Out

I pretty much see fencing as being over for me. At least for the foreseeable future.

I am trapped in a job out of town. I am not sure how long I will be able to hold on to the job. It is god awful and I do not feel qualified to do it in many respects. Still I must try to hang on to it as long as I can , as the alternative of being unemployed with the economy as it is, leaves me little choice.

Should I become unemployed, there would be no money to devote to fencing.

I am pretty much screwed.

I still read everything I can about fencing on line. I check on the people I know and learn what I can. However, that makes me sad. Living without something you love is a lot like living without someone you love.

There are a lot of depressing things going on in my life at the moment. A friend suggested that I blog about them. (Or that I continue to blog as an outlet.)

I don't think I want to bare my soul on-line, but I may give this some thought in other regards.

I so miss people from my fencing life. It is impossible to separate that love from the love of the sport.

The Plan for Now

I fenced last week.

It was the first time I had ever seen a video of me fencing. Dang! I thought I was better than that. I now see things to work on.

In my driving to Indiana during the week, I have not found a club near Jasper, Indiana.
Note: The job is long and fairly physical, so staying up late and driving far is not an option.

I do pass through Louisville, KY. 1 1/2 hours from Jasper and they have a club or two. I will explore this after I become more acquainted with my job and other matters.

There are some season end tournaments. Tournaments will now become practice. Get in some bouting when I can...where I can.

I might be able to meet with some friends on the weekend and bout.

If things go okay with the DFC, they may start free fencing on Fridays. I may can work that in.

The summer is always slow, so just as long as I can keep at it a bit, I may not loose to much. Of course I do not have ALL that much to loose.

My plan is to be a nomadic fencer....a homeless fencer for a while....but to still keep at it.

Not great. Not what I want. But it is a plan of sorts. If I had my way, my life would not be as it is. A lot of people would say the same thing.

Never more than of late, have I ever wanted to do the thing that makes me happy and forget all about the things I should do.

Postings Will Be Less Frequent

It is a sad time and depressing time for me.

Like many companies these days, the one for which I work is encountering financial difficulties.

My job is tied to the housing industry.

Last week, I found out that I would almost certainly lose my job by August. I worked a deal (if a deal is what you can call it) and took a job in Indiana. I will drive eight hours every Monday......work there through the week..........and drive eight hours home on Friday. Even doing this, my job can not be considered secure. There is still risk and uncertainty.

So, for the foreseeable future, fencing will become something I do whenever I can find the time and a place.

There is no choice in the matter. I have a son in college and a wife with huge medical expenses.

Like I said, even this does not offer definite security regarding my employment.

If I were unemployed, I would have time for fencing, but not the finances to do so.

My career has always been very specialized. As furniture is no longer made in the US, that has eliminated that option. I can get a job in China...I think....but my wife could not be without the medical treatment here, and I would need to live there and my family here. I have seen how this has worked for other people. Let's just say the results are not pretty.

There are also laws about hiring in the US (if there were jobs to be had), but anyone in their fifties know that there is prejudice in hiring someone in our age group.

Relocation is not much of an option. I can't sell my houses.

I will just have to see what the future brings.

I suspect posts on this blog to be less frequent.

I love fencing. It is/was my passion.

However, my greatest regret is not missing the fencing, but missing the people I care about who fence.

For the time being, I am going to buy a leather bound journal and record some of the things I have learned about fencing epee. I will include drawings (I was an art major).

I have always had a fantasy that one of my grandchildren (when I get some) would find something like this and become interested in fencing.

That's pretty unlikely. However, once in a blue moon, I buy a lottery ticket.

Grey Epee....over and out.

Raleigh and Las Vegas

Raleigh

Sunday, I fenced in a RFC tournament.

There were 18 or 19 people preregistered for the epee event---only 11 showed up.

In the first set of pools, I only won one bout.

In the second set of pools, I only lost one bout. (Moderately long story on the second set of pools thing.) At least we got in some extra practice, because that is what it was.

