How to Be Social for Beginners

"Halt! Bout," The referee said, "Salute, shake hands."

3 minutes had passed. I raised my weapon and sliced the air slightly before doing the same to the referee. Doing the salute is a sign of respect towards your opponent and referee. It's like the punching of gloves in boxing. Then I walked towards my opponent with my mask tucked under my right armpit, my right hand grasping my sword and my left hand outstretched in order to shake her hand.

I smiled and said, "Nice fight," she just smiled back.

I turned around and I quickly headed towards my coach. Dropping my things at the nearest chair, I asked him one of the most funniest lines I would ever say in my life, "Sir, did I win?"

At first, he seemed angry at me; his brows furrowed and the slight frown on his face. Then he suddenly smiled and lifted me up in one big swoop, "Congrats! You won gold!"

A few seconds later, he set me down and he said to me, "I'm so proud of you, Phoebe. Wait 'till I tell your parents about this. They'll be so proud of you too!"

I laughed but it was suddenly cut off when someone came up and tapped my coach on the shoulder saying, "Coach Edmund, you're fight is in ten minutes. 'Dun ka raw sa piste 1."

My coach sighed then turned to me. I asked him excitedly, "Sir, can I watch your fight? I wanna see how you fight!"

He laughed at me and nodded before ruffling my hair once more.

I started to follow him and I realized how many people were in this tournament. The piste I fought on was at the very end of the second court. We passed the men's foil who had pistes 11 and 10 and the women's foil who had pistes 9 and 8. Then we went to the main court where piste 1 - 6 were.

When we got inside of the main court, there was so many people. I saw the bleachers were decorated with red, green, blue and yellow. I saw University of the East fencers, La Salle, Ateneo and University of the Sto. Tomas fencers. Though I joined a lot of competitions, I was still at awe at the number of fencers in this court.

"Where's the piste 1? I can't see," I asked him as I stood on my tiptoes.

He laughed and pointed at the piste in front of us. I only managed to say an 'Oh' before he left me and went to sit on one of the benches near the piste. I raced up the flight of stairs and sat in a spot where I would see the whole piste. I placed my things beside me as I saw my coach walking towards the railings.

He grinned cheekily as he leaned against the railings; he said, "Borrow ng head wire mo."

I shook my head in mock disappointment as I got my head wire from my mask. I threw it at him and it hit his face. I laughed at the sight of his face but was cut off by the referee who shouted, "First bout, Edmund Valez and Anthony Lim."

"Go Coach!" I shouted then grinning cheekily and holding up a thumbs up sign when he looked at me.

Both fencers went to the middle of the piste and checked. They both hit their opponent's mask lightly. Both lights in the scoring equipment lit up. After that, they both went back behind the guardline.

"En garde," The referee said as they went into their stance, "Pret. Allez!"

My coach took the priority and quickly advanced towards his opponent. He lunged and successfully touched hit opponent. The score was 1-0 now. Both fencers went back behind the guardline as the referee called them.

"Is he your coach?" I heard someone ask.

The referee called once more, "En garde!" Both fencers went into the stance, "Pret, Allez!" In one second, my coach advanced then lunged and he hit his opponent successfully again.

The referee shouted, "2-0," and I snickered. He didn't even give a second for his opoonent to react. The referee called again, "En garde!" Both got ready, "Pret, Allez!"

Coach Edmund's opponent advanced quickly and lunged but unfortunately, he had a passe because my coach sat down (while still on the on guard stance). As his opponent's blade passed over his head, he touched his chin with the tip of his blade from below. If the sight of that amused me, it would amuse all fencers.

Everyone got over that quickly and the referee said once again, "En garde!"

The person beside tapped my arm and asked, "Is he your coach?"

I turned away from the fight in front of me and faced my seatmate instead. I opened my mouth to say 'Yes' but when I saw his face, I thought I died and went to heaven.