fencing tournament | Clare L. Deming

Fencing During COVID

06 Aug 2021 Leave a comment

by Clare in Fencing, tournament Tags: COVID-19, fencing, fencing competition, fencing tournament, masks, pandemic, sabre fencing, summer nationals, us fencing, vaccine, Veteran fencing

I wanted to get back to my habit of writing about fencing events, but with the COVID pandemic, all travel and sports competition was thrown into a gigantic snarl. Now much of the fencing world has resumed modified practices and competitions, so I wanted to put down my thoughts about how things have changed.

Lunging fencer. (c) Sylvain Sechet, reposted under Creative Commons license

Get Vaccinated

First off – now that there is a vaccine available to protect you against COVID-19, everyone that doesn’t have a MEDICAL contraindication should go and get vaccinated. The sooner the majority of the population has some immunity to this virus, the sooner we can get back to “normal.” I had some not insignificant side effects from the vaccine, but I’d much rather go through that again than have COVID and risk passing it to my friends and family. The only valid excuse for not getting the vaccine at this point is if your doctor has advised you not to.

Challenges of Practice

Once facilities were allowed to open and conduct athletic activities, I was back in the club. The number of people at practice went down, as many had decided to continue to isolate. That is fine and I figured that as an essential worker, I was more likely to be exposed to COVID at work than I was in a gym with two or three other people, all masked.

It did take some time to figure out how to workout with a mask on. Mainly I had to find one that didn’t suck into my nose and mouth when I breathed more heavily. This is one style I have been using successfully. The other challenge was that I had been so busy at work that I was dreadfully out of shape with my cardio and fencing muscles. Even once I had returned to practice, I often didn’t make it every week, so I’m afraid the practice that I did get wasn’t terribly effective.

Competitions

I don’t remember exactly when the first competitions returned in the fencing world. These weren’t on my radar as I was terribly busy with work and hadn’t been practicing consistently. At least a few local/regional events were held this spring though, while the FIE tried to hold international competitions to finish Olympic qualification.

The first event I competed in was in July in Philadelphia and was one of US Fencing’s North American Cup events. The July event has traditionally been called Summer Nationals, so this event both was and wasn’t that. I competed in individual Vet-40 and Team Women’s Sabre events. But the “National Championship” only applied to the team event and not the individual one. That has been set for August in Atlanta.

What Have We Learned?

As the pandemic continues and measures to prevent spread of the virus are still changing, what have we learned?

I’m happier when I can fence regularly.
Sometimes we need to be flexible and adapt to the circumstances.
It’s really hard to plan a national event that will make everyone happy.
You should get vaccinated.
Go get vaccinated now.
You don’t want COVID – get the vaccine!

What have your experiences been in fencing as the pandemic has progressed? How have you adapted? Let me know in the comments above.

Find more of my fencing posts here.

A Newbie Guide to Fencing Tournaments (Part 2 – The Warm Up)

26 Jan 2020 1 Comment

by Clare in Fencing Tags: fencing, fencing competition, fencing newbie, fencing tournament, fencing warm up, how to warm up, newbie guide, Veteran fencing, warm up

It seemed like my first post in this series was pretty popular, so I’m going to add to this by talking about how to warm up before fencing in a tournament.

First off, if your coach has given you specific guidelines about how to warm up, then ignore what I say here and listen to your coach.

The main focus of your warm up should be to get your body in a state where you are ready to fence the event without increased risk of injury. I’m going to take some tips from triathlon here, mainly the adage, “Nothing new on race day.” So for fencing, tournament day is not the time to try out a new weapon, new glove, or new warm up routine.*

I’ll do the first part of my warm up in just my fencing socks/shoes, knickers, and a t-shirt. Sometimes I listen to music, but sometimes I don’t. The first part (footwork) generally takes me 10 to 15 minutes.

When I warm up for a tournament, I use the same routine that I would in practice. Here is my specific set of exercises:

Light jog until my legs feel loose.
Arm circles until my arms feel loose.
Footwork:
- Stand on guard, bend my knees and ankles. If I’m particularly stiff, just do one advance, one retreat and focus on getting some mobility in my joints.
- Easy footwork: two advances, one retreat halfway down the strip, then two retreats, one advance until I return to my starting point. I do this maybe 3 or 4 times.
- Start to throw in slow lunges at the end of the previous footwork drill.
- Easy attacks: advance, advance, lunge down the strip a few times. If I’m feeling particularly ambitious, I’ll do more complicated attacks, throwing in jumps, simulate missing and retreating, etc.
Weapon circles: This is for injury prevention. I have had problems with tendonitis in my elbow, so this seems to help keep it at bay. I put my glove on and pick up a sabre at this point and just swing it around. I’m not trying to do anything technical, just rotate my wrist and make big circles.

