Cherry Blossom Open: brief writeup
Apr. 9th, 2006 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonI met fellow fencer B. at the site. She used to compete, so this was less new for her than for me - Fence-A-Thon aside, I'd never been to a fencing competition.
It was about as large as I expected, filling the university armory (think standard-sized school gymnasium), and somewhat overwhelming due to the sheer number of people and constant buzzing of scoring machines and metallic "clash" of blades. I mostly came to see the foil competition (women's only) but mixed epee ran over, so I got to see some of that as well.
The floor was laid out so that you could get a good side (judge's) view of the action, or stand on against the wall and watch the back of the nearest competitor - this is good, because you get a "fencer's view" of stance, point position, arm extension, etc. - in short, what they were doing. The action was still much too fast for me to see what was happening most of the time (especially with epee, which is governed by much more lenient rules), but I could see some patterns, especially with foil: small, efficient bladework, solid evenly spaced feet and constant aggressive motion (early arm extension, "chasing" the opponent down the strip). It was very noticeable with the high rated fencers (I still don't fully understand the U.S. fencing rating system - a brief discussion is here). Watching a bout kind of sucks me in - I start leaning over and squinting and even follow the fencer back and forth if I'm at the side, and don't realize I'm doing it :P
One girl was injured when someone broke a blade on her - security was swift and efficient calling 911 and it looked like she was going to be ok, but it was a stark reminder why we wear all that protective gear and just how dangerous the sport can still be.
Some stuff I still don't get: I'm not sure why there's a division between men's and women's, especially if mixed competitions exist at the same level; B. speculated tradition, D. has speculated weight/strength differences, but IMHO the physical distance between opponents and different blend of strength, speed, and strategy in every fencer goes a long way towards equalizing a bout. I can see the age split to a degree - younger = faster reflexes.
All fencers wear white; again, I'm not sure why though I suspect it's because it's easier to see where/if touches are scored against a white background. B. told me that when she used to compete in college all white was strongly enforced (this would have been around 20 years ago), but we saw lots of loud socks - some were team colors, I think!
Even though the strips were clearly numbered, just the sheer number of people and concurrent bouts makes me wonder how hard it is for competitors to keep track of when/where their next bout is - just so much to remember!
Side note - hair getting in your face can result in a yellow card (a warning). Most women had it tied back and more than a few people wore headbands or bandannas to make sure it stayed away. More and more incentive to keep my hair short all the time :P
It was about as large as I expected, filling the university armory (think standard-sized school gymnasium), and somewhat overwhelming due to the sheer number of people and constant buzzing of scoring machines and metallic "clash" of blades. I mostly came to see the foil competition (women's only) but mixed epee ran over, so I got to see some of that as well.
The floor was laid out so that you could get a good side (judge's) view of the action, or stand on against the wall and watch the back of the nearest competitor - this is good, because you get a "fencer's view" of stance, point position, arm extension, etc. - in short, what they were doing. The action was still much too fast for me to see what was happening most of the time (especially with epee, which is governed by much more lenient rules), but I could see some patterns, especially with foil: small, efficient bladework, solid evenly spaced feet and constant aggressive motion (early arm extension, "chasing" the opponent down the strip). It was very noticeable with the high rated fencers (I still don't fully understand the U.S. fencing rating system - a brief discussion is here). Watching a bout kind of sucks me in - I start leaning over and squinting and even follow the fencer back and forth if I'm at the side, and don't realize I'm doing it :P
One girl was injured when someone broke a blade on her - security was swift and efficient calling 911 and it looked like she was going to be ok, but it was a stark reminder why we wear all that protective gear and just how dangerous the sport can still be.
Some stuff I still don't get: I'm not sure why there's a division between men's and women's, especially if mixed competitions exist at the same level; B. speculated tradition, D. has speculated weight/strength differences, but IMHO the physical distance between opponents and different blend of strength, speed, and strategy in every fencer goes a long way towards equalizing a bout. I can see the age split to a degree - younger = faster reflexes.
All fencers wear white; again, I'm not sure why though I suspect it's because it's easier to see where/if touches are scored against a white background. B. told me that when she used to compete in college all white was strongly enforced (this would have been around 20 years ago), but we saw lots of loud socks - some were team colors, I think!
Even though the strips were clearly numbered, just the sheer number of people and concurrent bouts makes me wonder how hard it is for competitors to keep track of when/where their next bout is - just so much to remember!
Side note - hair getting in your face can result in a yellow card (a warning). Most women had it tied back and more than a few people wore headbands or bandannas to make sure it stayed away. More and more incentive to keep my hair short all the time :P
