Bad story I remember - have any yourself?

[LUDICROUS]

I remember about a year ago fencing a bout in my very early days (I'm still in my early days, but lets put it into perspective!) of fencing. Twas dry fencing, and I had been fencing for about a month, probably less. Of course, my parries were like windscreen wipers. The referee was a bit of a moron, and standing much too close to the action at the time (I suppose I was too wrapped up in the bout, or I just didn't know better to tell him to stand back) - I violently parried, and the tip grazed across his forehead, maybe 2 centimetres above his eye. The point did have a rubber point on it, but I still suspect I would have taken his eye out - twas a violent parry! At the time I didn't think much of it, but now, it kinda makes me nervous

Have any such stories?

[WhipLash]

yupz. second week of fencing. learning how to parry...opp point blade, i parry. got bored so i was asking what to do if your opp do this...and he was demostrating when his tip hit my face....less than a cm below my eye. got a little cut to show for it then. freaked out and always use a mask now...

[LordTofuDog-jnr]

The first time I went to a competition I only went to watch, It was a national event and I'd been fencing for less than a year so it was a bit above my skill level.

I learnt not to sit in any of the central chairs; I sat down on one of them just in time to have a foil tip hit above my eye by around 1cm. I moved pretty quickly.

As a bit of trivia; the guy who hit me went on to win gold.

[remise]

I was directing two 'B' rated fencers when, (a bout was taking place on a strip directly behind me), and one of the fencers fleched the other. The attack was successfully parried, but the blade went right into the back of my head. Aside from a migrane the rest of the day, my scalp was sore for about a week. I still get nervous when I have to direct in clubs that have strips very close together.

[daveappr]

At a club event where the strips were a bit too close an overzealous junior epee fencer fleched, crossed off the strip into a director who had just happened to stepp back following the action on another strip knocking him into the strip he was directing. He fell across the weapon arm of one of the fencers. Thankfully no injuries, and after a blustery reprimand of the offending fencer the now red faced director promptly excused himself and headed off for some liquid refreshments <-read a much needed beer here.

[jeff]

That kind of thing has happened to me: I've related previously being blind sided (flick coming from behind a pillar) and being hit in the face. Ow. Another time I was directing Jack Tichacek and Peter Lewison in the finals of an open at the old NYFC (71st street), where the strips were very close together. One did a beat attack, and the other's blade went into my face, sending my glasses into the air. I caught the glasses, and - while everybody in the room stopped to see if I was damaged - said "sorry gentlemen, I lost the action. On guard, please". One of my few moments of sang froid Directing is more dangerous than fencing sometimes.

[sabreur]

Originally Posted by jeff

That kind of thing has happened to me: I've related previously being blind sided (flick coming from behind a pillar) and being hit in the face. Ow. Another time I was directing Jack Tichacek and Peter Lewison in the finals of an open at the old NYFC (71st street), where the strips were very close together. One did a beat attack, and the other's blade went into my face, sending my glasses into the air. I caught the glasses, and - while everybody in the room stopped to see if I was damaged - said "sorry gentlemen, I lost the action. On guard, please". One of my few moments of sang froid Directing is more dangerous than fencing sometimes.

I've been know to wear a mask when directing sabre in narrow confines.

MR

[GreenDot]

I was trying to turn on a box between two strips while a couple people were fencing saber on the other strip. Beat attack send a blade directly into my eye. I got lucky and walked away with just a crescent shaped corneal abrasion, but it was pretty scary for a few minutes. Nothing like seeing only grey out of one eye for about 10 minutes to make you think twice about getting too close to the strip.

-James

[howtobrew]

It was nearly 9:30 on a Friday night and only 4 people were still there. Myself, an opponent, and the coach conducting a lesson on the other side of the room.

I had backed my opponent down to his end of the strip with a series of viper-like thrusts* and was waiting for a counterattack which I could in turn score off of. What he decided to do instead was to drop low and try for my foot, with the result that his hamstring cramped up and he collapsed with a scream to the floor. The coach heard the scream and came running over to see me bending over my opponent with my blade still pointed at him. Coach assumed that I had skewered him with a broken blade. Fortunately not.

*(actually a pretty boring story so I tried to spice up the verbage a bit)

[BoutAfrica]

My club has One narrow hall with two pistes packed quite close to each other. So it is verry difficult to preside a bout when both pistes are in use.

On just one such occasion i was presidind a bout on one piste and a nother guy was presiding on the other one. we were forced to stand at opposite ends, almost by the warning lines.

As Murffy's law would have it, i was hit (or flicked) on the back of the head by one of the fencers on the other piste only to turn around and get smacked on exactly the same place by one of the guys on my piste.

[Decadence]

A friend and I were testing and we were sorta joking around, she she quickly locked me out, then i locked her out then she went to quickly hit me and she got me in the crevice about a millimeter away from my eye. It looked pretty nasty. I was bleeding. Luckily, my actual eye wasnt affected. To this day I always hold my mask up when testing.

[Go? Fencing?]

I was scorekeeping for a pool at a novice tournament. One of my teammates was fencing, and the other guy had some really wild parries. Now normally, such parries would be parries to the floor, but since it was a tournament, all the strips were quite clost together, so the parries turned into parries to my knees. A few bouts later, my teammate was up again against someone with really wild parries, so I got more hits on my knees. I ended up with the only brusies I've gotten from fencing while not actually fencing myself, and what I called "fencing shell shock," where I flinched every time a foil tip came near me for about half a year.

I've also been fencing a few times when my opponent's foil hit my mask, shoving it into my nose. Didn't bleed, but hurt a lot.

