Here is the USFA results link, although I'm not sure how long it will continue to work: http://www.usafencing.org/dec2017nac
There are a million things I could write about this NAC, and would like to. But if I tried I would never finish and never post. So instead I'm posting some fairly quick notes and a general write-up. Here goes.
DIV2 EPEE
As a C had a good preliminary seed: 20 out of 57. Went down from there. I didn't look at any opponent's rating or anything all weekend, screw that.
POOL
Here is my pool results and some brief notes I scribbled out.
My pool bouts:
Eric Wang. Lost 4-5. Fast lefty. Got down 2-3. Doubled to 3-4. Nice single to wrist, 4-4. Tried patience and distance waiting for opportunity. Then, his fast fleche, my flat foot not-retreat. Nice touch, 4-5. I felt okay for at least catching up to 4-5.
Nikolas Corrales. Lost 2-5. Flicky beaty guy—took a few touches to wake up, morning fencing ugh. Got focused and active, but too late. Down 1-4. He'd beat and repeatedly flick. Upped my energy and footwork. Scored with what I've nicknamed (and written about in other posts) "Dragonetti fleche", 2-4. Final touch—thought it was a double but no, so I lost 2-5, ouch. Russ gave good advice after. Hard to figure people out in 5 points.
Alexander Kim. Lost 4-5. Energy up, great start. Got up 4-2. Had some nice, fun infighting-y primes. Thinking i could pressure him into a mistake I increased pressure but ended up actually attacking, and too deep. He adjusted, catching my deeper feints and attacks. I had a nice beat thigh attack—half inch short while he made a lovely weird hit to my back. Then he surprised me with a fleche almost off the line, damn, 4-4. Final more of same—my pressure and his good distance and blade catching. 4-5, damn. Being up 4-2 and losing is so frustrating.
Tobyn Dessauer. Won 5-1. Finally won one. Push push push pull. Shallow shallow. Got a couple nice "4-6 opp" (incl. the final point). Felt great—can handle this, and won't lose all bouts.
McPherson ("Mack", I think) Beale. Lost 1-5. Ouch! Very nice NWFC guy. I had a plan from watching him—low lines, thigh, foot; perhaps strong takes, even the Penner crossover attack (didn't find chance to try it). He hit my arm a lot. I tried a high line, he hit under my wrist. I went low he hit top wrist. Jeez!
Gau-Shieng Lin. Lost 3-5. Gah. Russ said I kept getting caught in 6. Weird how sometimes people catch my blade and i don't understand and cant escape, but it is just a plain old 6. Often from a 6 parry i pronate, prime-y, easily, instinctively, fast. Sometimes i feel caught up in a trap i don't understand, even instinctively, like this.
So, bad pool: one and five, -7 indicator. Made me 52nd seed out of 57 for DEs. Made me anxious about what high seed I'd get for DE, but at least no one was higher rated than C.
DIRECT ELIMINATION
Went better than the pool. Here's part of the DE tableau and my notes.
First I had Edward Worth. 13th seed, E16 (would have guessed C or maybe D, fenced very well). from Bend I think (High Desert FC, Oregon). His pool: 4 and 2, +5 indicator (I didn't look at any of this before DE, just that he was 13th seed (actually i thought 12th, but whatever)). Feeling pissed about my bad pool and having to face a high seed. Realized/decided to channeled my pissed feeling into a kind of anger and energy, determination, which turned out to work quite well (and again on Monday). A new approach for me? Controlled anger?
Edward almost didn't show up in time. The refs called and called, while I was on strip all ready. Announcement on PA called him 3 times, "final warning". They knew he was there and gave him a minute more than strictly required. I was fine with that. Didn't want to win that way (but a little voice was hoping anyway). Finally he ran over, seeming flustered, and knocked over a rail en route, heh. He got a red card for "over 3 minutes" (after final call? not sure how that works). So i started with one point. Seeing him looking flustered I thought to start hard and maybe take advantage of his flusteredness. Plus i had that "angry" thing going (not really anger? need better word).
I got up 5-0 or 5-1 rather quickly, maybe in part due to the flustered thing? Maybe in part the "anger-determination thing? One touch on his hand as he lifted his blade, nice. Another toe touch, nice! Feeling good. Then maybe he finally got over flusteredness, and/or I started to get complacent. He started scoring, and I stopped. He caught up and took the lead. I think 5-8 at the break. Russ said infighting wasn't working for me and to avoid it (my usual prime-y infighting failed). Also that I was freezing with blade contact—needed to retreat not freeze! Make him fall short, etc—kinda the usual advice but so helpful to have Russ tell me anyway, even if its mostly the same thing he usually tells me, heh.
