Club tournament

I’m happy. Three victories, one defeat, and one of the victories is against the guy I previously couldn’t beat at all – neither at practice nor at club tournaments.

2nd place out of five.

Self-confidence is not always a good thing

Very small turn-out at an open tournament today.

I’m doing so-so in the pool – three victories, two defeats, and end up seeded fourth for direct elimination with a bye into 8.

First DE bout. That is, my first DE bout; it’s the second one for my opponent. He’s warm from the first bout, and I have cooled down in the time that passed after the pools. We have fenced each other many times already, the bouts were invariably very tough, but last 2-3 times I got the upper hand. And while I understand that now he has an advantage, and that I really need to concentrate and give this bout everything I got, somewhere deep lurks self-confident feeling that I shouldn’t lose this bout. Well, he fenced much better than me today, and the result is well-deserved – his victory 15:12, I take 6th place out of 12.

Club tournament

Didn’t really feel like writing this, but a diary is a diary. Doesn’t make sense to write only the good.

And today was real bad. I couldn’t hit broad side of a barn, arm is too tense, elbow moves too much … I hit anythig but the opponent. Third place out of four, when my absolute worst performance should have given me the second.

Very disappointed with myself today.

As long as I’m awake for the DE …

Yet another tournament. I am swamped beyond belief at work, couldn’t make it to practice last 3 weeks or so.

In the pool bouts everything that can go wrong, does. Out of five bouts I barely manage to win one. My “record” acquaintance this time defeats me 5:0. As a result of all this, I seed 25th for direct elimination.

First bout – I fenced this guy several times before with alternating results. But it looks like I’m awake now – victory 15:10.

Next bout is to get into 8. A lefty. I’ve already written how much I “enjoy” fencing lefties, and why. The bout is tough, our scores are very close, but I get lucky in the end, and win 15:14.

Wow, despite screwing up in the pool, I am in top 8 again. And the next opponent is a good acquaintance of mine, who eliminated me in the first tournament of this season. Our bout is very tough again, and he’s the winner – 15:12.

I am 8th out of 32, which is pretty good, all things considered.

Club tournament

Again there’s just four of us, and again no miracles. Two victories, second place

Top 8

For some reason there’s almost twice as many people in the January tournament as there were in November – both this and last year. Maybe it’s the New Year’s resolution for some people?

I win all pool bouts. Three of them against “old acquaintances”.

2nd place in seeding for direct elimination, a bye into 32.

First DE is against another “old acquaintance” who got his C since we fenced last. Tough bout, we’re pretty evenly matched, but today I have a slight advantage. Victory, 15:13.

Second DE – I already fenced this guy today – he was in my pool, and I won 5:3 – he was repetitive, and I scored most touches with the same action. I’ve made a big mistake here: got too confident, thinking that I’ll just “repeat” our pool bout. Almost fatal mistake. We get on the strip, and it’s like I’m fencing a completely different person – different tactics, none of the pool mistakes, my previous actions just don’t work. By the time I realize that I really need to get my act together right now or go home, he’s already four points ahead. OK, let’s pretend we’re just starting, defense needs to be stronger, different style of attacks is in order, let’s try this, no, let’s try this instead … finally I catch up, then get one point ahead. And time runs out. Final score is 13:12.

Third DE is to get into top 4. I get a feeling that I’m fecing myself, only a version of myself that doesn’t make mistakes. He’s about my age, just a little bit taller than me, and fences in the same manner. I manage to score a point, next he scores a point with the same action I used. Then we switch. He wins this bout, then the tournament.

And I end up 5th out of 40. New best result, my first time in top 8!

Club tournament – now, that’s better!

Good job, me!

Six people today, I have four victories, one defeat. 24 touches scored against nine touches received!

My first first place! No, I can’t wipe that grin off my face.

Something’s out of whack

It’s the second tournament of the season (I’m not counting club tournaments, they are not real for practice). It’s not as successful as the one before, but compared to same tournament last year, there’s definitely progress. In the pool of seven I have four victories and two defeats. One of the victories is over the opponent that I fenced and lost to last season. And he’s not the first one like that. I like this trend.

I seeded 10th for direct elimination. The first bout is against a guy from my club. Fencing against a club mate in a tournament is a dubious pleasure for several reasons:

• One of you ends up eliminating his friend.
• Participation in a tournament is a way to get more diverse opponents. If you end up fencing someone you can fence at almost every club practice, how does that provide said diversity?
• Both of you know each other’s moves, which makes the bout (at least for me) a lot more tense, though also more predictable

With this particular clubmate, the result for me is unfortunately very easy to predict. I end up 10th out of 20.

Club tournament

A few more people today – seven of us. One of the bouts was rather disappointing, I could have won it, but screwed up. There was another bout though, that made me really happy – against a very tall (6+ feet) opponent with veeeery loooooong arms. That’s against my 5′11″. Previously I couldn’t even get to my lunge distance without getting hit. Turns out, all I need is to get time my attack just to a precise moment in his preparation. Ah, it’s easier to show what I did today, than explain. Anyway, looks like I figured out where he’s vulnerable, and the result is a 5:1 victory. All in all, three victories, three defeats, fourth place.

Club tournament

Very small club tournament today, there’s only four of us. And it would take a miracle for me to beat two of the opponents. No miracles, and no unpleasant surprises either – one victory, third place.