RCFC "Home for the Holidays" Open

RCFC "Home for the Holidays" Open

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=31384&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=123623

Good pools, got a first round bye, lost first DE. So I came in 9th, or "best" of those who did not make the round of 8. Lost my DE to Svetoslav Dimitrov (again!), who ended up coming in 8th, just one spot ahead of me, or "worst" of those who lost in the round of 8. Funny how that works. Had I won that DE (and lost the next, most likely) I probably would not have done much better. In fact, let's see...looking at results and seeds I would have been 6th had I won that DE. Assuming I lost the second DE, which would have been against Andrew Lee.

POOLS

First up I had Donovan Kawewehi, who I hadn't fenced or even seen in a couple years or so. He said he hadn't fenced a lot recently, and I hoped he would be rusty while I would have gotten a lot better. I tried using a "hard" style, with hard beats and the like, but things did not go well. He got a point, and another, and before I knew it the score was 1-4. I had forgotten how "hard" he fences. My attempt to be strong seemed mainly to create openings for him. I had my usual first bout lack of focus. Several times I had a chance to score and simply missed. Finally getting myself a little more together I managed to retreat from his fast attack and manage to end with a double touch, 2-5. Eesh. I wrote in my notes "many issues". Oof.

After waiting several bouts I fenced Kenji Yamamoto. I don't think I had ever fenced him before, or seen him fence. I started off a bit distracted and he got the first point. Wake up! Focus! So I woke up and focused more. I got a point in a way I can't remember. Then we ended up in an awkward infighting situation. We both tried close-in primes. I thought he hit, but when I looked at the lights mine was on and his was not. Apparently I had landed on his back calf? I was starting to feel a little more confident and after some maneuvering, trying to trick some distance, I launched a beat-fleche that worked nicely. So I was up 3-1. Feeling better. Then we were maneuvering again, throwing out various feints and such. I made a feint check-step kind of thing and he reponded with a half-duck and an overly big parry that made a nice big opening for me to lunge into. So, 4-1, the opposite of my first bout. I tried to avoid ending with a double touch so as to be a point up overall so far. Again we maneuvered, makes various feints. At one point I extended and he started a counterattack. I did something I had been practicing a bit: A small retreat with a cutover. It worked nicely. He didn't get my blade in opposition and my point ended up on his arm near the elbow. Sweet, 5-1!

My third bout was with Jeff Lucas. I was ready for one of his attacks right off the line, but he didn't do it, perhaps because we had been talking about that very thing earlier. I tried it on him though, thinking I might turn the tables. It was a little messy though and resulted in a double touch. Otherwise I made several large, ugly attacks and got lucky or just didn't hit. I got in one nice-feeling beat-fleche and eventually got the score to 4-1. Again I tried to end with a single, but he got a counterattack in and doubled. So, 5-2.

So far I was up two and one. Looking at who was left I saw three of increasing difficulty—Abby Barr, Tobias Lee, and, the final bout in our pool, Matthew Comes. I thought I should be able to beat Abby, had a chance with Toby maybe, and would probably lose badly to Matthew. If things went as "expected" I would end up three and three or, if I could beat Toby, four and two. Looking at it that way made my bout with Toby seem particularly important. Of course I knew that anything could happen and I shouldn't invest myself too much in thinking this way. So after noting these things I put it out of my head and focused on "one touch at a time". If anything I just thought that the bouts would get harder and I should try to fence my best and avoid doing anything too stupid.

Anyway, I fenced Abby Barr. She's pretty good, and left-handed too. I remembered to keep my guard lower than usual, to protect against her picks to the hand. Mostly I tried to keep the pressure on and the distance wider than her reach, but close to my reach. At a few points my concentration flagged and I had some bad misses. Luckily she wasn't able to take advantage of my lapses. I think a couple of times she had a chance and missed. Somewhere in there she got a point, while I worked up to 4-1. Then I made an attack that went a bit awkward and I missed, opening myself up badly. But her riposte/counter missed, lucky me. We ended up in infighting distance and I made a desperate prime which almost missed, but just nicked her leg. So I won 5-1, but that last touch was quite lucky.

Then I had Tobias Lee. I figured this bout would make a big difference for DE seeding—assuming I would lose to Matthew Comes. I like fencing Toby. Over time I had come to a better and better understanding of how to fence him, what might work, what not to do, what to watch out for, etc. I don't think I have ever won even a pool bout with him, but it seemed possible. I had to be careful, watch the distance, look out for picks, and take advantage of opportunities to get control of his blade with beats or binds and attack when the time was right—but not too much! No chasing him down the strip! No reaching far for a seemingly open target only to get my arm picked off. Beforehand I wrote a note to myself: "be careful and active—like fencing Travis". Not that Toby fences like Travis so much as I had to fence like I do when I fence Travis: Avoiding anything rash, being extra-wary of distance, and taking advantage of opportunities, but not too much! If a chance fails, let it fail instead of trying to force it. Stuff like that.

Anyway, I think I did well enough. It was close. He got up 3-2. I did do some chasing, but I think I managed to stop myself before getting hit. I don't remember exactly how the first few points went. At 3-2 he got a lovely hit to my hand that surprised me. I thought I was being careful enough to avoid things like that. That made it 4-2, which didn't look good, but I doubled down and worked hard. I got the next point, somehow. At 4-3 he made an attack that perhaps was aimed to maybe doubled out. I think he expected me to counterattack or use a circle-6 or 4 parry. And I think I started a circle-6 and our foibles caught part way through. If I had continued the circle-6 we might have doubled, but I went into a high-7 instead, which resulted in a single light for me. I certainly hadn't planned to use a high-7, it just happened in the moment. Nice when that happens and it works.

That made it 4-4. A comeback! I tried to stick with something familiar at the end. He made a somewhat low feint, so I used that hard-2 smack thing, hoping to throw his blade far out of line, followed by a high line attack. He recovered fast and caught my blade in 6 then immediately returned to a low line and hit, before I could do my prime-y escape-from-6 thing. It felt like I had done a low-high thing while he had done a nice low-high-low thing, almost like a third intention, one step ahead of me. So he won, 5-4. So close! Then again, it could have been worse given his being up 4-2 at one point.

So I was three and two at that point, with just Matthew Comes to go. I wrote in my notes that I wanted to score at least one point. I didn't want to lose 5-0, as I have with him before sometimes. I don't think I was being defeatist, just realistic. I would still fence my best. And by this point I was well warmed-up and in the zone. My bout with Toby had helped my focus and determination quite a lot. Still...

The bout ended up being a huge surprise. I got the first two points in ways I don't quite remember. I think one of them was a strong feint from me, which he perhaps took to be more of an attack than it was. He did one of his duck-parries but I was not close enough, so he couldn't hit but I could, and did. I think the other point was a simple fleche or beat-fleche on my part. That it actually worked surprised both of us, I think. Then he got a point, I don't remember how. Then after some maneuvering I launched a fleche again but immediately realized I was just a little too far. He retreated and I felt his tip tap my arm as I reached for his shoulder. But his tap was too light and did not score, while my reach eventually landed. That made the score 3-1. He was annoyed. For me it was nice and unexpected, but I tried to put it out of my mind. He could easily come back and win. He quickly launched one of his beautiful fleches. Normally it would have worked, and it really should have worked this time, but by what felt like sheer luck he missed, his tip going over my shoulder. My counterattack landed, making it 4-1. Now he was quite annoyed and I was feeling quite good. But really, even at this point I could picture him winning. I figured I should try to double out, so I tried an off-the-line advance-fleche on him. Maybe he was expecting a double-touch attempt, because he easily retreated and parried, scoring, 4-2. I still figured I would look for double-touch possibilities, but more carefully. We maneuvered a little, then he fleched and I countered. We doubled. So I won, 5-3. So much for my "just one point" plan. It was certainly the first time I had beaten him in any tournament bout. Part of it was luck—he made several mistakes and misses. But I think I did well enough, fencing with focus, energy, and good form. After the last point he went to his end of the strip for a few moments, mentally berating himself or whatever, then came and shook hands. I actually felt a bit bad for him and shook hands unemotionally, not wanting to seem gloating or anything. Then I remember turning and walking back to my strip end to unhook. I saw people who had been watching—Donovan, Jeff, Abby, I think—and I couldn't help but break into a smile and widen my eyes like "unexpected wow!"

