Author: Gregory Spahr

CFFA update for December 4th

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for December 4th
Results from the NAC in Richmond: On Friday, Erica Julien went 4-3 in her pool and ended up tied for the bronze in Vet 70 Women’s epee.  Joe McLaughlin was 2-4 and ended up 19th in Vet 60 Men’s sabre.  In the Div 1 epee, Ricki Richards was 2-4 and ended up tied for 199th.  Unfortunately that was the highest position eliminated from the DE.  He did defeat Dennis Kraft who finished 13th overall.  On Saturday, in Vet combined sabre, Joe McLaughlin was 2-4 and finished 40th.  Kim Phillips was 5-1 in pools, and finished 9th overall.  Erica Julien competed in Vet Women’s 70 sabre and finished 7th.  Richi Richards, Herman Smith, and Paul Perkins were all in the Div 1-A.  Herman and Paul finished 133rd and 138th respectively and didn’t make the DEs.  Ricki was 3-3 in his pool and lost his 1st DE 14-15, finishing 79th.  Sunday saw Paul Perkins go 2-3 in his pool in Vet 40 epee, including beating the #1 seed.  However he hurt his ankle and dropped his first DE to finish 18th.  In vet 60 epee, Herman Smith had a strong 4-1 round, but pulled a calf muscle.  He still won his first DE and lost the second 8-10 to finish 23rd.  Tomorrow has Captain Phillips in Div 1 sabre and Samantha Milewski in Div 1-A epee.  I will let you know how they do tomorrow.
As I will be with them in Richmond, no afterschool practice tomorrow and no class tomorrow night.  Starting on Tuesday, everything will be back to normal for the rest of the week.
Our next event is on December 10th.  Open foil, open epee, and a D and under sabre.  Please get signed up ASAP.  Paul, Herman, and Brendan all look to be out with injuries, so it makes everything wide open in foil and epee.  We just need to get the bodies to give away ranks.
The 10th is also probably the last day to be able to get an order in for the holidays and make certain we can get it delivered in time.  Talk to Herman or I if needed.

Columbia, SC, has an unusual event on the 11th.  All three weapons as Vet’s combined and Y-12.  More info on askfred for those so inclined.

Saturday, December 17th, is the first official homeschool meet at Oak Ridge.  It starts at 1 pm and I will contact the homeschool team members as it approaches. 

The 17th is also Unrated and U-19 sabre at Mid-South.  The next day has unsanctioned Y-12 and Y-14 events.

RTF is hosting foil and sabre events on the 31st of December to close out the year.
pax vobiscum,
Greg Spahr
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

Equipment at NAC

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Equipment at NAC
Just a reminder that if you want to order equipment that Herman and I can pick up at the NAC (no shipping), let us know by Wednesday night.  The last day to order anything and make certain we can get it here is December 10th (if from Absolute.)

pax vobiscum,
 
Greg Spahr
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

CFFA update for November 24

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 24
No tournaments this weekend and a number of schedule changes so I thought I would send this week’s not a bit early.  No practice tonight.  No practice at Camp Lejeune tomorrow night.  However, we will have a Saturday morning practice at 10 am this Saturday. 
Next week does have the NAC in Richmond.  I will be traveling to Richmond, so Brendan will be taking care of the Thursday night (Dec 1) practice. I haven’t decided whether to have afterschool and weather may play a part, so I will let you know.  No practice at Camp Lejeune Friday.  Please get any equipment purchase requests to Herman or I by Wednesday.
Here is the link to the article that was in My Onslow about the fencing at Camp Lejeune

The NAC sucks up all the air in the fencing universe next weekend.  It extends until late Monday, so no afterschool or class on December 5th.

Our next event is on December 10th.  Open foil, open epee, and a D and under sabre.  Please start getting signed up now.  Very few people have already signed up and I think we have the only big Divisional event between now and the first of the year.  If people get signed up we might get a large number of those looking for something who did not go to the NAC.

Columbia, SC, has an unusual event on the 11th.  All three weapons as Vet’s combined and Y-12.  More info on askfred for those so inclined.

Saturday, December 17th, is the first official homeschool meet at Oak Ridge.  It starts at 1 pm and I will contact the homeschool team members as it approaches. 

