S.P.I vs Garden International School

Okay, so you all probably want to know what happened at the Fencing tournament on Saturday. Well, bad news, SPI lost (got second place). Good news, the best Fencer was from SPI, and our fledgling fencer actually beat one of their trained fencers! But I was humbled and taught an important lesson too.

So, in the morning (6 a.m.!!) I get a call on my phone. The SPI fencers are eating breakfast in some shop. Marcus and Wei Loong call and want me to come. I tried refusing a couple of times, but they were persistent. Believe it or not, they were willing to drive all the way from SPI right up to Rasah Kemayan to pick me up from my house, just because I am one of SPI's best fencers! How does one refuse in such a situation? So they all came to my house in one van, at 6a.m. in the morning.

Our trip there was uneventful. We arrived there, and split into groups, 3 from SPI and 3 from GI (Garden International). Then we sparred. The game went that the first contestant to score 3 points wins (or the one who scores most points by the time limit). I said a quick prayer, depending on God to see me through the matches with minimal injury.

I was first in line to spar for my group. My first opponent was a girl. I was weary at first, thinking she was good, but, as soon as she made her move, it was evident who was the better fencer (and it was not her!). So I decided to bully her a little. I was really mean. Every time she took a stab at me, I easily parried, and then ether stab back at her arms and legs (so as to prolong the match, and not end it), or whack her with the flat of my blade. One time, she tried a feint, but I saw it coming. I blocked both her feinted stab and her actual stab, and drove the point of my rapier into her mask, knocking her backwards. I finished her off 3-0.

I got big headed. Sirajudding was next after me, and, when he too had a flawless victory (6-0), it added to my overconfidence. Wei Loong The Great (he had only gone for one fencing lesson, yet he was fighting like us seasoned fencers. Hats off to Wei Loong) won his match, taking two hits, placing us at 9-2. Me and Sirajuddin breezed through the next two matches, taking a hit each, leaving us with 15-4. I thought we were invincible. I thought we had this game wrapped up, and at 15-4, victory seemed to be ours. I knowingly pushed God aside, saying I can handle this on my own. And the worst thing was, that I was aware I was pushing God away.

Our luck ran out. We got hammered 16-18. A crushing blow. I was next, and I thought I could handle myself. I was sadly mistaken. Sirajudding after me fared no better. I went in after that, trying to recover, but we took it bad, 24-27.

We were crushed. Having victory snatched from our hands was painful. And, when we saw our next opponents, we had no hope. They were big, huge, collage level students!!

Sirajuddin was up first. He could not score a single point. I went in after him and fared no better. At 0-6, (SPI 0), Wei Loong was devastated. But he fenced like a pro, and managed to score a point.

I knew that something was not right here. We could handle these guys, yet we were loosing. I sat down in the far end of the room, thought for a while, and prayed. I apologized, and asked forgiveness for not putting Him first. I then asked God to take over from here on. I asked Him to let me bring glory to His name in this competition. Then I resumed the game, feeling like the true champion I was.

Sirajuddin was after Wei Loong, but he was not able to score anything. The points stood at 1-12 (SPI 1). Then I went in. God gave me the wisdom to test my other opponent, and not leap straight into battle, as was my style. I found out that he was fast, but his moves were predictable. I knocked his blade to one side, only to have it swing back and knock mine away. I repeated the same move, only this time, when his blade swung back, I disengaged it (so that his counter-parry wont work), and stabbed at the exposed part of his shoulder. I scored a point. My confidence blossomed. I pressed on the attack, slashing, stabbing, feinting, lunging etc. Each time I attacked I scored a point. But time ran out. Still, the scoreboard now read 10-13 (SPI 10).

"$#!t man, 10 points!" shouted Sirajuddin, a stunned grin on his face.
"9" I corrected him.

Wei Loong and Sirajuddin fenced with renewed vigor, scoring a point each. Then Wei Loong and I swapped places, so that he would go before me, and I would play the last match. Wei Loong did not score a single point leaving the points at 12-24. Then it was my turn, and I would be facing off the best, the team captain.

He was weary of me. He had seen the way I had handled his friend. We met in the centre, and, in the blink of an eye, stabbed at me. I parried his blow with equal speed, then took at stab at him, but he had already taken two steps back. I took a step forward, and did a full out lunge. He parried it, and lunged, but I, with lightning quick reflexes, recovered from the lunge, and knocked his blade downwards. Then I extended my arm in a semi-stab. His blade raised a welt in my thigh, and I drove the point of my blade into his mask, making him stagger backwards.

I was running out of tricks. I needed a new one fast. My opponent knew all those common moves, and was prepared for it. So I pulled one very very very (very!) dangerous stunt. I stood my ground and waited for him to attack. That means I am allowing him to plan his attack, and advance. It means that I will be relying on speed alone, to react to him. He advanced, testing me with slight jabs. The he lunged. I parried the blow, and stabbed at him, but he was to far. He tried to parry my stab, but I disengaged him, and when he tried to parry again, I counter disengaged him, took a step forward, and did a full out lunge. He was not prepared for that. I nailed him.

Man, my next move really caught him off guard. As soon as the coach said fence, I covered the distance between us in a matter of seconds, and the next instant, was on his side of the line. He was so shocked at my sudden aggressive attack, that he did not know what to do. I stabbed him, he blocked. I stabbed again, he blocked. I stabbed for the third time, only this time, I dropped my blade in a small circular arc under his blade, so that his parry missed, exposing his shoulder. I drove my blade into his shoulder, earning me another point.

We fenced what must have been the greatest fencing match of my life so far. Lunging, parrying, stabbing etc. By the time we were done, the scoreboard read 20-27. recovering 8 points was no small feat. SPI lost, but on an individual scale, I owned the game! I was crowned best fencer.

I dominated the rest of the matches. Enough said.

But this post is to glorify God. Believe it or not, this really did happen, exactly the way I told it. No exaggerations, nothing. I just witnessed a miracle. No way I could have held out so long on my own against those fencers, who, by the way, have been fencing longer than I have.

This was a humbling experience. I was beaten by those of lesser experience than me when I left out God, but I beat more experienced fencers, when I let God take over. All glory to Him.