Time/Rating

[RedsectorA]

I am curious about different people's skills and how fast they go up in rating if they compete.

How long have you been fencing? and what rating are you? (include the year of your rating if you have one) If you are unclassified or don't fence competitively then please say state that!

As an added note, if you want to state how often you fence per week, please do!






[This message has been edited by RedsectorA (edited 04-09-2001).]

[Gajuith]

I have been training since Sept/99 and am currently U in all weapons as woul dbe expected. I practice twice a week and attend as many tournies as possible(not too many).

[Peach]

Sabre, fencing 6+ years, train twice a week, lessons once a week (but I never skip a session), tournaments approximately every other week during the season, earned my first rating, a D, after two years, a B two years later, renewed the B last December.

[veeco]

I had been fencing for about 11 years when I arrived in the US. I went from U to A in less than a year.

[saberkid]

been fencing almost 2 years(11 months) i erned my E at PCC's when they were in sac(because it was close i was abil to go) then went with my E till about 4 months ago, when i got my D then i got my C a week after i got my D and, im still an C01, i fence about 5-8 days a week (yes i said 8 :-) ) and im hoping to get my B soon, seeing as how i almost got it last sunday (lost to James Willaims, 14-15, he was on a good day)

Chris

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Fence with the best die like the rest!

[Stryder]

Started Jan. 1992
Earned my B in foil in 1995
Stopped for a while and then (officially)earned my A in 1999
I fence all three weapons at the divisional level so I have earned my C in Sabre and Epee.
(Self taught, but I have taken some lessons from coaches in the states and in Europe.)

[This message has been edited by Stryder (edited 04-11-2001).]

[rjccj]

Started fencing in January of 1999, competed in my first tourny March of that year. Earned my E in January of 2001, and my D 2 weeks later in Feburary. Had a real coach my first 4 months, took the summer off, came back and the college club had lost it's coach, so one of the higher ranked fencers coached, fencing 2 times a week. Started working out with another coach last Novemeber once every couple of weeks. Since Febuary working out with another coach whenever I can spare the time from school which is getting less and less often, but still working out at school twice a week. Hope to spend the summer working out a couple of times every week.

[RedsectorA]

I see we have some very talented fencers on here. But I know there are more of you out there!

Come on all you bashful people, I am sure you all have a story to tell! Let us here how successful you are in your fencing pursuits!

I think earning a rating is a major accomplishment, I know that if I were to earn one I wouldnt be hesitant to let people know how proud I was that I got it! (Perhaps a major character flaw, Pride, but I try to temper it when I can!)

[MHS Fencer]

This is my 3rd (going into my 4th? not possible) year fencing epee, and I spent most of that time as a U. Last February I earned a D, and a few weeks ago in Kansas City I earned my B, although I'm still waiting for my card. I've been hopping around to national Cadet competitions for couple of years (although I'm aging out) and the highest level of competition I've been in was the recent Montreal World Cup. I think that my rating is highly dependent on the fact that I was able to go to all of these tournaments (thank you parents) because I only get to fence once or twice a week. Additionally I fence with my high school during the winter, and that's an additional 4 days a week, but it doesn't really count (although love my school coach dearly).

-Ian

[ledgerto]

Fencing 2-3 times a week. 2 group lessons, just added 1 private lesson per week. Been doing it for about 5 months. Not rated yet, planning first real bout in June.

[Zelda]

Ok, according to the rankings on the qafa site I am ranked 13th in Australia for Open womens foil. I have been fencing nearly 3 years and train 3 times a week with 2 lessons a week.

[RedsectorA]

Well, I see some people really do jump right up in the ratings!

MHS Fencer - from U to B in just over a year! Great job!

ledgerto - Good luck!! I cant wait to see how well I can do, but I have a long ways to go before I get to competition. (Start my first class in just under 3 weeks)

Zelda- Ranked 13th in Australia in just 3 years!!! Excellent!!!!

Stryder - Do you mean that you are self-taught in all your weapons? or just Saber and Epee? and if you are self-taught in all, did you find it difficult early on in competition? what was lacking?

veeco - you were unrated when you came to the US? why? (if you dont mind me asking)

saberkid - when do you have time to eat?

[Fencing Angel]

this might be a simple question but i'm going to ask anyway. how do you get a rating??

