Fencing Progress

 Today's fencing was rather shambolic--but it may have pushed me in a new direction.

 

I was on the fence (ouch for the pun!) about going today because I'm waaay behind with everything, but since after the summer break I only attended one session before the holiday and Earl Grey's accident, I decided I should make the effort. Then in the middle of the day, the head coach sent out an email about a change of venue--we normally use a school gym and occasionally have to move when the school has something on. So now we were supposed to go to a local college. 

 

I knew this was going to cause problems because not everyone checks their email regularly, and he only gave us a few hours' notice. When I arrived at the college, the campus turned out to be really big, and not well sign-posted. It took me a while of circling before I found somebody to ask. When I finally arrived at the gym, I think I was the first adult there. The place was split up over several floors with two rather noisy basketball courts, and several squash rooms for our use. I watched Kate (another coach) finish a private epee session in one of the squash courts. Eventually, a few other fencers appeared, but no one from my former beginner group or other foil intermediates. There were four epeeists, and a couple of people who booked private sessions. That didn't look promising. 

 

Eventually, Nick, the head coach, appeared as the under 14s finished their session. It proved there was a dedicated fencing salle upstairs, where the "gold group" juniors were still fencing electric. Nick was all smiles, as usual, then, as Kate was taking the epeeists to another squash court, he looked at me and said, "You do foil, don't you?" 

 

Nick is the foil coach--but he's also the club's head coach and its main organiser (or maybe even the owner). I think his main focus is the younger fencers, partly because I guess they bring in more money, and also, they are the ones that represent the club in competitions and increase its prestige. Let's face it, I ain't gonna be fencing competitively any time ever. So I understand where he's coming from. But today, as he took me up to the salle, it was clear he didn't know what to do with me.

 

So, he snapped one of the new level 1 coaches -- young guys who are now teaching the junior beginners -- and told him to give me a private session. It would have been great, if I didn't suspect the guy was just gearing up to do some fencing himself… Still, we went to one of the empty squash courts for a quick session. It was brilliant, he was taking me through the basics all over again, and commenting on all my mistakes. Perfect! Except, maybe fifteen minutes later, he said thanked me and left. 

 

I lingered for a moment, wondering what to do with myself, then decided to go check in on Kate the epeeists. There were four of them, and two were sparring while Kate was teaching the other two some moves. I really liked her explanations and her overall approach. 

 

So when she had a break, I asked her if she'd do some private lessons. We agreed to do half an hour before the official session, starting next week. I'll see how that goes. And if I like it, I may consider switching to epee. Kate seems a better coach for me, and I like that she's dedicated to her small group, instead of running the whole club, with me as an afterthought. I'm going to suck at epee, but considering I suck at foil, there's hardly a difference. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