King's and Queen's Rapier Champions Thoughts and Such

It occurs to me that in addition to just kicking around pure manual stuff here, I should really be using this as a place to kick around my fencing from a practical perspective. (Or if I want to be fancy, the practical application of the stuff I study and teach.) So y'all get to put up with that now, which is nice.

Elsewhere on social media, I had the following thoughts about my fencing on Saturday:

Clearly, it was sufficient to see me to victory, so I don't really have any massive complaints. I lost focus a couple times and paid for it. I need to remember active coverage with the dagger when my sword is in another line. (That would have saved me from every lost bout I had that day.) I need to not screw up distance. I need to put a little more care into my hand defense. (Ugh.) I should fight more single rapier, and pay attention to closing lines and attacking through my opponent's blade. All of this is doable given a little effort at practice, and fencing a few very specific people at them. 

Finally, I need to really work my Fabris. I'm uncertain of it when I'm fighting single, and beyond plate 60, I'm not secure enough of any of his guards to use them in a pure tournament situation where It's All On The Line. Happily, Anastasia has recently Seen The Light Of Fabris, so I'll hopefully have someone to work on them with at practice. (Hint. Hint.)

 I've been really working on attacking in opposition with my blade and using my dagger to support it, keeping it joined with the sword. This is good (though ugh, my opposition remains terrible) but hey, independent dagger defense is still a thing and I should drill that. Fortunately, that's easy to work on.

I'm hoping to be able to make it to the Wednesday practice this week, in no small part because of the Wall Of Mirrors that they have there; that'll make working on guards a lot easier.

Basically, I think I just need to throw myself into doing Fabris in a ton of practice bouts and it'll sort itself out, as long as I'm drilling things and working on expanding my repertoire on the side. It doesn't all have to be really low and bent over, after all! Still, I was feeling pretty comfortable doing these things in practice, but I reverted to old form in a tournament. Pressure does that, and it's a reasonable thing to have happen. If I increase my comfort level though, I hope to be able to roll into Pennsic and fence a much more identifiable Fabris in high-pressure tournaments.

Next entry should end up being about some more guards - single sword guards in Third, I think. I'll end up sorting through those and the guards in Fourth, and then we'll hit the dagger guards!