Americans have been running close to expectations so far in Rio. Alexander Massialas pulled an epic comeback from 8-14 to get to the final four and ended up with a silver medal. Miles Chamley-Watson lost in the first round, Gerek Meinhardt lost closely after one victory. In Women’s sabre Ibtihaj Mohammad lost in the 16. She was rated number 8, the other fencer was number 9; so you would expect a hard fight. Mariel Zagunis also lost in the 16, which was a bit more surprising. Dagmara Wozniack lost her first match. In Men’s epee yesterday Jason Pryor lost 14-15 to the fencer who ended up 4th.
Today is women’s foil with Lee Kiefer having a solid shot at medal and Nzinga Prescod, having a shot, albeit a long one. Tomorrow for men’s sabre sort of the same situation for Darryl Home and Eli Dershwitz. In the team events the three American squads, women’s epee, men’s foil, and women’s sabre are all in the top 6 in the world and all have a shot at a medal.
I will be in about 10 am Saturday for anyone who wants to come in and practice.
For foilists there is a rule change for this season. Foilists only, can no longer reverse your shoulders (move the non weapon shoulder in front of the weapon shoulder) during an action. This becomes a group 1 penalty – yellow card (unless you already have a yellow card) and then red cards thereafter. This is being done because it was hard for referees to tell if foilists were covering target with the off arm during the reversal. That means some of you will need to be careful when infighting and that pretty parry 2 riposte I teach is now not legal.
The Division schedule is out and I am looking at scheduling the first 12 and under tournament for the year. Which date is better for our younger fencers, September 10th or September 24th? Let me know. This event will be for returning fencers only as the new fencers will not be ready yet.
Our fencers who have been attending other camps have been doing very well. Will Golder won the foil tournament at UNC Chapel Hill’s camp against older fencers and Samantha Milewski went undefeated all week at Drew University’s (New Jersey) advanced camp.
Mid South’s Big Blue is staring to flesh out. Sunday’s epee needs one body to be an A2, the sabre is a B1, and the foil needs 4 bodies to become a B.
If you need things for the start of the season, let Herman or I know immediately so we can get it ordered.
A reporter for the Jacksonville paper may be at practice Friday night, so it would be nice to have a big turn out.
US Fencing has initiated a rebate system for the clubs. We will receive $1 for every competitive or non-competitive membership. You do need to make certain that you list CFFA as your #1 club. This only applies to US Fencing member clubs, so UNCW fencers should list CFFA first and UNCW second. You can still compete as UNCW by specifying that at a meet.
pax vobiscum,
Greg Spahr
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association
“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Damon Runyon
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