Mask at JO's with eyes on it

[sallearmourer]

A young lady showed up at the JO's with eyes painted on it. The mask past weapons controlledand she was on the strip with it. The other fencer protest it as it distraction. Ted Li came out and told her it was illlegall because it distraction the other fencer. The young lady ask to be showed where in the rule book it said that she can't have her mask painted. They never did showed her where in the rule book by the way. She had talk to Dan DeChain of the Semi-Commission and he said it was perfect legal to used. Dan had pasted this same mask at couple of tournments.
Ted may have open up the USFA to a lawsuit over this matter. There is nothing in the rule saying you can't paint your mask. I am thinking about doing shark teeth on my son mask. The young lady was basically told to change mask or get a black card. If you are going to make a called like that you better back it with the rule book it this case there is nothing saying you can't have eyes on your mask.

Using Ted logicl therefore these bright color mask like some of the vendors sell I would fine very distraction esepically the bright yellow ones.

Tim

[Stryder]

Personally, I find the black ones the most distracting of all. They look like flies! Ghastly!
I thought this was a sport of gentlemen until I saw those horrid spectacles.
Imagine. Dressing yourself in all white after Labor day! How perfectly gauche! Then completing the ensemble with a giant microphone head!

Miliani or whoever it was had an Insane Clown Posse face on his mask at World Champs!

[damianip]

[quote]Originally posted by Stryder:
<strong>&lt;SNIP&gt;
Miliani or whoever it was had an Insane Clown Posse face on his mask at World Champs!</strong><hr></blockquote>

Milanoli was not permitted to fence with that mask on. I hear he came to the strip with it just to irritate Jeannet.

Whatever happened, he fenced with a blue one and then put the clown mask on after winning the final.

Paolo

[robert]

I occasionally run into masks with markings on the face. If the markings do not interfere with conductivity in sabre, are not being used to hide flaws or rust, or are not offensive or obscene and it passes the inspection and testing who cares.

[andres]

i dunno but i was fencing here in mexico in a national and i have my mask painted as spider-man. well i got called by some important guys down here and they told me to take it off. they told me that it was inappropiate for the competition. luckily i had thought about that and took my F.I.E. mask that is completely black. he also told me that the masks had to be completely painted in the same color so i think ill have a flourescent green mask for the next tournament.

''father, what happened at fort wilderness?''

[Jeeves]

Andres,
Chupate un pedo (is not funny) It is, however inappropriate.
Just my opinion.

[escrime chick]

My coach tried to wear a mask w/ a pumpkin face painted on it for the Halloween tournie down in CT, and he ran into the same issue -- he would've been allowed to wear it, except that his first opponent (who happens to be a former Olympic team member) complained... My coach says that it's legal to have a face on your mask as long as no one that you're fencing finds it distracting... but none of us are sure where that is in the rule book either <img src="graemlins/freak4.gif" border="0" alt="[Freak2]" />

[MikeHarm]

Now that they're slowly moving towards the see-thru lexan masks.. how about a non-painted mask and painting the face? Would that be legal?


[ 02-25-2002: Message edited by: MikeHarm ]</p>

[lochinvar]

This whole 'distracting the opponent' arguement is not new.

Years ago (early 70's) there was a young man that showed up to a competition at our school with a mask that was completely covered in some paper mache material except for a window area around his eyes so he could see. He looked like his head was encased in cement. (Neeval, that was Joe Biebel; you might ask him about it.)

I don't know if he ever seriously attempted to wear it in sanctioned competition, or if he was allowed to fence in it, but we couldn't find anything in the rule book that prohibited it.

It's just always assumed that one will do the 'gentlemanly' thing and not cause unfair distractions--but I for one welcome the trend to color and individuality in uniforming. I wish there were more of it.

[Mergs]

If the discriminator here is "distracting" then IMHO the lexan masks need to be illegal. There are some pretty ugly fencers out there and by exposing their real faces by use of see through masks, now that is distracting!

[swordsen]

Not too lohng ago peopel complained tha colored socks were distracting too. Now look around at any big event.
People really just need to get over it and let the fencers fence.

[AndrewH]

Does anyone here actually look at the opponent's mask for longer than a second or so during a bout? When I fenced epee, my eyes were locked on the other guy's bell, now I fence sabre and I usually focus on the forearm, so I can see the whole arm motion. Foil I would imagine keeps an eye on the point & the target area.
The only time I'd look at the head was for a riposte, and by that point it's your arm that does the work, you're not really thinking about the action enough to be distracted by any markings on the mask.

On the other hand, what DOES distract me greatly is very vocal audiences- in the quarterfinal elimination round at our freshman-sophomore tournament, many of my opponent's team and parents were shouting instructions during the bout! The energy required to block that stuff out detracts from the energy spent on the bout. Anyone else bothered by that?

[Peach]

I am more bothered when people are shouting instructions to ME.

And I agree, I don't really pay any attention to my opponent's appearance when I'm fencing. I'm looking at the distance and at what they do.

[MikeHarm]

I don't mind if people shout directions to my opponents, I can hear pretty good even with my mask on and it helps me tactically. I had a match once where I won 5-0, because we were both listening to what the guys coach was saying. I knew everything he was going to do; I feinted to the lines he was waiting for me to come in and caught the real attack on the feints he was told to do. :-) Guy shoulda made up a code or something..

[escrime chick]

[quote]Originally posted by Peach:
<strong>I am more bothered when people are shouting instructions to ME. </strong><hr></blockquote>

Moi aussi! That upsets me a lot, especially when it's something I already know I should do, or if I"m already getting mad @ myself... (Apologies again to Lordy who I sort of told off on Sat. -- I know your intentions were good)

[Inquartata]

Heh, well, I also fence in the SCA, and people do a lot more complicated things there than just paint eyes on their masks! Never found it particularly distracting. Silly, yes, but not distracting. ( Personally, I find an opponent who fences better than me to be distracting, and would like to see them outlawed. )

OTOH, what if someone paints "F*** You" across the front of their mask? Or a big fist with upraised middle finger? Or maybe a swastika? It's people who always want to "push the envelope" that get us saddled with rules in the first place, and it wouldn't surprise me to see this practice get prohibited next...

[its_me_mango]

DON'T FLECHE UNTIL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF HIS EYES <img src="graemlins/blah.gif" border="0" alt="[Blah]" />

[edew]

I believe the gal with the eyes on the mask is Carla Schifferle, who has fenced in many events with that mask. So Ted doesn't stand a chance with a ruling.

[suregrip]

I agree with AndrewH. Being kind of new, I was completely "thrown through a loop" when spectators and coaches alike began shouting to my opponent during the DE. Part of my problem was that I'd unexpectedly made that far to begin with, and I really didn't need anymore tension. As far as the masks go, I wouldn't care one way or the other what fencers put on their masks. As an epee fencer, my focus is on the bell and the forearm (and distance) of course. They could glue one of those headbands with the bouncing eyeballs to the top of their masks, and I still wouldn't care.

(Of course, although I'm considered a "veteran" beginner, I've been told I'm a rather tolerant Mom). Guess I wouldn't count, then.

[Cthulhu]

While I wouldn't mind more color in fencing, aside from funky-colored bruises, here's my 2c on the whole complaint issue.

The people who complain might hope that their director is not quite sure on the rules re: color and therefore willing to throw the opponent out. I don't know how many masks everybody brings to tournaments, but chances are that there's no second mask, therefore eliminating one opponent. If the opponent wisely brought a second mask, it might have to be checked, therefore possibly warranting a black card as well for delaying the bout.

If the directors know hteir rules, all you wasted was 5 seconds of your time while complaining about a funky mask.