I did better than I feared, and worse than I hoped, 18th out of 31. All in all, basically up the middle. I was 2 and 2 in both pool rounds. Lost my first DE but put up a good fight after an initial poor start. So, satisfactory, but...but...
Recently my fencing has felt like I know what to do, mostly, but I make a few too many mistakes—like having a good opening and simply missing. I guess I need to keep plugging away at technique. Another issue is problem solving with people I don't fence very often. I usually go into bouts with some kind of plan, but if it isn't working I need to be quicker and smarter about figuring out why it isn't and what I should try instead. In my DE it took 4 or 5 touches, and some quick advice from Russ, to change to a much more effective tactic. In pool bouts 4 or 5 touches is way too late. So, for example, when my plan for fencing Johannes in the pools failed I wasn't able to problem solve and find something workable before the bout was over. I suspect this kind of thing is another factor that separates the really good fencers from the average—the ability to see and solve tactical problems quickly during a bout. It's a difficult thing to practice since in the club I tend to fence the same few people all the time. Perhaps all the more reason to go to open fencing at other local clubs now and then.
Anyway, like last year's divisional qualifier, there were two rounds of pools, which is nice, especially for those like me who get knocked out of the DEs early. The pools were smaller than I usually like though—both of mine had five fencers, so I got to fence eight pool bouts and one DE. Not bad, but I was glad Yuly was there looking to practice fence after I was out, so I got a little more in for the day.
There were 31 fencers. My seeding going in was 20. After the first pool it was 21 and after the second pool, 18.
My first pool: David Robert, Kyle Margolies, Jim Henderson, and Johannes Klein.
First bout was with my clubmate David Robert. Since we fence all the time I know him quite well. Usually I can beat or bind up his french grip style pretty well. I had a bit of trouble this time—typically getting a good opening and plain missing. Still I got a lead, 3-2. Then I did a bind fleche and, yes, missed. Right over his shoulder. He pegged me in the chest. Tied, 3-3, uh oh. Then we maneuvered a bit, feinting and so on, and somehow I landed a very light touch, I'm not even sure how. At 4-3 I felt pretty good. I waited for the right moment. He held his blade out, I beat and saw an opening. I took it with a fleche. He managed to make it a double, so I won 5-4.
Next bout was with Kyle Margolies. We joke about taking turns winning and losing, although I think he's beaten me more. But I guess it was my turn. My main plan going in was patience and distance—pushing distance but also opening it up a lot and waiting for good opportunities. I learned a lot more about this during my DE with him later. In the pool I suspect I pushed distance a little too much. Then again, he was fleching a lot and I was mostly able to either get away and/or parry. Whether I could riposte was another matter. Usually I simply prevented his fleches from hitting. Later, in the DE, I was able a few times to get him to fleche from too far, making it easier for me to hit. The first few points in the pool were traded back and forth. Once we attacked together and ended up crashing into each other. I was mostly using absence of blade and could tell even so he wanted to beat or try to take my blade. I think once he did manage to at least disrupt my blade and hit, after which I used a stronger absence to "hide" my blade a little more. That, I think, got him to do more fleches, which I was mostly able to stop. At one point we ended up infighting with his blade stuck down and mine in an awkward position. He did the "jabbing at the foot" thing, making me do a little dance while I tried to get my point on. He got my foot. Still, I managed to get up, 4-3. Then I tried a fleche of my own—a low-high fleche I think—and yes, I missed! He scored, 4-4! Oog. The final point, he went for the foot and made me dance a little again, but this time I avoided his point and got mine onto his shoulder. Phew, 5-4 win.
Then I fenced Jim Henderson. I've written before how I've lately had trouble with him and can't quite figure it out. Kyle suggested I might have some success with a beat-fleche, but lately I'm hesitant to fleche against most people. I think I got the first point. Then we got "stuck" in an ugly, blades low mess. He managed to escape first and hit. I think that made it 1-1. He kept extending his blade in something less than a feint, reminding me of Sam Larsen—like perhaps he's trying to set up a pattern of slow, non-threatening extensions, to be followed with an accelerated real attack. That worried me, maybe because Sam is so good at that kind of thing. So I kept beating Jim's extensions from various angles, trying to break up his preparations and also seeking an opening. I kept thinking I might set up a pattern of sharp downward beats then attack with a high seven "lift". I can't remember now exactly what I ended up trying—some kind of beat or "lift" followed by a fast attack. But, yes, again I missed and he scored, 1-2. I think the next point was me lunging straight into some prep of his, making it 2-2. Somehow he got the next one, 2-3. Coming back on line I saw Kyle watching. He motioned a beat-fleche. Okay, I thought, I'll try it. Once again, I missed! I've really got to work on my beats, they are too big, too much arm, making it easy to miss. Russ has pointed this out and makes proper beats look easy. More to work on! Jim scored the final point, so I lost, 3-5.
