Now that my courage had returned in my personal life, it was time to muster up that same chutzpah for Fencing Lane Number 4. I once again stood before my instructor, whirling my foil in my right hand to loosen my wrist and shoulder, with my mask tucked under my left arm. I felt strong today. I was ready to go from a fun date to facing off against the Romanian mistress of the sword. Even some of the other students noticed that I was standing a little straighter and wielding my foil with more swagger and precision.
"En garde," my instructor bellowed out, as I strapped on my mask. By now, the weight of the mask was barely noticeable. I was becoming accustomed to seeing past the dark mesh protecting my face. The remaining sweat from its prior user was now an encouraging reminder of the workout I was about to receive. I confidently whipped up my foil, feeling the comfortable flexibility in my wrist. I turned my left arm upwards and bent my legs. Today I felt more like Zorro the Avenger than Zorro the Astronaut.
My instructor cocked her masked head sideways, examining my stance. "Good," she exclaimed. "Much better, Otto." Before I even had time to smile at myself, she whipped up her foil and moved to strike me in my chest.
As her foil made a lightning beeline for my heart, my right wrist flicked to the side, and my foil expertly blocked her blade with a satisfying CLASH! Then, following through, I straightened my foil and took my shot, attempting to score a hit just beneath her outstretched arm. I saw my foil nearing its target. My form felt flawless. My muscles smoothly eased into my strike. I couldn't miss.
Famous last words.
Before I could blink, my instructor drew back like a lithe dancer, well out of my foil's reach. Then, with another loud CLASH, she blocked my foil and held it in position. No matter how much I tried to push through, she wasn't letting me. I sighed. Another perfect plan foiled. "So," she said, satisfieid that she had brought my hubris back down to Earth. "Now we learn the disengage."
"The what," I huffed, futilely trying to loosen my foil from her iron hold. After watching me flail around for a few more seconds, my instructor released my blade, and I stood up, defeated. "The disengage," my instructor repeated. "You blocked my foil well. Now comes the next step: what to do once I block your counter-attack, as you just saw."
"Okay," I said, removing my mask and wiping new sweat from my forehead. "But when you blocked my counter-attack, I couldn't even get through your defense."
"That is where the disengage comes in," my instructor pointed out. "You feign your counter-attack and lead my blade in the direction you want. Then, you move your foil around the blade and find the right opening."
Zorro the Astronaut was now thoroughly confused. Obviously, I had to learn this the hard way.
"Attack me," my instructor sighed, smoothly gliding back into the en garde position. I did the same, determined to land a hit against my haughty, arrogant instructor. Disengage THIS, I thought as I mightily lunged, aiming straight for the grey patch on her chest. As half-expected, my instructor blocked my attack. I knew what was coming next. My instructor then moved in for her counter-attack. As I saw her foil move towards my chest, I bent my right arm up to block her blade. Ha! I thought. Now it's my turn to watch her squirm a little....
Little did I know that I was falling right into her trap.
If I was watching closely, I would have noticed that she was "leading" my blade even further to the right than I expected, forcing it too far out and opening up the rest of my torso, which was exactly what she wanted. Then, with a small circular flourish and a sudden swish, her blade went under mine, came up on the left side of my sword hand and sank its way into the pad of my chestplate.
I just wasn't catching any breaks during this lesson. But, boy, did that move look cool. "Now you try," my instructor offered.
With that, my instructor aimed her blade at my chest again, which I smoothly blocked. Then, trying to mimick what my instructor did, I shot my foil out towards the right side of her chest. As she moved to block, I then dipped my wrist, attempting to fake her blade to her right and open up her torso. Next, in a melodramatic, flowery circle, I spun my foil around and heaved it up on the other side of her blade, aiming for that damn grey patch.
However, before I was even halfway there, I heard my instructor tsk me under her mask as she effortlessly batted my blade back down to the floor. The foil went spinning out of my hand and skitted across the fencing lane.
"Not such a big circle with your sword," my instructor called out after me as I trudged across the fencing lane to retrieve my foil, mumbling expletives to myself. "Your opponent will see it coming. Your movements need to be smaller and quicker," she continued as I returned to her, still mumbling expletives to myself. "You look like a clumsy windmill."
I wasn't sure whether to laugh at how funny this dressing-down sounded or scratch my head in confusion. I settled on doing both.
"Remember, Otto," she continued, "Be more relaxed, and don't be afraid to take risks, eh?" She was right. I was still trying to be too perfect in front of everyone. I heaved a deep sigh and eased myself back into the en garde position. I focused on my instructor's foil, forgetting about everyone else around me.
Why the Hell not? Let's see where this takes me.
I saw my instructor's shoulder move and her arm shoot forward to strike. I blocked her foil and immediately popped my arm out to counter-attack. As my instructor went to block it, I feigned to the right. This time I was ready. When I saw her blade following mine, I slightly loosened my wrist, and with a small flick, brought it up on the other side of her sword hand, all the while controlling my breathing and drowning out the other noises around me. Then, driving my arm forward, the tip of my foil finally met its mark and found the grey patch!
"That's it," my instructor exclaimed in approval as I let out a victorious whoop! "You see," she continued, "once you relax yourself, the technique follows. That is the mindset that we want!"
As I practiced the move ten more times with her, I began to understand the mindset needed for this sport. Not only was I gradually able to focus my concentration on my opponent and forget about the other people around me, I also found that whatever other problems or pre-occupations I was experiencing faded away every time I picked up that foil and stepped into the fencing lane. This was quickly becoming not just a sport, but a part of my lifestyle that I was really starting to enjoy.
So much so that I almost didn't notice the little kids in the corner laughing about the Attack of the Clumsy Windmill....
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