More photos

I took some photos today for promotional material and I've posted a few here on the blog.







Thanks go out to:

Chris Burleigh from Write Type Publishing
Rob Kalnitz who took the photos
Deanna Netti-Cahill from Brow Diva

Women's Foil Team

A few blog posts back I mentioned that I have big news about the women's foil team. Although I can't tell everyone yet until I get the go ahead from the head coaches, but I can say that there are big things happening. In the mean time enjoy the photos from our trip to Valencia, Venezuela!

Pictures from Venezuela

A few photos of the USA women's foil team and our coaches.

To see more photos of our trip to Venezuela please click here.

You are more than what you eat and the separation of sport and self

Have you ever heard of that saying, “you are what you eat”? Ultimately I don’t think I’m the bagel I ate this morning but I guess you can be the judge of whether or not I’m a circular object with a hole in the middle. I shouldn’t be eating bagels but that’s all I had, so sue me USOC sports nutritionist!

So, Iris, what’s the point because I don’t really care what you had for breakfast? Defining oneself through results and winning is the predicament that most if not all top level athletes experience and have to work through. It’s much easier to be the young athlete who has nothing to lose than the older athlete who believes that they are only worth their latest result.

On Saturday one of my closest friends struggled through the Penn State Open competition and had a break down similar to the one I had in Torino just a few weeks ago. Her words were similar to mine, “I should be winning otherwise I’m a failure, I’m a fencer and if I can’t do this then I can’t do anything right, etc.” Anyone else recognize this lovely wasteland of negative self-talk?

It was interesting that no sooner did I figure out how to deal with losing and learning over again does someone else come up to me with the same problem. Struggling with fear and doubt is something pretty universal, especially when you are a top-level athlete that won’t settle for anything less than gold. Whatever happened to the learning process that we went through as youth? The false expectation becomes, you have nothing else to learn when you are the best. If that’s true, why did Michael Jordan, at the top of his game, train harder than he ever did? He didn’t have anything to prove but he knew he still had a lot to learn.

My friend has a lot of goals she wants to accomplish, making the NCAA team for Penn State, making the junior team, etc. She has placed all these very heavy things on her shoulders and in the end it has proven to weigh her down instead of inspire her to work. I think a lot of it has to do with self-identification and part of the title of this blog- the separation of sport and self.

At what point do we forget the goal as a task rather than a value judgment? When do sports cross the line from being a personal goal to just being personal? Yes, competition does bring out the character in us but at the same time it shouldn’t be the only way that we as athletes look at ourselves. We can use sports as a tool but not as an absolute opinion because we aren’t just athletes, but we are much more-a student, a girlfriend, a daughter, a friend, and multiple of other layers that are just as important as our athletic performances.

The point is, human beings are complex people (well, most of us) and we can be defined by more than just what we eat or do because in the end everything is added up as an extension of ourselves. Am I spouting existentialist theory? Perhaps partially, but it’s important for athletes to undo any type of tunnel vision they may have in order to maintain a healthy perspective while working hard towards their goals. As I say all this I admit that it’s very difficult because I put everything I have into making the Olympic team but if I have learned anything from Nat or the sports psychologist, it is that the enjoyment of the process is more important than the end result because if you can manage to enjoy what you are doing in the moment than you already are a success.

We are....Penn State!

I'm making a trip to Penn State University for the Penn State Open collegiate competition. Although I'm not competing many of my friends are so, I'm driving the 3 and a half hours to State College to watch them fence and have some much needed fun. It's been a crazy couple of months of none stop training and it's time for a short break.

Nat and I spent two hours today discussing strategy for the next few weeks leading up to the North American Cup (NAC) in Richmond, VA. After that I practiced, took a lesson, and met with some friends to discuss fundraising strategies. After all this I realized that I truly needed a break from fencing. For a few days I can hang out with my friends and yes, they are fencing friends but they are like family anyways and capable of talking about subjects besides fencing. The best part about this weekend is that I'm just being another twenty something, having fun, and going out.

Not to mention the benefit of having some time to visit with my wonderful women's foil team-Emily, Doris, and Hanna. We are all very excited to see each other again so soon. I think I've sent them all an email each day since we've been back from Venezuela. Do you have those friends you just HAVE to call up when you just see something funny, or you've just done something stupid, or thought of a great idea, or even heard a cool song? Yeah, that's us, the women's foil team. I'm so grateful that these ladies are in my corner.

