What kids remember

[theLuz]

As parents, we are always wondering what impact we are having and have had on our children. I had a recent experience that illustrated to me just how important we are as parents.



While living in Texas, I would attend the local fencing tournaments in and around Dallas. At these tournaments, you see the usual suspects and you don’t give much thought to where someone is from. However, there are really just three areas that are strong in fencing in Texas:

Dallas area
Austin (and San Antonio) area
Houston area


Someone came up with the bright idea of having a “Braggin’ Rights” Fencing Tournament in some neutral place. We looked at the map and chose the little town of Calvert for its smallness, neutrality and same driving distance for all of us.



Calvert is a tiny town and we just about took over the place. The tournament was in the High School Gym and was to be a two-day, three weapon (foil, epee, and saber) tournament. The winner (the highest finisher in all three weapons) was to receive a really cool ring to be designed and made by one of our fencers who was also a jeweler. This tournament was to determine the bragging rights for the next season, and to provide a party for all of us.



Lee, Phyllis, and I arrived on Friday night with the whole crew and Saturday was the foil and saber tournaments. In my little brain, even though I had been officially retired from competitive fencing for many years, I still thought I could come away with a ring, if I worked this right. By the end of Saturday, that thought was not very prominent in my brain, as I didn’t make the finals in my preferred weapon (foil), nor in my OK weapon (Saber). But we were all having a good time. Fencers tend to have a good time.



We all went to dinner together to continue the good time and people started to add up points to determine if anyone besides the winner of the Saber tournament (as I remember it was a teacher named Scott Clark who later moved to near Abilene, my home town) could possibly win the ring. Because most people only fence one weapon, it seemed Scott had a lock on the ring. As an academic exercise we were looking at everyone for their chances to win. I started looking at the point system and determined that:

If Scott didn’t make the finals in Epee on Sunday
If I won the epee tournament
Scott and I would be tied in points for “The Ring”


Now the whole crowd starts getting into the possibility. No one wants a runaway. Now it starts to get interesting. Lots of whispering and taunting.



The next day, the whispering and taunting continues and gets louder. Now people have a reason to watch the epee. People pick whom they want to win and got really vocal when we were fencing. Scott and I fenced in one of the pools and because I beat him, he was eliminated and did not make the finals. The first “if” is done.



Now everyone in the room is getting into the whispering and taunting and yelling for some excitement.



I was doing pretty well in the epee finals (epee is not my preferred weapon) and the whole tournament came down to my final bout with a “real” epee fencer. A real epee fencer is a tall skinny dude that has cat like reflexes and the patience of Jobe. I’m not a real epee fencer. I want to kill something. If I win this bout, Scott and I are tied in points and we must fence off for the ring.



In a tournament like this (3 weapon), a fence off is done like this:

Both fencers pick a weapon to fence
If you both pick the same weapon (say foil) you fence that weapon: foil
If you each pick a different weapon (say foil and saber), you fence the other weapon: epee


This is a total head trip, as, “do I pick the weapon I want and hope he picks it, or do I assume he is going to pick the third weapon, so we can fence his preferred weapon, or will he think I’m doing that, or………..”. It gets complicated.



My bout with Mr. Epee was very close. We were fencing to five (5) touches and the score was 4-4. The next touch decided, not only the epee tournament, but if there was going to be a fence-off for “The Ring”. Now everyone has picked a side. They were yelling and discussing strategy for the fence-off and it was getting louder in the High School Gym. Everyone was into it.



Mr. Epee got the last touch, I took 2nd place, and the Braggin’ Right were determined. Recently, I was telling this story in front of my now grown son (at the time of the tournament I guess he was about 6 years old). He listened to the story quietly, and I asked him if he remembered that weekend in Calvert.



He said, “Yes, I do remember it.” Although I now realize I should have been quiet at this point, I asked him what, exactly, he remembered about that exciting weekend. He replied, “I remember they had a gravel parking lot.”

[seven6ty]

Ahhhhhhhhh... Kids! Hahaha.

Oh man, at a tourney this past weekend, an under 14 event was just about to start up and they call all the kids over to talk to them. I look over and see two kids run by, and the little portly fellow of the two yells out "Yes! I can't wait to get to be annoying!"

Hahaha, I looked at the director they had just run infront of and he goes "Wait?" Heh... Kids.

[Mr Epee]

Originally Posted by theLuz

Mr. Epee got the last touch, I took 2nd place, and the Braggin’ Right were determined. Recently, I was telling this story in front of my now grown son (at the time of the tournament I guess he was about 6 years old). He listened to the story quietly, and I asked him if he remembered that weekend in Calvert.

Funny story, but for the record he's not talking about me.

[Phaeton]

Then again I think few people actually remember fencing events in and of themselves. I'd be hardpressed to remember the score of any given DE a little bit back.

What I remember is the venue, what I do outside the tournament and the like. Point generally fades into point unless something rather extraordinary happens. I'll not remember the tournament as the one where I was working on remise actions and lost my second DE 15-9; I'll remember it as the tournament where sabre fencers got carded for passivity, and which lacked any nearby parking so I had to walk a little bit too far....

[theLuz]

Originally Posted by Phaeton

Then again I think few people actually remember fencing events in and of themselves. I'd be hardpressed to remember the score of any given DE a little bit back. ....

good point. I have a dime size medal for third place I won when I was in college and went to a small tournament in Houston. I had to beat an older fencer that had me down 4-0 to win that, and I did it. Somethings you do remember.

[GorillaSmile]

I recently lost 15-5 to Travis Exum with my entire family watching. I know I won't forget that one...my dad will never let me.

[theLuz]

Originally Posted by GorillaSmile

I recently lost 15-5 to Travis Exum with my entire family watching. I know I won't forget that one...my dad will never let me.

My dad only saw 4 of my tournaments.
DeGaul Invitational (I won but not until 5:00 AM the next morning)
DeGaul Invitational (the next year, I won and it didn't finish until 5:00 AM the next moring: they added other weapons)
El Paso International (everything in El Paso is International, I won)
1975 Nationals in Tucson (I didn't make it out of the first round, oh, well)

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Dont you guys know that Mr Epee is Pavel Kolobkov? Ugh, idiots.

[KD5MDK]

His english is so good!

[Mr Epee]

Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken!

Dont you guys know that Mr Epee is Pavel Kolobkov? Ugh, idiots.

Oh dear... this is false... looks like someone has gone off their meds again.

[Inquartata]

Of course it's false, we all know you're really Paolo Milanoli. Sheesh!

[Zilverzmurfen]

What a great story, Luz.