On January 18 I fenced in the Raleigh Fencers’ Club epee tournament. RFC has started using a Brazilian format that enables everyone to get in a ton of fencing in a short time.
Upon entering the Open portion, one fences pools as usual, then faces a cutoff point. If you don’t make the cut, you then are entered for FREE in the D & Under tournament. There you get to fence another pool round followed by 100% graduation to direct elimination (DE). Despite my dismal showing in the pools, I made the cut and proceeded to fence in another round of pools before going to DEs. In my first bracket I faced a valiant teammate but managed to squeak by. At this point I had little hope. Facing the top-seeded B-ranked fencer in the tournament, I knew that I was about to be creamed. But a funny thing happens when you accept that you are going to lose.
“Don’t be so pessimistic,” my friends said. “You can do it! Don’t give up!” But I wasn’t giving up. On the contrary, I knew that I had nothing to lose and my opponent had everything. That’s a great place to be in. It’s when you are fencing those people you “know” you should beat that the insecurity kicks in and you make mistakes. In that bout I held nothing back, used all of my tricks plus tried out a few new ones. I didn’t really worry about getting hit. And I lost 15-7. But I didn’t care. It was a lot of fun.
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That was a fun tournament and my first one! I am hooked now. I can’t wait to go to the next one. RFC puts on a great tournament.