The 17th is also Unrated and U-19 sabre at Mid-South.  The next day has unsanctioned Y-12 and Y-14 events.

RTF is hosting foil and sabre events on the 31st of December to close out the year.

pax vobiscum,
 
Greg Spahr
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

Christmas and Hannukah orders

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Christmas and Hannukah orders
Please try to get holiday requests to Herman and I by next Wednesday.  We can pick up the equipment at the NAC if they have the right size, brand, etc.  That would save you shipping costs, plus occasionally they will have specials.  Thanks.

pax vobiscum,
 
Greg Spahr
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

CFFA update for November 20

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 20
The club and adjunct clubs had a good weekend at three different events in two different states. 
At the NCFL meet in Chapel Hill, Foster Willis and Will Golder won all their meets while fencing a person short.  Foster was 10-0 while Will went 10-2.  The New Hanover Women’s A team went 2-2, also being a fencer short.  Reaghan Juelke was 9-1 and Kirin James was 6-5.
On the UNCW front, they swept the top three foil places at a college meet in Greensboro.  Oliver Galbraith won the event, Connor Hebert was second, and Taylor May was 3rd.  They had 8 foilists and one epeeist compete.  Unfortunately, the foilists all tended to run into each other at some point.
On the adult USA Fencing scoreboard, at the Tiger Open in Clemson, South Carolina, Kim Phillips took 6th out of 63 fencers, only losing to the eventual winner.  Ricki Richards came in 15th out of 135.  He missed the top 8 due to a 14-15 loss to Tommy Dietz.
Additionally, there is an article about fencing in Jacksonville in My Onslow magazine.  I don’t know what it says as it hasn’t even shown up as the E-edition yet.
This week of practice will be regular on Monday and Tuesday.  I do plan
to have homeschool practice on Wednesday.  No afterschool or evening
practice/class Wednesday or Thursday.  No practice at Camp Lejeune
Friday.  There will be a Saturday morning practice at 10 am. The NAC participants want to get in as much practice as possible, so please show up and work them hard.

The
following week does have the NAC in Richmond.  I will be traveling to
Richmond, so Brendan will be taking care of the Thursday night (Dec 1)
practice. I haven’t decided whether to have afterschool and weather may
play a part, so I will let you know.  No practice at Camp Lejeune
Friday.

The
NAC sucks up all the air in the fencing universe for that weekend.  It
extends until late Monday, so no afterschool or class on December 5th.

Our
next event is on December 10th.  Open foil, open epee, and a D and
under sabre.  Please start getting signed up now.  Some people have already signed up and I think we have the only big
Divisional event between now and the first of the year.  If people get signed up we might get a large number of those looking for something who did not go to the NAC.
Columbia, SC, has an unusual event on the 11th.  All three weapons as Vet’s combined and Y-12.  More info on askfred for those so inclined.
Saturday, December 17th, is the first official homeschool meet at Oak Ridge.  It starts at 1 pm and I will contact the homeschool team members as it approaches. 
The 17th is also Unrated and U-19 sabre at Mid-South.  The next day has unsanctioned Y-12 and Y-14 events.
RTF is hosting foil and sabre events on the 31st of December to close out the year.

pax vobiscum,

 
Greg Spahr
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

CFFA update for November 13

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 13
We had an excellent tournament yesterday which I hope people enjoyed.  Thanks to Kaitlyn Hall revisiting her foil skills we ended up with a 15 person C1.  The winner was Nahyan Alazazi of the United Arab Emirates, CFFA’s Oliver Galbraith was 2nd.  Mid South took both 3rd places with Emmanuel Kaunitz and Jason Depertuis.  Will Golder of CFFA took 7th and earned his E.  Daniel Kobet of ECU also earned his E.  The epee was an all CFFA final with Oliver defeating Josh Harvey.  Mr. Kobet took one third and Scott Butler took the other.  Josh Puckett of ECU upped his rating to a D and Dylan Vitt of Hoggard and Colson Combs of Apex earned their Es.  In the E and under foil Daniel Kobet confirmed his E rating by winning, Tammy Jackson of Mid-South was second.  Scott Butler and CFFA’s Foster Willis tied for third.  The E and under had 20 people and was the biggest event of the day.  Thanks to Brendan, Herman, Clayton Olson, Donny Zelinski, and Margret Raynor for putting in long days to make it successful.
We are almost upon the holidays, so this will be the last week of regular practice for a while.
November
19th has the next NCFL meet, which will be at Chapel Hill High School. 
We need to start seeing who wants to go, who can drive, etc.  Even if
you didn’t do the first one, you can still do any of the other regular
season events.  I will send out a separate email to those who might be involved.