Speaking of which I haven't told y'all the story of Mama Bear yet. On one of the rides back to the hotel from the venue in Venezuela, one of the fencers from the USA team noticed the team dynamic and noted how close we all were. He also mentioned our different roles, "Iris is the Mama Bear to the team, Hanna is like the crazy single aunt, and Doris and Emily are the Baby Bears." I love this analogy because it perfectly defines all the roles we take on in the group. I'm definitely flattered to be the Mama Bear and as any good Mama would say, I hope I can show them how much they mean to me.

i'm off to State College to see my girls! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Venezuela results

Individual result: 11th
Team result: 2nd

Sorry it took me so long to post but I was having trouble posting in Venezuela.

I just got back to Rochester this afternoon, just in time to hand out candy to the kids in my neighborhood. Trick or treat!

Folks, big things are happening to the USA women's foil team. I can't really tell you guys everything at this moment until it's been confirmed but something big is happening. You will have to stay tuned to find out-it may take a week or several weeks depending on the answers we get. This will impact a lot of my life and even my fundraising strategies. I hope you're on the edge of your seat because you should be.

Since I can't talk about the team I have a few things to mention about my individual result at the Pan-American zonal competition. This competition went a lot better than Torino, in that I felt a lot more relaxed and confident. The work I've been doing with the sports psychologist made a big difference and it became clear that mental preparation is just as important as physical preparation. It only took me twenty years of training to figure that out.

Nat and I are planning the next month and a half of training with a focus on the national tournament in Richmond, Virginia on December 9th. There are many things to work on and I can't wait to start.

Venezuela

Hi everyone! I'm in Valencia, Venezuela after two days of travel. I had to spend the night in Miami because I couldn't make the connection to the ONE flight per day to Valencia. The best part of it all was that the team didn't get their bags when they arrived here. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow, otherwise I'm fencing in linen pants and a camisole. Hmmm...fencing did want publicity....

I am looking forward to fencing the first event on Wednesday. The first individual event doesn't really count for anything but can be useful practice especially since these girls are hard to hit. In general the girls in the Pan-American region tend to be fast, small, and kinda squirmy. It's already hard to hit a moving target but when they scrunch up as you try to hit them it makes things a bit harder.

i had a chance to walk around the Valencia a bit today. I saw some graffiti in the city that called Bush a facist. I think the only other place I have seen this much Anti-American sentiment on public display is Cuba. It's a little alarming and I am careful not to speak too loudly or wear anything that screams "I'm from the United States". Anyone seen Hugo Chavez's (Venezuelan leader) speeches about the United States and Bush? How could you miss his speech at the United Nations a few weeks ago? If not, make sure to google it, I think it's a classic.

Updates about the competition as they come in. There are no websites this time that will have detailed info about this tournament so this blog site is your resource. Have a great week!

The F word

I heard the word failure again this weekend and this time it was coming from my sister’s mouth. She has spent the last few weeks as a work horse for her consulting company in order to finish yet another project that makes someone else rich. Amazing how that happens. When I told her that maybe she could get out of her job and pursue another avenue, her instinctive answer was “but I will be a failure if I quite this consulting job”. Isn’t this what life is after all? One big compromise of your life after another to climb up the proverbial ladder?

At this point my sister may be doing a great job but at what cost? Her health, personal life, and general happiness has completely taken a backseat to the demands of her job. When will it be enough?

So she thinks she is a failure. Interesting. Here is a woman with an engineering degree from Stanford and two Olympic teams under her belt. Let’s not mention the various accolades she has acquired along the way for being a superior human being. She is the only woman to ever win the national collegiate title for two different weapons in two years. Unfortunately we are only as good as our last win.

I began to think about what would make her come to those types of conclusions because maybe helping her work through this mess could also help me to understand some of the reasons why I feel the way I feel about my own achievements? Here I am, training for the Olympics and I decide I am a failure if I don’t reach the number one spot after three months of training. This is very fatalistic and destructive thought.

The first answer I thought was, our culture is all about the number one spot. In this instance of “our culture” I am talking about the mixed cultural background that Felicia and I grew up in. My mother had a huge influence on us and we were always being pushed to the limits to be the best in everything we did. This worked really well when we were young because there are all sorts of Chinese school debates, piano recitals, and fencing competitions to compete in. What happens when you get older when the stakes are higher and not everyone receives a blue ribbon in the end? How do you deal with that? And some people wonder why Asian countries have high rates of suicide. It’s not just the small apartments folks.

