Rotella Destroyer – The Climb #400

Sunday 25^th February 2018

I had a late night last night. I think it boiled down to not wanting to care so much about the result today. People go to Fightcamp or other events and fight with massive hangovers where I will always get an early night and mentally prep. I think I wanted an excuse other than my finger as to why I would perform badly. That or I wanted to stop myself taking the competition too seriously.
As I went to bed I said to myself that if I overslept or work up tired then I would gladly just skip the day. I wasn’t feeling bad about yesterday’s results but the aches and pains in my hand irked me enough that I wouldn’t have been too bothered if I couldn’t have made it.
But I woke up after only 2.5 hours sleep and my body did not realise it was tired. So I headed out and drove back to the tournament.
Thankfully the competition was first thing in the morning, which meant I could fight and pretty much leave in time to back back in the afternoon.
I was fighting with sidesword and rotella, a weapon pairing I’ve never fought with, not even just playing around. So I was coming at it completely green. I thought it would be a good test of my natural ability to adapt and learn on the fly.
It was a nice pool, filled with people I already knew which meant that it felt more like sparring than a tournament. Of course, there was some tough competition including an instructor who’d come over from Italy just to teach rotella. But I didn’t do bad.
As I went on, I got lower (thank you, all those squats I do), leaving less places for my opponents to hit. I shield barged a couple of people out the ring (the only expectation I’d put on myself). And I also caused one of the most memorable moments of the entire competition.
I was fighting my friend Stewart and did a lovely cut that went right through his rotella. There was a massive crack and the entire room went silent as everyone turned to see the source of the sound. They then burst into applause at my damage. My friend Sasha just looked at me, beamed and gave me a thumbs up.
I did manage to win one fight, against my friend Sam. We seem to alternate wins every time we fight. There were a few that were pretty close as well, although despite destroying his rotella, Stewart beat me by a healthy 8-3.
I hung around for a little while, walking to the shops with a bunch of swordfighting friends. But the lack of sleep was catching up with me and so I left just after lunch, returning to get in a few hours kip this afternoon.
Despite my bad hand being more active I actually found rotella more fun and less painful… but tournaments impact me in funny ways. I’m running around with testerone for the rest of the day and then end up feeling drained for the next week.
My plan is to take it easy until my next tournament on Saturday. I think I’ll be fit enough to fight, even if I’m not fit enough to train. However, with snow forecast all next week, travelling to the tournament could prove a great challenge than the competition itself.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.