An Inspirational Young Man (created 2-22-10)

The Junior Olympics in Fencing took place 2-12-10 thru 2-15-10 in Memphis, TN. My nephew, A.L. qualified and I asked to go with his Dad and him. I had fenced a little bit in college and I wanted to help with the driving.

We got to see a lot of good fencing and some great fencing.

My nephew did not embarrass himself. He had never been to a large competition like this before and he did OK.

But there was a young man there who caught my attention. I was noticing all the different styles and techniques the fencers used and got to the point where I could recognize a fencer by the way they fenced. But this one man, D. H., looked like a different fencer every time I watched him. He presented a different attack and a different defense based on what his competition threw at him. His footwork was different, his stance was different. We watched him moved through the elimination rounds, each time facing a more difficult opponent. Then we saw him matched against someone he didn't have a prepared game plan for. D.H. copied what his opponent presented, figured out the weaknesses of it and then dominated him.

In his last bout, both the opponent was presenting something new and the director was also. I have to give a little bit of explanation here. I am talking about foil fencing. The kind done to settle duels and used by Shakespeare in Hamlet. When used to settle duels, it was not to the death, it was to first blood, but with rules. There was a judge to say whether the prick you gave was legal or not. Most of it hinges on "right of way." The fencer with "right of way" can score a touch, the fencer without "right of way" does not score a touch even if he physically pokes his opponent.

So this director (judge) was giving D.H.'s opponent "right of way" for moves that D.H. didn't agree with. And here is the amazing thing, D.H. could have argued with the director, he could have gotten mad, he could have just tried harder to do the same things that he had been doing. But he didn't. He asked the director for explanations, (which the director patiently gave) and then D.H. adapted his fencing not only to his opponent, but also to the director. He was down 10 to 2 when he got it figured out and the match ended at 15 to 13. He lost but he made such a comeback and came so close.

In all fairness, when D.H. adapted, his opponent also experimented and changed and won.

We went to congratulate D.H. and were talking about upcoming tournaments where we might see him next year. He said that he is 19 and will be too old to fence at Junior Olympics next year. My brother-in-law commented that D.H. must fence on his college team.

And here comes the last thing to be impressed with. D.H. says "Oh, I've graduated from college already and have a job."

This young man was athletic, posed, polite, smart and adaptable.

I am now over 50 years old. I have been finding it hard to adapt to what the bosses in this new world want of me. I need to take a lesson from D.H. and be adaptable, to both my competition, and to my judges.

Thank you D.H. for teaching this old dog a good trick.