E for Effort!

In college at OSU, I did some fencing. I took the classes, and fenced with the club occasionally, but I never tried out for the varsity team. I always sort of regretted that decision (back then, I might have had a shot...not with the current team!), and when I picked back up with my fencing a couple years ago, I decided that earning a fencing classification would go on my life list.

Now, the rules for earning rankings are a little complex (here, if you're interested), but to make it simple, more people + higher ranked people = more and higher classifications awarded. The classifications go from A (highest) to E (lowest), and then U (unrated) for everyone else. On Saturday, I fenced two tournaments: one for only unrated fencers, and one for D and under.

A little more background on fencing tournaments, as well. The first part of a tournament is broken down into smaller pools, generally 5-7 fencers in the tournaments I've done. In your pool, you fence each of the other entrants, first to 5 touches wins. The second part of the tournament is a single-elimination bracket, seeded from the pool results, and each bout is fenced to 15 touches.

The unrated tournament began first. To our surprise, enough fencers registered that the top four spots would be awarded a classification: D for the champion, E for the second place and both third place finishers. (There's usually no consolation bout, so third place is considered a tie between the losers of the semifinals.)

My club had three fencers entered, so our goal was to finish among the top four seeds. That way, we'd be guaranteed not to meet before the semifinals. I felt great in my pool, and it showed in the results. I won all four of my bouts, and only received four touches total against me. It wasn't quite good enough for the top seed - my teammate edged me out with only three touches against, so I took the 2 seed. We were happy to see after the pool rounds that we had indeed taken the top three seeds for the bracket.

Moving on to the elimination bouts, I was probably a little overconfident in my first match. My opponent did very well, even coming in as a low seed. She kept the bout close for the first few minutes before I pulled away. After the win, I realized I only needed to advance one more round to reach the semifinals and get my E ranking! Fortunately, I drew a fencer I had already faced, and had some strategies going in. She was much improved from the last time we matched up, but I managed to win this one as well, with a fair margin. I'd earned my E, but there was little time to celebrate, because the tougher matches were still coming.

Thanks to being edged out in the pools, I had to match up against one of my teammates in the semifinals. He is left-handed, which always gives me trouble, and despite being fairly new to fencing, he and I are fairly even. Fortunately, I jumped out to an early lead, and it was my day. On to the final! Or so I thought.

Remember how I was also fencing in the D & under tournament? At this point, I got called over to start my pool bouts for that one. Despite my best attempts, I couldn't convince them to let me fence my final first, because they were already changing their schedule for me. I decided I was going to be aggressive and end those matches quickly, for better or for worse. My first matchup, who I've faced before, made short work of me, 5-1. Due to the scheduling delays, I didn't get a break, and had to fence a second bout in a row, but I returned the favor, downing the next opponent 5-1.

My reward for those two bouts? Immediately jumping into my final bout for the first tournament, matched up against my teammate. He jumped out to an early lead, and I struggled to stay within range. Then, on what would have been a touch for him, my next challenge reared up.

In competitive foil fencing, fencers wear a mesh jersey that allows the electrical scoring system to register a touch. On one of my opponent's attacks, he hit me, but it didn't register a touch. He asked to test my equipment, and we found that it had a dead spot, which meant I had to change to new equipment. Sadly, I only own one.

I couldn't wear my teammate's that I had faced last, since he's a lefty. So my opponent in the final offered me one of his backups.

He's 13.

Now, I've never worn a corset, but I can now imagine what it would be like. I sucked in my stomach, got the zipper started, and then breathed out to get it zipped up. I couldn't take a deep breath, but somehow it held. We continued our bout, and I fought back. Down 14-13, I thought I blocked his attack and touched him, but I didn't get the call from the referee. So, I fell in the final, 15-13. However, if there's anyone I would have picked to lose to, it was the right person. He and his family showed a lot of sportsmanship by offering me equipment to be able to finish the match, and even brought me water during a break since I didn't have any time to get some before the bout.

The second tournament ended up going okay as well. I fenced fairly well, and finished somewhere in the middle of the pack, but I wasn't too concerned at that point. I got my ranking, and went home happy.