Of course Matthew Comes still took first place in our pool, winning five and losing just that one, with a +14 indicator. This made him 2nd seed for the DEs. He later pointed out to me that if not for our bout he would have been 1st seed. Joseph Choo was 1st seed, having won all his bouts, but even so his indicator was lower than Matthew's. This meant Matthew and Andrew Lee had to fence in a semifinal instead of a final bout—assuming they got there. I think Matthew had expected to fence Andrew in the final. Instead they fenced in a semi-final. Then Matthew beat Joseph Choo in the final, which was a fairly close bout.

Anyway, for me it meant I was 6th seed for the DEs, out of 19. If I had lost to Matthew I would have been around 10th seed instead. Now if I had just beaten Tobias too... Actually, Toby and I both went four and two in the pools, and we both had a +9 indicator. But he had one more touch scored, so he came in 2nd in our pool and I was 3rd. I was 6th seed and he was 5th. Just one point! If it had been the other way around my DE would have been with...let's see...Mark Benack. Hmm. Given how much Mark has been progressing recently that may or may not have been a better situation. Toby beat him, but it was close.

DIRECT ELIMINATION

Being 6th seed gave me a bye in the round of 32. It meant I would fence the 11th seed, who also had a bye. That was Svetoslav Dimitrov. I sighed when I saw his name. We fenced for the first time last summer, and I beat him (resulting in my getting a C rating). He had fleched a lot, and often from too far, which made things rather straightforward for me. Since then we had fenced twice and I lost both times. I had him in my pool at BladeFest and an SAS Open. Both times he was much more patient than that first time, and I ended up attacking too much. At BladeFest it was close, but at SAS he mauled me. So here we were again, and in a DE again. In those two pool bouts I expected him to fence like he had in that first DE: lots of fleching. But he hadn't. He had been more defensive and careful. So this time I figured he would again be more defensive. Other people told me to expect lots of fleching, and I had seen him fencing aggressively in other pool bouts. So maybe he was more cautious fencing me in particular. Well, I figured I could be patient too. I would push him, but carefully, and wait. Eventually he would start attacking, especially if I kept pushing him back toward his end of the strip.

That was my basic plan. To out-patience him and get him to start fleching. And as far as that goes, it worked. A minute or two into the first period, after a point or two scored either way, he did start fleching. The problem was his fleches kept scoring. That wasn't part of my plan! By the end of the first period he was up a good amount. Something like 10-4. The second period went much the same. I remember it being 14-8 and scoring a point. Joel was watching and said something like "you got him just where you want him now!" Anyway, he won 15-9.

In hindsight the obvious problem I had was the long amount of time that passed between pools and my DE. It was at least 30 minutes. By the time our DE began I was cold and felt slow. I should have done more during the wait to stay energized. And I could have amped up my energy during the DE. I realized early on that I felt slow, but instead of working to increase my activity I thought I could "pretend" I was slow as a way of luring him out of being defensive and into fleching. I soon realized I was only fooling myself. Giving myself an excuse to stay slow. I've done that before—my brain comes up with excuses to be lazy and I buy into it.

Later, at SAS, I told Russ about the tournament. I described the long wait between pools and the DEs and how I woud benefit from finding a way to stay energized and "in the zone" during waits like that. I thought he might have some ideas but instead said "If you ever figure out how to stay consistent in fencing, let me know!"

Ray Coates Memorial Team Epee

Ray Coates Memorial Team Epee

I barely took notes and the results never seem to have made it to AskFred. So I gotta go on memory here, which is already fading. Oop, wait, it is on AskFred, here:

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=31383#123618

I was on "The Marshall Plan" team, with Kundry and Perth. Kundry was captain. I had never done a team event before, other than last year when my team had to forfeit  in the first match when Shawn had to drop out. On the other hand, I had fenced most of the people we had to face this time, while Kundry and Perth mostly hadn't. So I gave a lot of advice and ended up being anchor twice.

The tableau table looks weird on AskFred:

https://askfred.net/Results/roundResults.php?seq=1&event_id=123618&highlight_competitor_id=129105

Because we fenced off for every place, so almost every team could get three matches. It's also a good format because the final matches are usually close. There were no pools. Instead the tableau was seeded by points based on letter/year ratings. Not perfect, but close enough.

We won our first match by a decent margin, then lost our next two by about the same margin. Our first two matches are in the big table on AskFred. The third one is in "Table H (loser finishes 4th)", which FencingTime calls, more sensibly, "Bronze medal match".

I was the anchor, the last fencer, in the second two matches. The first time we were down 34-40 and I had Matthew Comes. I only got one point. The second time I had Mark Blom at the end, who I feel like I've figured out to a degree. But the score was 30-40, so I had to score 15 points before he scord 5. And in less than three minutes. So there wasn't much hope. I managed to get eight points before he got five, mostly via doubles, so at least that felt rather nice.

FIRST MATCH

I did scribble some notes after our first match. We went up against team "IDK": Jeff Johnson, Jim Henderson, Garrett Armstrong, and Jeff Lucas. The first bout was me and Jeff Lucas. He was the alternate. They switched him out for Jeff Johnson after this first bout. I felt bad beating Jeff Lucas 5-0 but, well, it's a tournament. You do what you must. Afterward he was annoyed. Not at me but at the whole situation, and called it quits and went home. He told me his team told him to play a defensive game, which made some sense but probably wasn't the best idea, given his style. Had he been fencing more like he usually does he probably would have gotten at least a double touch or two against me. Ah well, I did feel bad. Still, starting off 5-0 in a team event is a nice thing. We kept a lead the rest of the way. If they hadn't had an alternate I'd have fenced Jeff Johnson first and chances are he'd have beaten me, or at least it would have been a lot closer.

My second bout was with Garrett Armstrong. I got a couple good points in near the start, then made a couple of bad attacks that failed and gave him points. At one point my attack missed and his point got my back hip, but in an odd way, kind of tucked into the seams. It didn't go off. He had his epee checked but it was fine. It just landed in an odd way. The bout began with my team up a good amount and I was able to get us to the next five point break. I can't remember how many points he got. Three?

It was interesting to watch Perth fence Jeff Johnson. I had warned him about Jeff's style, but he still got in a fair number of his standard attacks. But Perth got some nice hits on Jeff. At least two lovely fast fleches that doubled—being in the lead it was fine to double. For the final point Perth made a nice fake that got Jeff to bite, and Perth did a kind of cutover counter to his arm, for a single light. Very nice. I think Jeff scored more than five, but we still kept the lead.

My third bout was with Jim Henderson—it was the second to last bout. We seem to go back and forth and I wasn't sure how things would go this time. I got two or three nice shallow hits, just in distance. In one case we had a minor exchange, then a moment pause, his arm slightly raised and looking like an invitation. The distance felt just close enough and I made a simple straight attack and got his arm, to maybe both of our surprises. I made a couple of mistakes and he got two, possibly three points, to my five. Kundry thanked me for giving her the last bout with a score of 30-40.

Kundry had the final bout with Jeff Johnson. As with Perth it was interesting to watch. She had seen enough of his fencing, along with my advice, to know what to expect. I'm still not sure how she got her points, but she scored five points to his four. So we won, yay!

SECOND MATCH

We watched the match that would decide who we had next. It was team "Rebel Scum" (Kyle Margolies, Jameson Lu, and Svetoslav Dimitrov) or "Darth Maulers" (Matthew Comes, Robert Tiosejo, and Tzveti Dimitrova), both WFA teams. Matthew was obviously the ringer in this group, but Rebel Scum did pretty well with him, maybe because they fence more often, being from the same club. I don't know. I was hoping Rebel Scum would win, not wanting to face Matthew. And it was pretty close. But Darth Maulers won 45-40. So we had to fence them.

Our plan, as Kundry put it, was to score lots of points against Robert and Tzveti, and try to keep the score low when facing Matthew. Well, scoring points on Robert and Tzveti was not so easy. I don't remember the details. I think I did alright with both of them, but scored more evenly instead of "a lot of points". I was given the anchor spot, to face Matthew at the end, with the idea that I had fenced him many times, while Kundry and Perth hadn't. I had a somewhat better idea of what not to do, at least. Well, by the time we reached the final bout we were down 34-40. Unsurprisingly Matthew finished me off easily enough. I got one point and at least that one felt pretty nice. Otherwise, oofta.

THIRD MATCH

Having won one and lost one put us in a semifinal match for third and fourth place, to my surprise. If we won this last match we'd get medals, which would be nice. We were up against team "Darth Old Guys": Mark Blom, Johannes Klein, and John Comes. Two lefties! Still seemed like a winnable match. I had fenced all three of these guys many times, but I don't think Kundry or Perth had at all. So I gave what advice I could and was made the anchor against Mark Blom.

