Monday, January 3, 2011

starting over from scratch

well I learned a few things today the most important is that my fencing technique actually sucks by USFA standards.

the reason is that the style that I've developed over the past two years revolves around high school rules which aren't all that different from the USFA rules except for one key difference. in high school rules the person who has extension has the right of way in USFA rules the person who is advancing has right of way. this simple difference may not seem important but in reality it is. normally I let my opponents come to me because when they do they often create openings which I exploit by attacking. now here is the key difference by high school rules what I'm doing is attacking and I have right of way but by USFA rules it is actually a counter attack and I therefor do not have right of way at all. this is why I did so poorly at the tournament I mentioned in my last post. long time USFA fencers always told me I had a weird style I just never realized that it was actually a crappy style that developed from the high school rules.

this wouldn't be an issue except for a few key facts

1) I want to continue to fence after high school which means USFA tournaments
2) even at college next year I will need to go by USFA rules
3) I now need to unlearn everything I thought I new about fencing strategy and relearn it all from scratch focusing on the USFA rules

this won't be easy and for however long it takes me to adjust I'm gonna suck and I'm gonna keep beating myself up for stupid mistakes but in the end it will make me a better fencer and bring a whole new dimension to the game

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