Word: fencers
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...teacher, Nadi insists on strict observance of the punctilio of fencing, even to a show of courtesy toward the judges-for whom Nadi usually has only the most perfunctory respect. In saluting an opponent, a Nadi fencer must hold his mask in his left hand with four fingers on top, look his adversary straight in the eye, bring the blade of his weapon up before his right eye, then sweep it down and to the right. The blade, says Nadi, must whistle through the air, must under no circumstances commit the "frightful discord" of striking the floor...
...favor fencing flatfooted, Nadi makes his pupils raise the left heel in readiness to spring, insists that they practice before a mirror to correct "a jutting posterior." He tolerates no idle questions from pupils during lessons, describes with admiration how a stern old master taught the late great French fencer Kirchhoffer to relax. The master used to put Kirchhoffer on guard, then go away. After several minutes he would return, feel Kirchhoffer's arm, exclaim : "Your arm is tense. You will never be a fencer...
...ambitious fencer can afford to indulge seriously in any other sport...
...When I see a fencer smile under his mask I know he cannot be very good...
What emerged from this tussle with paper and pencil is a startling but not unhandsome combination of a fencer's mask and a Rube Goldberg ashtray...