March 15, 2015
https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=28372&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=112382
Yesterday at the team tournament Tobias told me to get cracking and post more, that slave-driver! Just kidding, actually you inspired me to finally get to this, Toby. But before getting to the team event I have to catch up with this E and under one:
Yay, an E and under tournament. In this, my third fencing season/year since starting up again, it seems that there have been fewer local tournaments around my level. Maybe there were a few I wasn't able to attend, but the only other similar one was the D and under last December. Otherwise I've been getting battered at ROCs like BladeFest, Columbia International, Leon Auriol Open, and the Battle in Seattle. There was a Thursday evening D and under last week but I couldn't go, and it was small anyway. I came in 3rd at the D and under in December and thought I might do as well or better in this E and under.
Up until a couple of days before the event the list of people signed up hovered around 15. Over 15 and it would be a D1 event, with 1st place getting a D and 2-4 getting an E2015. Less than 15 and it would only be E1, with just 1st place getting an E. So I was hoping it got more than 15 fencers. A couple of days before the event the list jumped to about 22, which made me happy. Including myself there were five Es signed up, of which I was most worried about Trip Atkins, plus the unknown of William Henderson from Spokane. There were lots of Us, some unfamiliar to me and who knows how good, and others I knew might be challenging. Still, the list looked promising for me.
I checked again the night before and the list had jumped to 26, including Kyle Margolies, who had re-earned his E and was an E2015. I hadn't seen him fence in a while and hoped I'd get to—maybe in the finals, haha. In the past I've beaten him in some pools but not in DEs, so seeing his name made me worry a bit. As it turned out we didn't get to fence, ah well. There were also four or five women signed up, which surprised me a little since there was a women's epee tournament the day before. Maybe some preferred this E and under to the open epee of the women's tournament. I think some, like Krystle, couldn't go on Saturday anyway.
On the morning of the event not everyone who had signed up showed up—Trip didn't, nor Andrew Smith, nor Abby Barr. Jeff Lucas showed up though, which was cool. We ended up with 22 fencers of which five were Es, making a nice D1 event (assuming at least two Es finished in the top eight, and they all did). I, of course, was aiming to come in 1st, like I usually do (although this time it seemed more realistic than usual, when I don't really expect it). If I did I'd earn my D, but at this point I'm probably more eager to come in 1st at all, as I never have in any tournament. But coming in 2-4 would be nice too and would renew my E to 2015.
POOLS
The pools seemed somewhat uneven, but I guess that is to be expected in an E and under. We had four pools—two of six and two of five. I was in one of the pools of five. There were five Es in total, so one pool got two of them, which was my pool (me and Joel Howard). It seems like one of the pools of six should have been the one with two Es, but whatever. I've been doing well against Joel recently, for some reason (perhaps I've gotten used to his various tricks?). It was Jonathan Brace, the older British guy who recently joined SAS, who gave me trouble and beat me. I won my other three pool bouts, two of them 5-1. Brent Farnsworth got a point lead on me but I managed to come back and win 5-4.
My notes are sparse and my memory fading now that it's been a couple weeks, but here's what I got.
My first bout was with Jonathan Brace. We've fenced a couple times in practice and I didn't really know what to expect. I underestimated him though. I thought he would be fairly slow, and in some ways maybe he is, but his hand and arm are fast—faster than I was expecting, and accurate too. He hit my arm as I attacked too many times, winning 5-2.
My notes said 5-3 and after the pool I said I thought the 5-2 written on the sheet was wrong. But Jonathan just shrugged, and Joel (we were self-reffing) said we "have to go with what is on the pool score sheet", which isn't quite true—the whole point of signing off is to say you agree there are no mistakes on it. I didn't push it and signed off on the 5-2 score. I might have been wrong. Plus, this was the third time recently I thought I had scored one point more than the sheet said. Maybe I've gotten in a habit of thinking I did better than I actually did—that seems likely. As it turned out the one point did not make a difference in DE seeding.