Final bout in this pool was Johannes Klein. I've had mixed results fencing him. I went in thinking I'd approach things like I might with Charlie (both being lefties)—perhaps I'd try for 6 parries/takes, or 7, or prime. I had also had some luck picking his hand in the past and had that in mind. Sometimes in the past Johannes has been a bit slow on his feet, but today he was bouncing and active, and fleching. He destroyed me 5-1. My one point was a good one at least: He sometimes attacks with very big sweeping motions. I popped him straight to the chest during one of those. At about 1-3 I tried the low-high 8-6 fleche thing that sometimes works with lefties, but it failed bad. Later Russ said Johannes is very smart and hard to parry. Instead he suggested using very big strong beats then popping straight in. I found that curious since Johannes also likes big strong beats. I usually don't think of trying strong beats against people who like to use strong beats, but maybe I should try, at least with Johannes, *next time*.
So that was my first pool. Won two, lost two. Indicator -4. My two wins had been 5-4 and Johannes had beaten me 5-1, so I ended up with a negative indicator. Kyle and Johannes had also gone 2 and 2, but their indicators were higher, so I was 4th place of the pool.
My second pool: David Robert (again!), Isaac Dugaw, Nathan Cox, and Andrew Lee.
The first bout was with David Robert, again. It was closer than before. He got a few points at the start, me missing some (I really got to work on that). He was in the lead at 2-3. I got worried and refocused, looking for those big beats and binds that can get him, and also concentrating on point control and keeping my palm up. It worked and I tied it 3-3, and again, I led 4-3. But then he got one, I forget how (I probably missed!), uh oh, 4-4? But I managed the last one, somehow, and won 5-4. Whew.
Second bout was with Isaac Dugaw. I remembered fencing him at MTFC not too long ago. It seemed at the time like I ought to be able to beat him, but he beat me. This time, I didn't have a big plan, except that I thought he was more a foil than an epee fencer, so maybe I could try attacking into his preparations (like Leland Guillemin suggested on Reddit). I also knew, and saw how he tends to put weight on his front leg a lot, and planned to watch for that and see if I can take advantage of it somehow. Well, those things didn't really work and I just "fenced my game", more or less. I got up 3-2. Then I used a very hard beat, nearly driving his blade into the floor, yet he still managed to get a double out out it, 4-3. I can't remember the details then, I think I tried a 4-6 attack and failed, making it 4-4. Then some simultaneous sort of thing and only his light was on. I lost, 4-5.
Third bout was with Nathan Cox, one of the few fencers I didn't really know. I had watched him fence a couple others in the pool and came up with a plan. He seemed to hold his blade out a lot, which is something I tend to like. He also seemed to have fairly obvious attacks. I planned to use counterattacks with beats, to try a thigh hit, maybe a 4-6 attack, and/or various beats/binds. Mostly those plans didn't work. I did manage to score some using plain reasonable parries against his lunges, and some plain counterattacks. In one case he lunged and I counterattacked while pulling my torso back. His tip fell just short while mine hit his shoulder. I tried the 4-6 thing and it totally failed. That attack used to work pretty well for me but lately it hasn't. I wonder why. Maybe I've gotten rusty with it, screwing up the distance. Anyway we got to 3-3. Then I scored with a counterattack or parry, 4-3! Then I screwed up somehow, 4-4, yikes. The last one, if I remember right, was a straight lunge into his prep. I won, 5-4. Too close...
