A fencing tournament with a different meaning

On the rainy, hot, and humid Saturday afternoon of June 2oth, about 50 men and women got together at the Yonsei University's student gymnasium for the 5th Annual Yonsei University Fencing Club Invitational Tournament.

My current club, Seoul Fencing Club (SFC), participated in the tournament with four men's foil fencers and two men's epee fencers (one of the epee fencer was me).

The tournament only had individual events (this invitational has always only had individual events) and the club came away with a gold and a silver in men's epee, and a bronze in men's foil.

I thought everyone from the club did very well, regardless of how they finished. I am especially proud of two of the foil fencers...why? Because I taught them how to fence. These two fencers are beginners and did not know how to fence when they came to the SFC about 9 - 10 months ago. Of two, one of them participated in the last year's Seoul Fencing Association President's Cup in December 2008, and for the other this was his first tournament.

To every one's surprise (especially me), when the dust settled, the person for whom this tournament was his second tournament came in third. The person for whom this tournament was his first did not qualify to advance to the direct elimination rounds, but he still did better than everyone expected.

For me, this tournament had a very different meaning than any other tournaments I've participated in the past (and I suspect from tournaments that I will participate in the future). It was great that our club did well at the tournament, but for me, this was the first tournament where students of mine participated and finished with very successful results. I don't think I will ever forget the moment when the tournament official called one of my students up for him to receive his bronze medal. Now, I know this was a very small invitational tournament tucked away far....far....far away from any serious fencing venue, but I was still very proud of my student and it DID feel so good to have had the honor and opportunity to help someone achieve...

Well, what's a post without a picture, right?

So, here is a photo of our club's medalists from this tournament as well as the photo of the club members who were at the tournament.

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