artyartie

I so should have taken fencing years ago.

In what was a very short but happy hour, I had my first fencing class tonight. I arrived much earlier than the other students, so I watched an earlier class (not beginners, certainly) before we started. Soon enough, it was 7:00, and time for us to start. We began with a very brief history of fencing and then got down to the footwork. So long as I remember to go heel first when moving forewards and toe-first back, I'll be okay. When we got to the lunges (whee!) one member of our class, clad in very bad shoes, overdid it and fell over. We did a few drills with the footwork and the regular and advanced lunges, then we got to suit up.

Fencing equipment is..interesting. Cool, but interesting. Specially for us girls. I had on a sports bra, t-shirt, this little under half-shirt and then the jacket, which has two pockets on the inside for the boob guards. I'm sure there's a proper term but for now, they're boob guards. Then the mask and glove - and then our foils.

I've held a sword many times before, but holding one that I'd actually get to use - ahhh, I like the feeling. We got used to the pistol grip, just hitting our opponent, the salute, and then we learned the very basic attack, parry and riposte. My parry/riposte partner was annoyingly passive, but it was only our first night. After practicing, we actually got some dry fencing (without the electric scoring) and oh my Gods, that was fun. I got hit much more than I hit, but it was still amazing. hard to remember everything in conjunction - I don't think I lunged nearly enough - but it was amazing. After this class is over, I'm certainly taking more classes. A foil techniques and a beginning saber, I think.

And to think our parents told us not to play with pointy things!