[veeco]

Originally posted by RedsectorA:


veeco - you were unrated when you came to the US? why? (if you dont mind me asking)

Because that's the way it is. When someone takes their license for the first time at the USFA, their rating is a U. Therefore I had to start as U. There is no real way for the USFA officials to say "Ok, you're coming from there, you were rated like this there (or you're coming from a place where there is no rating system) so you should a X".

So I arrived and I had to earn my rating as if I just started fencing. Which is not a big deal anyway, since that's what a lot of people do anyway.

[belligerent_sorceress]

To Fencing Angel: One earns a rating by winning/placing high enough in a USFA sanctioned competition. The ratings go from E (lowest) to A (highest). All unclassified fencers who have not yet earned ratings are U's. One must renew their rating or else they drop back to unclassified status (am I correct?)

------------------
Melissa

"You can beat me, you can bind me, but you can't touch me!

[RedsectorA]

veeco - Ahhh I see! I didnt know that! I would have thought that there would be some way that a rating in say Europe would transfer to the USFA! but hey things are never that simple! but as you said no big deal, since with your experience it probably wasnt too difficult to earn your rating here.

belligerent_sorceress - while not rated I have studied the rating system and you are correct, except I believe that if you are rated (for example B00) and you fail to re-earn your rating, or a better rating, within 4 years that you drop down to the next classification. (example: B00 if by 2004 you dont earn another B classification than you drop down to a C04. If you are out of fencing for a long time you could drop all the way down to a U in time) Seems kind of fair in a way, keeps people active and competing if they want to keep their ratings!

[Stryder]

RedSectorA
I taught myself foil too. There were a few coaches around, and I actually approached the best one and he agreed to be my coach. I guess I don't take lessons well or something because after exactly 5 he said "no thank you" and I was on my own again. (he is more comfortable teaching girls)
Did I find competition difficult early on? I still find it difficult! That is why I do it!
I did have trouble recognizing what I was doing wrong. I had team mates to practice against, and they were good enough to make me work. You can't be significantly better than your fencing partners. And I traveled a lot, so I got to watch and tape great fencers. as well as their lessons.
I remember overhearing advice from a coach at a national tournament, and stealing it for myself. (Walid Mahran told a student while I was eavesdropping, to finish any bout he was winning with a counter-attack. I did. This was specifically for him, and not terribly sound advice for me, but I did it anyway.)

I also made up training tools for myself. One of my favorites is the "nub" a 2 inch long slippery plastic foil grip. I am a strongish guy so I have a bad habit of standing still and sweeping for the blade. You can get away with a lot of bad habits at club, but they kill you in competition. So I used the nub. If I tried to sweep for anything, it fell out of my hand. I was forced to work my feet more than ever before and lunge hard because my every mistake resulted in a point scored and the humiliation of losing my weapon. After a few weeks of suckage, I could beat all the fencers in my club with my nub. Great, great practice. I highly recommend nub fencing to anyone. I can sell you mine for only $49.95

I used to have a poster with Michael Jordan on it. Instead of listing MJ's accolades and accomplishments, this one listed his failures. Over 300 games lost, over 9000 shots missed, how many times he fouled out of a losing game, how many times he got technical fouls, etc.
The last one said "26 times I've been trusted to make the game-winning shot, and missed."
At the end it said "I've failed over and over again, and that is why, I succeed."

Found it. Stole it. Posted it. www.geocities.com/strydermike/mj.html



[This message has been edited by Stryder (edited 04-17-2001).]

[d8m2k]

Stryder,
Not to burst your bubble, but some of those MJ stats are false. Shortly after that commercial aired, reporters asked him if actually missed 26 game winning shots, he laughed and said he didn't know how many he missed, but was way less than 26. 26 just sounded good to Nike.

[Stryder]

Odd that such a stat wouldn't be available to Nike through the NBA in about 3 seconds.
The NBA stats dept can tell you in a minute how many games MJ's older sisters ex-boyfriend watched on TV. Broken down by cable vs PPV vs network.

It's still a cool poster.

[Stryder]

A brief search of MJ's website showed that he missed 10,724 shots in his career with the Bulls alone. And he played 930 regular season games.
If you include playoffs, and his college play, he could easily have lost 300 games.

There was only one mention of game losing shots:
"CHICAGO,12 JUN 98
Jordan's game winning 3-point jumper hits the rim. Bulls lose 83-81"

I know, no one cares but it caught my interest.