I once told my mother that I wanted to be a physical therapist because I wanted a way to help others with the knowledge I gained through my own experiences. My vision was to build a high performance center for elite athletes that worked in conjunction with a university to faciliate testing and research. I didn’t even get so far as to explain all this because as soon as I said that I wanted to be a physical therapist she burst out in a hysterical fit of crying and yelling. What my mom wanted and still wants to this day is for me go to law school or business school because that was something she understood as prestigious. Not to mention the fact that she gets bragging rights that ,“Iris go to Columbia law school, she going to be lawyer.” What my Mom doesn’t know is the amount of debt I would be in when I came out of school that would force me to sell my soul to a law firm for several years just to be able break even. Apologies to the lawyers out there but I did interview for a paralegal position in NYC once and one of the lawyer told me to run the other direction. This isn’t to say that I am not still considering going to law school.

In contrast is the tough, know it all, confident, American spirit that stresses that anything is possible. Let’s think of American success stories, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, and Bill Gates, yes they all have one thing in common (lots o’ cash) but the thing that links them all together is that they took calculated risks in things that they really enjoyed and success was an afterthought. Can one argue that they were successful to begin with when they decided to take their own path? It takes guts to walk off the treadmill of the corporate rat race to pursue your own ingenuity but that where the soul of the American lives.

Not only do I want this message to reach my sister but I also want this message to reach the children of immigrants that often feel torn between the desires of their parents and their own passions influenced by American culture. In the end I think the reconciliation between the two cultures is in finding peace within yourself in order to determine your own definition of success because at the end of the day you are responsible for your own happiness.

My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.

--Elaine Maxwell

Fearless

I recently went to see Jet Li's latest and final film of his career, Fearless. The movie itself was okay but there was a point in the movie where I felt a connection with the main character played by Jet Li. This connection will serve as a useful way to transition into what I've been thinking about the past few weeks since Torino.

Jet Li's character is based on a famous Chinese martial arts master named Huo Yuanjia. The character undergoes a transition from an arrogant fighter with ruthless will and determination to stay undefeated, to a wise character with a greater perspective for the role of martial arts in understanding life.

At one point in the movie an older and wiser Huo Yuanjia is having tea with his Japanese opponent before they compete against each other. Tanaka, the Japanese martial artist, believes that the goal of a martial artist is to defeat his opponent but Huo impresses Tanaka by successfully arguing that the goal of studying martial arts is for the purpose of self-improvement. Ultimately the goal of competition isn't to win or lose but a path to self discovery.

Okay, okay, I know this is very cheesy in a chinese martial arts movie/confucius/fortune cookie way, but he has a point.

When I got back from Torino I had a lot of negative thoughts in my head that I wasn't accustomed to. I thought about quitting and I thought that I wasn't strong enough to endure the journey. The exact words running through my head were, "I can't do this, I am never going to be good enough, I am never going to make the team, I used to be good and now I'm nothing, and so on and so on." Pretty positive thinking, huh? I would say that I was depressed for about a week after competing. Obviously something was wrong and I couldn't get out of the funk, so I decided I needed help and I called up contacts at the US Olympic Committee for a sports psychologist.

It turns out there is a lot more I have to deal with than just coming back after two years and getting used to the new rules of fencing. I have to grow up.

When I was younger my old coach would use strict methods of control to mold me into a good fencer. He told me what to do, when to do it, what was good, what was bad, and my thoughts were only on making him proud of me. It seems strange putting it on the blog but I think it makes a lot of sense. His opinion was the only opinion that ever mattered and I never had to think for myself.

Fast forward to 2006 and a new coach with a completely different perspective on life and coaching. I would describe her method as absolute freedom. She will never say something is right or wrong, she will never yell, but she will work with me as a partner to get me to my goal. Now I am the ultimate arbiter of my success. The downside now is that I have no one to blame except for myself. Talk about growing pains.

What does this have to do with the movie Fearless? Well, going through all this after Torino taught me a lot about myself-in this case competition was a path to self discovery. I discovered that although my life outside of fencing had matured, my attitude towards fencing hadn't changed. I thought in absolutes meaning, success was first place and that was it. I am a failure if I come in any other place. People won't believe in me unless I win all the time. What a harsh place to exist and I didn't want to be there anymore.

Enter the sports psychologist. One of the most important lessons I have learned from my time with her is that competition, sports, life, is all about the process. Think about it, what if I woke up tomorrow and I was an overnight champion with all the money in the world to do what I wanted in my sport. Yes, that would be great but it wouldn't mean anything because I didn't earn it.