November
19th is also the Tiger Open at Clemson.  Right now the open epee is an
130+ person A4, the Div 3 epee should be a 80+ person C2, the open foil

is a strong 69 person A2, with the Div 3 foil a 50+ C2,  the open sabre is a 50 person A2, and Div 3 is a 40 person C2.  See askfred for more details.

The week of Thanksgiving will be regular on Monday and Tuesday.  I do plan to have homeschool practice on Wednesday.  No afterschool or evening practice/class Wednesday or Thursday.  No practice at Camp Lejeune Friday.  The question of a Saturday morning practice (especially because of the NAC) has been broached, so I will put the possibility out there.  What do people want?
The following week has the NAC in Richmond.  I will be traveling to Richmond, so Brendan will be taking care of the Thursday night (Dec 1) practice. I haven’t decided whether to have afterschool and weather may play a part, so I will let you know.  No practice at Camp Lejeune Friday.
The NAC sucks up all the air in the fencing universe for the weekend.  It extends until late Monday, so no afterschool or class on December 5th.
Our next event is on December 10th.  Open foil, open epee, and a D and under sabre.  Please start getting signed up now.  Some of the people from yesterday have already signed up and I think we have the only big Divisional event between now and the first of the year.  Even though yesterday’s sign up was better, both the foil and E and under just about doubled in the last week. 

pax vobiscum,

 
Greg Spahr
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

CFFA update for November 6

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 6
We held the NCFL meet yesterday and had 21 total teams turn out.  CFFA had a B team of Harry Shaheen, Will Golder, and Foster Willis.  They went 4-0 for the day.  Individually, Will was 8-0, Foster was 7-0, and Harry was 5-1.  The newly created New Hanover club was represented by a Women’s A team.  Reaghan Juelke and Kirin James fenced one person short, but still went 2-2.  Individually, Reaghan was 7-2 and Kirin was 5-5.  Hoggard had a men’s A team and an epee team.  The men’s team went 1-4, while the epee team won their only match.  Thanks to Jesse Harvey for refereeing and to Herman for help all day.
Samantha Milewski came in 6th in the B event at ECU, re-earning her D.  She beat Steve Kmiec in pools and lost to Michael Edgecomb 14-15 in the DEs, just missing her C by one point.
November’s beginner class will start tomorrow, Monday, the 7th at 6:30 pm.  Otherwise, it should be a regular week of practice.
For Jacksonville on Friday (11th) we will repeat last week’s class.  We had a number of people out for the Marine ball last week and another set will be celebrating Veteran’s day this Friday.  This should get everyone caught up and then we will move ahead on the 18th.

Our
next event will be next Saturday, November 12th.  It has an open epee that will be a B.  Both foil events currently have 8 fencers.  Please get signed up TODAY as there is a National event in Milwaukee that is pulling a lot of the local referees.  A big late surge might make it hard for us to have plenty of help.  Also, St. Mary has asked that no one wear street shoes on their new floor.  Obviously this is more for parents, etc. than fencers; but leaving marks on the floor could affect our ability to use the upstairs.

November
13th will be a homeschool league scrimmage in Winston Salem.  Let me
know if you are interested so we determine if we have enough of a team going to make it possible.  If so, we need to start planning for uniforms and weapons, etc.

November 19th has the next NCFL meet, which will be at Chapel Hill High SChool.  We need to start seeing who wants to go, who can drive, etc.  Even if you didn’t do the first one, you can still do any of the other regular season events.

