Wednesday 16 November 2011

Amsterdam

Last weekend I competed in the Amsterdam FIE Satellite Event.  This tournament was held on the same weekend as the Welsh Open, one of the largest UK domestic competitions, but for me, the choice to compete in Amsterdam as opposed to Wales was an easy one.  As I have mentioned in previous posts I have planned to compete in a few European events this side of Christmas in preparation for the second part of Olympic Qualifying.  This tournament therefore offered excellent practice of competing: in an unfamiliar environment, in a foreign country, against different styles of fencer, against (in general) a higher standard of opposition, and under the pressure of competing for World Cup points.  

As opposed to the ultimately somewhat lengthy trip I undertook to Belgium for the previous event three weeks ago, I decided to fly out late Saturday afternoon and return Sunday night so as to spend as little time away as possible.  To speed up my journey home in order to get as much sleep as possible before work on Monday morning I elected to use business parking at Heathrow T5.  Definitely the best parking experience I have ever had.  I had my own 'pod' to the terminal, and the entire transit was less than 5 minutes, with the service leaving upon demand.  I took a photo of the pod, here: 
 

And here is the link - very 21st Century. 
http://londonist.com/2011/09/heathrow-rolls-out-driverless-pods.php

The event itself had 74 entrants, meaning that the format was reduced to one round of poules, as a World Cup competition.  The field included fencers from Hungary, Italy, Poland, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Chinese Taipei, USA, Canada, Turkey, Spain, Israel, Austria, Switzerland, and several others.  In the poules I won all 6 fights, despite not being ranked among the top seeds, and I closed my fights out quite comfortably, feeling in complete control.  This resulted in me being ranked 4th after the poules, and so followed a five and a half hour wait until I would fence again! The draw was due to pit me against teammate Tom Mottershead in the last 32, however he lost to the Polish fencer, Cieszkowski in the round of 64.  I was able to convincingly beat Cieszkowski in the 32 and also an Italian in the last 16.  In the round of 8 I came up against Jo Polossifakis, a Canadian fencer, who I had beaten in the poule and who only last week had come 3rd at the Pan-American Games.  The match was tight, with both of us on top for periods in the first half but in the end I was edged out 15-14.  

Overall I was happy with the result. It was definitely a step in the right direction, post the Gent debacle, and I had fenced very well all day, especially in the poule.  I was able to maintain concentration over a long period of time and fenced as well as I had competitively in a long time.  The day was also good for Keith Cook.  At the same time as my event was a Men's Foil Satellite event, which Keith won (picture below), and I have to say it made a nice change to be at the event with the Men's Foil team, most of whom are centrally funded.  The competition also was a good experience for me as I was able to test out my new diet.  I have recently started seeing a nutritionist to try and squeeze that extra one or two percent out of my performance.  What I found in Amsterdam was that the foods I was eating did help my concentration, but did not provide me enough energy, so come St Jean in a couple of weeks I will have a new competition protocol as we look to get everything heading in the right direction before the serious business begins. 

Results of the competition:
http://www.fie.ch/Competitions/ResultsList.aspx?Key=A0E72808D46ECBA59CF8D1D169CD2ADC