The inconsistency of my results is something I ponder. Am I like an old car? Does it just take me a while to warm up? Do I fence better when I am a little ticked off? I know Nicole does. Though being angry does nothing.....it has to be just a little ticked off. Or is it just kind of a crap shoot at certain levels?

Oh well.....I am bored with thinking about that already. Moving on.


Las Vegas

Monday, after being in a plane for about six hours and in airports for about four hours, I went to The Fencing Academy of Nevada Las Vegas.

The lady at the desk was really nice and went out of her way to introduce me to people and see that I got to fence.

The first thing I noticed was a bevy of tiny teenage girls fencing epee, wearing FIE whites with "USA" on their jackets. They looked both cute and menacing.....and they certainly were the later.

There were at least 2 Delgado's there. I must remember to tell Mario. Perhaps I just did.

I pretty much got the tar beat out of me by all ages. I fenced 3 times with long breaks in between. I was tired, though not being tired would have made little difference.

I watched a young woman foil coach give elegant private lessons. Always with footwork and covering distance.

I studied the way these people fenced. There was nothing fancy about it, though they were clearly high level fencers. It looked like Olympic fencing with less distance between the fencers. I clearly do not understand elements of higher level fencing. That is okay. If I did, I would lose the fun of trying to figure things out.

I met the big guys there, shook hands and said hello. That was about all I was expecting. I am just not the kind of guy that can strike up a conversation. Besides, they were busy.

I watched Maitre Auriol talk to fencers with a look or a glance. He looked at his watch when a fencer came in late. More than once I saw him give a disapproving look to someone bouting. It evidently is all that needed to be said.

I headed out early , as I was tired and not certain I could find my hotel if it was very dark.

I talked to the nice lady at the desk again and asked her, " Is this the begining class? Cause if it is, I want be back on Wednesday for the advanced class." ( I wanted to be there on Monday, as I thought the people would be closer to my level of fencing.) She laughed and told me the people fencing were the regulars and that I was holding my own. She told me to come back on Wednesday, and I will.

One the things of interest to me at the salle was a quote from Maitre Yves Auriol hanging on the wall.

It said, " The answer is on the strip."

I love simple truths. They are the best.

Brief Post

Private Lessons

My private lessons have not been going all that well of late.

I concentrate on my standard problems and a new one pops up.

The new one is pulling back my weapon arm. It is partly because my advance is too large.



RFC Tournament

Heading to Raleigh early tomorrow morning. Looking at the pre-registration, I would say the odds are not good of hitting a mark better than expected. Still, hope springs eternal.

Once more, the three musketeers will be together.


Vegas

Another business trip to Vegas is about to have a couple of bright spots, as I hope to head to a Las Vegas fencing club and some bouting.

There are a number of well known coaches at that club.

I doubt that I will get to talk with them. But I will be happy just checking out the club and getting a bit of strip time.

http://www.fencingacademyofnevada.com/

I have been instructed to post on how that goes. That will give me something to do on the two nights I will not fence. Yay!

Easter Week at Fetzer Gym

Thursday evening I went to UNC for my private lesson with Coach.

I had taken the month of March off, as between spring break, NCAA events, and my own traveling, there just wasn't any time for lessons.

It was a different sort of evening. The few people that were there were adults. (I am never sure how to classify the college aged fencer.) The exception being Max and a UNC foilist.

There were two new foilists I would guess to be in their late 30's . They were taking lessons with whacky whackers.

We talked with coach for a moment and then went over and sat down at THE table to pay my dues.

Mostly only coaches or long time students sit at THE table.

I am sure that at some point I have sat at this table before, but if I did it was just for a moment. However this night, we sat at THE table and talked with Coach. Josh joined us later in the conversation. I know it is a silly kind of thing and may never happen again...but I felt kind of honored. It is hard to verbalize....honored is not the right word.....but it is something akin to that.

