Bronze Medal

Started to feel a nagging sense of anxiety as we gathered at the piste to fence one of the SJC teams. Me, Noelle and Charmaine (the motley crew save for Noelle) was RJ's response to the challenge of U-17 teams. I was the first up and got 3-0, before losing 5-3. Not exactly a brilliant start but it was much better than what I had expected. David's strategy (attempt several simultannis before doing a feint, jump back and attack) worked MIRACLES on the SJC team. The cheering and support of the other SJC team (composed of Kimberly, Sivi, Charmaine and Kai Lin) must have helped a great deal too. Points were mostly lost by me and Charmaine, but thankfully the gap wasn't too large and Noelle saved the day by catching up 36-40 to 38-45! Still, it was a fairly good try considering me and Charmaine have 4 months and 2 months of experience respectively and they had approximately 3 years.
Which meant that we were now to fence RGS. If we beat them, the stakes were 1st and 2nd placing. If we lost, we would be fencing for 3rd and 4th. While we were resting, we enquired as to how the other teams did; both foil teams were eliminated :(. Had a brooding sense of disquiet with a tinge of hopelessness before fencing Nellicia, the RGS anchorwoman. Think it was because I saw her fence at Indivs and her standard was a cut above the rest. Got trashed 5-0...my lack of confidence must have really gotten to me :(. I could have scored several points if I wasn't so hesitant. The RGS fencers were also less willing to engage in a simultanni than the SJC ones so I had to rely a lot more on my poor distancing. Then again, hindsight is ever perfect. Charmaine did excellently beacuse of her impeccable timing and gungho-ness and gave us a lead which I eventually lost :( (36-40) and Noelle, despite her fervent attempts, failed to salvage. We lost to RGS 42-25. Strands of guilt twined around me and my mind teemed with if-onlys. I guess I have to be content with the notion that in a parallel universe somewhere out there, we beat RGS and won either silver or gold =).
Sat at the bench area with Charmaine brooding about my errors which could have cost us the match. The sweetdough with extra sugar that Charmaine (SJC) made did make me feel slightly better though. Food therapy :)! It's so heartening to see people that you aren't close to or barely know cheering away for you. A BIG thank you goes out to the SJC girls (and Alvin and Terence too) for everything they have done for us! No thank you for sabre guys, its your duty... :P
After a 10 minutes break, headed to the piste to fence for 3rd and 4th. Me and Charmaine made a little pact to fight our best and win bronze and not let Noelle down. With the men's sabre team lending us their voices and David's advice and the will to WHACK someone :P, we actually reached some of the point caps and it was a breeze for Noelle to score 5 points to hit 45! Was in a somewhat delirious euphoric mood follwing that. David told us that there were only 3 teams for men's sabre and we were complaining that they would get a prize no matter the outcome. But bronze was later withdrawn, so they would have to fight for a medal. Reuben had a swift victory with a score of 5-3. Darren, Faii did pretty good too at the start, winning their bouts. Faii got 2 yellow card for crossing his legs and conceded a point to the opponent. Despite a brave fight put up by Darren, he succumbed to Xavier's (national foilist) lightning quick attacks. So they were down 30+ to 40 and the anchormans were to fence each other. Reub tried his utmost to catch up but they alas lost to PRC 32-45.
Chilled out for a bit at the bench area and spoke to David and Juliana about how we did. Seems that we all did rather nice today; guess sparring and footwork drills, boring as they may be, have paid off =). If only (yes that phrase again), it was a repeat of my indiv performance... Cleaned and polished my rusty blade and ended up spilling lots of oil on it. Watched the 2 women's epee teams fencing; on one piste they were getting trounced, on the other, victory was a cinch. After the women's epee semis, me and Charmaine photo-whored, taking random dramatic pictures (there's one with David in it!). I especially like the one with the SIA umbrella and the 3 sabres though. Went to Macs to get some Fish dippers, returning in time for the tense women's epee finals. It was a close call and Ruth sealed the win with 2 rapid points to garner a 45-43 victory. And so Balpreet, Sophie and Ruth achieved gold for 3 sucessive years...
Stayed till 5 plus with Charmaine and collected our trophies (bright and shiny!). Apparently they mispelled women's sabre indiv as women's SABRA. What a malfunction... Decided to give our extra trophy (they have 4, in case there's a reserve), to David our wonderfully supportive coach! Didn't see the point in giving it to the school, after all they throw away the trophies, according to Balpreet, every few years or so. Left for home, with a spring in my gait (the elation persists). Think I won't be able to focus on Econs now...shucks... =(