A minor fencing conundrum
Help me, flist, to make up my mind about something...
So, I've bought my first pair of fencing breeches with my unexpected backpay, which was great - I recently also bought some new court shoes (since tennis or squash shoes basically double as fencing shoes, for half the price) and some nice dark blue socks to match them. I'm now about 6 months in to learning to fence and enjoying it a lot, though I'm not always sure whether I'm actually improving. Part of what we do on a Thursday is that the beginners fence for an hour and then, if we like, we can stay on and have the opportunity to fight the more experienced fencers.
Anyway, in January we've got the annual club competition and for over 14's that's a team one - it looks as though how it'll shake out is the beginners all fencing foil and the more experienced fencing either épée or sabre, so a team will be a randomly-selected group of 3 with all weapons represented. I'm a bit nervous and this isn't helped by it being on a Saturday afternoon so I'll basically be finishing work at 12.30 and potentially fencing at 1pm.
But that's not the dilemma. Nope. I've also been given an entry form for the regional beginners & intermediate fencing competition, which is in February. A beginner is someone who's started fencing since August 2015 so I'd qualify for that and the intermediate is a longer period, so ditto (and for the next 2 years by my reckoning). I could borrow the relevant equipment from my club so that's not an issue but I would need to get the day off because, again, it's a Saturday but it's in the next town and I'd need to sign in for beginner's foil at 9.30am. It's probably not going to be a massive competition - last year there were 5 women beginners at foil.
Here's the thing: if I don't fence the beginners competition in February, I won't be eligible for that category any longer by the time it rolls around again, I'll have to go up to intermediate. If I wait to see how well I do in our competition, I won't be giving my boss enough notice to get cover for the one in February. If I do enter the beginners competition, I could still get my arse handed to me and finish bottom of the list.
Also posted at my Dreamwidth account - happy to receive comments on either post.
So, I've bought my first pair of fencing breeches with my unexpected backpay, which was great - I recently also bought some new court shoes (since tennis or squash shoes basically double as fencing shoes, for half the price) and some nice dark blue socks to match them. I'm now about 6 months in to learning to fence and enjoying it a lot, though I'm not always sure whether I'm actually improving. Part of what we do on a Thursday is that the beginners fence for an hour and then, if we like, we can stay on and have the opportunity to fight the more experienced fencers.
Anyway, in January we've got the annual club competition and for over 14's that's a team one - it looks as though how it'll shake out is the beginners all fencing foil and the more experienced fencing either épée or sabre, so a team will be a randomly-selected group of 3 with all weapons represented. I'm a bit nervous and this isn't helped by it being on a Saturday afternoon so I'll basically be finishing work at 12.30 and potentially fencing at 1pm.
But that's not the dilemma. Nope. I've also been given an entry form for the regional beginners & intermediate fencing competition, which is in February. A beginner is someone who's started fencing since August 2015 so I'd qualify for that and the intermediate is a longer period, so ditto (and for the next 2 years by my reckoning). I could borrow the relevant equipment from my club so that's not an issue but I would need to get the day off because, again, it's a Saturday but it's in the next town and I'd need to sign in for beginner's foil at 9.30am. It's probably not going to be a massive competition - last year there were 5 women beginners at foil.
Here's the thing: if I don't fence the beginners competition in February, I won't be eligible for that category any longer by the time it rolls around again, I'll have to go up to intermediate. If I wait to see how well I do in our competition, I won't be giving my boss enough notice to get cover for the one in February. If I do enter the beginners competition, I could still get my arse handed to me and finish bottom of the list.
Also posted at my Dreamwidth account - happy to receive comments on either post.