In a word? Muchbetterthanlastyear.
(Also, look! I've figured out how to use Blogger's jump break feature!)
I started with a couple of nice warmup fights with Laertes and Cassandre. I'd stretched out my elbow and foot at home before we left, and they were feeling pretty good, although I had a weird cramp/spasm thing going on right behind the ball of my foot that had me nervous at first, but seemed to work itself out.
At some point before the fighting started, Laertes poked me to remind me to take it easy and not to be nervous and all that good stuff, and I wasn't. I didn't feel nervous or twitchy or unsure of myself or anything. I felt good--relaxed, happy, ready to go.
My first fight was against Dona Grace. I was happily surprised to double kill with her (first I took her offhand, then got a nice long draw along her side/back as she nailed me right on the hipbone). In the next bout, she was a lot more aggressive and took me out after a few passes.
Fight two was a sword-and-dagger fight with a guy I've fenced with a couple of times over the past few years. I'm not sure where he's from, but we see each other every once in awhile at events. He was at King's Hunt and ended up beating me in a fight there, but that didn't really cross my mind at the time. I actually can't remember much of the fight. I remember I took his offhand and was a little surprised when he didn't tuck his hand behind his back, but compromised by giving up my own dagger and continuing to use my offhand normally otherwise. After that the fight's kind of a blur--I remember reminding myself to take a big step back and wait after I got a nice shot on the bottom edge of his mask, rather than continuing to attack or waiting for him to acknowledge it from in range.
Fight three was with a guy I've fenced a couple of times before at Altavia practice, but not in the last few months. I vaguely remembered having trouble with him in the past, but I was feeling good and excited to fight more. We picked bucklers for our offhands, and he took a fairly standard guard with his buckler about as far forward as his quillons and perpendicular to his blade (how many words can I use to say "straight out in front of him?"). I tend to favor a buckler guard with the buckler itself angled over my hilt, covering my sword hand. It leaves my head open, but encourages me to actually use my buckler, rather than just letting it sit out there in front of me.
I took a slightly more aggressive tack with this fight, aiming for the gap between the upper left quadrant of his buckler (so, for him, his 12-3 o'clock quadrant) and sending consistent potshots until I scored a hit on his collarbone or neck. I remember not really being concerned about his sword, because he had a fairly wide guard and didn't seem to be really committing to any of his shots--after a couple of exploratory shots, I basically wrote his sword off. I was also feeling really good about my own guard, very confident that if he decided to throw for my shoulder or head, I'd be able to kink my wrist or elbow to defend myself in time.
My last fight was with Don Ian, who took my sword arm in fairly short order, walked me backwards with a flurry of offensive blows that I managed to block... until I didn't. No bad feelings about that fight--when the blows are falling fast enough that I literally can't track them until after the fact, I'm happy with blocking the first four or five. Everything after that is gravy.
So my fight with Don Ian took me out for the day, but I felt really good about my performance overall. I don't think I'd ever made it to fourth round before, especially not in such a competitive list. For some reason, I felt really confident. I remember noticing that I was focusing on my opponent, rather than myself--it's hard to explain, but I found myself thinking not about the places I should guard because I anticipated the opponent trying to hit me there, but the places I was going to shoot for instead. It wasn't really the thoughtless Zen that endless practice imparts, where the body reacts without the mind doing anything, but it was a focus, concentrated pragmatism without room for emotional reactions--seeing a target or opening, weighing the opportunity, and either taking it or not taking it.
I've never really had that level of confidence in my own defense before, that I could just write it off as a given and assume that my offensive actions would cover me enough to get me through a fight. Hubris or experience, it worked for me at the time. :) I hope I can approach more fights and more days with that attitude!
And, to round out an awesome day, Aliskye managed to corner me long enough to give me a mystery gift she's been trying to get to me for the last few months--a grocery bag full of reading material on fencing! It's everything from books to photocopied treatises and manuals to documentation on garb and SCA-specific fencing information, including an original copy of Tivar Moondragon's manual for SCA fencing that was printed COUGHCOUGHHACK in the year I was born. I'm slowly reading my way through the bag, and I'm stoked to see what else is in there--it was so sweet of her to think of me, and her generosity really blows my mind. Thanks again, Aliskye!
So, what's on my plate for the near future? Fighter practice on Sunday, Coronation and Queen's Champion (yep, I'm going to fight in my first ever QC! I certainly don't expect to win, but this one's close enough to me that it's practical for me to go, and I feel like my fighting has leveled up enough that I won't make an ass of myself just stepping out on a QC field). Oh, and my parents are coming to visit over Memorial Day weekend, so no Potrero for us... oh, and Dylan and I got engaged at the beginning of April. :)
I also finally bought the trigger cloth to concoct some slipcovers for my sneakers. I have a tutorial that Meala pointed me to, and I have a mental image of how I want the execution to go... now to just see if it works. At any rate, I plan to take pictures of the process so y'all can learn from my success... or my mistakes. ;)
(Also, look! I've figured out how to use Blogger's jump break feature!)
