IT was so much fun.

I arrived early to get some stretching in and during this time, there was a children's class. They were sooo small and cute playing with nerf tubes as their weapons. Then after some time, they did switch to foils – which in a few cases were longer than they were tall.

I signed up for class one day per week plus some extra floor time for $80 for the month – that’s a steal. Just the class would be $60 for the month. For the extra $20 per month I can show up other days and use the studio for practice or spar with others that are there.  NEXT week I might go Wednesday and Friday. Or Monday/Wednesday.  I could have also signed up for a Saturday lesson but I am already over committed on weekends, Maybe later.

The class started at 7:30. We started off with foot work (15min), then did some controlled practice moves (30min) also using the nerf tubes, and then we did some sparing in 4 person groups – 2 fencers, a judge and referee.  There were 16 people in the class so in groups of 4 so we had 4 bouts going. We did 3 point matches in a round robin.

It really was a good evening and workout. Remember those workout where you are having fun and not thinking about how hard it is and when you stop you find that you have soaked your clothing with sweat…. well I was dripping! Even my glasses fogged up.  YES, there were times that I got winded – did I think of giving up, NO. During the warm ups I did have to sit down at one point and catch my breath and then I did realize I was not 20 anymore but in fencing age is not so much a factor , yes it can be one but not like in gymnastics or running. When I get more in shape which will take a few month, it will be even more fun. Also, fencing is a mental game beside the physical and right now most of the people I was fencing with don’t know as much as me \0/ so my game was better YET while sparing I would give them feedback about extending their leg better, not stopping and following through, where they hit me and such.

I am only slightly sore today which is a good thing.  At the end of the class (7:30 – 9pm) I was dripping sweat !  I  remembered more than I thought I would- which is good. The coach said my form was very good.  Things I noticed is that my point control is a bit off and I am not as flexible as I use to be and I need to work on stretching.   

On a side note, having not fenced for 30 years… there are some interesting changes to the scoring and equipment but most of my equipment was fine for practice.  The scoring has reversed, it is not a touch against you anymore, now when you hit someone, you get the point - everyone has always confused about that because when you HAD 5 points, you lost, it was a negative thing. So now you score the touch against someone, you get the point for making the hit. The lower neck in foil is now target; saber is electronic now; and there is a plastic/Kevlar chest guard to be worn by men and women (not just the boob protectors for women) and a few other things.  Then the way you are rated is slightly different – and that allows you to move up in the standings.

Erich and I were talking when I got home – of course I had to tell him everything but he said something that is so true. When  you go for a walk/run etc.. just to work out and there is no purpose behind it, or no purpose that you enjoy. It is not fun and so you think why am I doing this. With the Fencing, I really enjoy doing it so when I am at practice the exercise does not seem like a chore.  And now I want to go for those walks at lunch or lift weights because in the long run that will also help me in this sport.

In a few weeks, I hope to ask someone to video me sparing and I will post that. In the mean time here is a picture of me during a break. Elisa of Scotland has used a Photoshop filter on it and turned it into a painting.

When I was in high school we had a teacher who had fenced. After school he brought in some of his equipment and we “played” at having some fencing bouts.  He did not really teach us how to fence but did I have fun. I then left for college and to my surprise they had a fencing team. I truly did not know nor think about fencing when I applied to colleges; it was all about my engineering degree. My freshman year in college I could not fence as I had an uber case on mono and I barely made it through BUT in my sophomore year I was able to take fencing as my physical education elective and I was hooked. 

I fenced during my sophomore, junior and senior years at college. During the summers, I found a studio near where I was working so I could improve my skills and by my senior year I was also going to tournaments around Ohio and even Canada to feed my habit. Oh, I was winning too.

After college I moved to Denver and I joined a club there. I fenced in the club almost every night and went to meets all the time. Basically it was work during the day, fence at night. I was good enough to go to Nationals twice (I made it to the quarter finals one year) and because it was the early days of women competing in sabre and epee (I also fenced sabre) I went to the Western Womens Conference two times as well. I was constantly wining or placing in tournaments. 

One year after nationals, I was selected to go to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for some workshops. I was being told that I could go far… and right at this time I had the opportunity to move to California for a better job. So what did I do, as I had to choose between my engineering career or fencing.

I chose my engineering career. And where I moved to did not have a local club. There was a club but it was over 2 hours away, so I stopped fencing.  That was 1980 and since then, every once and a while I search to see if there is a club nearby where I can start fencing again.   I had access to some when I worked down in San Diego but I was into running and triathlons at the time and fencing was not on my mind. Even now I still consider myself a fencer and every four years when the Olympics are on, I will watch the little bit of fencing that they broadcast.

Two weeks ago (and not due to the Olympics) I did some googling to see if there was any fencing salle (French word for studio) in the area.  And there it was; a new once had opened in MY TOWN. I could hardly believe it. So I wrote to the coach about who I use to train with and how I wanted to start again. He did reply and I was disappointed to find out that the facility was for home school students BUT the adult club was only 20 minutes from where I work – and that is a possible for me, after work even though it is in the opposite direction from home.

So tomorrow is the day, well night actually. I have no expectations about how good or bad I will be since it has been 30+ years.  I know I will be sore on Thursday. I hope I have fun.

Tonight, I pull my fencing gear out of the closet; most of the uniform won’t fit but I do have my weapons and masks and for me, that is good enough to get started.