Another thing about the bout with Jonathan: I feel that I've tended to have trouble in my first pool bouts recently, especially if I have the very first bout. I seem to need a bout or two to get in the right mindset. Even watching other bouts helps with this, it seems. I'm not sure what to do about this. I could and probably should warm up more. Maybe I should warm up differently, with a more competitive mindset. I tend to focus on warming up physically, without caring much about scoring hits or being hit. I purposefully take it easy warming up, not wanting to overdo it. I think I will try changing this a little—focusing more on the mental and competitive aspect, and if I can, doing warm up bouts with several people over a longer time. Usually I only get a chance to warm up with one or two people. Maybe I should also try to warm up with people I know are better than me, which might force me more into the right mental headspace. Before this tournament I warmed up with Mark Benack who, although he is clearly getting better is still a beginner. At some point I realized I was scoring most of the touches and he was getting frustrated. So I started doing things that made it easier for him to hit me but still being practice for me—like pushing distance a little too close and trying to retreat quickly. He got some touches. I know I was being a little reckless but I think I was still practicing, but who knows, maybe I shouldn't do that kind of thing when warming up just before a tournament.
My second pool bout was with Joel Howard. In the past we've been fairly evenly matched, but lately I've been doing well with him. Yet he sometimes does quite well against people I have trouble with. It feels like his general approach has been falling into my best, or at least my preferred style. In this bout he attacked a lot, in ways I was ready for and able to parry-riposte or counterattack into. I felt like I was triggering attacks by feinting low, or even just extending slightly low with my hand turned over, presenting the top of my hand. This is something I've been doing in practice a lot, with mixed but some good results—half-extending and usually in the low line with a pronated hand, usually with a half-advance or half-lunge, hoping to draw a higher line attack to my hand or something bigger, then rotating to a six and, if catching the blade, finishing with a full lunge or whatever seems right. This was basically what I was trying to do with Joel for the first three points, although not always as cleanly as that description. It felt like it was working as planned, but it's possible he was attacking for other reasons. In any case I was quickly up 3-0. Then we doubled somehow, 4-1. I don't remember the last point, but I think it was similar to the others. I won 5-1.
My third bout was with Brent Farnsworth, a fairly new fencer from WFA. Nice guy, and should get a lot better in short order if he keeps working. Reminds me a little of my own fencing from not that long ago (and still, to some degree): Generally good and doing the right things, but sometimes with overly large blade action which can lead to openings, and sometimes falling for tactical tricks like distance traps or setting up and breaking blade patterns. Still, he got a point up early on. My notes start with me down 2-3, but I can't remember how. I think I tried some dangerous/reckless actions and got nicely counterattacked to the arm. I changed my approach, becoming more defensive, waiting for mistakes and trying to set them up. I can't remember now, but I think I got one point when he made an overly large parry, allowing me to close quickly to the opening line. And I think I got another using Russ's multiple beat thing. Shallow beat and flick to hand, then medium beat, to arm, then, that failing, deeper beat and fleche to body.
So I managed to get two points, but he got one, making the score 4-4. I was feeling pretty confident. I tried a toe touch and got it, but he countered and managed a double, thrown out. Somehow I got the last point to win 5-4. My notes just say "both". I think I meant to say we both attacked and, lucky me, he missed. Not quite sure though.
My last pool bout was with Jeff Lucas. I took the first four points and we doubled to finish, 5-1. My notes are a bit better on this one. First one a low feint to draw, followed with a bind in 8. Second, while exchanging blade action saw his blade go out of line a little too much and lunged to arm. Third, a broken time thing, allowing a straight, if long, attack. I'm not sure about the fourth touch or exactly how we doubled at the end. I wasn't aiming for a double, but he managed it.
So, although I lost one bout I felt pretty good about this pool. Interestingly, Joel and Jonathan were also 3 and 1, losing only one bout. My indicator was +7 while they were both +4, so I took 1st place in the pool. Jonathan took 2nd because his touch-scored vs. touch-received was 18-14 to Joel's 16-12. It looks like it was Joel's 5-1 loss to me vs. Jonathan's 5-3 loss to Joel that did it.
