West Palm Beach Classical Fencing Tournament 3/27/2010

[Don Conrad Uy - Tampa Bay Fencers]

I thought I was going to do a lengthy debriefing on the tournament,
but instead I'll let the results to speak for themselves. Tampa Bay
Fencers can't complain about the results.

West Palm Beach Classical Fencing Tournament (March 27, 2010) results:

Classical Foil
1. Don Conrad Uy (TBF)
2. Matt Richardson (TBF)
3.Yves Lafrance (WPB)

Dueling Sword (Epee)
1. Don Conrad Uy (TBF)
2. Alex Boucher (SUNY)
3. Matt Richardson (TBF)

For those unfamiliar with Classical Foil, it must be mentioned that
the primary focus of the bout is to display your technique. In fact,
it is possible to win all of your bouts based on hits but still not
finish in 1st place if you do not fence with pristine technique.
(Trust me, I know this for a fact.) For those fencers who delight in
the technical fencing conversation, this can present a wonderful
opportunity to shine in competition. Bouts are for three points within
5 minutes, on a 3' x 20' piste and are judged visually by a Director
and four judges/jurors

Dueling Sword (aka Epee) is resolved with a single touch on a piste
twice the width and length than for the foil. The epees are tipped
with a device called a pointe de arret. This is essentially a tip
that has barbs designed to catch on the opponents' jackets. Defense is
paramount in this game since double-defeats are more probable since
these bouts are judged without the benefit of electronic scoring
machines that can detect a 1/20 second time delay.

The following day, Matt and I attended a 4-hour workshop headed by
Maestro Ramon Martinez and Jarek Kirby. The topic of the day was to
drill some select actions that take advantage of time gaps inherent in
fencing exchanges. What was also addressed was some techniques to
retain control of the action in a corp a corp scenario. The final two
hours of the four-hour fencing workshop was used for unstructured
fencing. Upon my request, Maestro Martinez presented very short
overviews of the different saber styles with their respective
nationalities: Hungarian, Polish, N Italian, S Italian, French, German
and finally Spanish. I'm still sorting out all the information that
was provided. Additionally, he demonstrated the Spanish system of foil
what described its emphasis on line and elevated center of gravity.

Certainly, a lot of these techniques are more easily used in a
Classical fencing context but there is no reason any of the techniques
I've seen over the weekend can not be used in a modern electric
fencing competition with very minor adjustments. In summary, the
competition was an excellent opportunity for TBF to demonstrate our
hard work in the core concepts of fencing and the workshop itself was
worth the 700 mile round trip.

Don

[Ann Adair]

Congratulations to both of you on such excellent results! I'm sorry I missed it, but am hoping to see more matchups in our own club between Don and Matt!

Oddly enough, I was practically next door in Miami this weekend, but very busy chaperoning a 4-day children's choir tour. I definitely want to go to a classical fencing event, so keep us all posted!

-------------------------------------------------

Ann Adair

[Terry Abrahams]

I went to Eric and Amber's shower - he told me his experience at the one he
went to - a little different than your version.

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