Frazzled

After a long day of difficult kids, too brain frazzled to practice fencing with the plan i had had. Instead I mostly just charged headlong, waving the sword around semi-randomly. Okay, maybe you could call it "practicing fleches", maybe. Also had some fun trying a little of the thing I saw Monica doing at the tournament the other day—blade down, facing rather forward, left hand forward a bit and sort of waving a little as if to say "come on, I'm open, you can hit me". I found that style does work to draw attacks, especially if you let the distance get a bit close. Of course I got hit quite a few times by doing it, but it was still fun to play with. Way more than an "invito", it's a full-fledged challenge.

Sadly I was a little late and there were not quite so many people. I only got to fence the same few people I seem to always fence—David, Jim, George. Did pretty good against David, though more often with parry-ripostes than fleches; did so-so against Jim, more often with fleches than blade play; and against George went to 14-14, which was exciting. He got the final point. With him blade play and fleche results were about equally mixed, sometimes working sometimes not.

I also got to fence Monica, which I was hoping to get the chance to do, after fencing her at the tournament. I'm sure I could learn quite a bit from her. Unfortunately after a short bit my epee malfunctioned. We had fenced just enough for me to think we should just stop, rather than trying to find a working club epee. Ah well. On the other hand, I learned she uses a Zivkovic grip and got to try it out...now more convinced than ever its the way to go. Hers is a KIII and felt good but too small. I'd like to try a K. She said the Z is very good. I have been thinking the Z would be very interesting, but it is so oddly shaped I would really want to hold one before deciding.