http://usfencingresults.org/results/2014-2015/2015.06-JUN-SN/FTEvent_2015Jun27_V40ME.htm
(I've been sitting on this partially finished writeup for a month, time to finally get it done and up!)
My first time at Nationals, vet40 epee my first event. I got in the day before but was still feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing. The vet40 epee didn't begin until 2:00, so I had plenty of time to get to the venue and warm up. Almost too much time: Apparently there was a shortage of refs right then, so we had about an hour delay after being assigned to pools and strips. Most of us ended up doing a bit more warm up fencing in our strip pods while waiting.
We had all four strips in the F pod and three strips in E pod. I was in pool #4 on strip F4. John Comes and Aaron Page were also in the F pod, in different pools. It was nice to have some friends around. Shawn Dodge was watching and gave me advice and coaching during the pool. Jeff Lucas came and watched. Russ and Marshall had other fencers to coach but came by eventually. Marshall coached and cheered me in my first DE, Russ in my second. Others from WFA and MTFC, like Tobias, were around the pod. It was nice having friends watching. Sometimes I imagine I'd feel distracted or a little anxious with people watching—when I did div3 epee my mom and sister were watching too. It was nice to realize how it feels good, not distracting at all, to have friends watching. If anything it made me try harder and focus better.
I had a rough start in my pool, when it finally started. I lost the first three, which started to give me a sinking feeling. But then I won the second three, feeling better and better with each bout. I ended three and three with an indicator of exactly zero. Right in the middle, which for me was not bad at all, I think.
I made a point of not checking the ratings of anyone before fencing. Usually I do, but I've started to think it is not helpful for me to know. Too often I'll let the ratings influence the way I think bouts should go, or what I should do. About a week before Nationals I was talking with Davis Carvey and he suggested I totally ignore ratings. I already knew they don't really mean all that much and I ought to mostly ignore them, but his saying it so bluntly helped me realize that I do let them influence me, generally detrimentally.
So I went into my pool without a clue as to who had what rating. Oh, I had looked at the basic distribution of ratings of all the vet40 fencers before flying down. I knew there were a lot of A, B, and C fencers, just a few D and E fencers, and a fair number of Us. But by the time I was there and my pool was starting I had put such things completely out of mind. Only afterward, looking over the results, did I see that I beat an A15 fencer.
The results also showed me that my preliminary seeding was 39 out of 48. After the pools I was seeded 26th (tied with John Comes). In the final results I came in 26th. So I more than made my goals. Actually I hadn't set specific goals, but by default they were, in approximate order of difficulty, first to make the 80% cut, second to have a final result better than my preliminary seed, and third to win my first DE. Actually, if I had seeded one higher out of the pools I would have gotten a first round bye and faced someone hard. In theory getting a bye should have been as good as winning my first DE, but I was happy it went the way it did. Winning that first DE felt great, as I came back from several points behind. Getting a bye would not have felt nearly as good.
POOLS
I didn't take notes so don't have much of a play-by-play. A lot of stuff here, like the ratings, I did not know during the pool.
My first bout was with Lewis Wadsworth. Lewis and I came out of the pools with an equal number of wins and the same indicator. But he had 24 touches scored to my 23, so he seeded above me. He was rated C13. I put up a decent fight but lost 3-5. Then I fenced David Hitchcock and lost badly, 1-5. David swept our pool, winning all his bouts and getting a +14 indicator. Then I fenced Andrew Davis. A close bout, but I lost 4-5. Not bad, Andrew, a B15, did second best in our pool. I'm not sure, but I think he was the guy with a moustache painted on his mask.
So things were looking a bit grim, down zero and three. I had been watching the other guys and with Shawn Dodge's help had come up with some plans for some of them. And I began to feel more warmed up. Things went better from this point.
I fenced Arejas Uzgirs and did well, winning 5-2. I later learned, a bit to my surprise, that he is rated U. Then I had Tracy Coldwell. He seemed pretty good (and I later learned he is an A15 from Cardinal). But I had been watching him and had a plan of sorts. It was a tough bout but I managed to stay very focused, concentrating hard on "one touch at a time". I won 5-3, to my delight. I thought that was my last pool bout and was happy to have come out two and three instead of one and four. I thought that might well be the difference between making or failing to make the post-pool cut.