If I remember right I had the first bout, with John Comes. Again I've forgotten the details. I think he won, but only 5-4. Not a bad start. But we slipped from there, with a point gap opening up wider and wider. I had trouble with Johannes, scoring three, maybe four to his five, I think. Kundry and Perth had some good moments. Both had trouble with Mark Blom, I think. So by the time we reached the final bout it was 30-40. I felt confident against Mark Blom, but that was too large a hole! Still I would try. Obviously I had to attack a lot. There was only three minutes. If time ran out and they were ahead, they would win. Mark had only to kill time and look for doubles. Perhaps this made him fence in a way that was actually easier for me. In short I was quite aggressive, throwing out hard beats and fleching. I got a good number of points, some of which felt quite nice. Early on I launched a beat-fleche that worked nicely. Shortly after I tried again, but was not quite as close. Mark had a chance to pick my arm as I flew in, but missed. I remember the instant of feeling the edge of his blade on my arm as I reached for his shoulder. A nice feeling, if a little lucky. A point or two after that I tried the beat-fleche a third time and that time he did pick me off. Basically, if he gave me his blade I would try an attack with a hard beat. If he dropped his blade into an absence position I might try a low line. I think I got his leg once or twice that way.

Anyway, I put my all into it and scored eight points before he got the five he needed. At least three of his points were doubles. All in all, although we lost, that last bout felt good and I was fairly happy with the result.

SAS Open Epee #1

SAS Open Epee #1

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=31620&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=124588

A small, local tournament. Very local: my club, yay! Called "#1" because, I assume, it is the club's first open epee tournament of this season. There will be another one or two, later.

I like these little SAS open tournaments. Because they are easy to get to, for one. Also they tend to get a small but decent number of fencers with a good mix of skill. And they are pretty relaxed, and most of us know each other. I got my E at one of these, in part because there were just enough people and ratings to make it an A1. This time it was only a B1. There were three A-rated fencers, but no Bs. One more A or B would have made it an A1, probably. Not that such things mattered to me: I'm more than content with a C rating, for now.

I didn't do as well as I was hoping, but enjoyed it anyway. I lost a couple pool bouts I thought I might be able to win. Then I had a "winnable" DE, and had the lead and a sense of controlling the bout most of the way. But near the end there was a shift that I didn't figure out and adapt to, and I ended up losing. I felt like I had dropped the ball in that bout, and as a result came in 13th out of 17. Had I won, and then lost the next no doubt, to Yuly, I'd have a much better final result. Well, maybe only 8th, due to a lackluster pool.

I stuck around and watched the rest, enjoying it. Joel Howard did well, finally getting that D that's eluded him for too long. Garrett Armstrong did well too, renewing his C. Unsurprisingly the final was between two of the A fencers: Matthew Comes and Andrew Lee. Andrew won, his calm control making it look easy. In the semifinal Andrew and Yuly fenced, both working very hard. Andrew won, apparently the first time he's beaten Yuly.

POOLS

We had three pools. With three A-fencers and no Bs, it felt like there was a ringer in each pool. I had the pool with Andrew Lee. Each pool had one or two SAS fencers. The other SAS guy in my pool was Jim Arrigoni.

Being clubmates, Jim Arrigoni and I fenced first. We fence all the time and have for years now. We know each other's style very well, and our fencing often becomes layers of knowing how the other will likely react. In practice we fence in a rather lighthearted way. We hadn't fenced in a tournament in years. It felt a bit odd and maybe even wrong to go at it more seriously, more carefully and with less risk-taking than I might in practice. But I did. Mostly I tried to set up distance traps, so that distance would collapse and I could attack, or distance would expand and he'd attack from too far.

Mostly it worked like that. As usual I had a semi-rough start, even though I had warmed up pretty well. I think we traded points, or doubled, to 2-2. Then I started to feel more in the groove. He fleched from too far, perhaps thanks to my trying to set up distance traps. He disengaged to the inside, but early enough that I had time to go into a prime parry and score as he passed. Then, after more working the distance, he seemed to step in too close and I attacked straight in, hitting before his parry could stop me. That made it 4-2. I forget the details of the final point. I think it was a similar distance type thing, but he managed a double. So I won 5-3.

Second bout was with Svetoslav Dimitrov. I think it was the third time we've fenced. The first being a DE in which he fleched a lot and I won, mostly with counterattacks and distance. The second was a pool bout in which I expected fleches but he was defensive and I lost. This time was similar. He was quite defensive. I think he's a relatively new fencer and has apparently crossed the point of being attack-happy, as many people are at first, to a more epee-appropriate defensive approach. I certainly went through a similar process.

Anyway, he is young and fast, and his defensive is good. I had trouble getting him to bite on my feints and invitations, traps, etc. As we hooked up I noticed the sun was shining brightly through the windows at my end of the strip. So I thought, hey, maybe I can use this. Maybe I can pull him back toward my end of the strip where the brightness would be to my advantage. But his defensive thing, coupled with my love of advancing (not always wisely), resulted in most of the fencing happening near his end of the strip. That was okay, I like fencing near the far end of the strip. So I pushed him back and threw out all the feints and invitations I could, trying to get him to attack at the wrong time. He wouldn't bite. So I kept pushing, getting him near the back line. Eventually he had to attack, right? But I get nervous when I have someone at the very end of the strip (I like being near their end more than right at the end), and worry that if I get too eager to push them I'll end up closing the distance too much. So I ended up not pushing him as much as I could have, or should have, near the strip end.

I didn't write notes for every point, but the basic idea was that I was too impatient, compared to his patient defense especially. And when I attacked I felt awkward and even spastic. I tried attacking with beats, but often missed his blade. I fleched poorly, right into his parries. In short, he got point after point and won 5-1. I don't even remember how I got the one point. About halfway through I fleched badly and ended up impaling my thigh on his point, so badly that his epee got a big bend in it. He tried to straighten it, but had trouble getting it right. It was a nasty bend and I felt a little bad. It was totally the fault of my awkward fleche. After a bit of trying to fix it he just changed weapons and went on to take me down point by point. I suppose the first DE I had with him, where he fleched a lot, won't happen again, not that way. Main lesson learned: More patience! Even if I'm losing—better to lose 3-1 than 5-1, right?

Next up was Jeff Johnson. I've written about fencing him a few times recently here. Suffice it to say I expected him to be very defensive and use a lot of absence of blade. And I figured my plan should involve patience, second-intention-type attempts to draw an attack, protection of my outside line, and the use of beats whenever possible. Also, I had imagined dealing with his outside line arm attack by using a wide six parry—wide enough to stop his leftie angulation, and wide enough that a riposte from six might be hard, so maybe if I caught him in six I would try to transfer to prime. He surprised me by attacking a lot more than I expected. I had figured I would have to work hard to get him to attack at all, but he attacked quite a bit without any help from me. And my six-focused plan failed, as his attacks tended to disengage to the inside. My "wide" six parries certainly helped him in this way. He got me this way two or three times before I started to wise up, by which time the bout was about over. At first I thought maybe he was attacking more than expected because he knew or could guess what my plan would be—since I like talking about tactics with him and basically tell him my plans after bouts (and write about it here). But watching other bouts, he seemed to be attacking more than I expected in general.

Anyway, although I lost it was a pretty good bout. I got the first point with a beat attack, as he kindly put his blade out just the way I like. Then, as I tried to set things up he got me with that disengaging attack two or maybe three times. He also got a lovely hand hit that felt, to me, somewhat "lucky", but somewhat good in keeping his point in the right place. In this way he got up 4-1. Ack. I finally started to grasp the way he was fencing that day, not like I was expecting. I had been very cautious, so i figured an aggressive change-up might work. So I did a fast charge-fleche right off the line, with a beat in there I think, and scored, perhaps surprising him. Okay, 4-2. Then I thought I would fake the same thing but stop short, hopefully triggering a reaction that would create an opening. It half worked. I charged, he retreated and counterattacked as I stopped, falling short. Then I tried to beat attack into his counter, a broken time kind of thing I guess. It worked in that I scored, but he got his point back on in time to make it a double. So he won, 5-3. The bout didn't go the way I had hoped—I wanted to win! But from being down 4-1 I was okay with losing 5-3.