No one becomes a success without work. We spend our lives working our way up and sometimes we get public recognition but most of the time we don't. What we do have is all the knowledge and experience we acquire along the way. I may have lost in Torino but I walked away with an experience and lessons about myself that I will never forget.

Updates

Just a few updates on the (un)glamorous life of an Olympian.

I'm currently spending most of my time getting ready for the Pan-American zonal competition in Valencia, Venezuela. I heard that the competition venue has changed once again and that it's going to be very hot and humid. At least it's not snowing and raining like it is here.

I'm also spending some of my off hours looking for a part-time job for money. Needless to say I'm still struggling with funding and sponsorship. I also need to have something to do besides fencing. Although a lot of my attention is invested in training, it's hard to get up each morning and feel truly energized to go to the fencing gym. No matter what anyone else says, there are some limits to ultimate devotion and sacrifice. It would also be nice to get out and have a job in the "real world" and perhaps meet some non fencing people in Rochester.

Anyways, here's the true story of the week.

I went to the Rochester City School District office on Monday to apply for a substitute teaching position at my old high school, The School of the Arts. Let me just preface this with-I spent a a lot of time trying to carefully and thoughtfully put together an application of employement for the City School District. They needed three letters of recommendation, an official transcript, resume, essay, blood type, my first born, etc.

When I went to the office I met a wonderful lady who lives behind a sliding glass window-it's probably bullet proof glass. I told the woman behind the sliding glass window that I was there to apply for a substitute teaching position. The response was, "No." Hmmm...okay???!!! Why? Well, there aren't enough substitute teaching positions for the already existing overflow of substitute teachers.

Okay, plan B-think fast. Well, can't I just leave my application here because surely at some point, somewhere, there is going to be a need for substitute teachers in the Rochester City School District. Response, "No." Well, okay, hasn't anyone heard of flu season? Cold season? Spinach with Ecoli? Lettuce with Ecoli? I guess not.

Then I asked the kind woman behind the bullet proof glass (who obviously knows no other word besides the word "no") if I could just leave my application. I had, after all, spent a lot of time and effort to put the application together with the THREE letters of recommendation. You can just guess what her response was, but she did add, "I don't even want to take your application and file it because I don't want to give you any ideas that you would ever be hired to fill a position as a substitute teacher. There are no positions available." Well, no arguing with that.

This is the city of Rochester folks. I would also like to add that I applied to be a waitress at a coffee shop and they still haven't gotten back to me (it's been three weeks). It's nice to know that a Stanford degree doesn't amount to a hill of beans in an economically depressed area like this. If you want a job, you can't get a job.

Considering my previous ask to the mayor for a position and my ask to the Rochester City School District for a job, my total score is the following:

The City of Rochester, 2 Iris Zimmermann, 0

No one ever said that training for the Olympics was easy.

Great job Doris!

Just wanted to mention that Doris Willette, a fellow teammate of mine, has just won a junior world cup competition in Bratislava, Slovakia. She went there only a week after getting back from the World Championships in Torino and interestingly enough she beat an Italian fencer to win gold.

I admire Doris' ability to deal with all the stress of going to school and competing at a high level. After Torino, Doris had to take her mid-term exams and prepare for another world level competition in less than a week. She is a super star for being so successful at juggling all of her tasks and responsibilities. It's not easy and I am very proud of her.

Elite athletes choose this life of hard work and more often than not the path to success is incredibly stressful. Doris just started her freshman year at Penn State and hasn't spent too many full weeks at the school which impacts her social life and activities outside of academics and athletics. I remember when I was in High School and even at Stanford, I would miss out on so many things because I was traveling or taking time off to train for something. In the end it is worth it (especially when you win) but while you are going through it all you can see is the struggle and sometimes all you can feel is tired.

She and I spent a lot of time together in Italy because we shared a room. I have said this in the past but it has been great having her as a fellow teammate and sounding board. Whenever I could not find the strength to believe in myself or believe in the team, Doris was always there to be a positive influence and light. No matter what she is always so positive about the future which in itself is a very admirable characteristic.

So, congrats to you Doris! See you in Venezuela in a week.

Next competition

The fun never stops! Just wanted to let everyone know that I have another competition coming up very soon in Valencia, Venezuela, the Pan-American Zonal tournament. There will be two individual competitions and one team event with the first event on the 25th. I am not sure why they are having two individual events especially since the first individual event doesn't count for much. The second individual event and the team event count for overall world ranking points.

