Greetings

Greetings.
Welcome to the ramblings and reminisces of a long time fencer and coach at the mid level of fencing in the southeast of the US.

I began fencing in the fall of 1981 when I registered for classes in my freshman year of college. I needed a PE and saw fencing and thought that it would be fun. I was a gamer geek at the time. (Hell, in the back of my mind I still am) I read al the fantasy novels, played dungeons and Dragons, had crawled through the storm drains of my home town with a friend simulating being in a dungeon. (no, we didn’t carry torches and swords) Unlike many mouth breathing games though I was also something of an athlete. I had been a competitive swimmer for years, I played (practiced more than played) football for two years in High School and had run track. So I felt reasonably confident in my ability. Little did I know that this simple PE class was going to infect me with something that has quite literally dominated my life ever since.

I recall the class well, I can remember some of the people in it. I remember the book we used. (Charles Simonian’s Basic Foil Fencing) I was lucky and got a whole jacket, some folks were fencing in half jackets. Of course since the gym we used had no AC maybe they were the lucky one. I got an old black Castello mask that was well used. In fact I still have it. Years later when we were replacing old masks I took it and brought it home as a souvenir.

This blog will be used to recount stories of past fencing trips, tournaments, parties whatever. I will also expound a bit on my thoughts and philosophy of fencing. Tell how and why I became an unpaid almost full time coach instead of getting a real job and life. I have my doubts that anyone much will read this but that is ok. A few may and find it interesting.