The next bout was with Michael Schwartz. We hadn't fenced before, although we were both in the recent Thursday night vet tournament. I think he, or someone, said he was pretty new. I'm guessing that means he's either recently returned to fencing or new to the area, because he's pretty strong. I'd guess he used to fence and took a long break. He seems to have that "bit rusty but knows his stuff" feel. Watching him in other bouts I noted his good prime parry, his speed and strength. I went in thinking I would try to avoid getting too close. I didn't want to fleche into that prime, or to infight at all, if I could help it. My plan was to stay shallow, try to work the distance with fast in and out footwork. Maybe try that "seconde smack" thing, and generally break things up with beats and retreats.

Thing began badly. He got the first two points. In my notes I just wrote "too impatient not focused". I tried to be more careful and focused. I got a couple points, I don't remember how. But he racked up a couple more, making the score 4-2. Yet again I was one point from losing, with a long way to go for myself. I needed single lights, so was very cautious and shallow, but tried to stay very active and focused. I got the next point with a strong up-beat and hand pick. That felt nice and gave me a little confidence. Then we maneuvered a bit. I threw out a few "seconde sweeps", in part hoping to look like invitations to go high, in part hoping to prep a change-up. After a bit I came in a bit harder with a strong seconde smack following immediately with a six, hoping to get a nice opposition attack in six. He brought his blade up into my six, but with enough strength to block my opposition attack. As distance closed I instinctively turned my hand and replaced my tip lower to his thigh, hitting and getting a single, yay. I had tied it 4-4. Then we maneuvered a little again and he made a mistake, basically. He extended from far enough to not be a real threat, and I made a simple counter and hit his extended arm. So I came back from 4-2 to win, 5-4. That felt nice. And it was a fun bout all around. I hope we'll get to fence more in the future.

My final pool bout was with Andrew Lee. I would try my best, of course, but didn't expect to win. But I didn't expect to lose 5-0 either, which is what happened, argh. I noted that there were many "almost things, but he is just too fast". Like one time we had an exchange and it seemed like I had a chance to launch a direct attack to his chest, as he pulled his arm back and retreated. I tried and watched as my tip reached just to about an inch from his chest as he retreated—and seemingly calmly too, like an inch is a million miles. Once or twice we got into infighting and my prime landed flat, while he hit. He also got a very nice toe touch. Well done. Five to zero, oof.

I realized after this tournament that I haven't been working on toe touches since we moved to our new space. For some reason we haven't put in the grounded metal strips yet. Without them I've been reluctant to work on toe touches, since so often it is hard to tell if they are floor hits or not. But Andrew's toe touch was unquestionably good. And in practice both Travis and Monica have gotten me with them. So in the last week I've begun working on them again—and decided that the lack of a grounded strip makes it necessary to practice better toe touches. So maybe that is a good thing.

DIRECT ELIMINATION

So I came out of the pools two and three, with a -9 indicator. Not great. That made me 13th seed. Russ, who was running the tournament, printed out the pool results and taped them up. As I looked, far enough to not quite read it right, Yuly came round asking who was 12th seed. It looked like I was so I said "me", and he said that meant we'd fence each other. I thought "oh great", a DE with Yuly? Should I just go home now? But I had misread the sheet from afar. I was 13th seed. So my DE would be with Jim Henderson, who was 4th seed (well done, Jim!). Yuly had Michael Schwartz, and then either me or Jim (Yuly beat Michael a lot better than I had in pools).

So, Jim Henderson. That seemed "winnable". The last few times we fenced I had done well, mostly, if I remember right. I felt like I knew what to do, more or less. Mainly it involved being patient and not doing anything rash, being wary of his good acceleration attacks and his good parry-ripostes; using beats a lot, for attacks as well as breaking things up.

That somewhat vague plan worked well at first, and I got up quite a bit, mostly using, I wrote down "beats and care". Even with trying to be patient I began to feel like I was not patient enough. In DEs I've been trying to keep the first period score fairly low, and we were getting near ten points. Then again, I was ahead and things seemed to be working, so why not? Toward the end of the period he caught up a little. We ended the period 10-8. I didn't have a coach to talk to, but someone, Perth I think, talked to me a little. Mostly I felt like I knew what to do and just had to keep doing it, without screwing up. Patience, care, beats...

The second period didn't go as well. We had a lot of doubles and he got some singles. He had adjusted slightly in a way I couldn't figure out. He tied it, then took the lead. My confidence eroded and I became a bit unsure. We got to 14-13. I probably should have taken extra care at that point, but my impatience that day took over and I tried a surprise fast attack. It was from too far and basically gave him an easy point and the win.

Well, he fenced smart. I had a nice early lead and he adjusted in a way that worked, and that I couldn't quite see. Later I went and simply asked him if he had adjusted somehow. He said "oh yes". I had meant the question as also "what did you do?" When he didn't say I asked bluntly, but he just smiled and wouldn't say, which made me laugh. Me, I'm very open about tactics and love talking about them, maybe sometimes to my detriment in local tournaments like this one. And I have no qualms asking people outright what they did. If they don't want to say, that's perfectly fine.

I tried to think it through a bit more as I watched the rest of the tournament, but didn't get any insights. I realized though that I couldn't remember the details of the bout too well, especially the second half. To me that means I hadn't been paying attention as closely as I could have, and should have, during the bout. So, although I didn't figure out what he was doing, I did realize something I wasn't doing. Focus. And that is something I've been working on in practice. My natural state is somewhat distracted, but I certainly know how to focus, moment-to-moment, when I remember to. It's almost like flipping a switch. I just have to remember to do it. Inevitably I slip back into less focus. The practice is working to more frequently and consistently remember to flip that switch. It's a lot like meditation, but a lot less passive. I think I've gotten the hang of it. I just have to remember to do it.

Other highlights of the day. Joel Howard and John Comes had an excellent and close bout, Joel winning 15-13. With his pool results that was enough to get him a D, which has been a long time coming. Jim and Mark Benack did not get byes and fenced each other. Jim did pretty well at first, but fell for Mark's flick more and more, and lost in the end, 15-13. Tobias Lee had a very close bout with Jeff Johnson, winning 15-14. I only saw a bit of that one. That put Tobias and Andrew Lee against each other round of eight, which was fun to watch. I remember when Andrew was a U, and over time Tobias saying it was getting harder and harder fencing his son. And nowadays it certainly is. Andrew won 15-8. The final point involved Andrew chasing Tobias down the strip, in what looked like the very thing I've done with Tobias sometimes—chasing, inevitably to get picked off. But Andrew chased him down to the end then fleched, and scored. Man, if I tried that it would be suicide!

Garrett Armstrong did well, beating Carlo, then Joel, to reach the semifinals, where Matthew Comes beat him soundly. Garrett renewed his C, which was getting a bit old. Yuly and Andrew fenced in the other semifinal. They both put a lot of energy into it and were breathing hard at the end. It was fairly close, but Andrew seemed more in control and kept a lead through most or all of it, winning 15-12. Tobias said it was the first time he had beaten Yuly, so that was exciting. I thought surely Andrew had beaten him before, sometime or other, but I guess not.

The final was Andrew and Matthew Comes. I knew they had fenced a lot before. Being a little surprised that Andrew hadn't beaten Yuly before I asked Tobias if he had beaten Matthew before. Tobias said "oh yes, lots of times". Heh. They are nearly the same age and have improved from beginners to A-rated fencers over the same years in the same local area (I just checked—Matthew is a year older; Andrew still qualifies as cadet, Matthew doesn't, I think). So yea, they've probably fenced many times over this period. Yuly, on the other hand, moved to the area more recently, was already A-rated, and is something near ten years older. Anyway, in big tournaments like NACs Matthew seems to usually do better than Andrew, although both tend to do pretty well. This weekend, as I write this, they fenced Junior Epee at a NAC. They both did well, but Matthew did very well, coming in 6th. I think Matthew' often does well at big events where he fences people unfamiliar with his somewhat odd style. Whereas Andrew's style is more "normal". I guess I'm speculating that Matthew benefits more when fencing people who don't know him. But with someone like Andrew, who has been fencing Matthew since they were beginners, things are different. Matthew can't surprise Andrew the way he can with many others. [EDIT: Apparently I misunderstood, or Toby was joking, or something: This was actually the first time Andrew beat Matthew in a 15 point DE. Yuly and Matthew. So my random speculation in this paragraph might not be quite right. And, so it was a doubly awesome tournament for Andrew!]

