Post by theluz on May 9, 2008 11:52:22 GMT -6
When I was in College at UT, in the late '60's, we would attend as many tournaments as we could. Most were in San Antonio or Houston and we would see the same folks at each tournament.
There was a tournament in San Antonio (foil) that was memorable. Bob Hurley and I were both fencing pretty well. Bob, however, was extremely nervous, as the first prize was a complete electric foil. Times were hard and Bob REALLY wanted that new weapon. We would confer after every bout and he was getting more and more nervous. His technique was just about gone, he wanted the weapon so much. He stooped to using his "beating blade": a very stout, but short 32" weapon that he was using to beat his opponents' blade out of the way and score. It wasn't pretty, but he was using that technique all day and winning.
I kept laughing at him, as he was almost hyperventilating with nerves.
We didn't met until the last bout of the finals. If I remember correctly (that was almost 40 years ago), I beat him, which meant we were tied and had to fence off for the new foil.
He and I were pretty close in skill level, and the bout went to 4-4 (la bell). I had been stepping back and parrying and scoring with a riposte. On his fourth point, he broke his beating blade on me. He replaced it with a 35" regular blade, attacked me with it, I stepped back (I had been calibrating that step back all day) and the extra 3" scored. He almost collapsed. He got the new weapon and I got a second place trophy. I still have the trophy.
There was a tournament in San Antonio (foil) that was memorable. Bob Hurley and I were both fencing pretty well. Bob, however, was extremely nervous, as the first prize was a complete electric foil. Times were hard and Bob REALLY wanted that new weapon. We would confer after every bout and he was getting more and more nervous. His technique was just about gone, he wanted the weapon so much. He stooped to using his "beating blade": a very stout, but short 32" weapon that he was using to beat his opponents' blade out of the way and score. It wasn't pretty, but he was using that technique all day and winning.
I kept laughing at him, as he was almost hyperventilating with nerves.
We didn't met until the last bout of the finals. If I remember correctly (that was almost 40 years ago), I beat him, which meant we were tied and had to fence off for the new foil.
He and I were pretty close in skill level, and the bout went to 4-4 (la bell). I had been stepping back and parrying and scoring with a riposte. On his fourth point, he broke his beating blade on me. He replaced it with a 35" regular blade, attacked me with it, I stepped back (I had been calibrating that step back all day) and the extra 3" scored. He almost collapsed. He got the new weapon and I got a second place trophy. I still have the trophy.