Mississippi Academy of Arms
Eighth Annual Classic Duel
Plus Foil, Epee, Rapier, and Cane Events
July 10, 2004
TOURNAMENT DETAILS
EIGHTH ANNUAL CLASSIC DUEL
The Eighth Annual Classic Duel held under the Dueling Pines of Lakeshore
Park on Saturday morning, July 10th was a huge success. Eight duelists
met on the field of honor at dawn to settle their differences in a gentlemanly
(and gentle womanly) manner. They each drew straws to determine their
first
opponent and their initial placement in a direct illumination bracket.
Two by two, under dripping trees, on dewy ground, at first light, they re-lived
that ancient satisfaction which a gentleman’s honor demands when
suffering a wrong.
It proved to be an esoteric experience, both for participants and observers
as each duel resulted in the death (theoretically) of one of each pair.
Over and over the scene replayed itself until only one duelist, Trey
Palmer, remained
alive. Trey who had also won first place in our last annual Classic
Duel (number seven) successfully defended his title, becoming only the
second
person in
Academy history to win two Classic Duels in a row (Rez won the first
two classic duels before retiring from competition) Dell Simpson and
Nate Inman
were awarded second and third place respectively in spite of their
deaths (theoretically speaking).
ARISTOCRAT'S BAROQUE BREAKFAST
After the Duel everyone enjoyed an Aristocrat’s breakfast of
juice, fruit, bagels & cream cheese, biscuits, bacon, and sausage,
while listening to relaxing Classical baroque music.
CLASSICAL EPEE TOURNAMENT
After breakfast the day’s events continued with a Classical
Epee Tournament. There were many exciting bouts in this round robin
event. However, Trey Palmer’s
impeccable point control allowed him to win all five of his bouts,
securing his second first place victory of day. Trey
is an epee fencer first and
foremost. I remember the first time I met him, back in 1992 at the
old Jackson Fencing
club which David Williams, John Fritts, and I founded. The first thing
he told us was “I’m
here to become an Epee Fencer. I already know from my research
that
that’s
the weapon for me. However, I know that I must first get a solid grounding
in foil fencing before
taking up the epee. So I’m prepared to do that. But I just wanted
to let yall know up front that my goal is to be an Epee Fencer.” I
never forgot his words. And they proved to be true. Trey started with
foil
and trained
with
it
for many years before
taking up epee. He had mixed results in his foil competitions. However,
once armed with the epee Trey became unbeatable winning numerous bouts
and events
and eventually becoming a State Epee Champion in the annual State Games
of Mississippi.
Two of the secrets to Trey's success are: 1. He trains every morning
before work, practicing his footwork, and refining
his point control by doing target practice
on a tiny ring which swings back and forth on a string attached
to the ceiling of his garage. Trey started out with a tennis ball
years ago and gradually progressed to the small ring. A lot of fencers
may consider such training too be too difficult or monotonous to
stick with. However,
Trey's persistence
in this little drill is what enables him to easily
place touches anywhere he wants onto the moving forward
arm
and wrist of
his
opponents
in his epee
bouts. 2. Trey’s second secret is that he does cardiovascular
training which gives him the endurance needed to
handle the stress of long bouts. This allows him to gradually wear
down weaker opponent’s.
Trey is without a doubt the best nonprofessional epee fencer
in the state of Mississippi, both in classical Epee, and also in
that other
style of fencing they
call “sport
fencing.”
“The
secret of success is in constancy to purpose”-- Benjamin
Disraeli
"Somewhere
in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race
(fence) him, he will win."
Dell Simpson also proved a formidable opponent, with his typically
unorthodox fencing style, which has more than once allowed him to
baffle his opponents
and catch them off guard. Dell won all but one of his bouts (the one
against Trey) and easily secured a second place in the epee event.
Nate Inman won all but two of his bouts, losing only to Trey and Dell and
secured a solid third place in the event. Nate has only been fencing for
about a year and has proven to be a natural fencer. He won a medal in all
five events of the day. CLASSICAL FOIL TOURNAMENT
The third event of the day was the Classical Foil Tournament. All
o of the participants managed to qualify during the Qualifying
round which indicates that
all of
the competitors were able to fence with good, clean, classical form
and technique. During the scoring round the clean fencing continued
with
only a few form
faults committed, which resulted in touches scored against the offending
fencers. There were many great and exciting bouts during this event
and I very much
enjoyed my viewpoint as director. The format was round robin, with
everyone fencing everyone else once. Since the number one goal in
classical fencing
is to defend ourselves first, and then try to make a touch, this event’s
format was designed to reward defense over offense. After the indicators
were tabulated the results showed that Nate Inman was the first place
winner, having received only three touches during the entire event.