It was a fun bout to watch, and fairly close. But Andrew seemed more in control and ended up winning 15-12. I watched, hoping to learn something about how to fence Matthew. But I don't think I learned much. Andrew made it look rather easy. There were many times when it looked like Matthew scored or at least doubled, but instead Andrew got a single light. And mostly I couldn't tell how he did it, unless it was magic.

RCFC Thursday Night Vet Epee

RCFC Thursday Night Vet Epee

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=31375&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=123610

A small tournament, and no one rated more than C—in theory I could do quite well. I wouldn't mind getting another medal. Gold would be nice. I did well in the pools, winning all four bouts. That got me 2nd seed—Michael Schwartz in the other pool won all his bouts and had a higher indicator. My first DE was with Dan Berke, who had done poorly in the pools. I was ahead all the way to 9-8, then blew the last two points and lost. *facepalm*

POOLS

My notes are brief.

First up I had Jim Henderson. I don't remember the exact details. He came on fast but I got the first point, then we doubled twice, making it 3-2. Then he got a bit more cautious. I tried to wait for opportunities. I got the next point, then we doubled, so I won 5-3. On the last two points I wrote in my notes "my slightly longer reach, whew". I think I was waiting for him to attack, since I was up on points, especially at the end, then counterattacking. Apparently I felt like they were fairly close touches.

Second bout was with Brent Farnsworth. Overall I felt like I was too reckless and got out of balance too much. Things began alright, I got up 3-2. One of my early points was a double beat lunge, but my aim went off and, if I remember right, I hit him in the neck and felt bad about it. At 3-2 I did something that ended up out of balance and he got me, tying it up. I tried to increase my focus and get the lead back. At some point he put his blade out and I gave it one of those hard seconde smacks and scored with a lunge. I tried to get a final single light, but ended up with a double. So I won 5-4. Closer than I was hoping, but hey, I'll take it!

Third bout was with Jeff Lucas. In the last few pool bouts we've had he did better than I expected. So this time I tried to be extra careful, to be patient, and to protect my arm—he's gotten pretty good at hitting my arm with little disengages. I had a good start, getting up 3-1, mostly by waiting or coaxing attacks that fell short. We doubled to make it 4-2. He got the next point with a fleching attack right off the line, surprising me. He did that in the last pool bout we had. I began this bout ready for such a thing, but apparently had let my wariness lapse at this point. I got the final point with that double beat lunge thing, which I had been practicing for a couple weeks or so. It worked well in this case—the first beat got Jeff to try to lift his point up in a counterattack, and the second beat knocked it back out of line just as I came in.

The fourth and final bout was with Carlo Malaguzzi. I've been doing alright against him lately, and felt like I knew what kind of tactics to use. Turned out to be a fairly crazy bout. Two or three times we ended up in semi-ugly overly-big messes, it felt like. Also several plain misses, on both our parts. Early on I got a nice leg hit and got up 2-1. I think he tied it 2-2 with one of his lovely binding fleches. Somehow or other I got up 3-2. At one point we both fleched and both missed, and both went for prime riposte/remises. My light went off and I thought I had hit. Greg was reffing and said I had hit the scoring machine, and annulled the touch. I was skeptical, but not completely sure. Whatever happened, it was rather ugly! In any case, I got the next point, making it 4-2. The final point—Carlo attacked with a big lean. I was able to land my point on his shoulder. I'm not sure if he meant to lean that much, but it felt like it gave me the point, more or less.

DIRECT ELIMINATION

I had won all my pool bouts and was 2nd seed. I thought I might get to fence a few DEs, but also tried not to think about anything beyond the next bout, the next point. Carlo and Dan Berke fenced in the round of 16. I had a bye and fenced the winner, which turned out to be Dan Berke, who beat Carlo 10-7. Dan and I had not fenced for a long time. Neither of us could remember when we had last fenced.

My plan was to use and lot of in and out footwork, as fast as I could without losing control. Being taller, I hoped to draw attacks from out of distance, or from which I could retreat just enough, then use my longer reach to land counterattacks. Also, I planned to throw out a lot of beats and try to disrupt his blade in general, to prevent his setting stuff up and maybe create openings.

Things began quite well and I got a nice lead. I scored a couple times with that double beat thing. And I got a leg touch that felt just right. I think it was 8-6, then he got one, then we doubled, making it 9-8. He needed two singles and I only needed a point. A double would do. So what happened? He got two singles and won, argh! I felt like I had screwed up those last two and scribbled a bunch of notes to that effect. I should have been patient, waiting for him to attack, but instead I attacked, twice. First there was a moment where it seemed like the distance had closed enough for a direct fleche. So I fleched to his shoulder, but he parried and scored with a riposte. I don't remember exactly how he parried, except that it was in a way I didn't expect. I think I expected a sixte type parry and when he got my blade I instinctively tried to turn my hand and shift my point to his hip, but his parry was more quarte and my attempt was thwarted.

So it was 9-9. Again I probably would have been better off waiting longer. I think I got nervous because of the score, and my mind turned to that double beat thing that had served well in the pools and at least twice in this bout. I tried it. But after the first beat he disengaged the second, easily hitting me as I closed distance and beat air. Afterwards, talking about it, he said he had realized that my beats were working in general. So by the time we reached 9-9 he was ready to disengage when I beat. Smart. I felt like I should have realized that a "trick" like that double beat thing should not be relied on more than two or three times in a bout—and certainly not at 9-9! I felt like I had the bout but blew it at the end.

Ah well, it was a small tournament, and fun despite the DE loss. Still, I was hoping to at least bring home a medal...if only because it is fun to show the kids, and to choke that bust of Beethoven a bit more, heh.

Leon Auriol Open, 2015

Leon Auriol Open, 2015

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=30720&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=121121

This was my fourth Leon Auriol Open. They are always hard and I never do that well. But I enjoy them, mostly, and like watching the good fencers do their thing. My first time, in 2012, was my third tournament ever, and I lost quickly, but watched the rest. Daniel Small won. In 2013 it was much the same for me. Adam Frank won. Last year it was in our new space. The final was between Sam Larsen and Walter Dragonetti. Sam won by a point.

This year it was held at Rain City Fencing Center because our new space, in the same building, isn't ready for a bigger tournament. I had to leave before the semifinals so I missed the final bouts. The final was between Matthew Comes and Sam Larsen. Matthew won, despite the fact that the Portland fencers had apparently been studying and planning tactics to use with Matthew specifically. The winner has their name engraved on the trophy cup and I was thinking it likely that Sam would have his on there twice after this, but no! Matthew won by a comfortable 15-9.

About two weeks later, at the even harder Columbia Cup ROC in Portland, Sam and Matthew fenced again in the round of 8. That time Sam won handily, 15-4, and went on to take first place. Interesting how things can turn around like that. I should ask someone who was at both events if there were obvious differences in the way they fenced.

For me, well, I did not do very well in the pools. Not getting a bye, my first DE was with Maria Copelan. I thought I might be able to beat her. It began alright, but she adjusted her tactics and I didn't notice until it was too late and I was down on points. Then she adjusted again and basically doubled to end the bout. Either way though, the winner had to fence Matthew Comes, who was seed #2. I was hoping to get the chance, of course, but it was interesting to watch Maria fence him, and hear some of her teammates' coaching advice. Afterward, Erich Cranor talked to her about the bout and had many insightful comments. Smart fencers down there in Portland!

POOLS

My first pool bout was with a clubmate, of course. In the past that usually meant someone like Yuly. But this time it was with Dell Wolfensparger. This might be in part an effect of my being a C now (Dell is a U). But it was also in part luck. The A in my pool was Erich Cranor. Clubmates were mostly split up among the pools, but George and Russ shared a pool, as did Jim and Yuly, and other combinations of mixed ratings. So it was lucky that my first bout wasn't with George, or any number of other possibilities. I figured I should be able to beat Dell, "maybe even 5-0" I thought to myself. I probably shouldn't indulge thoughts like that, they usually lead to trouble. Dell fenced his best, hard and strong, right from the start. I had my usual first bout slowness. Fairly quickly he was up two points to my one. I managed to tie it at 2-2. Then I made a mental adjustment, increasing my focus and determination. I had started sloppy and a little stupid. So I cleared my mind and focused more on the moment-to-moment fencing. And I increased my pacing, patience, and defense. Instead of making risky attacks like I had at first, I worked on drawing attacks with feints and distance stuff. It worked. Dell obliged me by attacking into my feints or from too far. I got the rest of the touches, winning 5-2.

