I entered this tourney fully planning and expecting to win every bout.
Second fight - Don Timothy le Courbousier. Timothy chose me as his opponent, which was gratifying, both as his just revenge for the prior year's Insegnante, and because I had an idea for a challenge to play especially against him. In last year's tourney, Timothy chose to fight from a bench. I was able to win by avoid his attacks with footwork, and I thought I could leverage that strategy again, by declaring that I would not parry with my blade. We went schlager and dagger, so I would still have the dagger to parry with. It was an intense circling bout, as I tried to evade with the body, while getting close enough to hit. I was parrying too much with the dagger. A shot came in high and to my right. I lifted my sword to parry, then dropped it to avoid violating my challenge. A shot came in and grazed my chin, but Timothy thought he felt a similar shot on him, so we continued. A few more steps, circling, I stepped in and caught a blade in the chest. A great bout!
Third fight - Shri Chandranath Mitra. I declared that I would fight "hand tied in front of my back", so put my arm in a makeshift sling. Oddly enough, I found it rather constraining to fight single-handed. I thought that it would not be difficult at all, since I've been working with Youth foil so much. I had to hustle to get my parries working, and he was able to create an opening and hit.
Fourth fight - Ly Gabriela Alatea d'Avila. Gabri was recently inspired to take up the sword and has been growing quickly. Puck had mentioned to me that she had been contriving to defeat a specific move (a high outside bind with a thrust to the head) that I had been pulling on her repeatedly the last time we met. So, as my challenge, I declared that I would test her with this move. We went with single epee. I pulled the move a couple of times, but it didn't work. Somehow she hit my off-hand. Again I noticed that this was seriously limiting my ingrained manuevers. She passed to the side, came in close, bound my blade outwards, and hit.
Bye - Ld Pachomius un Zapato. Finally someone picked me for the bye! Since Puck holds a Thistle in "Spanish Period Rapier", and I had, the night before, received a Thistle for "Period Rapier Style", for my study of Pallas Armata, he challenged me to the battle of the books; Spanish style vs. Pallas Armata. Fortunately, the book has a particular recommendation for facing the high, arm-out Spanish style guard. You are supposed to float your blade low, under your opponent's blade with your hand in Tertz (palm to the side). Then when he attacks, you lift the hilt in Secunde (palm down), deflect the blade, and step forward to hit.
The pressure is on. Now I have to make a good fight without cheating, (that is, without pulling in some moves outside the canon). And lately, I've been using Youth Rapier foils, or SCA-diGrassi with Del Tin and dagger, rather than focusing on my Pallas Armata. Someone quipped from the sidelines, "They're fighting period? How can they both lose?"
We square off, and almost immediately, Puck catches me with a backhand slash to the face. I should have been thinking cut, but I wasn't and was totally flat-footed.
Fifth fight - Don Stephen Hawkins. Stephen was 4-0, and well on his way to winning the "most-wins" portion of the tournament for the third year in a row. We also have a personal stake in any of our tourney bouts together, due to a small side wager. It was my idea to do a "name that tune" kind of thing (I can win this bout in n seconds....), and Stephen agreed. He started, saying, 'I can win this bout in 25 seconds.' I responded with 20, and he let me have it. I have timed bouts before, and was willing to go down to 8 seconds. We took Del Tin and dagger. I started advancing, and took a slope step to the right. Stephen cut to the left and fired a quick, clean thrust that tagged me in the chin.
Final count: 3 seconds.
Stephen is now 5-0 for three years running.
Although my personal performance was pathetic (1-4 or 1-5), upon reflection, I think that rather than any particular failing on my part, I was simply out-fought at nearly every turn.
One of the great effects of the Insegnante format is the way that it inspires fighters to be creative and to challenge themselves beyond their abilities. It also has the strong tendancy to encourage showmanship and gallantry. For his exploits in this categories, the elected winner, Shri Chandra, is especially worthy.
Written: 26 Oct 01, Last edit: 26 Oct 01
| Journal Index | Site Index | Prev | Next |