From this point, I may do more foot work or I may not. It depends on how my legs and back feel. You’re going to have to figure out how much to do for yourself. In general, I fence better with more of a warm up. But there are times (where I’m sore from the previous day, sick, or nursing a borderline injury) that I may stop sooner.

After this part of my warm up, I’ll look to do some warm up bouts. There are generally fencers warming up all around. Find people that are in your event and ask if you can rotate in. Generally, fencers warming up will go to 5 and then whomever refereed rotates in.

When you fence warm up bouts, you’re not trying to win. You need to try different things to get all the parts of your body coordinated. Vary your actions and work on getting your timing up to speed.

This is also a great chance to make sure that your electric equipment is all working. If you show up on the strip for the tournament with something broken, you’ll get a yellow card.

Stop when you feel like you’re ready. I try to time the end of my warm up so that I have a few minutes to sit before pools start. You may need to refill your water bottle, use the bathroom, or have a snack.

*Of course if your equipment breaks or fails checks, you may have to use something new. But try to avoid this.

See the rest of the Newbie Guide to Fencing Tournaments:

A Newbie Guide to Fencing Tournaments (Part 1 – Basics)

23 Jan 2020 2 Comments

by Clare in Fencing Tags: capitol clash, fencing, fencing guide, fencing newbie, fencing tournament, new fencer, newbie guide, Veteran fencing, youth fencing

I had been writing fencing tournament reports last year, detailing my experiences of the events where I competed and what I thought of them. I couldn’t keep up with the writing, partly because I was just busy, but also because the reports started to feel too repetitive.

This past weekend I competed in the Capitol Clash for the second time. This event was a regional youth and veteran age-group event just outside of Washington, D.C. I was excited to see some of the area’s newer fencers branching out to compete in this larger event, and I even spoke with two women who were curious about entering the event next year. (Read about the 2019 event here).

I was also having a rough week in general and had been sick (literally had a chest x-ray taken the day before the event), and realized that much of what I do during a tournament is automatic after competing for so many years (from packing, signing in, getting dressed, my warm-up, and other habits through the day). I thought it might be helpful to share some tips to newer fencers to help make the day of the event smoother when you get there.

So here is the first post in a series on A Newbie Guide to Fencing Tournaments!

This post will just touch upon a few basics, with no particular focus. I can go into more detail on topics in later posts (send me suggestions)!

The time listed for an event is the close of check in. You need to show up about an hour before that to get yourself ready.
There are a few things you need to do first when you arrive at a fencing tournament:
1. Check in for the event.
2. Find a place to put your bag.
3. Get your equipment checked.
4. Get dressed.
5. Fill up water bottles.
6. Get your phone out and find the appropriate page on https://www.fencingtimelive.com/ for the event. (Most events use this now.)
7. Warm up.
8. Breathe.
Tips on bag placement:
- If you can find out which strips you will be using ahead of time, that is nice to know. Place your bag convenient to the strips.
- If not, consider these other factors: bathroom placement, your fellow club members, water placement, crowds.
- You can always move your bag once you learn where you will fence.
Events are fenced in two rounds: pools and then direct elimination.
Pools typically take an hour (for sabre).
During your pool, pay attention to when you’re up to fence. Know your number in the pool.
The referee will call out numbers or names. The first name called goes to the referee’s right on the strip. Unless there’s a left-handed fencer. She always goes on the referee’s left. If there are two lefties fencing, then go back to the original number/name rule.
After a bout, check the score sheet to make sure the result was recorded correctly. I find an error every year in one event or another. The best time to correct it is immediately after the bout when everyone clearly remembers what happened.
After the pool is over, sign the score sheet and shake the referee’s hand.
There is a break after pools where you should make use of the bathroom. You have at least 15 minutes.
Refill your water bottle between the pool and direct elimination rounds. Sometimes I also eat a snack like a granola bar.

