Welsh University fencing championships!

It was the weekend of the 14th till the 16th of March when the Welsh University fencing championship took place at Bangor University. Before I start this epic tale I should say I am compelled to mention I will go into more detail concerning the matches played (my own). It may seem a bit tedious for those not into fencing, but I really want to make the story come to life and those details will make the story live for me which enables me to tell it with more passion.

So, let’s begin. After studying most of the morning of Friday the 14th I finished my packing before setting out for the pickup zone at the back of the Student Union building. I was excited and quite ready for another adventure.

At around 18.20 Chris Wilde (nicknamed grandpa) probably the best foil fencer of the club arrived with his girlfriend Lisa Laird to pick us up. Us being Edward Sibert (nicknamed Milky), the president of the fencing club, Jack Houlston (nicknamed Moses), Siera Goldberg, Jan (or Juan; I am still not sure of the name and pronunciation) and yours truly. Since Lauren (you remember her from the ice-skating social right?) mentioned something about us having to pick up our own supplies Chris drove by the local Lidl before we hit the road to the North and Bangor. Now shopping for supplies for a tournament with these guys meant crisps (known by us Dutch as chips), various other snacks, but most importantly seemed to be booze and sticker books (more about those later). I quickly learnt that there is drinking during the ride (except if you’re the driver) and after the ride. To be honest no one became annoying and the ones drinking (not me, looking innocent) became very talkative. The drive may have been about 4 hours, but I wasn’t bored at all. Of course having the boys put on tunes and singing along tends to make time speed up.

Including a brief bathroom stop on the way the journey took about four and a half hours. Surprisingly we still managed to arrive before the part of the team that drove up with Lauren and had left about an hour and a half earlier (this company consisted of Lauren, Arthur, Zoe “Zozzles” and Rosie “Beast” Beeston). Apparently they got lost on the way. Now to be fair they took the scenic route through the middle of Wales which winds through mountains and is a lot more difficult to navigate than the motorway (highway). Now for Lauren who is as I’ve been told (even by herself) a terrible navigator it was a right nightmare. So by the time they got at the address we were staying at during that weekend (which was on the island Anglesey just of the coast near Bangor) it was if I remember correctly already nearing midnight. It was a lovely vacation house suited for a large family of at least nine. We, being students, made due by having some sleep on couches.

I am so glad that Lauren fixed a nice place as that (especially since I got a permanent spot in a bunk bed). We had a nice bathroom, a nice kitchen and living room. The house was also stocked with DVD’s, books and games in case the weather would dissuade a hypothetical company on vacation from venturing beyond the doors. I can easily imagine myself going to a place like that on vacation later on in my life. It was a nice small town, close to beaches and even castles for historical amusement. Ok, back to the story. The first night we basically all sat in the living room having a nice time until we drifted off one by one to our sleeping quarters.

The next morning saw some of us (Jack) a bit hung-over from the day before. So the morning was a bit quieter than the evening before. We bought some stuff for breakfast, shoved that in and raced off to the first day of competition. On the program: foil for the men and epee and sabre for the ladies.

The poule rounds were relatively timid for our top three foil fencers. They managed to get past all their opponents with incurring only a few points (some of them incurred none). Arthur did ok as well for his first tournament. Now as to how I did … Well, I had a slow start that tournament. In the first round I met only two opponents who were stronger than me and the others I should have dispatched easily. However I unnecessarily incurred points against those that I should have swept under the rug. As a result I ended somewhere in the middle of the rankings after the first round, but still in the lower half of the table.

The second round however I started regaining my tournament form. I performed very nice compound attacks, counter attacks on the opponents’ preparation and my defense was also much improved. Even when I broke a blade, following a successful stop thrust from my part that saw me scoring a point, and the only spare pistol grip foil left had a broken wire forcing me to fence with a French grip weapon I would not be denied. Losing only once and winning all the other matches with only incurring a few points I jumped to the twelfth position on the second round ranking. Now the elimination rounds would prove to be very interesting since I could only fence with a French grip foil.

Now for those that do not know the difference I will explain. A French grip foil is basically a stick with an arch in it. Those that are accustomed to fence with this grip can easily fence with a pistol grip (the grip I use) as the pistol grip gives much better balance and finger holds improving the maneuverability of the weapon. When the situation is reversed though things become difficult. Fencers used to a pistol grip will never willingly, if there was another option present, switch to a French grip in a competition. It inhibits their maneuverability and options. Now some French grip foils have a loop that should help in holding the blade steady. And if it wasn’t for this loop a skilled opponent could easily beat the weapon out of his quarry’s hand. I was lucky enough to have a French grip with a loop although I only found a hold that worked for me right before the first knock-out match.

So there I stood on the piste. Fumbling with that loop until I had a grip on the weapon that felt like it might provide me with some measure of maneuverability. The first few meetings between our blades were tentative. He was supposed to be the fifth ranking fencer after the preliminary rounds and I honestly expected to fence a confident and dominant (attacking) fencer. However I did not expect what would happen next. I don’t know how many of my readers are familiar with my tournament mentality, but I have a few states of mind. Number one: I know I can beat my opponent so I proceed to do so. Number two: I know I might be able to beat my opponent if I’m real sharp and I proceed to fight with technique and cunning combined and I might win. Number three: I know I face a superior opponent and will give him hell while he tries to beat me. And it usually plays out like that.

So when I started the match I was getting ready for a grind out battle that would require all my skill and intellect. And since I was stuck on the French grip I would need even more intellect as some of my techniques were very difficult to perform with a lower degree of blade maneuverability. When after the first round I was leading with about six points I was surprised and had changed my mentality: “I was going to beat this guy” Most of my points I had scored on defense (nice parry quarte-ripostes switched around with circular six parries and on occasion even a nice step in parry followed up with a close quarter prime hit) and counterattacks. When I tried to go on the offensive during the next round I slowly started losing ground and it seemed that the guy was getting warmed up in the first round. But I was still determined to beat him. I knew that the hits that lost me my lead were mistakes on my side. I had become overconfident and started playing in my old all-out attacks. These are even risky if I have full maneuverability, so I changed tactics. I would pressure him into attacking me on my preparation and react with quick parry-riposte actions. In other words I would pressure him into making mistakes which I would use to gain advantage once again. And I had success. Before the final round was over I had beaten him fifteen to eleven. I admit I was surprised. I managed to beat this guy, supposedly better than me according to the rankings, with a French grip? Looking back I think the French grip had forced me to use my brains more than my quick maneuvers that I usually employ with a pistol grip.

In my final match I was once again the underdog. But having learned from my first match, some coaching tips by Ed, and being cheered on by my team members I gave the guy a fight until the time was up. He might have beaten me eleven to nine, but I was proud of myself. The guy that whipped me a five to zero in the preliminary rounds was unable to win by points. I had forced him to rely on time-advantage. And I had done so with a French grip.

The rest of the weekend saw me cheering the others on as the second day was foil for the girls and epee and sabre for the lads. In the end we could go home with a clean sweep in men’s foil, a second place in foil for Zoe. Rosie managed to get third place on sabre and the rest of us managed to either get in the top 10 or not last which is very important!

Before I conclude this lengthy session I’ll briefly go back to the sticker books. Where were they for? Well I have learnt that at every tournament objects, walls and other stationary objects are randomly improved in appearance by having stickers and at times googly eyes stuck to them by our team. This is a source of mirth for us walking around the compound after the tournament and seeing eyes and stickers all around. I am wondering though what the home team thinks of it...

Well that was it for this install. Next time I will take you all to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.