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The Last day of class So, Tuesday was my last fencing class.
At first I had no idea what I was getting myself into and was worried sick about passing when to professor said we had to “fight for our grade.” We spent the first few weeks on footwork. This consisted of standing with your feet at a 90-degree angel and sliding them across the floor in an almost crouched position. One arm was held out front, bent parallel to the floor, while the other was held behind your head and above your shoulders—as you can see in the pictures.
We would spend the two-hour class period in this position that seemed almost ridiculous to us at the time. After going back and forth across the gym until we thought our legs would catch on fire, he would give a break which was taken in the form of one fast lap around the basketball court. Then we would file back into our spots and continue the drills.
After the first two weeks the professor added the lunge, which was also an odd, uncomfortable position.
At one point after class, I was so frustrated with not being able to get in the grove;
I couldn’t feel whether I was actually doing the motions correctly, so I asked Clemens, a fellow classmate, to come to the fencing team meeting with me the next night so we could see how it was done with real equipment. It was the third week and we had yet to see a foil (saber/sword), much less understand the structure of the game.
We showed up and watched them set up all of the equipment for the first hour. There were only 4 people and we never really got to see a game, only the master teaching the student and then some random drills. Leaving though, we felt a lot more encouraged. It was difficult because the Professor always told us to just “go with it” and that we would finally understand the reasoning for what he taught us when the games began. So, seeing everything in action really gave us a new sense of the game.
After that night things began to fall into place. We started the next week with the Foils. We learned how to parry and repost and then after 2 months started playing fellow classmates.
I really started to get the hang
of it and even enjoyed it. I guess the long nights of practicing footwork in my room and having my roommate laughing at me paid off.
I think what motivated me the most was the fact that we had to “fight for our grade.” We were graded on the number of duals we won. The Professor set it up so that only the women could play the women and the men play the men. Since we started out with only 5 girls Clemons started off as my practice buddy, but one of the girls quite so it was just us 4 girls among 11 boys.
There were several times when the boys wanted to play me, and being competitive I agreed. When I beat two of them they were so impressed that they thought I was outstanding. I am pretty sure that they went easy on me because I was a girl though.
As time went on I get pretty good and by the end ended up winning 11 games out of 12. The professor said that I had to play the best guy at the last class insisting that it was the “championships.” When the
Whose the Champion?
Ok, fine. Everyone got to take a picture with that Trophy. guys play, they are quite more violent then us women are. It seems like all structure and skill that was taught to us disappears and only sticking the other guy—as fast as you can, any way you—can matters.
So this Korean guy that I ended up playing had really long arms and was quick. Needless to say he beat me 4 to 1. He was also better than 10 other guys, I just had to beat 3 girls.
Over all it was a fun sport and would love to continue in the states. Unfortunately, Maryville College Does not offer it and I don’t have time to hunt for a place.
Guess I can always say:
“Oh, fencing? Yeah, learned how to do that in S. Korea!”
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Nature Girl
Sarah Elizabeth Hailey
fencing?!
You always be representin'...Show those asian boys some fiesty american aggression...i love it.. srh