion of the hall was watching by now and there was an audible "Oooooooohhh".

Had to apologise prefusely (and it was an accident - wasn't actually trying to knock him about the face), but...

Have learnt to try and not loose it now

Boo

[downunder]

What was your most embarassing fencing moment?

eep,

i did this at the under 20 nationals, and the two pistes were side by side with the boxes in the middle for the quarter finals... So i go and plug in, and go up and test my weapons. Funnily enough it didn't work, which was strange because I had tested it when i won my last 16. What was even stranger was that I could hear a noise when i depressed my epee tip, but no light. It was then i got prodded by the fencer on the other piste, as i'd taken his spool.... *sigh*

[Balaestra]

At the U20 Nats, I saw this bout between my friend, and this dude from Brisbane, or something like that, and the bout was won by my friend 15-13 (I think). But anyway, the guy who lost was mid fleche, and my friend Parry riposted and hit him square in the middle of his stomach. This guy then threw his mask off and yelled very loudly, then the referee black carded him in front of everybody. It was the first black carding I'd ever seen. I would've been embarrassed if I'd been in his place.

[Purple Fencer]

California State Games a few years back. Men's foil. Hook up, go to check weight...nothin'....Director advised me that I have clipped the cord to my lame, but have not actually plugged on...Director? Derek Cotton...oy

[Zilverzmurfen]

What was your most embarassing fencing moment?

...involves a womans worst fear when wearing fencing kit. Enough said.

[Achilles]

earlier this season I was fencing in my first round DE. I had not fenced for a few months and I had to fence this beginer. I ended up loosing really badly 15-10.

[Welted 24/7]

Not even at a competition, I was practicing with a foilist in our club. He hit me in the thigh, the blade bend WAY back, then snapped back and hit me in my now-unhappy place. I was on the floor trying not to hurl for the rest of the night.

[Alain]

Nothing major, or perhaps I've just blocked the really bad ones from my memory...

Once I had had a bad weapon day at the local championships, and after starting off with 5 épées they'd all developed some fault or other and I ended up borrowing one for the final (against my brother). One of the first things he did was to beat my weapon, at which point it disintegrated - blade went flying, guard rolled off one way, socket the other, lots of noise and a big "ooooh!" from the crowd - with me left just standing there, holding nothing more than the handle

[Boo Boo]

A friend of mine (no, no - not me!) was fencing foil at her club (big club in London). She was wearing breeches and they split rather severely on a lunge. Well, she always wears shorts under her breeches - except for that night, when she was wearing just a thong (for Australians: it is very minimalised underwear with nothing but a strand of fabric at the back - and not a flip-flop shoe...). So she ended up exposing more to her clubmates than most would care to...

Boo

[Coup de Grace]

This occured last year:

It was my first step on an metal piste (fencing foil at the time) facing a rated opponent. I make the first advance and somehow trip over my front foot, fall forward land squarely on my knees. It was the "Keystone Cops" attack technique.

I thought fencing helps to improve gracefulness?

[JohnK]

This occured last year:

It was my first step on an metal piste (fencing foil at the time) facing a rated opponent. I make the first advance and somehow trip over my front foot, fall forward land squarely on my knees. It was the "Keystone Cops" attack technique.

I thought fencing helps to improve gracefulness?

Back in College we were fencing at the big tournament in January at Penn State; we were actually up against Penn State and getting hammered pretty badly. I was in an Epee Bout against one of their 6' 5" guys, on a raised metal strip. Anyway, he REALLY was tightly hugging the left side of the strip (from my point of view) I guess because I was lefthanded. He retreated, slipped on the edge, and basically fell backwards like a Sequoia being chopped down, finally slamming the back of his head on the floor.

The embarassing part for me is everyone else on all the other strips, obviously, wasn't watching, but they heard this guy fall and then saw the people gathering around, and they were looking at me like I'd knocked him down with some vicious corps-a-corps or something. I actually wasn't anywhere near him when he slipped :-)

Anyway, he really was woozy (could almost see the cartoon birds circling his head), took the full injury time, but kept fencing. I got several touches on him while he was woozy but his head cleared and he still ended up beating me.

[JackSparrow]

They started weight testing the weapons in the later stages of a competition and I went through four foils before I found one that passed. Started off several points behind and very red faced. Still, got a round of applause when we finally got going.

[Spike327]

A few years ago I was fencing the first touch in a foil bout against a pretty good, pretty aggressive fencer. I pushed him slowly and made a wussy little attack which he parried easily, and then he took just one step toward me. I flipped out and tried to reverse directions so fast (and so poorly) that I caught my front heel on the floor mid-retreat, kicking my own shoe into the air and falling several feet backwards onto my back in a weird sort of pretzel.

I think I lost after that.

[mrbiggs]

...involves a womans worst fear when wearing fencing kit. Enough said.

My most embarassing fencing moments...hmmm, I have two, one with a fencer, the other with a director.

The first one was I was about to fence a 5 touch bout with an A ranked epeeist. I knew this would be my hardest bout in the tournament. (It was a round robin.) So I hook up, test bellguards...and hit him in the arm. It took me 3 tries to get the bellguard. I was extremely embarassed.

It turned into my best bout, though, as I beat him 5-3. There was alot of luck in that victory, though.

The other embarassing moment was at my last tournament (foil, this time). I was having trouble with a certain senile director, who screwed me in 3 out of 5 pool bouts through HORRIBLE, random calls. In my second DE, I made a very good attack against a counterattacking lefty with a small lamé. The director called it me searching for blade, his attack in prep. I lost it, and yelled "I searched!?!" Half a second later, I felt badly (she was the best director at the tournament, in my opinion, and it was her good directing that helped me make it through my first DE bout.) I apologized right away, and I don't think she cared much about it, but I still feel really bad about challenging what was probably a good call. Luckily, no one really noticed the incident.

Oh, and one time ALL of my epees broke, and I had to borrow one. Then I knocked out 3 of 4 fencers on their team in DE's, and was the only victory against the 4th in pools.