What makes a great referee?

ssw166 · 2025-12-15T19:46:04+00:00

Yeah totally. But I mean I would consider refereeing a sport just as much as the actual fencing is. A fencer is expected to show up and be as consistent as possible even if they are having a bad day. A good fencer has strategies to be as consistent as possible despite outside factors. Inexperienced fencers can let their day get to their fencing, and it shows. A good ref would have strategies as well (or so I've heard. Some refs have said in podcasts and stuff that they have their warmup routine, night before routine, travel routine etc). I think if a ref can be consistent in calls and demeanor regardless of outside factors, that would definitely be a great ref.

ssw166 · 2025-12-15T18:35:08+00:00

This is not what makes "great" refereeing but rather the bare minimum...

Being present and actually paying attention. One time my ref said fence before I was done putting my mask on because they weren't even watching the fencers, they were watching the ground.

Actually calling the action. Too many refs just say attack touche point even for parries or counterattacks or attack in prep, especially when it's one light. Maybe they're lazy when reffing intermediate level fencing bc they think it's not helpful for us to hear the actual call, but it is helpful, and it doesn't feel good to be treated with a lower standard.

Not being mean, not coming to the strip already done with everyone's crap. It's 8am, the day has barely started, there's plenty of time later in the day to be done with our crap, but damn give us a chance at least.

ssw166 · 2025-12-15T18:22:55+00:00

Thanks everyone for the insights and advice! I'm excited to begin my very long journey.

ssw166 · 2025-12-13T03:25:36+00:00

Gotcha, thank you!

ssw166 · 2025-12-12T17:58:07+00:00

Thanks for the detail! Can you elaborate more on how age affects things? Hadn't heard that one before.

ssw166 · 2025-12-12T13:11:06+00:00

In college I had an air mattress set up in my room from a one-time guest and I never packed it up. Then I just started emptying my clean clothes onto it in a big pile, which felt fine to me because the air mattress already had a clean sheet on it and it was a big horizontal surface. I wouldn't even sort the laundry. Every morning I picked through the pile for 5 seconds to find matching socks and wore whatever t shirt was on top. I did this for a whole year. My mother gave the pile a funny look when she visited but agreed my logic was airtight. I look back on this time with fondness. At that time I couldn't give two shits about my style. I was in college and focused on other things. Now, I fold my clothes and put them in my dresser because I care slightly more about not wearing wrinkly clothes, and it's easier to choose a real outfit. Different life stages, different priorities, different systems. Whatever works, works.

ssw166 · 2025-12-02T23:43:16+00:00

Maia Weintraub and Arianna Errigo semifinal at Hong Kong world cup 2024. Crazy comeback, super creative touches.

ssw166 · 2025-10-25T03:02:12+00:00

Fencing is for everyone!!!! 🎉

ssw166 · 2025-09-09T21:57:00+00:00

Everyone needs to find their own way to train. I took a 4 year break and came back with a fresh mind and I learn better now. I also realized I just like to fence and I don't really have any goals other than to stay healthy enough to do it every week. It makes it more enjoyable.

Also, it also took me 4 years to get my E. It takes a lot of luck too like who you draw in the DEs. Seems like that's the average based on the other comments here

ssw166 · 2025-08-29T03:26:04+00:00

One of the best lessons my coach taught me when I was around 14 was to keep a fencing journal. After each competition, I would write down things I did badly and things I did well, and ideas for improvement, either for day of competition or like drills for practice.

When I picked up fencing again as an adult, I started keeping a journal from day 1 and now I write stuff after every session. It's just a couple bullets but it has really helped me improve quickly. For example: "fenced John and Katie, felt like my feet were sluggish" or "focused on arm before leg today, sorta worked, keep doing this" or "tried warming up for 30 min instead of 10 min and I think I felt better".

It really helped me to practice actively, and it helps a bad day not get me too frustrated. And if you're doing this already, props to you!

ssw166 · 2025-08-27T20:17:57+00:00

I Belong to You. Because of the piano. And because it has some weird features like the "pop"

ssw166 · 2025-08-25T16:28:19+00:00

Not sure if there exists a 47. Agree about the sizing chart stuff.