I was 5th seed after the pools. William Henderson and Paul Webster had both lost just one bout, but in larger pools and with higher indicators than mine (+9 and +14). Hans Eyman and Kyle Margolies won all their bouts. Their indicators were +11 and +14.
DIRECT ELIMINATION
Being 5th seed I was in the top half of the DE table. Kyle was 1st seed. I had had an image of us fencing in the final but that wouldn't happen with this seeding. Of course we didn't end up fencing at all, and neither reached the final. Actually, looking at the DE table and having watched it all play out it seems to me the best fencers were mostly in the top half of the table. This might have to do with the ways the pools seemed, by chance, a bit uneven. If my theory here is right one result was that the DEs were slightly easier for people in the lower half of the table—seeds 2, 3, 6, etc—and slightly harder for those in the upper half—seeds 1, 4, 5, etc. Maybe, maybe not. But looking at the table I feel like I'd have had a much better chance to make it to the semis or the final if I had been in the lower half of the table—if I was, say, seed 6 instead of 5. Weird how these things work sometimes.
Anyway, I got a first round bye, then fenced Nathan McKorkle. I had never seen him before. I see now that he's from Spokane—perhaps he and William Henderson came together. Before we fenced Paul Webster told me he had had Nathan in his pool and said he was very aggressive and tended to do one particular thing. He didn't really say what the "one thing" was, but said I should be able to handle him.
Paul was certainly right about the aggressive thing. Nathan attacked frequently, often more or less right off the line or from too far. It felt fairly straightforward to catch him in a parry-riposte, often in 8 or 2 with a sideways riposte jab as he passed. A few times I counterattacked as he came in, to his outside arm, which meant arching my back a little to get the angle. This acted like a bit of evasion, though not quite on purpose, getting his blade to miss on my outside. I racked up points quickly and ended up winning 15-3, and all in one period I think. A few times he backed off his attacks and tried being more defensive. But by the time he started doing that I had a solid lead and plenty of time, so I was happy to wait him out. Jeff and Krystal were watching and cheering me on, which felt quite nice.
After that, in the final 8, I had the 4th seed, William Henderson, the other Spokane guy (Bill, I think he goes by). I didn't know him at all, but got to watch his entire DE with David Pesin. It was pretty close, Bill won 15-13. Watching, I saw a number of things that suggested various tactics. Krystal was watching too and we chatted strategy. We both agreed that Bill might be susceptible to a toe touch, as he often had his weight on his front foot. She suggested I try for one early on, maybe right off the bat, then use the threat of more as a tactic. Other things I took note of: Bill used a lot of hard beats and liked to attack with binds. Sometimes this put his blade a bit out of line and made potential openings. I resolved to look for those shallow openings and also to keep my blade moving actively, to make it harder for him to find my blade to beat and bind. He was young and quick, so I planned to be as quick as I could on my feet, using rapid in and out footwork.
Basically my plan was to start with a foot attack right off the line, but disguised if I could, with a calmer first step or two in—like Matthew Comes used to do before everyone started expecting it. Then, a combination of in and out footwork, lots of feints, threats, and active bladework with the main goal of drawing attacks that would fall short, or which went into a line I was prepared to close out. Also shallow attacks, hand picks if possible.
I think it was a decent plan. Afterward I mentioned the initial foot plan to him and he said it was a good idea, that he is sometimes susceptible to foot touches. But even if it was a decent plan it failed badly. Or perhaps rather, I failed at pulling it off. My initial foot attack was close but fell short. I tried to slip one in a couple other times but didn't get as close. The threat of a foot attack might have still helped me, but it would have been a lot better if I had scored that first one.
My plan for fast in and out footwork was also a good idea that I didn't pull off. I was fast enough going in, but not out. And getting out is the really important part! This is something I've noticed recently—well for a long time but especially recently. I don't retreat fast enough, if I even retreat at all. I'm working on it. Sometimes I want to get into infighting and so stand my ground instead of retreating. My infighting is getting better but still has a long way to go. Practicing it during open fencing makes sense, but I should also be practicing good retreating! Even when I do retreat quickly I often get off balance. Another thing to work on.