Fought hard and caught up, 8-9, 9-9. Patient and active. Not freezing, better footwork, mostly staying shallow, better distance. We were tied-ish to about 10. Then i got one, then another, 12-10. Did a up-beat and hit under wrist, nice. Ended with a double. So won 15-11. Felt awesome, having screwed up my good start, adjusted (with Russ's help), and not becoming stupid near the end (like I often do), and for beating this high seed from my lowly seed spot. Made the day.
Second DE was with Joseph Smay. Seed: 45T. D17 from Boise (only looked this up after). Young (late teens? early 20s?), nice (we chatted several times after the DE and over weekend). He ended up 15th (earning a D I think, but was already a D17).
I fought very hard—maybe too hard, ie, apt to risky and impulsive stuff. We were mostly tied-ish all the way to 13-13. Russ was elsewhere, and in my one break Kundry offered what she could. I don't think she saw too much of the bout and couldn't offer larger picture strategic advice, but it was nice to have her there. She told me I hadn't retreated from one of his attacks and should have, etc. Later, Jeff Lucas, who was watching and had had Smay in his pool (I think) said he wanted to tell me to hold back a little more and draw Smay out (I had had a lead yet kept pressing and attacking, and was a point or two up at break I think), and that Smay is more a counterattacker and I could have drawn him out and then gone straight in. But with Kundry coaching me he didn't think it was his place to (which was probably right—you can't have two people coaching you in the break, but maybe one and then another is okay, I'm not sure).
Smay was using a French grip and I had been beating a lot. At 13-13 had plan, based on various observations made up til then: beat hard, feint hard to foot, then catch the high counterattack. But my foot feint was too deep and became real attack instead of feint, maybe? He got my shoulder while I was still low. Damn, 13-14. I tried something similar (second intention, beat-feint-catch), but it failed. So I lost 13-15. My scribbled notes say: "damn—close! still, fine, won 1st DE and felt good. gave it my all and then some". At the end Smay shook hands and said something like "whoa you had me sweating", and he was clearly tired out. We fenced hard—maybe I fenced harder than he expected or wanted. I wished I could fence him again—figured a lot out by the end. Felt I could beat him if I had another chance. Ah well. Still felt fine about the event overall, mainly due to that first DE.
Final results (table cuts off, there were 57 fencers). Thanks to winning my first DE I made the 32. But due to my bad pool I came in 31st.
On Saturday I did not have an event, but went and watched a bunch. Also spent a couple hours or more practicing with Jeff Lucas, which was awesome. I wish we could do that more. We're great "fencing partners/buddies". Lots of talk of tactics and various actions, drilling a bit, etc.
VET50 EPEE
Sunday was Vet50. Slighty better pool than Div2 but lost first DE, ended up pissed—turned that feeling into "anger" next day for Combined Vet Epee. In Vet50, my preliminary seed: 45 out of 65. There were (counting now), god, 20 As and 13 Bs. Huh, that helps me feel better now (two As in my pool, four people with national points). Again, did not look at ratings or anything at all until after/now.
POOL
Edward Bourguignon. U, 61th seed; ORION, Oregon. Won 5-4.
Tied-ish, me up a bit. Beat a lot, mostly resulting in doubles. Stopped beating and worked on distance—Marshall approved afterwards (he called out some helpful things during bout). Energy felt good, focus..ok.... Got up 4-3, saw opening and went, but deep, doubled. So 5-4. Okay. Marshall commented on my going too deep a lot. He was right—except once i tried Jeff's fleche-to-back-shoulder Cody Mattern thing; it was a double but felt pretty good, though still something to work on.
Stephen Lee. E17; 57th seed; HLBRSDT, North CA. Lost 3-4.
Crazy..ish. Kept pushing him to end of strip. Tried forcing him off, but carefully! And almost did once but got hit. Ref said she was really almost almost about to call halt for off strip end, it was so close (after i realized I could use practice when other person is pushed to end—i get impulsive (though better this time than usual)—Marshall had some good advice about it, should ask him more later). Anyway, had trouble getting through Lee's parries, sweeps, etc. He got a lovely hand hit—maybe i was too active (big)? Trying to overwhelm. He retreated a lot when I feinted (feints to foot a lot). Got a nice leg touch. Still, got to 2-4, guh. One exchange I couldn't tell who got—turned out I did. Close close. I got one the ref called for me, then changed her mind and said floor—I agreed. Wasn't 100% sure but it probably was floor. Got a single, 3-4. His defense was great. I kept pushing and looking for openings and feeling good, and...time ran out!? Being at his strip end i couldn't see the time—was this tactic of his? Keeping me in a place where I wouldn't notice the time running out? Anyway, I lost. Still, 3-4 is better than 3-5. Then again, 4-4 and overtime would have been better. I had no idea the time was running out, was quite surprised.
Robert Malleck. C15/55; 36th seed; FENCERS, Metro NYC). Won 5-2.