I considered that a kind of warm-up bout. It took me a couple touches to find the right mindset. But I had found it, I figured, and things would go smoother. My next bout, however, was with Erich Cranor. He's a tall, left-handed, A-rated fencer from Portland. He's a vet, and maybe a little slower than he might have been once. But he is far from slow, and he is a very smart fencer. Plus did I mention he is tall and left-handed? Argh. I remembered doing fairly well against him last year at the Columbia Cup vet event. So I drew on that for ideas. I remember getting him on the knee, which he tends to stick out a bit. And also scoring with a duck under one of his high fleches (did I say he is tall?). I also remembered his good flicks and outside attacks. So my plan was to protect my outside line and arm in general, to look for low line openings, and be ready for fleches I could duck.

I lost 5-0, ouch. So much for the plan? Maybe not. There were two or three touches that were very close. Had things gone just slightly different I might have done fairly well. I think I underestimated his reach and got too close. And my ducking plan did not work, maybe because I began to duck a few times when I thought he was about to fleche but didn't. Perhaps he noticed, so when I did duck his fleche he made sure not to go too high. Anyway, losing 5-0 was a bummer and maybe effected my fencing afterwards.

Next up I had Fynn Mansbridge-Fafard, a Canadian from the Dynamo club. I don't think I had fenced him before, or even seen him really. I lost 5-3. I don't remember the details now, writing this about a month later. In my notebook I just wrote "bleah". Fynn ended up coming in 6th overall, getting a C rating (he was a D).

Then I had Benjamin Duchow. There's a bunch of Duchow fencers, and the name scares me a little. Some of them are very good. Henry Duchow has beaten me a few times, if I recall right. Benjamin is a younger sibling, I think. Again I don't remember the details now, and didn't write notes. But I ended up winning 5-3. This helped boost my confidence. I was two and two, which wasn't so bad. And I had Mark Benack still to fence, who I should be able to beat, right?

I knew I shouldn't think I should be able to beat anyone, since it messes with my head so much. I did my best to put such thoughts out of my mind and went into the bout with Mark Benack with decent focus. It turned out to be a close bout, mostly tied. I got the first point with a pick to his hand as he lifted it for a flick. That felt good. Maybe it made me a little too confident. I made some ill-advised attacks. Once or twice I tried to coax him into distance and then fleche, but he got me with a prime parry and a crazy flexible riposte to my back. The score reached 4-4. We were both fairly cautious. I tried, again, to set up a distance trap. Eventually it worked and he stepped in a little too much. I launched a surprise fleche as he stepped and had it, except I missed! My point went over his shoulder and he had an easy counterattack point to win, 5-4. Alas. Woe. Fun bout though.

My last pool bout was with Aaron Page. The last time we fenced was in a DE at BladeFest vets. It was tough, but I had won. I had used a lot of point-up hand invitations coupled with hard beats, and we had talked about it afterward. He had clearly thought about this tactic of mine and had come up with some ideas about countering it. So this time I thought it might be wise to do something else entirely. I figured he would expect similar tactics (and I think he said he was, more or less, afterward), so perhaps I could throw him off by doing totally different things. Also, I was having epee trouble and both my LPs were out at this point. I had the choice of either using my relatively stiff Absolute epee, or the more flicky Vniti. Normally I would use the Absolute, especially if I planned to use lots of beats like I had with Aaron at BladeFest. But because I was thinking of using different tactics I decided to use the Vniti. And because the Vniti is flicky I thought I would focus on flicky things.

The plan was to avoid his blade, draw attacks, then land flicks on his arm one way or another. Well, it wasn't what he expected, apparently, but it didn't work either. He won 5-1.

DIRECT ELIMINATION

So I came out of the pools two and four, with a -7 indicator, making me 34th seed out of 47. There were a good number of byes, so I got a first round DE with Maria Copelan, who was 30th seed. We had fenced once, long ago now, in a pool bout. I had won that time, but probably more out of sheer energy than good form or tactics. At one point I had chased her down the whole strip, somehow actually scoring at the end. I've seen her fence a number of times since then, including at Nationals, and felt like I had a decent sense of her style. It was funny how, before we fenced, she introduced herself to me and I felt like saying "oh, I know who you are!" Well, I did say something like that, but a little nicer, I hope.

The key to her style, I thought, was that she likes to fleche. If I could draw her fleche while ready to quickly retreat I thought I would have a decent chance to score. In other regards, I am taller, and maybe could get some shallow target hits. Or at least I could threaten shallow targets as part of drawing fleches.

The bout began more or less as I had planned. I used threats and feints and shallow attacks and she fleched a lot. I retreated as best I could when she fleched and was able to score or at least get a double touch most of the time. I got up a few points. Then she changed tactics and I didn't notice (she told me afterward). She realized her fleches were not going to do it. She stopped fleching and concentrated on a more defensive, shallow-target thing. Not realizing, I continued my own shallow threats and feints, which gave her opportunities to score. Actually I don't remember quite how she scored during this part of the bout. I think I was a little stuck in my "draw her fleche" mindset. She tied the score, then got up two or three points.

Around that point I finally began to realize that something had changed, although I wasn't sure what. Not being sure, and now being down on points, I grew more cautious and probably hesitant. And at this point, once she was up a few points, she changed again. She started fleching again, figuring (she said afterwards) she could double out and win. And that's pretty much what happened. She got a bunch of fleching double touches. Maybe my hesitancy at this point worked against me and I was more easily surprised by her fleches. In any case, once she was up on points and started fleching again she won pretty quickly. The final score was 15-11.

In hindsight, and after talking to her a little, I learned some useful things—especially about my not noticing her changes in tactics as the bout progressed. It is good to have a plan, especially if it is working. But it is important to watch for tactical shifts. If a plan is working a smart opponent will try to come up with ways to adjust. I should not get stuck in a plan, and should watch even more closely for changes when things are working well. And the same thing the other way. If the balance of points changes, it is possible that a smart fencer will adjust tactics then too. It is tricky seeing tactical changes like this, and making them myself, but it is one of the things I like the most about fencing tournaments these days.

After beating me Maria fenced Matthew Comes. She lost, but did alright, 15-10. Afterward she and Erich talked a little about what happened. I was nearby and heard some of it. They had made plans for Matthew specifically, apparently studying videos of him, or at least talking about his tactics. One thing they had worked on was Matthew's ducks. A few times Matthew had successfully ducked Maria's fleches. Talking with Erich she seemed to know she had miscalculated in those cases. But she said, in a somewhat flummoxed way, that Matthew had used ducks offensively, which she didn't expect. It was interesting hearing Erich's response. He said no, they were not offensive ducks, but rather than tell her what he thought he instead asked her a series of questions that led her to the conclusion he had in mind. In short, Matthew had used an aggressive advancing move followed immediately with a ducking extension. While advancing he made blade motions that cleverly looked inviting but not obviously so. Maria had fleched into this, and thus right into Matthew's duck. Had she not fleched, nothing would have happened. So it wasn't an "offensive duck". Maybe you could call it a counter-offensive duck, I don't know. I tried it myself a bit in practice after this, but I can't duck nearly as well as Matthew. Alas, I'm a lot older. On the other hand, at least I can duck at all. Many people my age don't, or can't.

After watching Maria and Matthew, I watched a bit more before having to go. I saw Sam take out Shawn Dodge. Sam seemed to be in excellent form and I left expecting him to win first place. I watched Yuly beat Andrew Lee in a very close 15-14 bout. Then Yuly had Matthew. I had seen them fence quite a few times and had to go anyway, so I left. Matthew won, 15-13, and went on to win the whole thing.

BladeFest Div2 Senior Men's Epee

BladeFest Div2 Senior Men's Epee

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=30135&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=118400

I've put off writing about this for far too long. And I just realized I lost my old notebook in which I scribbled notes during the event, oops. Well, I didn't write much and wasn't going to post much here. I was hoping to do better, since I could have qualified for div2 if I did well. I'm not sure how that works exactly. I came in 14th out of 28, which I doubt got me qualified.

I went two and four in the pools and felt generally slow and off. I lost badly to Charlie Muñoz, 1-5, ouch! Tobias Lee was in my pool and I looked forward to seeing if I could do better than I had in the past, but alas, I lost 2-5. I also lost to Mark Benack, 3-5. He's getting better and better. I had a close bout with Svetoslav Dimitrov, losing 4-5. So I came in next to last in my pool.

