OMG

This past weekend at Great Lakes Sectional Championships, Walt Dragonetti won the Men's epee. This, in itself is not that astonishing. Especially considering, he is considered the best Veteran 50 epeeist in the world, top in the US and to my recollection, undeafeded in the section for a long while. However, he did lose a bout this weekend.

Ok, for him, losing a bout in the pools was no skin off his nose. Like I already said, he still won the whole shabang. But he did lose a 1-0 match in the pools. Not that I saw the bout, but for those not of the sport, it was probably as boring as a soccer match that did not have a score until the final moments where nothing of grave importance happened prior to those final moments. But like for that soccer enthusiast, much happened that didn't score until the end. It was a true 'epee' bout.

With very few seconds left of the bout, Dragonetti attack William Woods, and was hit. Final score 1-0, with time having run out. For Woods, this is an incredible feather in his hat the hopefully will happen again, and again. (Knowing Dragonetti, he'll do everything in his power to make sure it doesn't. In short, I bet Dragonetti has Woods in his cross hairs not with 'small arms' but big ones, now even more then he did.)

However, Woods, would lose to 2 significantly lesser opponents in his pool, one due to red cards and the other due to who knows what. Woods would go on to finish 3 beating out Schoolcraft who had beaten him in the pools the day before in 19ME.

Nice Job Mr. Woods.

Settling Dust

Our event when ran very well the other weekend. Ok, there were some mishaps that no amount of planning could have avoided, however, as far as the fencer, parents, spectators, etc were concerned, our event went flawlessly.

On Sat. we might have finished early except for the Y10 Foil. It's Y10 Foil! And, most of the kids newbee fencers, so, they took forever to get to strip, hook up, etc. And, the parents who were helping, really didn't know what was happening, because they were newbee parents too. We might have finished early if not for the slowness of the y10 foil. However, I had scheduled things to be done fencing by about 5pm and out the door to dinner by 5:30. And, I (we) were.

On Sun. my plan had been to my car, with clean-up completed by 1pm.

On my way to the venue, after dropping off my daughter, my phone rings. The wife of one of the refs calls to tell me her husband will not be able to come in. He's running a fever over 100 degrees. And, another ref, called her and said he won't be in because he's been puking his brains out all night....

I managed to scramble and get one of my HSers to referee the epee. I did the second pool of the foil, and the small saber pool. In the end, I was at my car at 1:10. By fencing standards, if you are within 15mins of your time, you are ahead of schedule.

There were some other minor things that happened. But all in all, the event went really, really well. We had food and offered to feed the coaches. They truly appreciated that gesture. I for one, am known to forget to eat at tournaments. So, having food placed in front of you helps be a coach.

I still have some paperwork at the club to finish up. We had Jr. Olympic qualifiers. I now have 11 fencers who have qualified for that. I believe that is the most of any club in town. And, I have fencers in all three weapons. What I don't have is any cadet men. All of my guys are either too old or too young for U17 or cadet. If everyone goes, it will be a hell of a JOs.

Hopefully, with those two events out of the way, I'll be able to have a bit of a weekend finally.

Nurse This!

I couple of weeks ago, someone ‘reamed me a new orifice’ for having nursed my daughter at a tournament. Let me mention, that it was hotter in the gym then outside. And, outside, it was 80 degrees. I nearly collapsed when I got off strip.

She said that I shouldn’t be nursing my daughter; I told her it is my legal right. She said that my daughter, then just over a year and a half, was too old to be still nursing. I told her that La Leche League, an organization for the promotion and education of breast-feeding babies, says that two years is a good time to wean a child. Then again, my best friend from HS’s daughter is still nursing and the child is over 3.

I’ve been butting heads with another women. This person who complained about nursing my daughter at the so mentioned tournament, told me the women I’m in conflict with is very uncomfortable with my nursing. I got to tell you that just blew my mind.

When my daughter was only a few months, I had asked why she hadn’t nursed her children. The response I got was that the mom wanted to know exactly how much her children had eaten, and she couldn’t monitor what they ate if they nursed. This is not a point of view I agree with, however, I can see merit in it, esp from her standpoint.

I have had women, who’s children are long past elementary school, tell me they feel guilty for not having nursed their children, and thus not being good moms. My response, if you aren’t comfortable or circumstance doesn’t condone breast-feeding, you haven’t been a bad mom.

As I thought of the history I’ve had with the women who I’ve been butting heads with, I realized, for years, we would get on each other’s nerves, go away, and things would go back to neutral. However, in the past while, nothing has gone back to neutral, at all. I would walk in the door and she would start growling before I even said hello. And, it occur to me, the lack of letting go started after my daughter was born and I would nurse her where ever was necessary.

I wonder, if this is something that makes this women think she’s was a ‘bad’ mom? I have only known her with teen and pre-teen children. I will say, that I don’t always agree with her philosophy, however, I usually understand it. I have objected with the way in which she’s dealt with her kids when she’s lost her temper, however, I’ve also seen that her kids are ‘used’ to it.

I will say, that I’ve found her ability to help and support her kids have been a model, which I’ve watched and studied from the distance. She has been stricter on some topics with her kids then I would. However, because of her philosophy on being strict in certain topics, may very well influence me to be stricter then I might otherwise be when my daughter is a teen.

