![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Leicester Open
May. 14th, 2018 08:25 pmSo the week after the Birmingham I did the Leicester. Which I recommend if you're a fencer looking for a fun little competition.
Most especially if you're a female foilist who likes to sleep in, because the women's foil only started at 2.00, so, even with Sunday trains, I had plenty of time to get my act together and get to Leicester, even if I slept till 10.
It didn't mean there weren't any problems. I got to New Street on time, but the train was in the wrong place. Cue an entire train's worth of people running down the platform alongside a moving train as the driver encouraged us to go faster. Managed to get the train, despite all of the above and got to the competition in plenty of time.
In the first pool I got awkward leftie from the Birmingham Open, a Veteran with GB stripes, an Italian and the very good foilist I rescued when they were horribly lost at the Birmingham. I beat the leftie by being short and awkward in turn. I lost to the good foilist, which was fine, beat the GB vet because we had a good ref and the rules for when an attack starts and ends have changed (5 years ago, but the Vets hate the new rules, and I agree with them but thems the rules). She was not happy. And when I say not happy, I mean, was complaining about it to the other vet who was present. I enjoy annoying stripes!
The Italian does this very Italian thing with her footwork, and when it goes relative to her hand. It's genius, because the hand is going forward, so it is an attack, but the actual arm extension is after the foot movement so, if you're not expecting it, you parry when the foot goes, miss their attack completely, and then you've been hit. Luckily for me, I have trained with an Italian so I know what's going on. So, I somehow beat the Italian.
At this point, certain things are becoming apparent. 1 - I am having a good day. 2 - I am having a lucky day. 3 - Because I am a counter-attacking fencer having a lucky day, that means everyone is hitting me off-target. My upper arm already begins to resemble a pincushion.
Somehow, I am joint 5th after the pools.
Here the Leicester do something weird. They take the top x (6 for the men, 5 for the women) and have them fight off in their own pool, and then take the remaining fencers and divide them up into to pools as they would normally. When the fencers have fenced, the top x are seeded 1 - x, and then the rest fill in from x+1 from the second round of pools.
Anyone else confused? Luckily I had J to explain it to me. Three times. Slowly. (Ahem) The concept is apparently called a shark pool. I therefore, to the amusement of various people, I dubbed my pool "the manta ray pool". We're not as bitey as sharks!
Unfortunately, I got J in my second pool, and then 3 bambinos.
J fences very much like a bambino, very fast, very direct, very I am going to hit you. The problem was her timing was off and she was bringing her arm back in the attack. Which I told her when we were warming up together. You see why I hate fighting her.
The 3 bambinos were, I'd say, second-rank bambinos. All the excellent bambinos were away at the World Championships, and the Leicester is only a small open. The second level of the youth of today is very aggressive (on piste, off piste they're lovely) but has no point control. And my style works excellently against fast-with-no-point-control.
For the first time ever, I win all my fights in a pool!!!
You know those days when it goes right?! It was one of those.
My right arm, my right thigh and, somewhat perplexingly, my left thigh are all thoroughly bruised, because my style does involve me getting hit.
One of said bambinos asks me for advice afterwards, so I say to her I will tell her once I am knocked out, because I know how my luck goes. Which she completely accepts.
I'll let you all guess who I got in my knock out match. ... Which I won by the skin of my teeth because she twigged most of what I was going to tell her mid-match. Also at great cost to my little finger, which took a direct hit at the bottom and is still tender a month later (don't worry, not broken, I just heal slowly and, as I said, full force to find). Luckily I use a pistol grip which are designed to be used without the little finger.
I got the regulation 15 to get an ice pack, catch my breath and prepare for the next match. I could have had 150 minutes and I wouldn't have been ready. That particular youth of today was fast and had point control. Plus was about half of me wide, and her normal attack landed right in my lower left quadrant, which I am not used to having to defend at my height. It gives me something to work on for next time. Because there will be a next time (insert Dr. Claw laugh here).
So me and my bruises wended our way home after a solid day's work ranked 6th out of 15 at a competition.
Result!
