2010 Summer Nationals
Atlanta was very hot. There were a lot of hotels, restaurants, and not much else. (My mother was rather shocked by the Hooters waitresses standing outside in their uniforms - I don't think she's ever seen orange booty shorts before). Some decent sushi and pretty nice people, though we didn't really get a chance to explore very far.
The venue itself was HUGE. It was also being shared with a Christian group of some kind, and a body-builders convention. Odd combination, you ask me, but the world's seen stranger...
I competed in two events: Division II Women's Foil and Division III Women's Foil. In Div II, I was seated 68th and made it into Direct Elimination. Though I lost the DE bout, I placed 72 out of 122 fencers. Most of them were higher ranked than I was. I think I could've done better, but I met all my goals and my coach wasn't visibly mad (he'd been there all week....let's just say he was tired and leave it at that). And aside from a few bad calls by the ref during the pool bouts, I did alright. Got nervous and had a small freak out, which caused me to do pretty bad with my first pool bout, but then I calmed down and it was all good. All and all, I won three out of my six pool bouts. This annoyed several of my opponents. See, I was the only unranked fencer in the pool, so in their minds, I should've been easy pickings.
Haha. No.
The DE bout was more frustrating: I could have won. I knew how to win, and how to fence my opponent.....but I wasn't hitting her on target. I need to work on point control. A lot
>.>
Division III didn't go that well. I ran out of energy, or something. And the referee was quite possibly one of the worst I've ever encountered at a respectable tournament. He had a very interesting idea of what constituted right-of-way. Newsflash: If I am coming forward, there are two lights and no blade-contact, it is NOT my opponent's touch.
I lost one bout because of his calls, which the other girl's coach later told me I had won.
I find it ironic that I didn't make it into DEs and ended up placed 92 in Div III, when I did so much better in Div II, which is filled with much higher ranked fencers. Oh well. I'm happy with how I did, and it was a good learning experience.
Major downside to long-distance traveling: Airports. Specifically, airport delays. We were supposed to leave Atlanta at 6:45. We did not board the plane until 11:00 PM. I got home at about 2:30 AM. Damn you thunderstorms!
The venue itself was HUGE. It was also being shared with a Christian group of some kind, and a body-builders convention. Odd combination, you ask me, but the world's seen stranger...
I competed in two events: Division II Women's Foil and Division III Women's Foil. In Div II, I was seated 68th and made it into Direct Elimination. Though I lost the DE bout, I placed 72 out of 122 fencers. Most of them were higher ranked than I was. I think I could've done better, but I met all my goals and my coach wasn't visibly mad (he'd been there all week....let's just say he was tired and leave it at that). And aside from a few bad calls by the ref during the pool bouts, I did alright. Got nervous and had a small freak out, which caused me to do pretty bad with my first pool bout, but then I calmed down and it was all good. All and all, I won three out of my six pool bouts. This annoyed several of my opponents. See, I was the only unranked fencer in the pool, so in their minds, I should've been easy pickings.
Haha. No.
The DE bout was more frustrating: I could have won. I knew how to win, and how to fence my opponent.....but I wasn't hitting her on target. I need to work on point control. A lot
>.>
Division III didn't go that well. I ran out of energy, or something. And the referee was quite possibly one of the worst I've ever encountered at a respectable tournament. He had a very interesting idea of what constituted right-of-way. Newsflash: If I am coming forward, there are two lights and no blade-contact, it is NOT my opponent's touch.
I lost one bout because of his calls, which the other girl's coach later told me I had won.
I find it ironic that I didn't make it into DEs and ended up placed 92 in Div III, when I did so much better in Div II, which is filled with much higher ranked fencers. Oh well. I'm happy with how I did, and it was a good learning experience.
Major downside to long-distance traveling: Airports. Specifically, airport delays. We were supposed to leave Atlanta at 6:45. We did not board the plane until 11:00 PM. I got home at about 2:30 AM. Damn you thunderstorms!