NAC E (Reno) March 11-14, 2006

Results:
Women's Sabre Veteran 50-59 -- 10th in a competition of 4Bs, 3Cs, 1Ds, 2Es, and 4Us. Official USFA NAC E Division III results
Women's Sabre Veteran 40+ -- 15th in a competition of 7Bs, 1C, 2Ds, 2Es, and 8Us. Official NAC E Women's Veteran results
Women's Sabre Division III -- 30 in a competition of 45 entries. official USFA NAC E Division III results
 The quick details (I'll update this later after getting some rest): I arrived in Reno Thursday night and was unfortunately unable to stay at the venue hotel. Thus, I rented a car for the time I was there, checked into the Holiday Inn, and tried to sleep off what I hoped was just an allergy attack. No such luck. My head remained clogged and my throat parched for the entire time I was there. I suspect the dry climate may have contributed to the problem as I spent the entire time there feeling that I was in a smoking area despite having a smoke free room. Read here if you want to know why I think getting sick was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. Friday morning was the first competition and I arrived early to warm up, check in, and then compete in one of two pools of seven. At the finish, my score was 0 (meaning that I'd scored as many touches as were scored against me) and when the numbers were crunched, I was seeded 8th for direct elimination against #9. Unfortunately, #9 was Jeanne Bender, who is a C rated fencer and much more experienced and skilled than me. She won and I waved good-bye to my first real shot at a medal in national competition. Had I won, I wouldn't have needed an airplane to return home. This was, however, my best finish to date and I was pleased with my fencing progress. I thought about what I was going to do before taking my position en garde against each competitor and I fenced to the best of my ability. I even managed to score a few touches with manuevers I'd recently learned during lessons from Coach Val Kizik but hadn't yet managed successfully in practices. What more could I want? Well... that medal would have been real nice but I settled for being satisfied with making progress in my skill level. Saturday was a day of rest and trying to convince my nostrils to allow air to flow in and out. I tried to sleep but I kept doing a cat-coughing-up-hairball imitation during my sleep so I gave up and went to the Hilton to watch other competitions. Samatha Gauss from Louisville was competiting in Divison II so I watched her event and made arrangements to work out with Sam the following morning, which was her day off from competition. Sunday, I arrived far too early but I had wanted to see the Wheelchair competition and I found it would much more interesting to watch than I'd expected. Afterwards, I warmed up with Samatha and then with some of the other competitors for the Women's Sabre 40+ event. I didn't fence as well as I had in the 50-59 event but this was partially due to being distracted in the last two bouts. My mind wasn't in the right place and fencing is a mental as well as physical sport. My DE was with C. Slader, who I was told was a newer fencer. This was deceptive as Slader had all the moves right and immediately took the lead and held it until the half. Sam talked to me and while we were talking I realized that the main problem was that Slader was taking small, slow steps without hesitation and it was throwing my game off. I could not make her faster, but I could slow down myself and once I did that, I took control and won. Whew! I then signed off and took the paperwork to the bout committee and was handed paperwork showing I was fencing against.... [drumroll please]... Klein-Babbock, who had wiped the strip with me at Pittsburgh and whom I'd warned up with and been little more than a moving target. I hadn't a prayer of winning but I went out there and gave it my best. With every point, I changed strategies and tried something different. No, it was not a Cinderella story with me claiming victory. I think I got 4 points at most and I was never a threat... but I made her work for it. She finished 3rd in this event. Monday, I was fencing Division III, which is open to all females 12 and over; thus, I was fencing against much younger fencers. In fact, I was probably ten years older than the mother of every fencer in my pool. This is where one should remind oneself that old age and treachery will overcome youth and experience... except that I looked around, noted the ages, and it didn't even occur to me to worry about it until after the bouts were over. After all, I fenced with teenagers all the time in practice and this was just more of the same. Unfortunately, Sam and I were in the same pool and I would much, much rather have avoided that since Sam got off to a bad start and the last thing she needed was to lose to me. Not that this thought slowed me down at all. Once I step onto the strip, I'm in competition mode and it doesn't matter who I am facing. I am proud to note that I scored at least two touches on everyone and that I probably worked harder mentally than I did physically on those bouts. I finished the pool with a score of -3, which means I was hit three more times than I succeeded in hitting other people. I note that the few names I remember from the pool finished third, seventh, and eleventh. Considering the competition, I was quite pleased with myself until.... I discovered that I was fencing C. Slader AGAIN in the DE. I'd had a pleasant chat with her the previous day, and had told her what I'd learned from our bout about what I'd needed to do to defeat her. Sigh! So now she'd know exactly what to expect me to do and how to correct it. Thus, here we were again, off to another one of those starts where she took command immediately and was ahead by two at the half. [Note that veterans go to 10 points and Divison III goes to 15.] While she talked to her coach, I stood there and tried to figure out why going slower wasn't working for me this time. She might be new but every time I went in for an attack, she parried and reposted perfectly. Thus, I could see only one thing to do: go on the defense myself. At the command 'fence', I moved forward for a simultaneous attack, moved back, and if I wasn't within fencing distance then I waited for her to work her way towards me for an attack. A couple of times, I even managed to counter-attack into her attack. The next 4 points were mine and then it was back and forth until I finally succeeded in defending my position. My next DE was a rather one-sided defeat by Dearing (who finished third in the event) although I wasn't far behind until the half. By then, my lack of food (I DID eat an energy bar but it wasn't enough) caught up with me. I kept fencing, but my mind wasn't there, my body was slow, and Dearing's skill level was too far above mine. Overall, this was a good learning experience for me. I'm looking forward to Atlanta in July and not just for the competition. Hanging out with some of the veteran fencers and talking to them and working out with them was an absolute delight. Thus far, every veteran fencer I've met appears to be the kind of person that would make a good next door neighbor. They're intelligent, nice, and incredibly wonderful people. I feel honored to compete with them.