The competitors will obviously be from the Pan-American zone. Some of the harder competition will come from the Venezuelan team, Argentina, and Cuba (if they send a team). Right now the United States women's foil team is head to head with the Venezuelan team in qualifying for the Olympic Games although, we are still far off from the qualification competitions. The Venezuelans have had a few successful tournaments and managed to push themselves into the lead in the world cup team point standings. It's important that the USA team beats them on their turf as a way to show them that we are going to take our position as the top team in the region.

I am leaving for Valencia next Sunday and I'll be there for a week. Hopefully I will be better about blogging this time around. Remember that this whole experience of blogging about my competitions is brand new for me. I know, I know, more pictures. I'm working on it.

The thin line between success and failure

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

--Michael Jordan

Failure. Success. Quitting. These are some of the words I have been thinking about since my competition in Torino, Italy. Along with the words-self-worth, confidence, and I must have been crazy to think I could come back after a two year hiatus and make the Olympic team. These thoughts, however dramatic, surface when the outcome of a competition isn't quite what one originally expected.

The truth is, the line between success and failure is paper thin. Falling on one side of that line would mean happiness and euphoria along with praise and admiration. If you have the misfortune of falling on the other side then you find yourself in despair and questioning your every thought and conviction. It's amazing how fragile this line is and in part this is what makes competition so exciting-because one moment you can be a hero and in the next frame you could be the loser.

I think you can guess by now that things in Torino didn't go that well. It was a hard blow to find out that my expectations were much higher than I was capable of accomplishing at the moment. I had hopes that my years of experience would kick in at all the right moments without regard to the fact that I just started training again four months ago.

Although there are many technical reasons for my failed venture in Torino, there are many mental reasons that I fell apart. During competition I allowed my fears to become my voice. The day before competition I was an absolute mess. I was worried how I would do, I was fearful that people wouldn't have faith in me if I lost, I was worried about every little detail that could go wrong, and in the end the negative voices were louder than the positive. It's amazing how nervousness can turn a strong and sane person into a puddle on the floor.

So what drives us (me) to keep going after such failures? How many times can we pick ourselves back up off the floor? The answer is as many times as it takes to reach your goals because I realize that I have a lot to learn. This competition will only be a huge failure if I don't take from it some lessons to guide my practice and move on with my head held up high. I think it's time now to walk away from the experience with knowledge in hand to restart, retool, and begin again. Scrap the past and start all over again. Of course I have already spent the requisite time brushing off any ego and pride first-important to remember those characters. (I probably should have left them behind in Italy.)

So, what did I learn?

As much it pains me to admit, I am not the same Iris Zimmermann. My experiences as a young phenom have helped me to win but have not taught me how to deal with loss and starting at the bottom. Even when I was injured I never really started at the bottom. Not only am I starting over again but I am also finding a new identity in a world that I once knew like the back of my hand. People may remember my name but it isn't me out there on the fencing strip. This isn't to say that this new version, Iris Zimmermann 2.0 let's say, won't be better but in a way I am admitting that I am starting over from this point on with an open mind and wide eyes. It's time to put the scaffolding up and start over.

So, here I am. Humbly starting from scratch. This my friends, is the bottom, I'm waving to you from a very humble beginning.
I have two weeks before the Pan-American zonal competition to get my act together and drive on with the mission but even then it will be another small step towards the ultimate goal of Beijing.

I want to close with some lines from one of my fellow teammates, Emily Cross (she goes to Harvard so whatever she says has to be incredibly smart and insightful). The women's foil team also didn't perform so brilliantly as a whole in Torino but we hold up hope that in two years we will be in Beijing together. So, the brilliant Emily said the following.

"It is way better to work your way up than to be number one and have to stay there. Who wants to start off on top? It is much more satisfying to be the lovable underdogs who come from behind and win. There's a reason no one makes sports movies about the Yankees."

Well said, Em. Go Lovable Underdogs!

I'm back!

Hi everyone. I just got back from Italy late Sunday night. I have a ton of things I need to get done today so this is going to be a short note to say hi and that I am alive. I know everyone missed all of my posts for the last week and a half. ;)

I have a lot to say about World Championships and I am working on that blog post right now.

Enjoy your Columbus Day!