There has since been a slight snafu with the rankings for the competition, but I have been promised it will be sorted.
Most especially if you're a female foilist who likes to sleep in, because the women's foil only started at 2.00, so, even with Sunday trains, I had plenty of time to get my act together and get to Leicester, even if I slept till 10.
It didn't mean there weren't any problems. I got to New Street on time, but the train was in the wrong place. Cue an entire train's worth of people running down the platform alongside a moving train as the driver encouraged us to go faster. Managed to get the train, despite all of the above and got to the competition in plenty of time.
In the first pool I got awkward leftie from the Birmingham Open, a Veteran with GB stripes, an Italian and the very good foilist I rescued when they were horribly lost at the Birmingham. I beat the leftie by being short and awkward in turn. I lost to the good foilist, which was fine, beat the GB vet because we had a good ref and the rules for when an attack starts and ends have changed (5 years ago, but the Vets hate the new rules, and I agree with them but thems the rules). She was not happy. And when I say not happy, I mean, was complaining about it to the other vet who was present. I enjoy annoying stripes!
The Italian does this very Italian thing with her footwork, and when it goes relative to her hand. It's genius, because the hand is going forward, so it is an attack, but the actual arm extension is after the foot movement so, if you're not expecting it, you parry when the foot goes, miss their attack completely, and then you've been hit. Luckily for me, I have trained with an Italian so I know what's going on. So, I somehow beat the Italian.
At this point, certain things are becoming apparent. 1 - I am having a good day. 2 - I am having a lucky day. 3 - Because I am a counter-attacking fencer having a lucky day, that means everyone is hitting me off-target. My upper arm already begins to resemble a pincushion.
Somehow, I am joint 5th after the pools.
Here the Leicester do something weird. They take the top x (6 for the men, 5 for the women) and have them fight off in their own pool, and then take the remaining fencers and divide them up into to pools as they would normally. When the fencers have fenced, the top x are seeded 1 - x, and then the rest fill in from x+1 from the second round of pools.
Anyone else confused? Luckily I had J to explain it to me. Three times. Slowly. (Ahem) The concept is apparently called a shark pool. I therefore, to the amusement of various people, I dubbed my pool "the manta ray pool". We're not as bitey as sharks!
Unfortunately, I got J in my second pool, and then 3 bambinos.
J fences very much like a bambino, very fast, very direct, very I am going to hit you. The problem was her timing was off and she was bringing her arm back in the attack. Which I told her when we were warming up together. You see why I hate fighting her.
The 3 bambinos were, I'd say, second-rank bambinos. All the excellent bambinos were away at the World Championships, and the Leicester is only a small open. The second level of the youth of today is very aggressive (on piste, off piste they're lovely) but has no point control. And my style works excellently against fast-with-no-point-control.
For the first time ever, I win all my fights in a pool!!!
You know those days when it goes right?! It was one of those.
My right arm, my right thigh and, somewhat perplexingly, my left thigh are all thoroughly bruised, because my style does involve me getting hit.
One of said bambinos asks me for advice afterwards, so I say to her I will tell her once I am knocked out, because I know how my luck goes. Which she completely accepts.
I'll let you all guess who I got in my knock out match. ... Which I won by the skin of my teeth because she twigged most of what I was going to tell her mid-match. Also at great cost to my little finger, which took a direct hit at the bottom and is still tender a month later (don't worry, not broken, I just heal slowly and, as I said, full force to find). Luckily I use a pistol grip which are designed to be used without the little finger.
I got the regulation 15 to get an ice pack, catch my breath and prepare for the next match. I could have had 150 minutes and I wouldn't have been ready. That particular youth of today was fast and had point control. Plus was about half of me wide, and her normal attack landed right in my lower left quadrant, which I am not used to having to defend at my height. It gives me something to work on for next time. Because there will be a next time (insert Dr. Claw laugh here).
So me and my bruises wended our way home after a solid day's work ranked 6th out of 15 at a competition.
Result!
There has since been a slight snafu with the rankings for the competition, but I have been promised it will be sorted.
