First Part of the Trip

     I am currently in Kansas City, Missouri.  There are only a few things that draw me to the South. Those are barbecue, sweet tea, and of course, fencing. So as I said, I am in Kansas City at a national event. Fencing is very weird compared to other sports for many reasons. But one of the biggest reasons has to be the tournament structure. In football, track, or soccer, winning State may be a huge deal. In fencing, its like ehh, go when nationals and then you will be good.  This means that most people assume you are super good when you say you are going to nationals. But, this doesn't always have to be the case.

     Ir is currently 8:30 on Thursday night. Before tournaments, we have to have our gear checked. For those of you who are not aware, fencing gear consists of many wires and circuits that allow us to know when a person hits on target.  The unfortunate part about this system is that it breaks....often.  Before competition, you have to have your gear inspected to make sure everything is working properly. This process doesn't take very long but usually the lines are horrendous. Knowing that tomorrow morning my event starts at 8, I will get there at 7 as to allow time for warming up. If I was going to check gear I would have to go even earlier. So instead, Dean and I decided to try to go tonight before it closes (6:00). Our flight landed at about 4:10, and we left the airport in a Super Shuttle at about 4:45. Believe it or not, we did in fact make it to the venue at 5:55 and I successfully had everything pass. Thank god!

     It is kinda strange how this system works, coaches and students cannot sleep in the same room together if they are of the opposite sex. Being that my coach is a woman, I cannot share a hotel room with her. My teammate Cole has family in Kansas City who have offered to\ let people stay at their house.  Their house is about forty five minutes away from the venus and I do not wanna leave the house at six before I fence. This means I had to get a hotel room near the venue, but couldn’t share a room with Elaine. Conveniently, my friend Marissa and her coach Dean were also going to Kansas City. after a while we decided to have Marissa’ stay with Cole, his family, and Elaine at their friends house while Dean and I shared a room in the city.  This ended up working perfectly because the Marriot we picked was literally three minute walking distance from my hotel room. This, with trust from Dean, allowed me to pretty much go to the venue whenever I wanted.  An come back and shower whenever I wanted also.

          Anyway I am really nervous for tomorrow because I am fencing Cadet. some fencing events are based on age and Cadet is the same as 16 year olds and younger. This is one age group above mine, 14 year olds and younger. These guys will be extremely good and I am proud to be killed by them.

Heres a picture I took on the plane :)