Do I agree with her totally? Of course not. Do I see merit in her choices? Absolutely. Is she a role model for me when my daughter is the same age as hers? Within bounds. She and I are very different people. Our perimeters are different with our children. In some ways she can be amazingly patient in situations that I would not have been. And, at times, incredibly impatient when I think I might have been more. This is not a judgment of her, but a assessment. She and I are quite different.

Overall, do I think her a good mom. Yes. Do I plan to be the same kind of good mom as she, no. It’s not who I am. Nor are my choices for my daughter a reflection on her parenting skills.

Another comment I was given is that some of the guys are uncomfortable with my nursing. And, I should be more considerate of the public’s comfort.

Well, once upon a time, I was told that women didn’t fence saber. And, I was told that some wouldn’t fence me saber because I was female. Look what’s happened with that because many others and I didn’t back down.

Just think, nursing my daughter as necessary, being what in my eyes is a good mother to my child, may make some males uncomfortable, however, it may also get them to be more supportive of their wives when the time comes.

Breast-feeding a child is the healthiest food a baby can have. It also creates a bond between mother and child that bottle-feeding cannot do. This does not mean that bottles are bad. It just means, that if a woman can and wants to breast-feed her baby, she should be given as much community support, rather then the opposite. And, too many women are being told the opposite because people are too puritanical. Hey guys, women were not given boobs for your enjoyment. Women were given boobs for nourishing their babies!

Is there a dr in the house?

My parent's finally told me the news. Dad has been diagnosed with liver cancer. My parent's are optimistic. My sister seems to be optimistic. My brother, who knows what he's thinking. However, based on info online about Liver cancer, it's the 5th most common. And, it typically kills within a year.

Yes. This is a death sentence for my father.

He had gone in for open heart surgery a few years ago. They had discovered that his liver had cirrosus. Not an uncommon thing for diabetics. Ok, so he's not the healthiest of people, but he certainly doesn't drink more then maybe an entire can of beer or it's equivalent a year. I had been a bit of a basket case when he went in for surgery. You never know if someone will not come out. However, he has been looking healthier since then.

I'm not a basket case, yet, over this. He went in for chemo this afternoon. It's on campus for the college that I coach at. They have been doing cutting edge research on cancer. My father, so I'm told, will be getting some new treatment they hope will destroy the 5 cm tumor.

Meanwhile, Yodette just had her leg put in a walking cast. She was not putting any weight on her left leg. The dr believes she may have a hairline fracture that will not show on an x-ray for awhile.

Let's refocus, lessons starting at 6.

Nationals

We have been trying to get Yodette ready for Nat'ls. Ok, she has another 5 yrs before she can compete, technicalities.

She knows to answer:
What does a dog say? Woof
What does a cat say? Meow
What does a duck say? Quack
What does a fencer say? OOOpah

RYC

We are off to a Regional Youth Cup this weekend. I have a total of 10 going. 4 dropped out due scheduling conflicts. Another 2 are not ready. They will enter 15 events. I'm hoping to have at least one person in the final 4 of all events entered, if not 4. We'll see. Fingers crossed for my little warriors.

With power comes responsibility

In the first Spiderman movie, Peter Parker’s uncle tells his nephew, “With power comes responsibility.” As a coach, your students empower you and you have a great responsibility to them.

I teach students ages 5 through over 60. The greatest realization I made relatively early on in my career was how influenced the younger students were by my actions. It is for this reason, I made the vow that if everyone with me couldn’t do something such as drinking, I could not. It was only fair. For one thing, as a coach, I’m a role model. And, my philosophy of coaching is yes, I’m more knowledgeable then my students about the subject but that doesn’t make me better, only better at that which I coach.

I have dealt with the European coaches who do a ‘better then thou’ approach. Yet, when they are out of the fencing venue or in the bar, they become human. I’ve also dealt with those who keep others away so they never find out where the chinks in their armor might be. Deal, you’re human. With the more impressionable kids, they turn around and want to be like that ‘knight in shining armor’ when they grow. When they find themselves there, they are greatly disappointed. Why, they find that the path they thought would get them there goes no where constructive.

When being a developmental coach, one must be compassionate to the youthful condition. By this I mean that few student finishing a beginner class are ready to train as if they will be going off to school next week to fence on a varsity program such as OSU, PSU or even UND, the heavy fencing schools. It is a coach’s job to pursuit them they want to move towards that level of commitment. And, when a 5th grader calls to say they will miss practice because his teacher assigned too much homework today due tomorrow, that coach should not berate the student who is not at fault. These are two good reason why students will lose their interest in the sport.

I’m far from perfect. However, I try my best to achieve excellence with what time, energy and resources I have available. Again, I, like many fall short, and no we are not talking about my height for a change. What I have problems with is when someone who believes in integrity proceeds to act without integrity to force the hand rather then simply discussing the situation especially since those lines of communication had once been established. It’s a coward’s way out to ‘trick’ someone into a fight so that you can blame them for your departure rather then confronting them with the truth.

… why the tirade you ask? I had two of my student go to another club the other night. They were treated with appropriate courtesy and such. However, one of them mentioned how he really didn’t like the environment. In discussion with him these pieces of angst came back to haunt me. What it comes down to is a sense of loyalty. I might be simply plain vanilla, but both of them know I will be there for them in whatever humanly possible manner I can be. Then again, I already have been.