Bit uncertain at first—but got tempo control. Good leg hit. Bizarre infighting, he scored (I thought I did, but no). Then i got a nice prime touch. Ended 5-2. Felt good, felt I controlled the bout.
Bela Suveg. A16/24; 16th seed. Lost 3-5.
Based on another tournament where I beat him 5-0, I had plan involving hand hits/threats, but I overfocused on hand & disruptions. With his big sweeps I thought I saw openings and went—but deeper than intended—he parries well, and strong, and holds his parries, preventing my remises, resulting in singles for him. Down 2-4 then finally got nice hand hit (after refocusing on shoulder instead of hand!). fFnal action—another sweep and opening?? I go hard, he parried and hit he solidly in chest. VERY FINAL point, heh. Ah, 3-5, not too bad with Bela (although I did beat him 5-0 that one time, usually he beats me badly).
John Jones. B16/43; 25th seed; TCFC Marx Fencing New England. Lost 4-5.
Got to 4-4. final point: we both went for the same thing at the same time, clashed bell guards and my tip missed, his hit—pure luck, as Chris Aher said (who was watching), and Jones too, afterwards. Jones got first point when I got too close, trying some absence. But as Aher said I adjusted to good distance such that jones couldn't do that attack again, so that's good. And again there were a couple of exchanged I couldn't tell who had hit/scored. Good bout. Bit distracted. Must focus! Also, nice having Chris Aher watching—I felt like our club was particularly good at having someone watching clubmate bouts, even in pools, most of the time. I think Kundry helped make sure that happened (she had a spreadsheet of all SAS fencers and events, making sure at the very least we all had someone to coach us in DEs). There were also quite a lot of us there, and I felt like most of us tried to watch each other's bouts when we could.
Jeffrey Hudson. A17/7 (7 points), 5th prelim seed; Ohio. Lost 2-5.
Amazing fleches, surprised me. Varney called out "distance!" (nice to have clubmates watching!). I adjusted and thought I had plenty of distance. He fleched again and I felt like i had plenty of time to deal with it but he still got me, after 2-3 blade actions during fleche and my retreating (beats and then ending up like infighting). Then more of same. Afterward Varney and Hudson both said I needed 5 inches more distance than what I had thought sufficient—and that my distance was okay for most fencers, but Hudson's fleches really require a bit more. Also, Varney said i needed to retreat more, I was freezing a lot when fleched. Gotta keep working on that.
So, out of pools, I was 48th seed out of 65; two and four, -3 indicator. Not too bad.
DIRECT ELIMINATION
Did not go so well. Here's part of the DE tableau and my notes.
My DE was with Earl Hergert, A16/38; Medeo FC, New Jersey (his pool: 4 and 3; +4 indicator).
He got up a lot fast. Period ended 2-5, I think (Vet so only to 10). Marshall (who was coaching me because Russ was busy with someone else) gave excellent advice: I was leaning forward too much and couldn't retreat and needed to, and i was reacting to him, because i was unsure: Lefty, me trying to be cautious and careful, maybe draw him out, and looking for shallow stuff, but it wasn't working. Marshall asked "Can you fleche?" "Heh oh yes." "Do it." "Really??" Against this guy that seemed very risky, as far as I could tell. But I tried a fleche and scored. Marshall called out "same thing"—and I scored again. Then again, though felt a bit lucky the 3rd time.
By then it was about 7-8 and i got cautious again—close score now! It had become a real bout. Also, three fleches seemed pushing my luck, especially with the 3rd one having felt kinda lucky. Surely he'd be expecting it now and have a defense ready, right? So I became careful again, like earlier in the bout. Wrong idea—he scored and scored and won. Marshall said I should have kept doing what was working (those fleches), not gone back to what hadn't been working. But said otherwise I adjusted well, fixed my lean/balance and retreats, etc. Hergert said "nice comeback". It was too! If only the bout was to 15 i might have had a chance to adjust one more time. And if only I hadn't gotten down so far at the start, I could easily imagine winning. Should have kept fleching! Interesting insight—opposite of usual situation (shallow shallow!).
Still, pissed to have it all over so soon. Channeled that into determination the next day, which was much better. My place in final results (can't see it here, but John Varney came in first place, woo!):
COMBINED VET EPEE
Monday was the Combined Vet Epee event. I did well, for me, and was very happy with the result. I didn't take notes during the event (and sometimes I think I'm better off when I don't). So I don't have the kind of play-by-play info of the previous events. I could write quite a bit anyway, but can't spend forever on this post. So instead, here's screenshots of my pool, DE, and final results, followed by a more general post I wrote about the NAC as a whole. It repeats some things I wrote above, but also has some info about the Combined Vet event. Perhaps I'll try to add additional notes, details, insights, etc, later.
