Results for sports fans
Hey, forget about the Tour de France. Forget about all those baseball games. Golf? Pshah.
With my first place from Colorado, I needed approximately a fifth place today to get on the team...
But instead...
I won.
I am now the top qualifier for the team that goes to Moscow, and I have a nifty shirt that says "National Champion" across the front!! I am officially the best 50 year old* women's epee fencer in the country, and I have the swelled head to prove it! I also re-earned my B rating.
(Unfortunately, since the event was late in the day, and was on the last day, it's not up on the USFA website yet. Also it means that I didn't have a chance to buy the kind of blades I need for international(!!) competition.)
I had a silly grin most of the day, actually, because most of the family called yesterday to wish me good luck, and I knew I had a bunch of friends thinking about me, and Sarah left inspirational messages on my cell phone specifically for me to listen to before and after my warm-up. I want to record them and keep them for future tournaments.
All that helped me remember that my *main* purpose here was simply to have fun. So I did. (Of course, having fun is easier when you're winning! But for me, winning requires letting go of the win on some level. There's a spiritual lesson in there somewhere.)
Taro (my coach) was there too, which he isn't usually. He came to my last 2 tournaments to get me used to having him there, which was emotionally weird after I had finally learned in Colorado that people didn't have to be physically present in order to be cheering for me. I had to get over the feeling that he was evaluating or judging me at a tournament, and had decided that except for the very fine warm-up lessons, that he was there as another friend cheering for me.
I only won four of my 6 pool bouts, seeding 7th into the DE. Luckily no one was undefeated in the pools, or my seed would probably have been lower.
And I will admit that - despite my mini-sermon about letting go - that in the pools, when my Great Rival from Seattle (who I had beat) fenced my Dangerous Opponent from Long Island (who had beat me and was, till that moment, undefeated) that I gave the Great Rival advice on beating the Dangerous Opponent, which she did, and then later was able to knock her out of the DE's before she reached the Gold Medal Bout.
Letting go and scheming all at once. A strange paradox.
All of my DE bouts were tough, but the scariest one was against the Last Year's Champion, which was decidedly the hardest bout of the day, including the gold medal bout and the pool bouts I lost. She hadn't come to Colorado, and I had never fenced her before. She's been on the team 5 or 6 times.
She clearly knew I had also won one of the qualifiers, and had introduced herself in the morning, before the event began. In the bout, she came at me fast and hard, right from the start, and quickly racked up three points while I stood there stunned -- which was, I'm sure, exactly her plan. Luckily, I managed to rally, and beat her. I think I hadn't really believed I was on top till I found that I could beat her directly.
This, not the gold medal bout, was the bout after which I felt giddy euphoria. Whee! It's an addictive and yet legal high!
The gold medal bout, against my Great Rival from Seattle (who had taken 2nd in Colorado and had beat the daylights out of me in a pool bout in Atlanta) was *much* easier than the bout against the Former Champion. I got an early 5 point lead on her, which meant she *had* to attack. After that, almost everything after that was a double touch, because I simply counterattacked. Except for one really stupid attack I launched that allowed her to hit me. Final score was 10-6.
The coach of a, yes, a National Champion (whee!) is presented with a medal to give to his/her coach, so it was particularly nice that Taro was there, so I could present it to him with lots of people looking and clapping.
Taro was particularly pleased because in my last three bouts I'd had to use completely different tactics against each opponent. And re-earning the B suggests that it wasn't a fluke.** He also like the fact that I could adjust to a tough fencer I'd never faced, because he's thinking of all those Italians, etc. who will be in Moscow. Heck, for me it's enough just to go!
Julian came in 12th in epee Friday which wasn't enough to make the team, and 5th in foil today, which made him the 2nd alternate for that team. (He fenced well, but drew the eventual first place finisher a round too early.) He's a bit disappointed, so I tried hard not to rub it in his face, because he has been very supportive! He's willing to practice with me in August -- a nasty month for fencing -- so I'll have a sparring partner. I told him that getting dissected regularly by him helps me keep a realistic look at my actual fencing ability.
*Well, 50 tomorrow, actually.