As for my plan of using active bladework to make it harder for him to beat and bind, well I'm not sure. During the break Joel suggested I was moving my blade too much, and afterward Krystal said she thought I might have been falling into mimicking what Nathan was doing with his blade. I explained that I had planned to do that and wasn't mimicking. Still, I'm sure that sometimes my blade actions were too big, putting me too far out of line and creating openings. He definitely got a few nice hits on my arm. Afterward I realized I had been doing too much with my wrist and arm and not enough with my fingers. The next day at practice I worked on using my fingers more and felt an immediate difference and improvement. I suspect with Nathan I had way too much tension in my arm and shoulder and was probably squeezing the grip too hard. This also worked against my plan of going for hand picks. I tried a lot, but mostly missed and opened myself up. If my arm and hand were too tense my point control was certainly off.
Sometimes I felt like he fell for one of my feints or traps. Then I'd launch an attack, trying to close him out. Several times I did close him out in this way but still failed to hit before he escaped and hit me. In hindsight I see at least two things that happened in these cases. First, when I did a big attack I often wasn't fully committed. My fleches were slow or awkward (too much front foot, etc), giving him ample time to react. His fast retreats and my slow fleches meant I often failed to pass him and we'd end up infighting. Also, as Joel pointed out, I had a hesitation. I think I was somehow torn between my plan of staying shallow and making a good full attack when the time was right, resulting in that fatal hesitation. Second, and related when it came in infighting, our styles were curiously similar, at least as far as beating and binding went. I felt like this made my own beats and binds less likely to work, as he would "naturally" slip out or do a kind of counter-bind.
Anyway, he beat me pretty badly, 15-6. Then he went on to fence Kyle in the semifinals, and won 15-11. Seeing that I felt better about having lost to him.
In the other half of the DE table Paul Webster did very well. He beat Greg Doss then faced Mark Benack. Mark did quite well, especially given how long he's been fencing, coming in 8th. His first DE was against Krystal in the table of 32 (neither had a bye). Normally I think Krystal would have done quite well, but several things worked against her, not least of which was having her epee fail and using a friend's french grip epee instead. After that Mark beat Jonathan Brace 15-7, which surprised me. I didn't see the bout. Then Mark and Paul fenced in the final 8. I think Mark was pretty excited, thinking if he won he'd earn his E. Paul is a lot taller and Mark's main thing, a flick to the top of the arm, wasn't working. Being taller Paul's arm was higher such that Mark's flick couldn't get over the top of his bell guard. Paul raked up a big lead. Mark kept trying his flick and not much else, and kept getting hit with counters and ripostes. During the period break someone talked to Mark and apparently gave good advice because in the next period he stopped trying his flick and did other things (I was only half watching, thinking Paul had it in the bag, and wanting to see Kyle and Bill fence). Mark managed a decent comeback, getting within two points (from being down by something like six or more). But although his tactics change was good he had a deep hole to climb out of and couldn't quite make it, losing 15-12.
That put Paul in the semifinals and his E, at least, which was cool. He had Hans Eyman in the semi. For some reason I can't remember this bout very clearly, but Paul won, 15-12. So the final bout was Paul and Bill Henderson. Bill's speed, beats and binds worked quite well, and he won comfortably, 15-9. So the guy who took me out in the final 8 went on to win 1st place, fairly easily. I think his hardest bout might have been with David Pesin in the table of 16. David was up at one point, I think, but made a few mistakes near the end. I felt better about losing to Bill. He was definitely the best fencer there that day and deserved getting his D.
In all a good tournament, even if I didn't get to the semis. As a D1 four ratings were given out, of which three mattered: Bill got his D, Paul Webster and Hans Eyman went from U to E2015. Only Kyle's rating didn't change as he was already an E2015. I was going to write a little about reffing too, since I did a bunch in my pool and I've rarely reffed in tournaments. But this post is long already, so, some other time.
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