So I was 20th seed. In the DEs I got paired with Charlie, who was 12th seed. Yay, a clubmate in DEs (sarcasm). We had a great bout, the high point of the day for me. I was mostly a bit behind but came back at the end to win 15-13. I felt bad for Charlie, but good about adjusting my tactics and figuring out something that worked at the end.

My second DE was Audun Holland-Goon, who I've always had trouble with and, as time goes by, have increasing trouble with. Sure enough, he beat me, 15-10.

A couple gifs

Will have more AAR ("after action reports", right?) soon, really! In the meantime, I learned how to make GIFs, so here's a few.

Hmm, I don't know if blogger can show gifs very well, or they load super slow. So, just links for now. See if I can figure it out better. I think I made them embedded. May be they are just slow to load. Still testing.

BladeFest 2015, Vet Epee, and gold

BladeFest 2015, Vet Epee

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=30135&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=118403#118403

Since Nationals at least I've been slow in writing up these "after action reports". Maybe because it's summer. It seems best when I do it just after a tournament—like right after. If a few days pass it easily becomes a few weeks. Immediately after BladeFest there was a lot of summer and kid related stuff going on, so it has taken a while. Let's see what I can still remember.

Well, the awesome thing was coming in first place. I've been wanting to come in first place for a long time. I didn't care what kind of tournament, any kind would do. An E and under with only six fencers, sure, whatever. I've come in second place twice (both in U only tournaments, but still), and third place at least five times. I wanted to come in first someday, if only to see what it feels like.

After Nationals my tournament goals were basically to get a D rating and to come in first in something, anything. So it was funny that in the very first tournament after Nationals, the Subway Games, I got a C, and then in the next tournament, BladeFest Vet, I came in first. Well. Time for new goals.

Actually, I figured those goals were basically "things that would be nice". I don't think moving up the ratings is a very good goal, since there is so much random chance involved. And coming in first, yea, it wasn't something I was consciously aiming for—more an "it would be nice" thing. My "real" goals have more to do with specific "getting better at fencing" things—improving my balance, less shoulder tension, better parries, etc. Then again, these are goals that don't really have an end point.

Anyway, coming in first was nice. And it wasn't as small or easy a tournament as it could have been—I had to win four DEs. In other tournaments I've won several DEs but always lost one in the end, of course. To continue winning until there is "no one left" felt very nice, I must say.

POOLS

There were 18 fencers, so three pools of six. Throughout I felt a bit off, uncertain, a little slow and unfocused.

First I fenced Robert Lampson. We hadn't fenced in a long time. I remember fencing him in a pool at...the Battle in Seattle? And winning, but it was close. I remembered using strong beats against his French grip style, but also having some lucky touches. He was using a French grip again, I think, so I went in with the idea of trying to draw attacks or at least blade extensions, then using hard beats. Things didn't go quite like I hoped. He was faster on his feet than I expected, and I felt slow and uncertain, like I often do in a first pool bout.

He got the first two points, the second one a nice toe touch that surprised me. Then I got one, somehow, and another with, finally, a hard beat and fleche. Then he got the next two. I think I kept inching a little too close, trying to draw him out. I wanted to draw him out in ways I could beat or parry, but instead he just hit me. Or I would try a strong beat but he'd get his point back in line fast, or evade my beat. Maybe my actions were too obvious.

At 4-2 I started to get a little more focused and got a single. Then we ended up a little tangled and close, and he hit my shin, I think. Afterward he said that last one was lucky. Maybe, but he probably would have won one way or another.

Then I had Jeff Lucas, who has been getting a lot better lately and almost won—should have won even. I've forgotten how things began, but I think we were tied 2-2 and he got a nice outside hand hit, making it 3-2. Then, if I remember right, we doubled, making it 4-3. That got me trying to be very careful. Doubles would not do. I took my time trying to find an opening and, luckily, he launched a fleche from too far, basically giving me a point and making it 4-4. I don't remember the details of the last point, except that it was close either way. I got it and won, 5-4, but it was very nearly his. Could have gone either way. Yikes.

Third up was Jeff Johnson. I felt like I knew what I should do with him. We had practice fenced a bit in July and discussed what worked or didn't work against each other. And I had watched him and seen how his main tactics work. Of course he had fenced me and knew what my tactics were too, particularly my tactics against him. So it wasn't surprising when he did a good job denying me opportunities to do the things I wanted to—mainly strong beats against his French grip and drawing him into attacking. He very patiently waited me out, keeping his blade back and out so I couldn't beat, and tempting me to go for his inside hand, arm, or body. I did my best to feint and draw his attack, but he was good about not biting until I was truly committed to a real attack. Then he would get my arm on the outside, as expected.

Still, I managed one nice inside hand pick and kept the score fairly close. We tied 2-2, then he got up a point and we essentially doubled our way to my 5-4 loss. Toward the the end time was running out. I kept trying to get him to attack and he patiently waited, content with his lead and defense. My last attempts to tie came in the last few seconds of the bout.

There was an odd bit where we had a mild corps-a-corps and the ref gave Jeff a yellow card. Jeff asked why and he said "corps-a-corps", which was confusing. It might have made sense for jostling or something, although it had been a mild and clearly unintentional corps-a-corps. Jeff almost let it pass, it just being a yellow card, but asked for further clarification. After a bit of confusion the ref apologized and said he was mistaken, no card. [edit: just realized it is "corps-a-corps" not "corp-a-corp"; silly French]

After Jeff I was one and two, not where I had hoped to be. Next up was Brent Farnsworth, who I figured I should be able to beat, but then I had figured my bout with Jeff wouldn't have been as close, and that I should have done better with Jeff and Robert. I have to stop thinking I "should" or "shouldn't" be able to do things! But, perhaps by this point I was getting more in the right headspace. I did well and won 5-1. I don't remember the details, although I think I was starting to use this Max Heinzer-inspired thing involving a tip-up guard, inviting hand hit attempts, coupled with extra-strong seconde beat/smacks, followed by either sixte oppositions or, failing that, sixte-prime type stuff. I used this kind of stuff quite a lot in the DEs with decent results.

Anyway, all I remember with Brent is getting one weird hit on his back while passing him in a fleche...or while he was passing me. And one time I fleched and missed, letting him score.

Next up, and last, was Dreas Nielsen, a newish (I think) WFA fencer. We had warmed up a little together, but otherwise I don't think we had fenced before. Our bout was fairly ugly and I felt like I was awkward. One time I charged badly in a kind of half-hearted fleche that abruptly stopped right in front of him. I got stuck and he scored. Otherwise I did okay, if somewhat awkward, and ended up winning 5-3.

I came out three and two with an indicator of +4, which got me third place in my pool. Both Jeff Johnson and Robert Lampson won all their bouts but one (Robert lost to Jeff and Jeff lost to Brent). Jeff had a +11 indicator and easily took first in the pool, and 3rd seed overall. Carlo Malaguzzi also went four and one in his pool, with a +15 indicator, so got 2nd seed. Mark Blom won all five pool bouts and got 1st seed. I tied with Joel Howard for 7th seed. I worried that this would not be high enough to get far in the DEs.

DIRECT ELIMINATION

I was thinking BladeFest was a Div 2 tournament, so everyone was a C or under, except Frank Hewitt, a B. I wasn't sure why Frank was in a Div 2 tournament but figured there was some reason. Later I learned that the vet event was not limited to Div 2. I was lucky, I guess, that no one like John Varney was there. Still, I had to laugh when I saw that my first DE was with Frank Hewitt, the sole B fencer.

I've learned to ignore ratings, but I couldn't help but notice that he was the only B, and everyone else was a C or less. Also, I don't think I have fenced Frank before. Or if I have I couldn't remember. Don told me a bit about him. Apparently he is on the US World Vet team, which scared me, but in the over 70 category, which made me a little less scared—though not much. Don warned me about Frank's excellent bladework and point control. I went in feeling concerned and nervous. But things went very well and I won fairly easily, in one period and a decent lead the whole time.

I mainly stuck with shallow actions and lots of disruptive blade actions, beating his blade and trying to break up anything he might try to set up, while looking for shallow opportunities and trying to stay threatening. I used that "Heinzer" thing a lot and it seemed to work pretty well. I'd do hard swats in seconde which would sometimes surprise and "freeze" him for a moment, and sometimes would get him to launch an attack, perhaps because my blade would go far outside, but I could return to sixte quickly. I'm calling this stuff "Heinzer" for lack of any other name, but I'm sure it isn't at all like what Heinzer was actually doing in the video I got the ideas from. Actually, maybe I should call it "seconde swat". I don't know.