The final pool bout was with Andrew Lee, who has given me trouble several times in the past. I knew his style pretty well, but was not able to get much of a plan beyond "be patient, don't be risky, and watch out for his fleches". Russ offered ideas though. He said Andrew's defense isn't quite as good as his offense, but he's very patient, technically good, quick on his feet, and has that excellent fleche, sometimes with a six-bind. Russ suggested I take advantage of his less-than-perfectly-confident defense and press him, then if I see him beginning to search for my blade, trying to set up his fleche, attack into the searching. Something like that. And I did press him pretty hard, forcing him back and using beats and such to keep him occupied and unable to set up his fleche. I wasn't quite sure what to do to score, but tried to be patient and look for openings, especially if I had pushed him to the end of the strip. I think most of our points were fairly regular parry-riposte type things, but I can't remember the actual scoring details too well. We got to 2-2, which made me pleased—this tactic was working, kinda...at least better than anything I'd tried with him in the past. Then he scored, 2-3, then I scored, 3-3. Then there was an exchange in which we could have, should have doubled, but guess what, I missed, argh! So, 3-4. I need two single lights to win? I wasn't sure I could do that, and he was clearly getting wise to my pressing tactic. So I figured I would try something different, why not? I decided to stop pressing, open the distance up, let him set up and do his fleche, but use a prime parry against it. When Andrew and Russ had fenced a few weeks ago Russ had been able to stop Andrew's fleche several times with a prime, although he had trouble landing the riposte. He said the trouble was in part due to his using a french grip. Well, I had a pistol grip and maybe could score with a prime-riposte. It was worth a shot. So I let the distance open and waited for the fleche. And sure enough, after a little bit, Andrew fleched. But despite my plan instinct kicked in and I did a sweeping parry 8 instead of a prime. Andrew disengaged out and scored nicely, winning 5-3. Ah well, I was still pleased with doing better than I expected, and screwing up my prime plan was funny in a way.
So that was my second pool. Won two, lost two, again. My indicator was slightly better, -1, giving me 2nd place over Isaac Dugaw, whose indicator was -4.
I seeded 18 out of the pools and got paired with, surprise, Kyle Margolies, oh man.
Well I already wrote a lot so I'll keep the DE shorter, maybe. I thought I had a decent idea what to do with Kyle, but I started out badly. I was pushing too much, closing distance and trying to be a threat, but Kyle kept getting me with binds or parries. I'd try to power through his parries and couldn't. He scored 4 in a row rather quickly. I started to ease off and reassess and scored a point. Somehow his blade broke about then. While he was getting a new one I was able to talk to Russ quickly. He told me to stop trying to push through his parries and instead, if parried, disengage disengage disengage. Failing that, just get out. He also said I wasn't moving enough, which was interesting because I thought I had been pretty active. But he was right and I definitely had another level of energy to tap into, which I did—getting into that fast footwork and rapid retreats I enjoy and do well with when I summon the energy for it. I should probably always remember that I can push my energy a level or two more than I think I can. Russ also suggested, as I was just coming to think myself, that I should push distance to entice him to attack then expand distance quickly. He tends to use a lot of "big motion" actions, wide flicks, big sweeps, all kinds of unusual things. I think sometimes he hopes to be confusing and then *pop*. But with enough distance it becomes easier to *pop* him.
I put all this into action after he got his new epee. It worked quite well. I made some mistakes and got hit some, but over and over I seemed to be able to retreat as he tried various things and either they would just go nowhere, or he'd open himself up. Several times he ended up fleching from way too far, practically giving me points. I could hear Kevin Mar repeatedly saying "way too far" or "too big". I kept almost entirely to counterattacking, pushing him now and then to draw attacks and retreating quickly a lot, patiently waiting for openings. The periods went by surprisingly quickly. In between Russ repeated the same basic ideas. They were working pretty well. Sometimes I'd get parried and push into the parry instead of disengaging, and Russ kept reminding me of that. For some reason I had trouble with it. But mostly I avoid parries altogether, playing my patient counterattack game.
In the third period the score reached 8-10. Then I figured I had been waiting and counterattacking so long I ought to throw in a real attack of my own, a beat disengage-6. It worked, 9-10. I had just about caught up from my four point bad start. I was starting to feel confident. But he was starting to be more careful and giving me fewer openings. I made a distance mistake and let one of his weird attacks in. He also got a nice thigh hit in there. We got to 13-11. I was still more than ready to make another comeback, but he got the last two points and won 15-11.
After beating me Kyle fenced Aaron Page, who had seeded 2nd and got a bye. Aaron had watched me fencing Kyle and basically did the kind of thing I had been doing, although with better attacks and counterattacks, and better avoiding of Kyle's stuff. Aaron won 15-6. Then Aaron and Tobias fenced to 14-13, 15-14, with Tobias winning. I think last year in this Divisional Qualification event they faced each other in the final and went 14-14. The final bout was between George Raush and Tobias Lee, with George winning by a large margin, 15-6, wow. He's been getting so good recently. It was nice to see him win. This was the first time he's taken first place in a tournament, other than at my first one, a U only event at MTFC, where George earned his E. Winning this one is quite a bit more impressive.
I took some videos. The camera battery ran out during the final, alas, so that one is just partial.
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