Saturday, October 16, 2004
I guess I should tell you all about the tournament. I'm so tired that if this is coherent than it will be a miracle. I started the day by waking up at 6am to shower and get ready to leave, then met Emma and Kelly at Hendrix. It was at this point that we realized that we didn't have directions, so we went to Kelly's to print some off. After grabbing some coffee (so I didn't fall asleep at the wheel), we were off. We were proud of ourselves for not really getting lost and pulled up in front of USC gym at 10am.
John, Kelly, Emma and I warmed up by keeping distance with Talon and bouting some, but it was not long before we were called over to begin. John was in my pool, while Kelly, Emma and Talon were in the other. Actually, John was the first one I was suppose to bout. I went 4-5 with him (yes, I lost). Than I went 4-5 with two other guys (one was Lee Smelgrove who is suppose to be really good). But, I got frustrated after losing to the guy who made it to the finals because I didn't understand why he was getting the touches (as asked afterwards and had it explained to me). I lost 5-2 to a guy who was better than me, but I came back with a 5-3 win, and another 4-5 loss. My last bout I lost 5-3 due to stupidity. My first DE I won!!! That made me happy, dispite my body chord breaking and my knee giving out. My second DE definetly didn't go well, I think I got 4 touches, but the guy was better than me so I didn't feel too bad.
One this I didn't like was the long wait until the open tournament (due to the fact that there wasn't anywhere to really warm up again). I lost my first open bout 3-5 because I was being stupid. I won my second 5-4 to a guy who ran me over twice because he decided to scream and charge me. The ref threatened to black card him if he did it again. My last two bouts I definetly lost and do not feel bad about losing because they were two guys that my coach (Talon) has yet to beat: Ashley Walker (the USC coach) and the older Ziechman brother. Bouting Ziechman was just awesome. The way he fences is just so light and pretty that I couldn't help but have a great respect for him. My DE bout was against Talon. It sucked, not cause of Talon, but cause I fenced worse than I had all day. Since when did I stop parrying with distance and when did I start trying to low line with a straight blade? I only got four touches on him. I didn't expect to win, but I would have rather put up at least a bit of a fight. Oh well.
I had a blast though!!!! I'm so excited about temple now, but I think I should probably start jogging or something to get in better shape. Well, Talon and Michael did technically ground Kelly, Emma and I for Monday (meaning that practice for us will consist of lunges and pushups).
Talon won his E and missed his D by one touch. Yea, he wasn't too happy about that. Michael thought he earned his C, but than realized that the C's who came to the tournament were fencing sucky that day so enough didn't make it into the final 8 for him to rate a C. He missed actually becoming a C by two touches. He was NOT happy about that. But he did win a stuffed chicken for getting second place.
After the tournament, Talon, Mary, Michael, Mitchell, Kelly, Emma and I went to a Japanese Steakhouse. It was fun. I say it like that cause there is no way to describe the fun insanity with my brain functioning as little as it is right now. We goofed off, ate good food and than went over to Michael's house. Emma, Kelly and I stayed their until about 11:30pm before deciding to head back to Clemson. Kelly and Emma fell asleep, and I fought my hardest not to fall asleep behind the wheel. I must have been sucessful because we returned to Clemson at 2am. Now I'm tired and need sleep. I'll add stuff later if I forgot something.
John, Kelly, Emma and I warmed up by keeping distance with Talon and bouting some, but it was not long before we were called over to begin. John was in my pool, while Kelly, Emma and Talon were in the other. Actually, John was the first one I was suppose to bout. I went 4-5 with him (yes, I lost). Than I went 4-5 with two other guys (one was Lee Smelgrove who is suppose to be really good). But, I got frustrated after losing to the guy who made it to the finals because I didn't understand why he was getting the touches (as asked afterwards and had it explained to me). I lost 5-2 to a guy who was better than me, but I came back with a 5-3 win, and another 4-5 loss. My last bout I lost 5-3 due to stupidity. My first DE I won!!! That made me happy, dispite my body chord breaking and my knee giving out. My second DE definetly didn't go well, I think I got 4 touches, but the guy was better than me so I didn't feel too bad.
One this I didn't like was the long wait until the open tournament (due to the fact that there wasn't anywhere to really warm up again). I lost my first open bout 3-5 because I was being stupid. I won my second 5-4 to a guy who ran me over twice because he decided to scream and charge me. The ref threatened to black card him if he did it again. My last two bouts I definetly lost and do not feel bad about losing because they were two guys that my coach (Talon) has yet to beat: Ashley Walker (the USC coach) and the older Ziechman brother. Bouting Ziechman was just awesome. The way he fences is just so light and pretty that I couldn't help but have a great respect for him. My DE bout was against Talon. It sucked, not cause of Talon, but cause I fenced worse than I had all day. Since when did I stop parrying with distance and when did I start trying to low line with a straight blade? I only got four touches on him. I didn't expect to win, but I would have rather put up at least a bit of a fight. Oh well.
I had a blast though!!!! I'm so excited about temple now, but I think I should probably start jogging or something to get in better shape. Well, Talon and Michael did technically ground Kelly, Emma and I for Monday (meaning that practice for us will consist of lunges and pushups).
Talon won his E and missed his D by one touch. Yea, he wasn't too happy about that. Michael thought he earned his C, but than realized that the C's who came to the tournament were fencing sucky that day so enough didn't make it into the final 8 for him to rate a C. He missed actually becoming a C by two touches. He was NOT happy about that. But he did win a stuffed chicken for getting second place.
After the tournament, Talon, Mary, Michael, Mitchell, Kelly, Emma and I went to a Japanese Steakhouse. It was fun. I say it like that cause there is no way to describe the fun insanity with my brain functioning as little as it is right now. We goofed off, ate good food and than went over to Michael's house. Emma, Kelly and I stayed their until about 11:30pm before deciding to head back to Clemson. Kelly and Emma fell asleep, and I fought my hardest not to fall asleep behind the wheel. I must have been sucessful because we returned to Clemson at 2am. Now I'm tired and need sleep. I'll add stuff later if I forgot something.
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