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9:43:00 PM EDT
An Interesting Week and Good Day
Last Saturday I was at our beach house for a long weekend. I took time to drive down to Wilmington and fenced at Cape Fear Fencing Club. I fenced with Paul Perkins and Greg Spahr. I did well. I feel like a year ago, I would not have done as well as I did, so I am happy that I see some improvement. I started with my French grip, but switched to pistol grip and did even better. I was grateful to them for letting me fence and that I got in some strip time.
Wednesday I fenced at home at the Downtown Fencing Club. I worked on under the cuff shots. I had some luck with that in Wilmington and wanted to try and perfect it. I really could not make it work in practice for some reason.
Thursday I fenced at Chapel Hill. (Do I get around….or
what?) I really did not fence at all, but had a private lesson with Josh.
Friday night I helped set up for the North Carolina State Games fencing competition. I had reservations about helping, but I am glad I did. Robert is a good guy and they were very appreciative.
Thursday I fenced in the Games. (This is sort of like a version of the Olympics with many different sports on the program.) Out of the 45 people that pre-registered 35 showed up to fence epee. This was an A2 event (I think) and there were some high level fencers there. (At least from my perspective. It is a relative sort of thing.) I did well in pools and finished second behind Nick the “A” fencer. It was the first time I got to fence Nick and I enjoyed it. I saw him “wax” a couple of people and it was my hope that that did not happen. It did not. I got 2 touches on him and it was a moral victory of sorts. In one of my first bouts I used my pistol grip and lost 5-4. I had intended to try and use it more, but the French always lent itself to certain situations. I needed to make up some indicators, so I pommeled and used it to gain back some ground on a weaker fencer. I used it against a UNC fencer, as he liked to flick using the bell guard as a fulcrum. When I pommel, my hand is not where it needs to be, for that to work. I beat that young man 5-3.
So after the dust of pools settled, I had a bye and was seeded 13th out of 35 fencers. That does not sound all that good, but I was up there with the higher rated fencers and I felt pretty good about it.
I know that pools do not mean all that much. I looked at some of the people that were seeded under me and I knew that I would have had to have had a REALLY good day to beat some of them. Now, as I said, pools do not mean that much, but I figure they must mean something. So I was kind of happy with my results.
In DE’s I fenced the 20th ranked UNC guy I beat in pools. Sadly, he got smarter and my game did not work as I hoped it might. I lost and I was done for the day. I will say that my coach was WAY cuter than his coach.
There were a few negative comments about this and that at
the Games. Mostly (as usual) from a couple of people that took no part it putting it
together and never seem to take any part in any sort of Divisional effort. I have
always felt if you don’t do anything to help; you should forfeit the right to criticize. On a more positive note, there were refs from a lot of clubs and people helped with cleaning up from all over.
This was a "starter” event in the State Games for fencing. And I am happy that Robert Thomas got us this far. It can improve, but it had to start some place. This was a GOOD start.
I would also say that I felt a sense of community at the event. Everyone seemed to get along. I did not notice anyone being an ass. It was nice.
I had to hang around to get our club equipment back, but it wasn’t bad. I talked to a lot of folks and felt very at home with all of them.
I thought it was a day well spent and I enjoyed it.
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"Really...I wish more people around here would be direct and honest, and less fearful of confrontation. I mean, being nice is good. But there are times when it pays to be a little bit more forward. Otherwise, we're all gonna be sitting around talking behind each other's backs for a while."
I do avoid confrontation. But it is not because I fear it. Most of the time it is not necessary. Confrontation rarely changes another persons mind. People will think what they will. More importantly, once I reach a point of needing to confront someone it tends to be a bit "over the top".
"Direct and honest".........I think I qualify there.
If anyone wants to know my opinion ( generally ) all they have to do is ask. But I do prefer ( most of the time ) to be asked. It lets me know someone is actually interested. -
Ok...now I was just joking...mainly because...well, I had just watched Team America again. And the deletion of a comment...well...I couldn't resist. Think there's an Internet Rule on that.
Why shouldn't there be complaints about negative comments?
And why shouldn't there be open discussion between who made them and the people complaining.
Negative remarks don't necesarily imply meanness or hatred. They just imply a situation where there is a chance to succeed by solving the problem at hand. Those who run fencing tournaments are in a service business after all...
Really...I wish more people around here would be direct and honest, and less fearful of confrontation. I mean, being nice is good. But there are times when it pays to be a little bit more forward. Otherwise, we're all gonna be sitting around talking behind each other's backs for a while.
And yes...I'm avoiding work right now :P -
Why Jim I do believe you're trying to stir the pot! <jk> It was a fun day, very relaxed with everything running on time....and I only saw one incident of poor sportsmanship!
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This kind of got blown out of proportion. The negative comments were not that bad. Just two people talking to each other and I happen to over hear it.
It had nothing to do with sliding sabre people.
Everything after that of course, still stands in my book.
6/25/08 10:55 AM
Really? Kind of a fatalistic premise if you ask me...
I can go through several historical examples in which confrontation has changed some people's mind:
- Gandhi and Indian Independence
- Martin Luther King Jr. and African American rights in the US
- War for Independence in the US
To name just a few...I know these are probably just small exceptions that didn't change the world much at all ;)
And if we want to take a more direct line towards relating it to fencing:
Everytime you fence, you have to confront yourself on a misconception. And you are never going to be 100% correct. There's always something you misapply or misunderstand.
Everytime you coach, you have to confront your student on their misconceptions of fencing. Otherwise, they'll never improve.
True, some people have a hard time changing their mind (sometimes even ourselves). But that doesn't mean we should immediately give up or never try to change anyone else's mind.
Idealistic, maybe. But there's plenty of idealistic fencers (Some of stranger ideals than others but *shrug*). Heck, Ron is probably one of the best examples. Ask him sometime about some of the struggles starting the UNC team. He had to confront a whole lot of people in the administration. And I'm pretty certain he still has to confront people every day.