St.Pat's Slash - - The Defining Moment

Winning is fun.
Medals are great.
But that's not what defines the greatest moments in a tournament for me.

Granted, I tend to "show my colors" a bit more than I should in my home club...
...but my greatest desire in a tournament is not to win but to come away with my integrity and character intact.

Sherraine Schalm, Canadian Olympic Epee Fencer, in her book "Running with Swords" says : " Only people who pursue goodness instead of greatness can make adversaries into friends."

Although I am not the best at it my desire truly is to pursue goodness.
Greatness as a bonus wouldn't be too awful though. ;)

So...
I win my semi-final bout and am up for a shot at the gold.

I go over to watch the other two women who are fencing, wondering who my opponent will be.
One is a 19 year old and the other a lady in her 50's.
One older than me and the other young enough to be my daughter.

It's a close bout but goes to the young lady. 15 - 14.
The shake hands but then the older woman turns around and slams her mask into the floor.
The young lady who won looked like she felt guilty.
It was a rough moment.

After a 10 minute break she and I go onto the piste to see who will end up with gold.
Off we go and at 14-14 the time runs out.
The Director flips a coin and she gets the toss (priority), meaning, if I do not get a point she will win the bout.
Ugh. I always hate that.

So, we fence. I have one minute to get this done and I do not succeed.
I lost.

Off come the masks.

We shake hands and with great joy and all sincerity (she fought an amazing bout!!) I look her in the eye and say "it was SUCH a privilege fencing you! Well done."

I didn't think I had done anything impressive, I was just being who I am, but as I said that she dropped her mask, and hugged me.
I just held her for a few moments, reassuring her that it really was ok and she had done well.
She said "thank you"
and we both walked away.

Yes, I didn't get the gold.
But I know I walked away with something way more important that could have never occurred had I won.