How To Disappear Completely

Off to OUAs!

So I am the "floating alternate" for the team going to OUA (Ontario University Athletics). Which means that I won't fence unless legs are broken or illnesses caught, but at least I get to go with the team and cheer them on to their rivals.

"Cause [McMaster] can and [McMaster] can't say no."

And the beauty of this competition is that it is in Toronto, so it will be a daytrip. And I won't have to miss church. I hate missing church.

It's also 0 degrees here (and that's Farenheit for all of you South-of-the-Border). I may or may not have gotten frostbite on my fingers.

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As the floating alternate, I could be called upon to fence any weapon, depending on who breaks their legs. I have fenced both foil and saber in competition and have some familiarity with epee (but would hardly claim superiority in any of them). I love how each weapon has its own personality....

Saber: The fast and aggressive fencers gravitate towards this weapon. Saber is loud, with much yelling, shouting, and general "hu-yah!!"-ing. It is my firm conviction that really, at heart, all saberists want to be pirates. Even the weapons look like pirate cutlasses and all the saberists do is try to be the first to slap someone with the flat of their blade. Speed is the key, because if you are first, it does not matter if the other person hits you. This is called priority.

Foil: The weapon that most beginners use, because of its similarities to both saber (use of priority) and epee (poking rather than slashing method of attack). The more deliberate fencers who can keep track of who has "right of way" gravitate here.

Epee: The most "realistic" weapon, or so the epee-ists say. There is no priority, so you can score double hits (if the opponent is quick enough to land his point on his attacker before the attacker jumps away). This makes the action very slow sometimes, because it is in the best interest of the attacker to come at his opponent in such a way as to escape unhit. The tallest fencers are usually put on the epee team. Those long arms are an advantage.

Posted by funke at 25.01.07 22:58 | TrackBack | Posted to Fencing