AFM Summer Nationals Prep Camp: A Student's Perspective (Day 4)

Welcome back to day 4 of the AFM Summer National's Prep Camp. Today was a very tiring but riveting day, and I can't wait to share my experience with you all. Today, we allocated the entire duration of the camp to a team event.

Today, instead of warming up as a group, we did it individually, which was much better. For me, I prefer individual warm-ups because I can control the pace at which I run, do exercises, and when I stop for stretching. All of these aspects are different for any given fencer, so when we warm up individually, we all get the opportunity to warm up in the way that works best for us. We then made teams for our team event. I was teamed with David and Tom, two fencers who I know very well, and I am friends with them, so it was fun to be on a team with them. I could also compete with them in future team events, so this was good practice. 

For a team event, the format is simple, 3 versus 3; each fencer fences every fencer on the opposing team in either a first to 45 touches or whoever has more touches at the end of the 9th bout. There is also a cap for the amount of touches one team can reach every bout. For example, the first bout the cap is 5, the second is 10, then 15, etc. The bouts don't have to reach that cap, and there can be a situation where one team is 20 or more touches away from the cap. Anyway, we started off by fencing a really strong team with Chris Wright, Simone Mencarelli, and Fabrizio Citro. This was an incredibly difficult team, but somehow, we were able to create a small lead and hold it until the very end. I fenced very well and was able to create the small lead we needed to pull away the victory. It wasn't just me; however, in team events, you have to fence with the entire team in mind, and usually, you aren't able to fence how you would in an individual competition. So, both David Zaydman (an incredible photographer, by the way, if you are ever in need of one, hit him up on his social @zaydman.flicks) and Tom Soulaire also did incredible, not only keeping the lead but adding to it as well. 

However, the second event was not as rewarding. We got down early in the bout and struggled to balance trying to catch up and rushing. Multiple times, my teammates and I tried to catch up on our entire deficit ourselves in one bout, and it repeatedly made our deficit worse. This was definitely a learning experience, but it's good we went through this now instead of at the tournament when it matters. The final bout we had was pretty uneventful. We got a strong lead and never faltered, taking a comfortable win and tying for first place in the whole camp. 

Once again, it was a very fun day at camp, and I would definitely give today a 10/10. Thank you for taking the time to read; I greatly appreciate every view. Day 5 is my last day at camp, so that will be my final article of this mini-series. Be on the lookout for that, as well as my upcoming posts about the results from this year's Summer National's event.