Yes~this is what I look like with no make-up and messy hair after fencing for a couple hours. But I didn’t care when Dave took the picture because I earned my E Rating in Epee Fencing! My goal when I started fencing was to be rated by the time I had been fencing for a year. After the last couple tournaments I was beginning to wonder if that was a realistic goal. Fencing tournaments have turned out to be a lot harder than I thought they were going to be. There is definitely a large mental component to fencing. Not only is it very tactical but you need to know when to do an action in connection the the other persons action and how to do it correctly. As the coach always says timing, tactics and technique. The other mental component has to do with your state of mind. You really have to believe in yourself. As soon as you start to doubt yourself your done for. I truly understand why they call it metal chess.

And I actually thought “that doesn’t look so hard” when I started.

I took third place out of fifteen. Yeah.