In that video Heinzer kept using a guard with his tip way up, making a very blatant invitation to his lower hand. It was way too blatant an invitation for anyone to fall for, not at Heinzer's level. I'm not sure what the point was for him. But from this position he would make very strong "swats" into seconde, sometimes onto the other person's blade, sometimes not. Again I'm not sure what this means at his level. Then, sometimes, he fleched out of the seconde swat, sometimes with opposition in sixte, sometimes in octave. It wasn't exactly clear to me, but it looked cool enough for me to try out in rough imitation a bit in practice. And I had figured out a few possible things to do with this "seconde swat" thing. I suspect one of the key things for me was the surprise of how strong a swat I can do, especially from that tip-up guard position. Thwacking the blade far out of line might trigger a bit of panic. Also, my own blade goes rather far out of line with these swats, and sometimes I would throw out one that intentionally missed the other person's blade, with the goal of drawing an attack.

(Actually, I just remembered Leland Guillemin posted a gif of Heinzer a month or two ago, showing an example of this move: http://www.gfycat.com/GranularHauntingGalapagosalbatross —this gif was the seed of my trying "seconde swats", although I highly doubt what I do is anything at all like what Heinzer does! Leland describes it a bit in this reddit post, https://www.reddit.com/r/Fencing/comments/395mbp/one_of_my_favourite_max_heinzer_touches_from_the/ — he calls it an 8-6 fleche and "one of Heinzer's patented moves". While Leland calls it an "8" it looks more like a 2 to me.)

I wasn't really sure about most of this, and still am not, but writing now I think another key aspect of this swat tactic is to draw attacks—by getting so far out of line maybe I look vulnerable to a high line attack. So I'd swat and if the other person attacked I'd quickly return to sixte, and if that didn't catch their blade (ie, they disengaged to the inside), prime. I suspect this whole thing is a tactic of limited long-term value. A couple days later Aaron Page said he had worked out some ways to deal with it, for example. But also, it seems like the kind of tactic that depends on surprise. Surprise by the strong swat, and surprise by the apparently high line opening. If I use it enough for someone to get used to it they are bound to work out ways to deal with it, or at least not to attack into it. So I'm already kind of giving it up. Also, the strength of the swat makes me reluctant to do it very much in practice, where against most people it feels somewhat rude. In tournaments though...

Anyway, I won my first DE, yay. Next I was paired with 2nd seed Carlo Malaguzzi, which made me shake my head. We've fenced quite a bit over the years and he usually beats me, often badly. But lately I feel like I have begun to figure out what might work with him, and what definitely does not work. Mainly I seem to have trouble with his binds and beats, especially his binding fleches. I get in trouble if I let him take my blade, especially if I also give him time to set things up. In other words, in the past I learned that if make strong/deep attacks, he parries well and hits me. If I wait for him to attack he sets up lovely fleches with beats or binds. Seen that way I needed to avoid making big attacks but prevent him for setting up his own attacks.

So I went in with a few basic tactical ideas. I would use absence of blade so he would have trouble beating or binding. And I would try to break up his prep with my own beats and with footwork, in and out, broken up. Also I would try to stay shallow and defensive. I get in trouble when I fleche him.

That was the basic idea, and it worked well. I used absence of blade in both down and up positions—sort of like Dragonetti does (or Heinzer in that gif, though I was "more absent" than that). The upward absence position was just right for starting that seconde swat, so I threw that out a lot. I mostly scored by counterattacking. His attacks were easier to deal with from an absence of blade position, since I still have a lot of trouble when he beats and binds me. When I attacked we mostly doubled—he'd parry me and hit on the riposte, while I would usually just manage to escape his parry in time to double. I soon gave up attacking. Once I was up a few points everything seemed easier. I was happy to wait and did well with counterattacking. As I got up more he was forced to attack more. I won 10-5. Afterward Jeff Lucas said it looked "decisive". Carlo, Jeff, and I went out to eat after the event and I learned that Carlo wasn't feeling 100%—his knee, or ankle, or something, was not feeling great, which was throwing him off. That undoubtedly helped me be "decisive".

Next up was Aaron Page in a semifinal bout. I had made it to at least third place. I looked forward to this one. It feels like sometimes Aaron just destroys me, but other times he seems off and I do well. I don't think we had had a DE bout before. In any case it was the hardest DE bout for me. It was close most of the way. I got up a point or two, then he came back. I think we tied 8-8, then I got the last two points to win.

My tactics were similar to what I did with Carlo. I tried to stay shallow and avoid deep attacks, feeling daunted by Aaron's parries. So I tried staying shallow and using lots of disruptive bladework, especially those seconde swats. Afterward Aaron called them "traps", which I guess they are, even if I hadn't worked it out in my head very well. He said he kept trying to evade my swats and hit my hand, but couldn't quite get it to work. Thinking about that action now it does seem like a trap, or a double trap even. At first it's a blatant invitation/trap, with my hand exposed from below. Then the swat opens my hand up from above. The first invitation is too blatant to work, unless I get stupidly close. The second one though. Maybe if done well it can look like I am not meaning to expose my hand like that. I think at the time I half meant the swat as a trap and half didn't really understand what I was doing, which perhaps made it more convincing and less blatant.

Anyway, I think I got a few points out of the seconde swat trap thing, or at least broke things up and distracted him. A couple times he fleched from too far, which I was happy to take advantage of. The last point, I was up 9-8 but for some reason ended up attacking with a fleche. I got parried but managed to escape and, passing, landed a hit on his knee. It was a bit awkward and lucky. But I'll take it.

The final bout was with Mark Blom, who had won all his DEs rather decisively (10-3 in all three). I had watched some of his bouts and seen people falling for his leftie French-grip tactics. I felt like I had fenced him enough to know basically what to expect and what to do. I needed to protect my outside, watch out for his surprise toe and low line attacks, and try to use a lot of beats if I could.

So, mainly, beats, attempt to draw attacks, stay shallow. Twice I tried a beat and attack to the body inside, and both times he recovered from the beat in time to hit my arm outside. Don, who coached me in the breaks, told me to stay outside and shallow. That going for the body was not going to work well. And that protecting the outside might mean way outside, as Mark sometimes gets way out there and angulates to the arm, getting around a "normal" parry six. Something like that.

So I stopped trying to go deep and worked more on the outside line. I found I was able to stop some of his outside attacks with what felt like really wide parry sixes.  I had trouble scoring from that position, but at least I stopped him a bit. I got one point simply by keeping my bell guard at his point, so that his attack got deflected by my guard just enough to miss, while my point just nicked his arm. That one surprised me a little and I didn't quite understand it. In a break Don explained it and after I kept trying to put my bell guard in the way of his point.

I got at least two points with a kind of high six beat followed by a prime-like lunge. Mark's blade was often way over in "my six", what with him being left-handed and tending to hold his blade outside and sometimes a bit point-up absence-ish. So sometimes I could make a strong sweeping beat into six and then lunge to his inside, turning my hand over and moving my arm away in a somewhat prime-like way. Sometimes, I think, I was able to capture his blade in six this way and transfer it to prime, so his blade would be caught behind my guard.

Anyway, I won 10-8—the same score as with Aaron Page, but I think I kept up a better lead than I had with Aaron. I felt fairly well in control. I made a few mistakes but corrected them (with some help from Don), and felt like I adjusted to things pretty well.

All in all it felt really nice to come in first. It also got me a C rating for the second time, making me feel like I really deserved it, even if ratings are best ignored and mean a lot less than they seem to. Also, it was interesting to see how I moved from feeling slow, uncertain, and not well focused in the pools, to much more focused and confident in the DEs. Where I felt a bit distracted in the pools and thought too much about bigger picture things, in the DEs I felt much more able to focus on "one touch at a time", with minimal distraction about the score. Maybe in part it has to do with the fact that if a DE is lost then you are finished fencing. I don't want to be finished fencing, so I work harder in the DEs?

Toby took some photos. Thanks Toby!

I score on Carlo, I guess he missed.

Carlo scores on me. This one showcases some bad form on my part, ugh.

Aaron and me.

Aaron and me from the other direction.

Apparently I scored on Mark Blom here, despite the awkward form. Perhaps a double touch.

This and the following are nice, showing me and Mark and the "six-ish to prime-ish" thing. Here the six-ish part, although looking now, unsure if "six" is at all the right term.

And the prime-ish lunge.

Gold!