I started with a couple of nice warmup fights with Laertes and Cassandre. I'd stretched out my elbow and foot at home before we left, and they were feeling pretty good, although I had a weird cramp/spasm thing going on right behind the ball of my foot that had me nervous at first, but seemed to work itself out.
At some point before the fighting started, Laertes poked me to remind me to take it easy and not to be nervous and all that good stuff, and I wasn't. I didn't feel nervous or twitchy or unsure of myself or anything. I felt good--relaxed, happy, ready to go.
My first fight was against Dona Grace. I was happily surprised to double kill with her (first I took her offhand, then got a nice long draw along her side/back as she nailed me right on the hipbone). In the next bout, she was a lot more aggressive and took me out after a few passes.
Fight two was a sword-and-dagger fight with a guy I've fenced with a couple of times over the past few years. I'm not sure where he's from, but we see each other every once in awhile at events. He was at King's Hunt and ended up beating me in a fight there, but that didn't really cross my mind at the time. I actually can't remember much of the fight. I remember I took his offhand and was a little surprised when he didn't tuck his hand behind his back, but compromised by giving up my own dagger and continuing to use my offhand normally otherwise. After that the fight's kind of a blur--I remember reminding myself to take a big step back and wait after I got a nice shot on the bottom edge of his mask, rather than continuing to attack or waiting for him to acknowledge it from in range.
Fight three was with a guy I've fenced a couple of times before at Altavia practice, but not in the last few months. I vaguely remembered having trouble with him in the past, but I was feeling good and excited to fight more. We picked bucklers for our offhands, and he took a fairly standard guard with his buckler about as far forward as his quillons and perpendicular to his blade (how many words can I use to say "straight out in front of him?"). I tend to favor a buckler guard with the buckler itself angled over my hilt, covering my sword hand. It leaves my head open, but encourages me to actually use my buckler, rather than just letting it sit out there in front of me.
I took a slightly more aggressive tack with this fight, aiming for the gap between the upper left quadrant of his buckler (so, for him, his 12-3 o'clock quadrant) and sending consistent potshots until I scored a hit on his collarbone or neck. I remember not really being concerned about his sword, because he had a fairly wide guard and didn't seem to be really committing to any of his shots--after a couple of exploratory shots, I basically wrote his sword off. I was also feeling really good about my own guard, very confident that if he decided to throw for my shoulder or head, I'd be able to kink my wrist or elbow to defend myself in time.
My last fight was with Don Ian, who took my sword arm in fairly short order, walked me backwards with a flurry of offensive blows that I managed to block... until I didn't. No bad feelings about that fight--when the blows are falling fast enough that I literally can't track them until after the fact, I'm happy with blocking the first four or five. Everything after that is gravy.
So my fight with Don Ian took me out for the day, but I felt really good about my performance overall. I don't think I'd ever made it to fourth round before, especially not in such a competitive list. For some reason, I felt really confident. I remember noticing that I was focusing on my opponent, rather than myself--it's hard to explain, but I found myself thinking not about the places I should guard because I anticipated the opponent trying to hit me there, but the places I was going to shoot for instead. It wasn't really the thoughtless Zen that endless practice imparts, where the body reacts without the mind doing anything, but it was a focus, concentrated pragmatism without room for emotional reactions--seeing a target or opening, weighing the opportunity, and either taking it or not taking it.
I've never really had that level of confidence in my own defense before, that I could just write it off as a given and assume that my offensive actions would cover me enough to get me through a fight. Hubris or experience, it worked for me at the time. :) I hope I can approach more fights and more days with that attitude!
And, to round out an awesome day, Aliskye managed to corner me long enough to give me a mystery gift she's been trying to get to me for the last few months--a grocery bag full of reading material on fencing! It's everything from books to photocopied treatises and manuals to documentation on garb and SCA-specific fencing information, including an original copy of Tivar Moondragon's manual for SCA fencing that was printed COUGHCOUGHHACK in the year I was born. I'm slowly reading my way through the bag, and I'm stoked to see what else is in there--it was so sweet of her to think of me, and her generosity really blows my mind. Thanks again, Aliskye!
So, what's on my plate for the near future? Fighter practice on Sunday, Coronation and Queen's Champion (yep, I'm going to fight in my first ever QC! I certainly don't expect to win, but this one's close enough to me that it's practical for me to go, and I feel like my fighting has leveled up enough that I won't make an ass of myself just stepping out on a QC field). Oh, and my parents are coming to visit over Memorial Day weekend, so no Potrero for us... oh, and Dylan and I got engaged at the beginning of April. :)
I also finally bought the trigger cloth to concoct some slipcovers for my sneakers. I have a tutorial that Meala pointed me to, and I have a mental image of how I want the execution to go... now to just see if it works. At any rate, I plan to take pictures of the process so y'all can learn from my success... or my mistakes. ;)
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