Saturday, December 4, 2010

The most exciting day in the year

Today was the most exciting day in my entire year (if you don't count the days I was excited about a girl). Not that today did not involve girls per say, but they were not the main focus.

See today I participated in my very first fencing competition ever.

Here's the rundown:

I woke up early this morning and was given a lift by daddy to RJC with my faithful assistant/supporter/esquire Rachel carrying my sabre blades. Few there had such a luxury of a non-fencing friend, and I was thankful for her coming.

I started warming up almost immediately and did so for almost 45 minutes, just to find out that my event had been pushed back by 2 hours. I had warmed up too early... so to remain warm I wrapped myself in 4 layers of clothes and fencing suits. (Nothing out of the ordinary, female sabrers wear 6 layers.)

The NUS men's team was already doing very well in the Epee event and we watched them while awaiting our turn. I also got to read my bible until it was time for the group stage of the sabre event.

My group had 7 people, and we needed to fight everyone else in the group to tabulate rankings. Thus began 6 short rounds of "1st to 5 points".

I lost my maiden bout. In fact, I got trashed.

Spent some time afterward praying and calming myself down. Then I got back up and won the next 4 consecutive bouts to my surprise.

Rachel was cheering for my opponent during one of the bouts. He was a tiny secondary school boy from Pasir Ris Crescent, trying to compete against boys much older and bigger than he. But it was not only her who was cheering- when he finally won a bout against someone, all of us clapped for him in joy.

The my last opponent beat me flat, so I won 4 bouts and lost 2, which actually was not too bad. In fact, it was good enough for me to move on to the top 32.

Here on in it was elimination: 15-point bouts, and since I was ranked 14th (O.o), I had a good chance of advancing to the next round of the top 16 where I would meet the dude seeded 3rd.

I sat down for a McDonalds lunch, and realised soon enough that I would be fighting on a full stomach. Still, I kept walking around to speed up digestion and plugged in Switchfoot to keep me dancing. The hall was cold, and if my body was to cool down, I would not be able to stretch and lunge in attack.

When it came to my match, most of the NUS team came to support me and cheered each time I scored a point. I was up against a guy seeded 19th, but struggled to pull ahead of his score. We stopped at 4-4 for a break.

Florence, my fellow sabrer who came down just to support us, pulled me aside and ran through the opponent's weakness and how I can counter his attacks. Florence's advice allowed me to pull ahead, and the NUS team cheered with each point I scored- right till I pulled through and won the match.

I was then up against the fence ranked number 3. I knew chances were slim.

The whole NUS team came to support me in this top 16 bout, and boy was I losing. The score was like 9-0 and my supporters were all shouting different things for me to try. I asked them to calm down, and finally scored a point, to which we all erupted. "YAY!!! I SCORED A POINT!!!" I shouted in jubilee.

The score was thus 10-1 and eventually became 13-2, with me trailing so far behind this shorter and swifter boy who could advance and retreat at such amazing speed. I knew this battle was almost lost, but I fought on.

He was 2 points away from winning when I pulled a move so magnificent and extraordinary that all the audience members gasped loudly as their jaws fell to the floor and their eyes bulged out of their sockets.

In a desperate attempt to retreat from his relentless advance, I had kicked back my hind leg as far as it could go, but instead of finding traction on the ground as it landed, it slid on the floor... and I slammed to the ground executing a perfect split for the first time in my life.

This of course was of concern for everyone. They were even more surprised that I could get back up and finish the fight. I was surprised too actually, half at the fact that I had actually done a split, and half at the fact that it did not hurt.

So my very first fencing competition had me going much further than I had expected, and I was greatly pleased. Even more than that, I exited with a bang so memorable that it would be remembered long after the scores and rankings of this competition are forgotten.

Oh Lord, thank you!!!

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