I walked into a bustling room and stopped in my tracks. This is Nationals. I look around and see people running around grabbing gloves , water bottles, helmets , and foils, a sword used in fencing. Blades clanged as people fenced and I thought this would be fun. Nationals is going to be awesome!
We walked to registration talking about how I wasn’t to be nervous
“Honestly Sophie this is just another tournament yes its bigger and more prominent but still a tournament” my mother
“Just do your best” my dad encouraged trying to cheer me up.
My hands were shaking with nervousness. We walk up to registration and we sign me in. as we walk to my designated strips my parents are telling me what I have to do once I get there. I lay down my bag and I get my  uniform on, First I pull on my knickers and fold the ends over my long  white socks. I then lace up my Balestra high top fencing shoes and tug on my extra arm protection or plastron. Then I quickly  My friends Amelia, Bethany, and Claire run up to me “We have to go get warmed up” they exclaim simultaneously as they pull me along. 
We start by running ten laps around the whole tournament which was in a convention center. Then we do stretching and footwork. When we finish warming up my coach finally got there. He gives us a big pep talk while drinking his coffee, before we went out to fence.
“Now Sophie, Amelia, Bethany, and Claire this is your first big tournament; we don’t expect that much from you” he explained with his heavy Russian accent “We understand if you’re nervous, thats normal.” We put on the rest of our gear and walked to our strips or the place we fence on.
My first bout was against a girl about my height whom I had watched her in an earlier bout. She was quick and attacked a lot but always left her side open. All I have to do is step back until she attacks. The director or the guy/lady who starts the bout by testing our blades. When we finished testing each others lame and the director stepped back and yelled “On guard!” I get into my starting position “Ready! Fence!”. We step towards each other and she does lunges right off the bat. I take a parry and riposte (a block and attack).  The girl keeps doing the same thing over and over, all I do is take a few steps back and parry. I finish that bout after winning.
The next girl is in the top tier of fencers here at Nationals. In my mind I give myself a pep talk. Okay Sophie you have got this, she is very aggressive and she keeps her blade pointed to the ground. The director yells, “On guard, Ready, Fence!” Dang this girl is fast, I think as she attacks with great speed. Within a matter of seconds she got her first touch. This girl was way too skilled for me, a beginner. I lose that bout and then all of the rest of the bouts in my pool.
After about thirty minutes, they announce the match-ups for the D.E’s which is where both fencers try to get to 15 points before the other one and who ever get to 15 points first wins. I had to fence a girl shorter than me and who I thought was less skilled than me. I parried too wide and the girl kept getting touches. My legs wouldn’t move- it was like they were stuck in place. There was a break in the fencing so both us fencers could catch our breath. In that time my coach and I started talking about the bout and how I might be able to get touches. “She is straight touching maybe if you step back and take a parry” He suggested.
“But she counter parries automatically” I stuttered breathless. I took one puff of my albuterol or my inhaler.  It was 13-9 the girl was in the lead. The last four touches were within a matter of seconds. The girl scored one touch, after I figured out where she was going to attack and I scored three touches, yet I was not able to catch up to her.
This Nationals was nothing more that a learning experience. My coach congratulated me, and even though I was severely upset I held back my feelings and smiled. Altogether my first Nationals was a success, I hit my goal to come to a nationals and that was all I was hoping for. Though I didn’t come back with the gold. In the end I can back  in the last of the tournament. My next Nationals would be better.