Woody Cavenaugh

You parents out there must remember with pride that moment when your child first figured out how to tie their own shoes. Perhaps the moment of pride was when your child finally figured out that urinals in the men's room aren't for pooping. Those of you who have taught school might think with pride on that day when the slow kid finally started to consistantly write their name in the upper right side of the page. Anyone remember that light bulb moment when your parent's finally figured how to work the VCR remote? What about email?

I had one of those glorious moments last night. Like feeding a child sometimes you have to play games to get them to eat their peas, "Here comes Mr. Airplane comming in for a landing". In most cases getting people to make that next brave step in fencing requires a little creativity. That's why I often layer my lessons like an onion. Onions have layers, fencing lessons have layers. Sometimes if you distract the fencer with one layer you can use the distraction to get them through another couple of layers.

Last night this happened. Did I mention that I had one of these glorious moments last night? ;) Every night someone comes away with something. Some nights the best I can hope for is some small step from only one person. Last night everything came together for one person. I almost wept. I'm not saying any names, the fencer in question is a regular reader and to say the name out loud might spoil the magic. Let me say this, distance, tactics, parries, persistance, and point control all took one big step forward. It was like a Rockettes kick line, beautiful and percise.

As rewards go, that was just about as nice as a paycheck.