I went to the Portland NAC, my second national-level event, and holy crap I loved it. I did Div2 and vet epee. Watching the Div1 people was very cool. So many are scary good.
My Div2 pool was pretty bad. In one bout I got up 4-2 only to get stupid and complacent, thinking I had it, and "fencing not to lose" as someone put it, and losing 4-5. Bad pool, low seed, so I faced a much higher seed in DE. I was angry about my pool and successfully channeled the anger into focus and determination. Although I love tournament fencing I'm not a naturally competitive "must win" kind of person, which makes is easier to deal with losing but also makes it harder to actually win. Trying to find the right mental balance and ways to get my head into a "winning" headspace has been a challenge. So it was very interesting and encouraging to channel that pool frustration into anger into focus and determination.
In this DE I quickly got up five points or so. Then my opponent got his head on right, while my anger-focus flagged, and soon he caught up and got three points ahead. That was enough to rekindle the anger-focus thing. The rest was hard fought, more or less tied to about 10-10. Then I got a couple points up, say 12-10. Now I'm extremely good at managing to lose when I'm up a couple points near the end like this. There's a ton of mental stuff that plays into it, which I've been struggling to figure out for a while. This time I didn't blow it and won.
That made up for the bad pool, but more so, I felt like I learned quite a lot about the mental stuff I've been trying to figure out for a while now. Went into the second DE with even more determination and "anger"-focus-energy, deliberately turning it up. It was a great bout, more or less tied to about 13-13. I turned it up even more and tried a second intention thing that was probably a good plan, but in my new-found anger-energy headspace the feint came out overcommitted and I got hit with a counterattack. Tried again, same result. So I lost but felt like I learned more about this mental stuff—just where is the point between productive determination and too much. Felt good, like I was just reaching a new and very useful mental level.
But then I got trashed in vet50. My pool was ok, but not great. In my DE I tried to be careful and cautious, looking for shallow targets and such, but could not figure this guy out, could not figure out what to do. I was letting him control the bout and was paying for it. I think the period ended 2-5 (and vet DEs only to 10). In the break my coach corrected a couple things and, to my surprise said instead of being cautious I should just fleche this guy. I was surprised because I felt like this guy had a strong defense (thus my being cautious). I was like "seriously? you're saying I should start fleching? well okay, if you say so I'll try it".
Surprise surprise, coach was right, and during the second period I scored several singles with fleches, getting the score to 7-8, iirc. Then my stupid brain did what it likes to do and started to think I could win after all, which made me nervous, which made me revert to being cautious. The last fleche I made hadn't worked quite as well (though still a single light), and my stupid brain said "he's sure to have adjusted and fleching won't work now". So I ended up returning to the way I was at the start of the DE, with predictable results, in hindsight anyway.
All this made me really frustrated. The next day was vet combined and I very deliberately made myself feel angry about the vet50 event, and very purposefully channeled the anger into energy, determination, and focus. It was similar to what I had done in div2, but better. I was able to tap into the mental stuff I had figured out in div2 and do it again, better. Result: I had an acceptably decent, even good pool, for me. Three and three. Every single bout ended 5-4.
Before the DEs I continued working on this anger-channeling mental thing. It was weird because I am not naturally angry. I had to actively make myself mad. I walked around forcing myself to frown and seethe—to myself anyway: whenever anyone actually talked to me I was suddenly all smiles and happiness. Then I'd go back to stalking around with a vengeful grimace. These DEs would be the last fencing of the NAC, and damnit, I was going to win.
Well, to cut to the point, after the pools my seed was 44 out of 95. I won my first DE. It was with Leo Caamano (U; NAFAN, West Rock; 85th seed; won 10-6). It wasn't a blow out or anything, but I think I had the lead all the way. Second DE was the best. It was with Bruce McGuffin (C14; New England; 21st seed); won 10-5). Not only did my funny anger-focus mental thing seem well balanced and very useful, but twice I saw problems and solutions, and made tactical adjustments that worked. And that is something else I've been struggling with for a long time. Seeing a tactical problem isn't too hard, but seeing a solution has been very hard for me. And even then, seeing a solution and being able to execute it at a higher level event with someone I've never fenced or even seen before, well that's not something I had experienced before. Winning that bout felt so good, like I had reached a mental place I had been trying to find for years. In a funny way I felt simultaneously overjoyed, "finally, major progress in the mental stuff!" but also "of course I won, damnit, and nothing can stop me from continuing to win!"
My next DE was with Erich Crannor (A17; NWFC, Oregon; 12th seed). I lost 5-10, but so what? I gave it my best, fenced well, and learned, and afterward easily let go of the anger and was happy, yet still determined for the bigger future picture.
Finally, to end this long post, let me say I really enjoyed spending the weekend with everyone there. The fencing community is truly a wonderful thing. I'm extremely happy to be a part of it.
