June Monthly Club Competition Finalists – Dave and Henry
On the final Tuesday of June, we found ourselves in a mini heatwave for the first time this year and, with the England football team, on the television, playing for survival in the 2024 European Championships, we wondered how many would make it down Cygnets Sports Centre for the June monthly club competition.
In the end, a hardy ten fencers appeared giving us a lovely two poules of five fighters. In poule 1 we saw Rohan, Mark, Phil, Sandy and Henry competing against each other, whilst poule 2 consisted of Dave, Peter, Claudia, Sofia and the return of Richard!
Henry and Mark were the stars of poule 1 both winning 3 out of their 4 matches, however, the former narrowly beat Mark on the seeding front by way of a better indicator score overall. Rohan and Sandy each managed to win 2 of their 4 four matches (which saw Sandy make a quick getaway to watch the second half of the football), but struggled through his matches, having only recently changed to a left hander, due to injury.
In poule 2 Dave and Sofia were also victors of their poule, each winning 3 of their 4 rounds. However, although Dave had the same percentage of matches won and indicator score as Mark, his overall hits scored were lower placing him in 3rd for the overall seedings, while a lower indicator meant that Sofia was 4th for the seedings despite also having won 3 of her 4 matches. Claudia managed a 50% win rate overcoming both Peter and Richard, whilst the latter two both managed a single win each. With the seedings sorted, it was decided that in the heat, it would be better to proceed with the knockout the following week.
The following Tuesday saw the end of the heatwave and, for many, the central heating make a reappearance – yes, in July! All of the previous week’s competitors were in attendance, however, with Claudia sporting an injury from the weekend, Steve took over her position in the knockout stage.
Henry had a bye through to the quarter finals and, Peter and Richard struggled to muster the enthusiasm to win, with the thought of facing Henry in the following round! However, it was Peter who was to victor and face the inevitable. Sandy and Sofia were to meet, both by way of a bye in the quarter finals, as were Dave and Steve. Rohan overcame Phil to make it through and Mark also progressed by way of a bye.
Peter was knocked out by Henry, Sandy saw off Sofia, while Dave beat Steve and, Rohan triumphed over Mark.
In the semi-finals, Henry and Sandy’s match was plagued by double hits, with the score at 9 v 6 before the break. With Sandy hitting the floor (as was correctly called by the judge and not the spectators, Steve!) the match progressed with Henry winning the last point in the style of a couple of ballerinas, jumping and pirouetting across the piste, much to the delight (or mickey taking) of the watching crowd.
Dave and Rohan’s match was much more evenly positioned. With Rohan trailing 5 v 3 early on, it looked like the game was over for the young pretender, however, a surge saw the game level at 8 v 8. The game took a turn just before the last minute’s break, with Dave landing a hit to lead 9 v 8 and, the final blow for Rohan came at the end with a double hit, seeing him lose 10 v 9.
The final saw a tense match up between Henry and Dave. With Henry in full swing, it looked like game over for Dave at 13 v 6 scoring. However, as is the nature of this ‘friendly’ monthly competition, some of the watching crowd (Steve, Mark and Sandy) took full advantage of the youth of the judge, distracted her and unplugged Henry’s electronics. Dave scored a single hit, before the chuckle brothers had to own up to what they had and Henry’s electrics were reinstated. In a wonderful act of sportsmanship, Dave was allowed to keep the point and this proved the turning point, as Dave managed to fight back on the points front, however, eventually it was not enough to stop Henry from claiming victory, for the second month in a row, with a 15 v 10 scoreline.
Well done to Henry for his victory and well done to everyone who fenced and we look forward to another cracking competition, starting on the last Tuesday in July!
