The most upset I've been in weeks...
I had a fencing tournament last night. I'd say "I competed in," but I feel that would be a slight exaggeration. I hit a few people, I got hit by a few people. I took seventh in a field of 25, but only lost to one fencer. Lost to him twice, of course... but he took first place, so I feel a bit better about it.
That didn't upset me. This did.
First, some slight bit of background:
1) Fencing tournament format. Pools fenced round robin style, 5 fencers to a strip in this particular competition. Based on how you perform in your pool, you're seeded against all the other fencers. Top power of 2 moves on to direct elimination bouts -- think March Madness if you don't get that part. So coming in at number eight means that I fence number 9 first DE bout, then fence winner of Seed(1) and Seed(16). Nice and simple.
2) Pool bouts are fenced to five touches in three minutes, tops. DE bouts are to 15, in three periods of three minutes.
3) They just changed timing rules in Foil (http://www.usfencing.org for rules and suchlike). The electric foil is fairly simple -- it has a button at the end. It used to be that if the tip was depressed for 2ms, it would be considered a touch. Less than a month ago they upped it to 15ms. Basically, anything resembling a brushing touch won't count any more.
4) Everyone has been fencing with the 2ms timing for years.
My pool went okay -- I lost to that one guy who took first, but I'm okay with that. I got a few touches... and in the midst of fencing him, my right ankle started having problems, so I'm all good with losing. I got seeded 8, I can deal with that. My first bout was against a left handed fencer who I've met once or twice before, don't really know. He fences at the other area club, so it's not as if I see him regularly.
I'm used to fencing leftys. I started fencing leftys when I started fencing. I can't beat a good lefty, but I can give one my skill level or a little better a headache. I tend to be better than other people against leftys, as a matter of fact. But that was on the old 2ms timing.
With the new timing, most of my attacks just won't register, and I get slaughtered. So I didn't really expect to win this bout. I spoke to a coach and another fencer about it right before the bout, they gave me a few tips. When I got on strip, though, I made the mistake of trying to do what used to work -- basically whipping the point into him from the side -- just the point, mind you. It sounds a lot worse than it actually is -- it's most like getting a finger flicked at you than getting whipped in kinky sex games. Not that I would know about the latter, mind you. Obviously, the fact that I was trying attacks that weren't landing was a bad thing.
But the guy I was fencing (Joe? Millar? Something like that.) became furious, and started trying to whack me. Which also won't work with the new timings. I can parry that, though. So the score was 2-0, him. Like I said, I didn't expect to do well. Then he started whining. He was beating me, and the only word to describe his tone of voice was a whine, asking the director to tell me to stop whacking him. The director said nothing (he explained why to me later). I noticed Joe rubbing his upper leg, so I apologized -- that's not a valid target area, so it was more my mistake than anything else.
And then I mostly stopped flicking. I still took control of the action the same way, and feinted towards him, but I ended hitting him with straight attacks -- my point straight into you. Score evened out, then I passed him. 5-2. Joe was still mad about this "whacking" I was apparently doing, despite the fact that while I may not have completely stopped (I can't recall), I certainly had reduced the frequency -- and was hitting him entirely differently.
So our last touch (still at score 5-2), he comes charging at me, and swings at my head -- with the middle of his blade. I counterattack into his exposed chest, and get the point. He hits my head, which didn't hurt overmuch -- we wear masks for a reason. It was very definitely intended to hit me, though, and not as an attack. So the director (referee) warned him to "watch it." Not even a formal warning, just a word of caution.
Joe threw a fit, yelled, that I should be told to stop whacking him... and said he was finished, and walked off the strip.
Which resulted in him being thrown out of the competition by the director, with me moving up. (http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=684 -- 10th Place, specifically)
I may have won anyway -- particularly given that Joe was so upset and emotional and wasn't fencing ME anymore, he was too angry. But I really didn't want to win like that. The decision was upheld by the official in charge of the competition -- the director told me he hadn't and wouldn't warn me because I was not being vicious -- I was attacking, and making the wrong attack, because it wouldn't work with the new timing, but there's a built in punishment for that -- I get hit and my opponent scores, no warning needed. Everyone I spoke to at the competition wanted me to just wave it off -- a great big "it happens," and that it wasn't my fault -- and really, it wasn't. It still has me upset, though.
I lost my next bout to the guy who took first, but I wasn't really in the bout to begin with. I don't know that I should have been this upset by it, but... I was and am. I'm indebted to a certain gal for chatting with me for ten minutes on the phone right after I got off the strip -- otherwise I probably would have been a lot worse off. I'll come up with some way to make it up to her.
I'm done here. I realize there's no point to this. Deal.