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Welted 24/7 · 03-30-2005, 05:16 PM

It was 6 years ago for me, but I remember it pretty vividly. I had just started fencing maybe 4 or 5 months before, and my coach recommended that I go to this one to get a feel for what competing is like. It was in a blisteringly hot gym in the beginning of June, and I had won my first DE. So I'm waiting, and waiting, and waiting...and WAITING, until my dad goes to the bout committee and asks why it's taken almost two hours to get to my next bout. They say "Oh, he already lost, he's out." This does not make him happy.

Anyway, after everything gets fixed, I ended up fencing someone who was probably a top seed in the tournament. It was my first run-in with a lefty, and at the same time the first time I'd fenced a flicker. So he's just stinging me all over my back, and kicked the crap out of me, something like 15-3. I remember I got really mad at one point after he landed a particularly painful one on a shoulderblade and wound up to whack him across the chest with the blade. Showed him.

Any good stories?

TooLoftheDeviL · 03-30-2005, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by welted 24/7

I remember I got really mad at one point after he landed a particularly painful one on a shoulderblade and wound up to whack him across the chest with the blade. Showed him.

I like this story better when you get black carded.

D+F+P=Hadouken! · 03-30-2005, 05:29 PM

oooh... my first JO quals, I got murdered. I was 4th seed, and I lost it, 15-9. I just wasnt leading with the tip.

LordTofuDog-jnr · 03-30-2005, 05:43 PM

First competition I did, I was doomed to lose regardless but just to add salt to the wound I retreated and fell off the *barely* raised piste and twisted my ankle. 15-0, check! The guy then won the whole thing.

For me though, the main thing was that my ankle was fine a few hours later.

dreamer90024 · 03-30-2005, 05:47 PM

I don't remember what the score was, but I do remember that I basically stood there and go hit over and over and over again. It was very embarassing, but it was my first competiton and it was in foil so oh well.

ThatReallyHurt · 03-30-2005, 05:58 PM

I lost, 15-3. I was down 8 or 9 to 0 before I changed tactics - stopped trying to outfence him and started trying to force him off the piste. Got me three!

I remember when DE's were explained - I was thinking "What? FIFTEEN? You're kidding, right?"

oiuyt · 03-30-2005, 06:11 PM

Nope, don't remember it at all. All I remember from that tournament is who my one victory was (the B in my pool, go fig).

-B :)

GreenDot · 03-30-2005, 06:15 PM

My first DE ever was against someone in the top 4 of the US junior points list. I had been fencing for maybe 2 months. It was actually kind of nice, since there was no pressure at all, and I could just focus on scoring a few touches as opposed to winning.

-James

Purple Fencer · 03-30-2005, 07:00 PM

Duel in the Desert....back when it was held at UNLV....didn;t win a singlebout the entire day....got hammered in DE.

MyrddinsPrecint · 03-30-2005, 08:02 PM

i was fencing some girl with orange hair--

the final score was 15-14 her----

and my coach swore that i had won the bout several touches before.

AndrewH · 03-30-2005, 08:15 PM

Psh, I havent lost one yet

Actually my first epee DE I lost by not that bad of a margin, considering how new I was and that I was fencing someone much better.

My first sabre DE loss, on the other hand, was a 15-1 clobbering by the then-state-champion.

Yea, gotta keep in touch with your roots...

Point_Left · 03-30-2005, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyrddinsPrecint

i was fencing some girl with orange hair--

the final score was 15-14 her----

and my coach swore that i had won the bout several touches before.

Same thing here. Except my opponent had brown hair. At the 8 pt break it was 8-7. The ref kept making stupid calls. Either way, so I'm not sure who really would have won that bout. (Although the other fencers in my club insist it should have been mine.) The ref was primarily an epee ref. Typical call: I come forward, she starts an attack in prep. I parry and riposte and she remises. The call? Parry, riposte. Hers. The ref was not watching the strip, but counting blade clashes. (I asked him why one of those calls was her point. His response? There was blade contact, and since I was attacking...) Other things like that. Alot of the calls should have gone the other way.

great bowyer · 03-30-2005, 09:22 PM

the first one i lost in a usfa comp (epee) was to a very tall guy, i figure i should just close distance and get inside his reach to hit him. he just kept reaching over my shoulder and hitting my back. i lost 15-9 iirc, he won the tournament. the last time i fenced him i completly crushed him, he might have only had one hit on me that bout. it took me the better part of a year before i finally won a de bout.

AndrewH · 03-30-2005, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by great bowyer

it took me the better part of a year before i finally won a de bout.

Yea, I think it was the same here. DE bouts are a completely different skill, and you never really get to practice them, you always do 5 touch bouts in practice.

RebelFencer · 03-30-2005, 10:10 PM

heh, my first DE bout was a year and a half ago after about 5 weeks of fencing. I ended up losing 15-7. Oh well, live and learn.

rcmatthews · 03-30-2005, 10:17 PM

Yes, they do start us early in competitions down here, but i think thats a good thing.

JonTong · 03-31-2005, 12:58 AM

haha...I have never get in DE in foils, I always get eliminated in the pool rounds...

For epee, I remember it was like 4 years ago when I was at my hometown Hong Kong. It was my first time ever to fence epee in a tourney and in fact it was my first time fencing epee on a piste. I beat one out of four guys in the pool (Thx God!) and finally got chance to fence the first DE in my life. I am quite a tall guy (6’2’’) compare to most of the kids in Hong Kong and I was fencing a relatively short fencer (about 5”6””). That kid was quite fast but he’s not use to the distance. I stole some touches from him. I lost 12-15. Not too bad for a beginner.

LUDICROUS · 03-31-2005, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewH

Yea, I think it was the same here. DE bouts are a completely different skill, and you never really get to practice them, you always do 5 touch bouts in practice.

Come to my club, where the majority of bouts last to 15, and the few resident sabreurs fence forever if there's only 2 of them. Barely a minute break anywhere.

oiuyt · 03-31-2005, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewH

you never really get to practice them, you always do 5 touch bouts in practice.

Well, that all depends on how you practice.

During the collegiate season, yeah, you should work on 5's, they're all that matter to you. Practicing for USFA/FIE events and you need to be able to handle both so you practice both.

Perhaps YOU always do 5's, but that's certainly not true everywhere. And you could likely convince people where you practice to mix it up a bit. Especially in sabre where hooking up takes as much time as the 5. :)

-B :)

AndrewH · 03-31-2005, 11:05 AM

lol to quote Yefim... I want you guys do MORE BOUTING!

At my old club we'd always fence to 5 too, but we had a lot of sabres and short bouts kept things moving.