Here are some specific items that I use on tournament day (paid links):

Sports water bottles (like this one, but I have ones from my local bike shop).
Nalgene water bottles. These are a bit bigger than the squeeze bottles.
Granola bars, Honey Stinger waffles, or Stroopwaffle brand waffles.
I will talk more about warming up in another post, but sometimes I listen to music. I have small ears and these Bose headphones work the best for me.

Don’t be afraid to ask if you aren’t clear on the process or on where you’re supposed to go and when. Most fencers will be very helpful because we all want more people fencing with us!

See the rest of the Newbie Guide to Fencing Tournaments:

Fencing Tournament Report – Salt Lake City NAC (April 2019)

07 Aug 2019 Leave a comment

by Clare in Fencing Tags: fencing, fencing competition, fencing tournament, NAC, USFA, Veteran fencing

It’s been several months since this event and I haven’t had time to write down my thoughts on it until now. But I think it may still be of interest, and I want to complete my collection of write-ups on all the events I attended this past fencing season.

Events and Format

The April NAC was my second national level event for the 2018-2019 season. This event moves around every year and was held in Salt Lake City this time. You can find more about the format, registration, and other details of NAC events in my report on the December Cincinnati NAC here.

Every NAC features different events in terms of levels and age groups, with Veteran Open, Veteran age groups, and Divisions II and III contested in Salt Lake City. The NAC was also held concurrently with the Division I and Para-Fencing National Championships which required separate qualification. For this trip, I fenced in the Vet Open and Vet-40 events.

Location and Venue

The tournament was held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City.

This location was fairly central to the hotels, restaurants, and attractions. This was my second trip to Salt Lake City so I knew what to expect in terms of the venue and the city’s layout. Even though I stayed at a hotel about three blocks from the convention center, I rented a car so that I could explore further afield.

Of course, my last trip to Salt Lake City had been in July, so the outdoor options were a bit different this time around. If you do travel here and like hiking, make sure to bring your boots and other gear. I did a gorgeous hike when I visited in July, and managed another one (albeit shorter and snowier) this time.

At the same time as the NAC, a separate fitness convention (Fit Con) was held in the same convention center. I didn’t have a chance to look in on Fit Con, but a regional youth circuit event was held there, providing even more fencing options for the weekend.

Spring thunderstorms wreaked havoc with travel plans over the NAC weekend. I was fortunate to not have any delays or lost luggage, but several fencers never arrived at all. In certain events, the travel problems definitely affected the outcome of the day.

The Events and My Fencing

Since it’s been several months since this event, I don’t recall the details of the day. I fenced in the Vet-40 event on my first day and didn’t do well. My coordination was off and I think I may have been struggling with the altitude, despite all of my triathlon cardio training.

For the second day, I fared much better, winning the gold in the Open Veteran event. I still had some rough spots in my fencing, but my parries began to work and my feet cooperated better. You can see my gold medal bout below!

Full results from the April NAC can be found here.

It looks like US Fencing has scheduled the 2019 December NAC in Salt Lake City for this next season, so I guess I’ll be back soon.

For more of my fencing tournament reports, check here.

Fencing Tournament Report – 2019 Veteran Sabre Slam

16 Apr 2019 Leave a comment

by Clare in Fencing, Swords Tags: fencing, fencing competition, fencing tournament, sheridan fencing, tournament, tri-state cup, Veteran fencing

This tournament was held on March 10, so I’m a bit behind on writing a summary of the event, but I still wanted to get to it. This is another one of the tournaments in the Tri-State Veteran’s Cup. You can find my thoughts on some of this year’s events here and here.

Travel to the Event

This tournament was held at Sheridan Fencing Club in Manhattan. I was able to take the train into NYC and then grabbed a taxi for a quick trip across town.

The Venue

This was my first trip to Sheridan Fencing Club and I had a little trouble finding it. Due to the train schedule, I arrived earlier than I really needed to, and the club wasn’t open yet.

I didn’t see any signage to indicate the club’s location, even though I appeared to be in the right general area. It turns out that the entire front of the club is a large glass window. After hours, a metal door rolls down to cover the glass.

After only a few minutes, someone arrived to open the door and I found myself in a chilly but compact space. The heat kicked on and I tried to move around to warm myself up, but my hands and feet were cold for longer than I would have liked.

The fencing space only has six strips, but for the purposes of this event, that was adequate. One perk that I did not expect was that they were able to run instant replay for all of the direct elimination (DE) bouts.

While I was warming up, coffee and bagels arrived. I definitely needed that coffee and soon felt more prepared for fencing.