P.S. Just as a side note. Weather in Rochester, NY is crazy-it's 75 degrees today but on Friday we are expecting to receive our first snow shower at 45 degrees. How do we go from Monday at 75 to Friday at 45 degrees with snow? Thus is living in Rochester.

Lighting the match

"I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match." --Mia Hamm

I can't tell you how true this statement is for every successful athlete. But (there is always a but) sometimes the match doesn't light. Meaning, the most difficult part of being an athlete is being in the zone at precisely the right moment. I think athletes train, visualize, meditate, do yoga, workout, and do a number of other things to try and get in the zone for competition but deep down each athlete knows it could be a hit or miss day. The matches could light the whole place on fire or they could not light at all.

First, what does being in the zone mean for an athlete? It means that while we are in competition, at least for fencing, doing all the right actions and hitting on every one of them. For the general athlete population it is when body and mind are functioning as one complete mechanism. For people in business realm it means that everything is coming together and flowing almost as if on it's own accord.

When I think of the times that I have truly been "in the zone" I felt like I was having an out of body experience or that I wasn't really fencing on that strip-someone else, my body double perhaps, was out there fencing for me. It's pretty incredible when you reach that point because time seems to slow down and everything around you happens in slow motion. Even the cheering in the background grows distant, all that is left is you, your foil, and the opponent in front of you. The opponent also changes too, targets open up and everything you do just seems to hit. There is also a level of confidence that develops too. In my mind it's the thought, "no matter how many touches this woman gets, I will get to 15 touches before she does." Being in the zone is almost like reaching a sense of calm where all worries and doubt fade away as you concentrate on the task at hand.

Now-how does one light that fire? Well, that's the question. Through more experiences and a sense of familiarity at competitions, the more a routine develops that could help an athlete along to that point of reaching the zone. However, there are so many ex-factors in competitions that throw even the greatest competitors off. The referee could be tired and making bad calls, the tournament can be delayed, the surrounding is unfamiliar, or you haven't gotten enough sleep the night before, etc. Although the athlete tries to control the situations and block them out, it doesn't erase the reality that things are slightly off. Sometimes athletes will not reach that zone. In my mind that's what makes competition so exciting for both the athlete and spectator because the anticipation is the killer. You never know who is going to win. You never know who is going to reach their peak and have all their stars align at the right moment.

The bottom line-as much as you train and prepare for the competition, there is always another factor that comes into play when you are out there. Luck. So, thank you to everyone who has wished me luck for this competition. Although all the preparation is in place we all need a little luck on our side in order to light the fire.

See you guys in Italia!

Flag on the play

There are a lot of sports that rely on referees and subjective judging. Think about figure skating or gymnastics. You wouldn't think that a sport that started off with dueling where the victor lived and the loser well, you know the rest, would rely so heavily on referees.

But fencing, more specifically the disciplines of sabre and foil, rely on judges to make the call as to which fencer had priority and is awarded a point. This is called "right of way".


WARNING: Long explanation ahead. For those of you who don't want to know all this technical stuff about fencing just move on.

Rules of Right of Way as explained by the US Fencing Association

Right of Way is a theory of armed combat that determines who receives a point when the fencers have both landed hits during the same action. The most basic, and important, precept of right of way is that the fencer who started to attack first will receive the point if they hit valid target. Naturally, fencer who is being attacked must defend themselves with a parry, or somehow cause their opponent to miss in order to take over right of way and score a point. Furthermore, a fencer who hesitates for too long while advancing on their opponent gives up right-of-way to their opponent. A touch scored against an opponent who hesitated to long is called an attack in preparation or a stop-hit, depending on the circumstances.

Additionally, the referee may determine that the two fencers truly attacked each other simultaneously. This simultaneous attack is a kind of tie - no points are awarded, and the fencers are ordered back en garde by the referee to continue fencing.

Please click HERE for more information on rules and more explanations on the sport of fencing.
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Basically, the referee in the sport has a lot of power to determine whether or not you win, so it is really important to make sure you have a referee that abides by the rules. Let's just get real here-sport is not immune to bribery, bias, and politics. Come on, we all know this.

Thus-the international fencing federation has decided to implement the following at the World Championships this year.


1) VIDEO REPLAY

This will allegedly take place from the table of 32 on in the individual events, and from the table of 8 in the team events.
(Supposedly after halt due to a light, the ref will review the last three seconds of action and then make the call.)



2) CHALLENGES (this is like football when the ref has to review the call)

Same as above, top 32 and top 8.

