The Hamlet Open
Sep. 5th, 2005 02:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rwrylsinWell now, that was an adventure. 83 in the Women's Sabre! And something like 127 in the Men's, I've never seen so many sabreurs all in one place.
As for my fencing, the first round was terrible. I wasn't fencing at my best, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't fencing as badly as my scores imply. We seemed to have a dodgy spool which I ended up on the wrong end of most of the time (it got replaced later in the DE after the ref got sick of it playing up, but for the pools we just seemed to have an intermittent failure that was hard to pin down). We also had to ref ourselves, I generally avoid refereeing since I'm well aware I can't really follow the action properly these days, but by the end of the pool I was beginning to think I should have volunteered anyway, there were some very peculiar calls. I have been known to have days when my sense of timing is so way off that I can't tell why a call goes one way or the other at all, but I don't think this was one of those days.
Anyway, won two fairly convincingly, lost 3 even more convincingly where I only seemed to be able to score a point if there was one light - and I'm not good at deliberately getting one light at the best of times. This left me at a rather awful 58th going into the DE.
Fortunately had a referee who seemed to know what he was doing in the DE. Won the first bout fairly easily, then made the 7th cede work reasonably hard before going down 15-11. Not my best fencing, but I did manage to think and use distance, being on the right side of the dodgy spool may or may not have helped on a couple of occasions. Started to get a bit desperate at the end I think which is bad, but on the other hand I did have to try and do something different since I wasn't gaining any ground. Defensive game still needs work, timing and distance fall apart under pressure. Finished the day at 55th.
Preparation: 6/10
I've been spending half my training time coaching, and didn't get to Edinburgh for extra training at all. Gym attendance has also been haphazard. Have been getting lessons at least, although the at last one my brain was off having a nap. Basically life has been too busy for a good dedicated preparation.
Equipment: 9/10
No problems from my kit, although I need to take a closer look at the bib sometime, the resistance seems a little high for no good reason.
Fitness: 8/10
Below my best, but not too bad.
Hydration: 7/10
No ill-effects, but I don't think I drank enough before or during the comp.
Food: 9/10
Good breakfast, Pringles kept me going ok.
Concentration: 7/10
I was paying attention to what was going on and trying to adjust my game to suit, but needed to try harder for one light results during the pools. Feeling a little lethargic after waiting 2 hours between check-in and starting as well, need to find a way to sharpen focus when the time for action finally arrives.
At the start of the day they raised the question of whether they should increase the entry fee in order to provide prize money. Thinking about it after the event, I'd say no. If they charge an extra £5 per person that's fine, price won't stop me coming when it forms such a small part of the overall cost, but spend the extra cash on referees. Knowing that a competition would guarantee that nobody had to referee their own pool would attract me to a comp in a way that prize-money never would.
As for my fencing, the first round was terrible. I wasn't fencing at my best, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't fencing as badly as my scores imply. We seemed to have a dodgy spool which I ended up on the wrong end of most of the time (it got replaced later in the DE after the ref got sick of it playing up, but for the pools we just seemed to have an intermittent failure that was hard to pin down). We also had to ref ourselves, I generally avoid refereeing since I'm well aware I can't really follow the action properly these days, but by the end of the pool I was beginning to think I should have volunteered anyway, there were some very peculiar calls. I have been known to have days when my sense of timing is so way off that I can't tell why a call goes one way or the other at all, but I don't think this was one of those days.
Anyway, won two fairly convincingly, lost 3 even more convincingly where I only seemed to be able to score a point if there was one light - and I'm not good at deliberately getting one light at the best of times. This left me at a rather awful 58th going into the DE.
Fortunately had a referee who seemed to know what he was doing in the DE. Won the first bout fairly easily, then made the 7th cede work reasonably hard before going down 15-11. Not my best fencing, but I did manage to think and use distance, being on the right side of the dodgy spool may or may not have helped on a couple of occasions. Started to get a bit desperate at the end I think which is bad, but on the other hand I did have to try and do something different since I wasn't gaining any ground. Defensive game still needs work, timing and distance fall apart under pressure. Finished the day at 55th.
Preparation: 6/10
I've been spending half my training time coaching, and didn't get to Edinburgh for extra training at all. Gym attendance has also been haphazard. Have been getting lessons at least, although the at last one my brain was off having a nap. Basically life has been too busy for a good dedicated preparation.
Equipment: 9/10
No problems from my kit, although I need to take a closer look at the bib sometime, the resistance seems a little high for no good reason.
Fitness: 8/10
Below my best, but not too bad.
Hydration: 7/10
No ill-effects, but I don't think I drank enough before or during the comp.
Food: 9/10
Good breakfast, Pringles kept me going ok.
Concentration: 7/10
I was paying attention to what was going on and trying to adjust my game to suit, but needed to try harder for one light results during the pools. Feeling a little lethargic after waiting 2 hours between check-in and starting as well, need to find a way to sharpen focus when the time for action finally arrives.
At the start of the day they raised the question of whether they should increase the entry fee in order to provide prize money. Thinking about it after the event, I'd say no. If they charge an extra £5 per person that's fine, price won't stop me coming when it forms such a small part of the overall cost, but spend the extra cash on referees. Knowing that a competition would guarantee that nobody had to referee their own pool would attract me to a comp in a way that prize-money never would.