Tournament Format

This tournament was conducted in a standard format, with a round-robin style pool followed by 100% promotion into a DE tableau. The women’s event had 8 competitors and there were 25 in the men’s event.

The women fenced one large pool of 8, followed by a quick DE round. The men were divided into 4 pools (7, 6, 6, 6) and then DE’s.

Full results from the day can be found here.

One of my favorite aspects of this tournament was the prizes! The winners went home with a set of Japanese swords and a stand. It’s nice to have awards other than the standard fencing medals.

My Fencing

I had an uneven day in the tournament, going 5-2 in my pool. That made me seeded #2 for the DE tableau. Through my DE bouts I never really hit my normal stride and I struggled to do what I wanted to do. In the end, I finished in 2nd place, so it wasn’t really a bad day. I just felt like I didn’t fence terribly well.

See more of my tournament reports here.

How Do I Decide Which Fencing Tournaments to Enter?

20 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

by Clare in Fencing, tournament Tags: fencing, fencing competition, fencing tournament, NAC, ROC, Veteran fencing

I have a bit of a break between fencing tournaments, triathlons, and running events for the next few weeks. Instead of a write-up on any particular event, I thought that it might be helpful to figure out why I enter certain tournaments and not others. This post was inspired by two things:

I had to sit down and decide on which fencing tournaments to enter for the next few months.
A discussion on a Veteran Fencing group last week about how everyone decides which tournaments to attend.

For most fencers in the group discussion, it seemed to come down to factors like distance, costs involved, and how many other fencers were going to attend.

December and April NACs

Obviously, I would enter the Veteran NAC events. But some of these tournaments also feature other levels, like Div I, Div II, or Div III. And would I enter both the Vet-40 age group and the Open Vet event? I decided that I’d do both the Vet-40 and Open Vet events at all the NACs. I almost entered Div I in the December NAC, but then decided against it. I didn’t feel like I was physically up to that level. It turned out that I was sick for part of the December NAC, so I would not have had a good day in Div I if I had entered.

I just registered for the upcoming April NAC, and this time I decided to enter both the Vet events and the Div II. I can have a good day in Div II at times. Even though the Div II event didn’t fit in with my initial goals for the season, I found that I’m already looking ahead to next year. I’d like to fence that Div I event next December, so fencing more non-Vet events like the Div II NAC should help me prepare.

Local and Regional Events

As far as local and regional (ROC) events go, I have been entering these when they fit in my schedule. I weigh the distance of the event with the costs of entry, hotel, and travel, and then look at how many fencers have entered. I fenced in a local ROC that had low attendance and a non-ROC event that was nearly as populous as a NAC. Both situations were helpful to me, I think.

I also find that I’ve been more goal-oriented in my training this year. Every day before practice I think about what my goals are for that session. The specific goals are based on how I’m feeling and how soon the next tournament is. Some of my more common goals lately have been:

Move well, using small footwork, patience, and don’t lean.
Work on the specific actions from a lesson.
Fence like it’s a tournament in terms of strategy and actions.
Work on my distance when retreating and draw the attack on my terms.

How do you decide which tournaments to enter? Do you have goals for your fencing? Let me know in the comments.

For more fencing articles, look here.

Fencing Tournament Report – Capitol Clash 2019

13 Feb 2019 2 Comments

by Clare in Fencing, Swords, tournament Tags: capitol clash, fencing, fencing tournament, gaylord, hema, national harbor, sabre, us fencing, Veteran fencing

The weekend before last, I traveled to compete in the 2019 Capitol Clash just outside of Washington, D.C. This fencing tournament has been held for ten years and has historically been a youth event. This year, they added a non-regional Veteran’s category, and several fencers in my club (youth and veteran) entered.

Event Schedule and Travel

For the Veteran events, the tournament was simply a local tournament, with no points or qualifications up for grabs. However, for sabre, it ended up being well-attended, with 16 women and 38 men. The youth tournament featured Y-8, Y-10, Y-12, Y-14, and Cadet events, and was designated a SYC, so fencers could win regional points.

With all of the events for age groups, all three weapons, and men’s and women’s divisions, the tournament stretched over 3 days. I woke up very early and drove to the tournament on Saturday morning to arrive by close of check-in for Vet WS at 12:00 p.m. The organizers had communicated minor changes in the check-in time in the weeks prior to the tournament.