So I was surprised when I got called for another bout. Good thing I didn't wander away. A couple of the guys looks a little alike and I had gotten confused. My last bout was with Marc Kuritz. By this point I was feeling much more confident and on. I felt well in control of the bout and won 5-3. I later learned he was a C13.
So I came out of the pools feeling quite good. A rough start, then a couple wins and I thought it was over at two and three, which I was okay with. Then a surprise "extra" win, making me three and three, with an indicator of exactly zero. That felt extra good.
DIRECT ELIMINATION
My first DE was against Onno Van Eikema Hommes. I'm not sure exactly how the scoring went, but I think I started off down 1-3, then 3-6, with the first period ending at 4-6 (and being vets we were only going to ten points). Russ was coaching someone else so Marshall was my coach. During the first period he called out some helpful advice (like "you're leaning, stand straight!"), but it was mostly during the break that I was able to understand what he was getting at. He said I kept doing sixes and he was disengaging them, and that I should do eight instead. Keep "feinting" sixes if I wanted, Marshall said, but when he actually attacks try eight.
So I tried that and got at least a couple points with eights. I also got a nice point doing a strong upward beat and hand pick. That one felt good. I paid minimal attention to the points, knowing how quickly things can change. I noted that I had tied it at 7-7, then got up a point at 8-7. But I think I did a good job of staying focused on "one touch at a time". Once I was up a point I think Onno got concerned and made a less than ideal attack, letting me get to 9-7. Maybe I got him in eight that time, I can't remember exactly. Then I tried killing time, which was starting to run out, being defensive yet active. Eventually Onno fleched and I managed to make it into a double, to win 10-8.
Afterward people congratulated me on my "good comeback". I had been so focused on not thinking about the score but rather on each touch I hadn't really realized I had had a comeback. I mean, I was aware of the score but only in a minimal way. I'm taking that as a good sign.
I enjoyed taking the bout slip up to the big bout committee area, far larger and more official than any other tournament I had ever been to.
My second DE was with Keith Lichten, someone I had never heard of and knew nothing about. I saw that he was the 6th seed, to my 26th. A couple people told me he was good and somewhat like John Varney. Russ was there for this one, and he suggested beforehand to fence him "like Varney". I went in feeling very confident, even while knowing this guy was going to be tough. I was totally ready to give it my all.
Well, he got the first point with a flick to the top of my hand. It came out of nowhere as far as I could tell and landed perfectly right on my hand. My reaction was something along the lines of "oh, so this is how it's going to be?" Well, I kept with my basic plan of fast footwork, getting in and out, trying to draw attacks from too far, trying to "keep the score low" like I might with Varney, and so on. He picked me off over and over, mostly to shallow targets with lovely tight bladework, flicks, and such. By the end of the first period it was 2-8, yikes.
Russ's advice during the break was fun. He said at this point my only real hope was to "try crazy things". And that I might as well because if I tried being defensive he was just going to keep picking me off, and what fun is that? I was like, oh I can do crazy things alright. So shortly into the period I tried that high-low Dragonettti fleche. It didn't work, 2-9. I don't remember the last point, but it was something crazy and he scored, so I lost 2-10. After, Russ said it can feel better to go out fighting than just getting picked off, and he was totally right.
I was very happy with how things had gone. The pools, the first DE. Keith was extremely good, and I didn't mind losing to him. When Marshall heard I had lost to Keith Lichten he said something about how he was surprised Keith had "only been 6th seed", and that he had once been on the National team, or something like that. Oh, and Keith ended up taking first place in this event. In fact, googling him right now I see he is a coach at East Bay Fencers and "ranks nationally and internationally". There's a 2012 video of him fencing Adam Watson in a round of 16 Div I NAC. And it looks like he's been fencing since the late 1980s, and doing very well at Div 1 levels since the 90s. And! Ha, looking at his Facebook page it says "one mutual friend". Bo Lawler, go figure. MIT connection. Bo connects so many disparate groups of friends it is starting to get absurd!
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