Sunday, after a break

Nothing to exciting since my last post. Still working on balance. Got new pants. They actually fit, it's great! I missed a couple weeks due to T traveling for work and me being sick with flu/conjunctivitis. Lots of folks went to the Reno NAC last weekend. Jennifer did well. There was also a D and under epee tournament last Thursday I had wanted to go to but was very sick that day. Turned out Jeremy came in first place, earning his D. And Jim came in third, earning his E. Woo!

Today I went in even though I still feel fairly sick. I thought I might end up just watching, but fencing was just the thing. Made me feel much better. A very good fencer was in town and fencing—Bob Rhea. Often you learn the most from fencing people better than you, and I think this was the case for me today. I fenced him twice, not doing particularly well either time. But the second time I took Don and Russ's advice about fencing lefties—mainly staying close to the outside edge of the strip. Bob fenced right on the strip edge, taking every advantage he could of making hits on the outside. By staying right on the edge yourself you can close that off to some degree. I had fun fencing Russ too. Sadly I didn't get to fence Mikol or Jay, ah well.

I had some luck using my newish "trick" of attacking low hoping to draw a high line counterattack, making a hard "upward" parry, deflecting the counterattack high, then extending to the chest. Got the idea from watching Russ give a lesson a while ago. I'm not sure I'm doing it the way he was teaching it, but it seems to work pretty well, given the person counterattacks high. If they actually parry, it doesn't work.

Video of me and John

On Sunday John Varney had a video taken, on a smart phone, of me and him fencing. I asked for a copy since I had never seen myself fencing, not even a still photo. He gave it to me on a memory stick on Monday and I edited it down a bit (and increased the contrast, etc).

The main thing I see in it, besides my fencing pants being too big, which I knew, was how much my footwork could be improved. Which I also knew, but it helps to see it. I tend to be over-balanced toward my front foot. So I've been practicing balance, keeping my back foot more flat and more aligned heel to front foot (instead of toe to front foot, which is my habit).

On Wednesday footwork came up talking with Mikol and he said he tries to keep his back hip down. I hadn't considered thinking about it in hip terms, but it makes a lot of sense. I will be thinking about that.