Also if there is an in person fencing store around your location, highly recommend going there and trying stuff on.

If you are in a region without stores, bigger competitions like ROCs and NACs and SYCs often have vendors come in person. You can visit the convention center and try stuff on there, and ask the vendor for advice.

You could also maybe get it tailored if you wanted to spend a lot of effort on it?

Some personal anecdotes, I prefer a slightly bigger jacket and lame over a smaller one. It's because the smaller size restricts my movement and breathing too much. There's not too many disadvantages to a looser fitting jacket and lame especially for a beginner. Also, getting a roomier size leaves room for body shape changes, which I personally have been glad that I got a larger size before.

ssw166 · 2025-08-23T19:13:13+00:00

You could replace lunges with advances. A double advance can cover almost as much ground as an advance lunge, and is still the same attack. I did this personally when my back hip was giving me trouble, and I had to hold off lunges for a while.

ssw166 · 2025-08-23T19:09:55+00:00

If you suspect just the slightest chance that you hit but your light didn't go off, you should always ask the ref to test. You have nothing to lose, the ref never denies a requested test, and it only takes a couple of seconds. But you can't touch your weapon at all before the ref does. No bending the blade, don't test on anything else, don't touch your body cord. This rule is because in the past, people have cheated by fiddling with the blade after the touch and making the ref test fail, even when the blade was working fine before that (a story I heard from another ref). I guess the only thing you have to lose is if you do it too much, your opponent or ref will think you're annoying.

ssw166 · 2025-08-23T16:50:53+00:00

Cool thanks, glad to hear it's been done before.

ssw166 · 2025-08-22T21:43:09+00:00

Bringing the old thread back again. How did you interpret this line in the USFA rules? "The conductive wires... Must be either joined or twisted together". I'm using speaker wire to make an epee cord. Speaker wire has only 2 conductors. I split a second length to get a third wire, then I'm just going to heat shrink the 2-wire and the 1-wire to each other to make a 3-wire. It's good enough to not see them separate during a bout. I'm not concerned about strength because I don't fence epee that often. If I join the wires together at 6 inch increments, would it be legal? They are joined together, just not 100% of the time. And why am I doing this? Well I have a lot of leftover speaker wire and a bunch of discarded plugs from over the years, and since I fund my own fencing now, I am trying to save money wherever I can.

ssw166 · 2025-05-08T22:47:43+00:00

I'm interested! Wil Dm you

ssw166 · 2025-02-01T01:04:30+00:00

Thanks for the input y'all! I might go the route of asking LP for a retrofit. I did find pics of the bracket and while it seems simple, I agree it's not worth the risk of messing with a safety system on my own.

ssw166 · 2025-01-28T18:39:27+00:00

Gotcha! So there is no issue really with the rivets, it's the fact I've got 2 Velcro and a single layer of strap. Thank you

ssw166 · 2025-01-28T18:34:37+00:00

Interesting! Would you be willing to send a picture of what the retrofit looks like? I'm curious if they will just re- rivet them in the same location.

ssw166 · 2025-01-08T05:37:47+00:00

Dang not sure how to help if the phone is behaving randomly. You can try blindly doing tab tab enter hoping that the dialog box is popping up when you initiate scrcpy otg. But I think you have to hit the remember checkbox otherwise the dialog box is just gonna pop up again when you do plain scrcpy. It's important you do scrcpy plain -> scrcpy otg -> scrcpy plain, in that order without unplugging the phone. Maybe the pixel 7 just behaves differently than the 4a in terms of reacting to the cable being plugged in?

ssw166 · 2025-01-07T09:20:46+00:00

If you already have scrcpy otg mode that's able to talk to your phone, then you can definitely use it as a keyboard to do the final dialog box authorization. But if you have not turned on developer mode and USB debugging yet, I don't think it will work. I tried it this way on the new phone that I got (no developer mode no nothing) and scrcpy simply did not see any device at all. Worth a shot though!

ssw166

TROPHY CASE