Additionally
he won all of his bouts and made the most touches in the
event. There was
an initial tie for second place between Trey Palmer and Daniel Drennen,
each having received only eight touches and both winning the same number
of bouts.
The next indicator, the number of touches scored revealed that Trey
had scored two more touches than Daniel during the event, thus nudging
him into second
place and Daniel into third place. This made for a very close finish
between second and third place, in which only two points made the difference
in ranking.
Both Trey and Daniel are very good foil fencers. I expect to see Daniel
go on to win some first places in classical foil very soon.
HISTORICAL RAPIER TOURNAMENT
Next we held the Rapier event. Since we had a lower than expected
turn out we changed the format of this event into a double round
robin event in which
everyone competed with everyone else twice. The fencers were required
to use the same rapier throughout the entire event instead of choosing
different length rapiers to use against different opponents. This
rule was incorporated to reflect the historical use of the rapier
in which gentlemen wore only one rapier
on their
hips and thus were not able to change lengths. The fencers
were also allowed to wear a dagger in their sword belt, on their
backs and pull it out
for use at any point during their bouts. All of the fencers chose to
pull out their daggers early in each of the bouts.
Nate dominated the rapier event winning all but one surprise defeat
at the hands of Dell. As always the consummate
strategist Robert Pridgen adapted himself to each of his opponents
nuances winning second place. Dell who is always hard to figure out
took Third place.
CANE FIGHTING TOURNAMENT
 The
final event of the day was a new one to Academy, a Cane Fighting
event. In this event contestants were graded on how well they
performed the Yellow
Rank requirements: The Strikes Set, the Block Set, and the Tip Set.
Everyone did very well. Nate barely edged past the others to
finish in first place
with only one slight mistake in his performance. Robert only made a
couple of slight mistakes and came in second place. Elise also
only made a few slight
mistakes and finished in third place. All three of these three students
are getting close to being ready to test for their Yellow Rank
in the Goju Shorei
Weapon System. I planned this event to be part of their preparation
for testing. Their practical exams will be videotaped and mailed
to the master of the
Goju Shorei Weapons System who will grade their performance and either
pass Yellow Rank on them or send corrections and recommendations.
The Goju Shorei
Weapons System is a highly developed and extremely efficient system
of
self-defense using the walking cane and later at the black belt
levels the knife (the practical three inch folding knife
and larger knives as well). In the lower ranks the students are learning
the very basics
of movement, strikes and blocks which in the higher ranks are
transformed into
devastating techniques for self-defense and counter offense. In addition
to being a very practical method of self-defense cane fighting is also
a lot of fun to practice.
FINAL WORDS
All of the competitors fenced well today. They displayed
aristocratic manners and gentility through out the day. Often
many of the
competitors honorably
declined to accept touches which they were awarded to them by the judges,
because they felt they were not good enough to warrant acceptance.
In my teaching
I have always emphasized the importance of being honest and fair and
never accepting credit for a touch which you felt you didn’t
make well or deserve. I am thankful that all of my current
students are men and women of honor
and integrity, who seek truth, justice, and perfection in their bouts
above and beyond the simpleminded, egotistical goal of winning
at all costs. Because
of this every one of them was winner today!
In the opening prayer of the tournament I prayed that everyone
would understand that in sport and in life, whether we win, lose,
or
draw is not really important.
But that what is important is how we act and react when we win, lose,
or draw. Everyone exhibited the highest of Christian ideals,
virtues, and character,
and to the last man and woman acted in accordance with The Code of
Honor.
Today I got to stand on the field of honor with real men and real women.
I count myself honored and proud.
Rez
Headmaster: Mississippi Academy of Arms
” A man has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct
even when it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to
do so.”
TOURNAMENT
RESULTS IN BRIEF EIGHTH ANNUAL CLASSIC DUEL First Place - Trey Palmer
Second Place - Dell Simpson
Third Place - Nate Inman CLASSICAL EPEE TOURNAMENT First Place - Trey Palmer
Second Place - Dell Simpson
Third Place - Nate Inman CLASSICAL FOIL TOURNAMENT First Place - Nate Inman
Second Place - Trey Palmer
Third Place - Daniel Drennen RAPIER TOURNAMENT First Place - Nate Inman
Second Place - Robert Pridgen
Third Place - Dell Simpson CANE FIGHTING TOURNAMENT First Place - Nate Inman
Second Place - Robert Pridgen
Third Place - Elise Smith
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