Prior to sitting at THE table, we talked with Coach for a bit. He was kind enough to go with the DFC leadership on Wednesday night and look at our potential new space. We talked about that for a while. It was great of him to take the time to do that.

Henri vocalized her frustration with how she was doing in competition. Coach told both of us that we should not judge ourselves (our progress) through local tournaments, but only when we fence someone our own age. I pointed out to that we were "late bloomers" and some of the people that we fence have been doing it sense they were very young.

I don't know how I feel about Coach's advice. I would need to have a Vet 50 person fill out a short questionnaire every time I fenced one. I am still thinking about this.

I am sure there may come a time when I will need to find other ways to judge myself other than local tournaments. But....not yet. I judge myself in the "D and Under"...(sometimes "C and Under" if I am feeling frisky) types of Divisional competition. I don't necessarily have to beat a C fencer to feel that I did okay. I think I have a fairly realistic assessment of my abilities.

I did something to my back last Sunday. I came home from Divisionals and mowed the yard. I also stayed bent over pulling weeds for a long time. The next morning I was hurting bad.

I never had lower back pain before. There is something that will make you feel and move like an old person!

Next week, we have two new students in the beginner class. Lessons and fencing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday I will be in Tennessee on business.

Sunday I hope to compete in the RFC tournament.

The week after I will be in Vegas again for a week. Crud!

The Language of Fencing

On the first day I started fencing, I went to Barnes and Nobles and bought the only fencing book they had. In retrospect, it was not the best choice. However, I was so hungry for information that I loved it.


As I read it, I became more acquainted with the vernacular of fencing. My initial thought was, "Damn.....Who in the heck would know all these strange words and their meanings?"


Now-a-days my fencing vocabulary is pretty good. Not that some words and definitions don't trip me up from time to time. They do. Different coaches have somewhat different definitions for some actions, which further complicates the language.


While the language is moderately complex, lately it seems to me that it should be even more complex.


One of the most basic drills is called "Six Wall". That is very descriptive of the drill. It is the foundation for a lot of other drills, and it is the only one I know that has a name. Also, it is part of my warm up routine, when I have someone with whom to drill, and I am not short cutting my routine. All the rest are named by their separate actions. It would seem easier/faster to transition from one drill to the next if you did not have to mentally repeat every action you needed to do and just focused on the cues. German's (Beck System) seem to have numbers for each drill, though that seems too clinical and hard to remember.


Or, when you set up an attack. Take one of Toomey's set ups that Tommy showed me lately. Short slow advance....take the blade in two....long fast advance....tiny little advance. Now, I know that you can do this action to the point that no conscious thought is required for the action. But, suppose you are dancing around out of distance and looking for the best attack to set up. Would it not be wiser and faster to have a name for that set up? Or if you are a coach and you want to convey the need to use that attack to your student on strip, without a name or hand signals that signify a name, there is no good way to do it, except during conversations at breaks.

Or look at the description of the set up above. It would seem easier if "short slow advance" or "tiny little quick advance" had a one word name.

I sometimes wonder if, at some point in the history of fencing, there were names in another language which have all been forgotten.

I would love to see a book on how fencing has changed over the last 200 years. (exploring all manner of things forgotten). For example watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JigsNa3u_s&feature=channel_page


There is foil and dagger fencing in here that is so fluid and graceful that it reminds me of Wu Shu. I would give anything just to know a few drills like this. Also, there is a brief moment where a woman makes a high parry (it looks like a sabre parry), but it is so very elegant. I love that sort of thing!


Sometimes, just talking with Coach, he will use a term that I have not heard before. When I get home I try to look it up, and there is nothing that can be found. Take "Banderol" for example. Just trying to remember how it is spelled or might be spelled is hard enough. Then try to find a definition in English. Often this link is some help for spelling, but after that you are on your own.

http://www.synec-doc.be/escrime/dico/dico_escrime.html


On the other hand, I suspect a lot of folks never become fluent in the basic
language that already exists.

It might not make sense, but sometimes I dwell on these types of things.