A fencer will have up to 3 challenges per Direct Elimination bout. In the team, a fencer will get one challenge per bout.

***The challenge will be reviewed by the ref and the Head Referee

***If the challenge is successful, the fencer maintains the amount of challenges he/she started with.

***If the challenge is unsuccessful, the fencer receives a warning. Another warning would result in a touch against the fencer.



There are a few comments here:

1. As a fencer I find this totally distracting but I am not going to worry about it. I have decided that if there is a problem, I will let my coach handle it. But all in all this prolonges an already long match.

2. There are a lot of times where a bout is 14-14 and the person wins on a bad call by the referee (bouts in direct elimination go to 15 touches). I can't imagine winning, having the call for me, and then a replay of x amount of minutes has just reversed the win. Wow-so when you win you may not really win. This brings me back to Florida...2000...hanging chads...anyone?

3. Postive: The video replay and challenges can act as a deterrent to bad referees, bribed referees, or biased referees but there are a few questions here.
Is every ref going to be on the same page, meaning an attack to one could not look like an attack to another referee? (For someone who doesn't fence, there are a lot of subtleties in the game at this level) And, how can I trust that the head referee isn't going to be biased? Is this just a waste of time?

Ultimately all changes in fencing occur as an effort to increase viewership of the sport and in turn marketability. Fencing federations are driving themselves (and the fencers) crazy by trying to change the way the game is played just to make it appealing to the viewer.

There was a stint with a clear mask but the Plexiglas was determined to be too unsafe. My sister, an engineer, had some of her friends test the durability and the safety of the mask when the mask first came out. Her friends just laughed and said-I can't believe you would wear this while someone is jabbing a weapon at your face. It's a good thing the FIE did all this useful testing AFTER all fencers were required to wear the mask during competition. Once again, the athlete is compromised in the name of commercialism. Let me not get into it.

In the end I think the video replay is going to be distracting and I think it will be distracting for the viewer.

The question to the audience is-what do you think about video replay in fencing? Is there ever going to be a way way to change the sport of fencing to make it more marketable? And at what point will enough be well, enough? Where do we draw the line between compromise and selling out our sport?

How to get info on World Championships

World Championships in Turin, Italy, starts in eight days. I have posted a couple of links in the right hand column of the blog that will help you find results as they come in. I think the most helpful link to get up to the minute results will be either the official website for the worlds or the Fencing.net site. The US Fencing website is extremely unreliable on a general basis therefore I would not rely on it for timely information. Don't get me started about how the official US Fencing website was down during the 2004 Olympics, right after a USA fencer won the first ever Olympic gold. Like I said, don't get me started.

Of course I will do what I can with the blog. I may not post for a while starting on Tuesday because I'll be en route to Italy and preparing for the competition.

Just an FYI for any of you interested. I have posted my week's schedule so you know what's up in Iris World for the time I am away:

Tuesday 2pm EST-leave for Italy
Wednesday 11am (European Time Zone)- arrive in Italy, take the day off and enjoy a nice bowl of Italian pasta :)
Thursday - Morning/early afternoon training with my coach and light practice with my team
Friday- rest day. I plan to take the day off completely, away from the fencing gym, and stroll along the River Po. It's not all fun and games..I am just trying to keep myself occupied so I don't think about how nervous I really am.
Saturday- Individual event Day 1 Rounds
Sunday-Individual event Day 2-Direct Elimination Table from 64 fencers
Monday-Wednesday-watch video tapes and practice before team event
Thursday-Team event


I am really excited to have the opportunity to stay in the Winter Olympic Village in Turin. The rumor is that we get bikes to ride around the village. I forsee disaster. I will be one of THOSE bikers with elbow, knee, shin, shoulder, full body pads and a big helmet. Perhaps I should just stay away from the bikes.

It also turns out that my ex-boyfriend is competing the same days as I am. May I mention that he was my boyfriend of almost four years and we were dating while I trained for the last Olympic Games. My, how times have changed.

I will post over the weekend because I have a few things to discuss before I leave. I just wanted to make sure everyone had the 411 on World Championships

Next blog...video replay is now making it's way into fencing. REF! Flag on the riposte? More on that soon.

Countdown...one week until lift off

The latest national/international camp at the Rochester Fencing Club finished this past Sunday. Like the Rochester airport, I am allowed to call this an international camp because there were Canadians here. Then you ask-Iris, if the camp ended on Sunday why haven't you blogged in a few days? The answer is-I feel like I haven't had a moment's rest in the past two weeks. I'm not complaining-I rather be doing this than sitting in an office cubicle everyday.

