And That’s Why We Have Rules in the Game!

I was always the weird kid.

And in 1982, I got to prove how weird I really was. You see, I am one of the few people on this planet, and in this day and age, who can make the claim (and have the scar to prove it) of having been run through with a sword.

Yep, you read it right.

Now, like every kid, I’ve always been thrilled by the heroics of Robin Hood and Zorro. So, when I was in college and had to have a couple of electives in PE, I was pleased that one of the electives was fencing.

 And I took it.

 And I enjoyed it.

And of course, I learned saber fighting, and I know my way around a ninja sword.

Ah, but let’s talk about getting run through.

A friend and I started fencing one afternoon. And I mean, the rules were out the window on this one. We went after each other for well over twenty minutes, and neither one of us had touched the other. Truth be told, had this been an actual match, the match would have been halted we’d have both been disqualified.

Then the match went to hell.

He thrust, and I parried. That’s where things went wrong. He was still thrusting, and the tip of his blade caught the protective bell (the Coquill) on my foil. It tore the rubber tip, the Button, clean off his blade. I had already started a maneuver to disarm him, but his blade was still moving forward, catching me right in the hand. The foil went right between the webbing and muscle where the thumb and the rest of the hand join.

I felt the pain, but was still committed to disarming him and did so.

And suddenly, I’m standing there wondering why his foil is hanging out of my hand. Blood was running down the blade.

I dropped my foil, and like an idiot, pulled his foil from my hand. Blood soaked my glove. I peeled it off to see a square hole in that muscle with blood spurting out of it.

“Ah. I got a problem here,” I said, putting pressure on the wound.

Thirty minutes later, and after an expensive trip to the ER, the wound was cleaned and sutured up.

And I learned that’s why fencing has rules!