[Purple Fencer]

On;y been hit once in 8 years....and that was a minor grazing in salle with beginners. I try to stay well back of the strip just in case.

Funny thing about fencers...we would never play in a busy street, but we'll stand 2 feel from people flinging radio antennas about and not think anything's strange!

[parrythis]

More humorous than bad, but I'm sure it looked bad to others at the time...

I was fencing dry foil in some casual free-play and my opponent's blade went passe and nicked a finger on my left hand. The finger started bleeding, but at the time, I didn't even know I had been cut. Since were were fencing dry, I was acknowledging my opponent's hits and pointing out (with my left hand) where his point landed. So, without my knowing, I was planting my bloody hand on my white jacket over and over in different places. After a few touches, my jacket looked like I had been run through multiple times.

Eventually someone pointed out the blood and when EVERYone turned to look, you should have seen the looks of horror on everyone's faces. They thought I was dying. I thought they were all going to pass out. When everyone learned what had happened, we all had a good laugh about it, but for awhile I'm sure I looked like a goner.

[oso97]

An incident that seemed bad at the time and lead to a bit of tension for a couple of weeks:

I was fencing epee (NOT my regular weapon, but I just wanted to play a little) with a fellow at a club I used to visit occationally. Fellow I'm fencing keeps coming forward with his arm open and then doing a very successful bind on my blade when I go for it, so I decide to fient to the arm and derobe his attempted bind and go for the thigh. Unfortunately, the point of my weapon lands right in the little space atop the kneecap. Quite vigorously too. He collapses in a heap just as I'm celebrating the touch. Not dancing a jig or anything, just a subtle pumping of the off weapon hand and a "yes!"

Observers misread my thought I was celebrating taking him down, not the fact that I finally had scored a touch on the fellow. It ended up being a little tense, but everyone calmed down later when we explained exactly what had transpired. I still feel bad to this day though.

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by LUDICROUS

I remember about a year ago fencing a bout in my very early days (I'm still in my early days, but lets put it into perspective!) of fencing. Twas dry fencing, and I had been fencing for about a month, probably less. Of course, my parries were like windscreen wipers. The referee was a bit of a moron, and standing much too close to the action at the time (I suppose I was too wrapped up in the bout, or I just didn't know better to tell him to stand back) - I violently parried, and the tip grazed across his forehead, maybe 2 centimetres above his eye. The point did have a rubber point on it, but I still suspect I would have taken his eye out - twas a violent parry! At the time I didn't think much of it, but now, it kinda makes me nervous

Have any such stories?

Nearly the exact same thing...except the director fell off the stool he was sitting on and went "AHHHHHHHH" while clutching his eye. My opponent and I thought we had taken his eye out. It turned out my opponent had grazed juuuuuuust above the eye, drawing blood. (I think. I have a horrible memory.) Anywho, that was also my scariest fencing moment.

[Peach]

1. Past weekend--Just before my first DE bout, someone informs me my opponent once broke another fencer's wrist.

In the first touch, he breaks a weapon on me.

Further into the bout, he attacks, I parry, I riposte, I miss, he belts me across the larynx with his forte, I fall to the ground going "ack!" and after I'm able to breathe again I realize my back index finger knuckle is dripping blood. . . and we have to change strips because the reel cord on his side broke off at the plug in the same action.

I won, but I have a bruised knuckle, a sore throat, and a fading set of stripes diagonally across my back arm.

2. A friend of mine told me she went for diagnostic tests, and her doctor diffidently asked her why she happened to have a bruised rib. Doctors are required to investigate possible domestic abuse problems.

So I told my friend about my doctor saying, "I'm sorry. . . I have to ask this . . . Who did this to you?"

And my reply was: "Well, this bruise was a 16-year-old boy, and that one was a guy in his 80's, and this was a middle-aged woman. . . " Should have seen her face.

3. The only bad eye injury I've ever gotten from fencing was when I yanked at a body cord and the plug flipped up and scratched my cornea. Had to wear a patch for a day.

4. Distinguished coach demonstrating correct sabre cuts, not wearing a mask. He makes the mistake of cutting to my guard sharply enough to trigger my response and I riposte neatly to the center of his bald head. He blinks, and moves to the next student.

[Monkeyboy]

3rd or 4th beginers tourny. Fenced dry, but I was used to that, and our coach forced us to thrust forward, not just touch the jacket. I fient, my opponent parrys and executes a semi-circle repost (flat like a fly swatter) and slaps me right on my left nipple....3 TIMES IN A ROW. I think I have the remise, but the director is my opponents coach, so he gets the point each time. So I ask the ref to show this fellow how to repost as a thrust and not a swat, and after giving my nipple to God...again...she disallows the point and I went on to win what is still my most painfull bout

[mrgenius]

my friend and I were working on a film, and we wanted to use epees. it was the early choreography, and we only had one mask. (paraphrasing) he said "dude I don't think we should do this if you only have one mask." I said "Nonsense you've never done epee before I can block it." Then during our choreography he lunged and hit me very, very close to my eye.

[dilznik]

Nothing exciting ever happened on the strip. But one time I went clubbing with a fellow fencer from my club in Munich. He's a little taller than me and a smoker. I was scanning the crowd and turned around to say something to him and took the business end of his cigarette right in the eyelid. That really hurt. Does that count?

Well how about this one then? I was at a tourney which was in a high school gym and, while milling around waiting for the second round of something to start, I noticed some badminton stuff. I thought "wow, badminton stuff," and got a racuet... raquet... *dictionary.com*... racquet and one of those birdie things. I tried to hit it up in the air but needless to say, it flies backwards, tailfeathers first, right into my eye. That really hurt, too.

Nothing on the strip, though.