For this blog post I have a few issues to bring up:

1. The new Sesame Street character "Iris the Scary Fencing Monster".

2. Billie Jean King, take two

3. Countdown to World Championships

Issue One

During the camp I had some of the fencers videotape the women's foil team in order to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of our games. Sometimes watching videotapes can be sort of demoralizing because it shows every painful fault of your game. This time around was no different. Like every top level athlete I am a perfectionist, so I cringed with every drop of the shoulder, a lazy move, or improper judgement of timing and distance. Most of all, I was caught off guard by how scary I looked on the strip.

Yes folks, I am 5'8" and xxx lbs. (a lady never reveals her weight) of scariness. I had no idea. Rather than elegant, I thought I was elephant on the strip. Does the camera add ten pounds or am I just THAT much bigger than the rest of the USA women's foil team?

I panicked and thought to myself that this can't be good. I felt like I was probably exposing too much of my target as I come forward and try to push my opponent into making a mistake. While I take a lot of risks trying to be more aggressive, a lot of the shorter and smaller women are more patient and wait for an opportunity or opening. So what is the right answer for fencing? Is it better to be tall and big or short and small?

There are girls on other teams that are tall and athletic like myself, Russians, Chinese, and Germans (interestingly enough I am a combo of German and Chinese). The Chinese and Russian teams used to seek out the tallest girls to fence because the length was more of an advantage. The Japanese, Italian, and Romanian teams have shorter women who move very quickly and effectively.

Analysis for short women: they tend to move faster and have less target area.
Analysis for tall women: have more length and are more often stronger than their shorter opponents.

The real answer is that fencing is a neat sport because you can be any body type and fence according to your own physical and emotional strengths. The sport itself is pretty accomodating to everyone's abilities.

In the end I guess it's a good thing if I scare my opponents. Just as long as I score more touches than they do. It might not be all that pretty but I get my point across (all puns intended).

Issue Two

There have been several comments about the Billie Jean King blog. Darius, a fencer at the RFC, actually wrote a long comment with some questions. My answer to him is that women and men should not compete against each other but rather recognize that women and men play sports differently. Therefore, it's time to compare women to women rather than the traditional, "she plays like a man so of course she's good" .

Issue Three

I leave for Torino, Italy, the site of the 2006 Fencing World Championships, next Tuesday. I compete on September 30th, October 1st, and again on the 5th. Things are getting sort of hectic in Rochester and I'm getting those pre-competition jitters. Self-doubt has a great way of getting louder as you get closer to the moment of performance.

Goethe quote

Please pay special attention to the "Quote of the Day" attributed to German philosopher, Johann Wolfgang Goethe. This is the quote that my coach, Nat Goodhartz, said to me back at the beginning of June when I finally decided I wanted to train for Beijing. And I can't tell you how right she and Goethe have been.

Sometimes we allow real and created boundaries to keep us from doing the things we are most passionate about in our lives. If you truly feel you are drawn to doing this one thing don't be afraid to take that risk because once you make the commitment you will be surprised how things start to fall into place.

The quote:

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise
occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising
in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and
material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come
his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has
genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
— Attributed to Goethe

Camp, camp, and more camp

The women's foil team is having our last national camp before worlds from Friday to Sunday. This camp is going to be like none of the others with ALL members of the four person women's foil team together at last. One of the team members, Emily Cross, has been wearing a boot for the last month in order to heal some fractured bones in her foot so she has been unable to attend the other camps. It's a great opportunity for us to practice fencing as a team.

I am not sure if everyone reading this blog is aware that the sport of fencing has both an individual and team component to it. There is an individual event that lasts two days and a team event that usually takes place a few days after the individual event. There are three members of the team that fence and one alternate that is put in as needed. For example, the alternate would be put in when someone is injured or does better with a certain country or competitor. The three members of the USA team fence the three members of the other team in a 45 touch relay with timed intervals of three minutes.

In addition to the women at camp we have several top level men coming to fence with us from around the US and Canada. It's going to be tough because men tend to be much more mobile and agressive on the fencing strip. Remember, women are no better or worse, we just fence and play sports differently. Please refer to my last blog post for explanation.

This should be a great opportunity to get prepared for the upcoming World Championships. I am really excited to see everyone and fence some difficult bouts before heading off to Torino. This is it folks, we are coming down to the wire.