** Also, every single person who had a reasonable chance of qualifying for the team was there today.
With my first place from Colorado, I needed approximately a fifth place today to get on the team...
But instead...
I won.
I am now the top qualifier for the team that goes to Moscow, and I have a nifty shirt that says "National Champion" across the front!! I am officially the best 50 year old* women's epee fencer in the country, and I have the swelled head to prove it! I also re-earned my B rating.
(Unfortunately, since the event was late in the day, and was on the last day, it's not up on the USFA website yet. Also it means that I didn't have a chance to buy the kind of blades I need for international(!!) competition.)
I had a silly grin most of the day, actually, because most of the family called yesterday to wish me good luck, and I knew I had a bunch of friends thinking about me, and Sarah left inspirational messages on my cell phone specifically for me to listen to before and after my warm-up. I want to record them and keep them for future tournaments.
All that helped me remember that my *main* purpose here was simply to have fun. So I did. (Of course, having fun is easier when you're winning! But for me, winning requires letting go of the win on some level. There's a spiritual lesson in there somewhere.)
Taro (my coach) was there too, which he isn't usually. He came to my last 2 tournaments to get me used to having him there, which was emotionally weird after I had finally learned in Colorado that people didn't have to be physically present in order to be cheering for me. I had to get over the feeling that he was evaluating or judging me at a tournament, and had decided that except for the very fine warm-up lessons, that he was there as another friend cheering for me.
I only won four of my 6 pool bouts, seeding 7th into the DE. Luckily no one was undefeated in the pools, or my seed would probably have been lower.
And I will admit that - despite my mini-sermon about letting go - that in the pools, when my Great Rival from Seattle (who I had beat) fenced my Dangerous Opponent from Long Island (who had beat me and was, till that moment, undefeated) that I gave the Great Rival advice on beating the Dangerous Opponent, which she did, and then later was able to knock her out of the DE's before she reached the Gold Medal Bout.
Letting go and scheming all at once. A strange paradox.
All of my DE bouts were tough, but the scariest one was against the Last Year's Champion, which was decidedly the hardest bout of the day, including the gold medal bout and the pool bouts I lost. She hadn't come to Colorado, and I had never fenced her before. She's been on the team 5 or 6 times.
She clearly knew I had also won one of the qualifiers, and had introduced herself in the morning, before the event began. In the bout, she came at me fast and hard, right from the start, and quickly racked up three points while I stood there stunned -- which was, I'm sure, exactly her plan. Luckily, I managed to rally, and beat her. I think I hadn't really believed I was on top till I found that I could beat her directly.
This, not the gold medal bout, was the bout after which I felt giddy euphoria. Whee! It's an addictive and yet legal high!
The gold medal bout, against my Great Rival from Seattle (who had taken 2nd in Colorado and had beat the daylights out of me in a pool bout in Atlanta) was *much* easier than the bout against the Former Champion. I got an early 5 point lead on her, which meant she *had* to attack. After that, almost everything after that was a double touch, because I simply counterattacked. Except for one really stupid attack I launched that allowed her to hit me. Final score was 10-6.
The coach of a, yes, a National Champion (whee!) is presented with a medal to give to his/her coach, so it was particularly nice that Taro was there, so I could present it to him with lots of people looking and clapping.
Taro was particularly pleased because in my last three bouts I'd had to use completely different tactics against each opponent. And re-earning the B suggests that it wasn't a fluke.** He also like the fact that I could adjust to a tough fencer I'd never faced, because he's thinking of all those Italians, etc. who will be in Moscow. Heck, for me it's enough just to go!
Julian came in 12th in epee Friday which wasn't enough to make the team, and 5th in foil today, which made him the 2nd alternate for that team. (He fenced well, but drew the eventual first place finisher a round too early.) He's a bit disappointed, so I tried hard not to rub it in his face, because he has been very supportive! He's willing to practice with me in August -- a nasty month for fencing -- so I'll have a sparring partner. I told him that getting dissected regularly by him helps me keep a realistic look at my actual fencing ability.
*Well, 50 tomorrow, actually.
** Also, every single person who had a reasonable chance of qualifying for the team was there today.