November
19th is also the Tiger Open at Clemson.  Right now the open epee is an 117 person A4, the Div 3 epee should be a 50 person event, the open foil
is a strong 60 person B2, and the open sabre just needs an A to be an A2.
pax vobiscum,
 
Greg Spahr
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

CFFA update for October 31

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 31
We
had three fencers go to Durham to attempt to qualify for the Junior
Olympics which will be held in Kansas City on President’s day weekend. 
They all qualified the hard way, meaning they all had to win a fence off
for the 3rd and final qualifying place.  Oliver Galbraith qualified in
both Junior (13-19) men’s foil and epee.  Samantha Milewski qualified in
junior women’s epee.  Will Golder qualified in Cadet (13-16) men’s
foil.

Also yesterday, Ricki Richards placed 13th out of a 43 person A2 in Williamsburg, VA.

This
week will begin the next afterschool beginner class.  The next
homeschool session for both the now non beginners, more advanced
fencers, and a new beginner class will begin on this Wednesday, the 2nd
of November.

November
1st is when I have to have rosters in for our homeschool league team. 
Last reminder to get me your interest and info some I can put in a
roster.

We
will be hosting the first NCFL meet of the season on November 5th. 
This tends to be a huge event and we can use help.  It looks like there
will be 5-6 men’s and women’s foil teams, 2-3 epee teams, and 3-6 B
division teams.  It starts at 10 am, so if you want to help referee,
etc., please arrive no later than 9:45 am.  I don’t think it will be a
long day with the numbers, if we can keep things moving.  Thanks.

For
adults who want to compete rather than help referee, etc.,  ECU is
having their fall event on the 5th.  It has foil, epee, and a C and
under epee.  The foil might become an E, the open epee a B, and the C and under epee a C.

November’s beginner class will start on Monday, the 7th.

Our
next event will be November 12th.  It has an open epee that is well on
its way to being a B.  The open foil might get to a C and the E and under foil should at least be an E event.  Get signed up.

November
13th will be a homeschool league scrimmage in Winston Salem.  Let me
know if you are interested so we can start making uniform and travel
plans.

November 19th has the next NCFL meet, which I believe will be at Chapel Hill.

November
19th is also the Tiger Open at Clemson.  Right now the open epee is an
86 person A4, the Div 3 epee should be a 50 person event, the open foil
is a strong B2, but the sabre events are currently weaker.

The
following people are whom I see as entered for the December NAC in
Richmond,  If I missed someone, let me know so I can be there for you. 
Joe Mc, Erica, Ricki, Herman, Paul, Kim, and Samantha.

pax vobiscum,

 
Greg Spahr
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

CFFA update for October 23

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 23
We held the second youth event of the year yesterday.  Just about 2nd verse same as the first.  In the 12 and under foil it was: 1st  Nicole Milewski  CFFA, 2nd  Don Evans   CFFA, 3rd  (tie)  Jaden Scott    CFFA  & Rayne Schoonmaker  CFFA.  For the 9 and under foil the results were: Gold   Lexi Williams   CFFA, Silver  Luke Martin   Salle New Bern, Bronze  Everett Martin  Salle New Bern.  We only had one sabre fencer show up so there was no sabre competition.  For the 12 and under epee the results were 1st   Nicole Milewski  CFFA, and 2nd  Cooper Sells   CFFA.  Thanks to Kyler Schoonmaker and Samantha Milewski for the refereeing help.

Here are the top people for the current sword points:

Boys                                                        Girls
Evans, Don    19                                        Milewski    27
Scott            17                                       Williams     13
Martin, Luke   12                                       Campbell     3
Schoonmaker  10                                       Huggins      2
Maroules          7                                      Grooman     2
Kundrat           6
Evans, Joseph   5

Practice should be back to normal this week.  We will need to get the overheads back up Tuesday.  Practice at Camp Lejeune Friday.
The
JO qualifiers are now up on askfred.  They will be next weekend and the location has been changed to Kestrel Heights High School.  The actual event is in Kansas City next year on
President’s Day weekend.  Not real close, but not too far away.  Today is the entry deadline before fees go up.  Right now only Oliver, Will, and
Samantha are entered.  The junior events are on Saturday and the cadet
events are on Sunday.  If you qualify for the junior event and are
eligible for the cadet, you are automatically qualified and do not have
to fence Sunday.  Most of our 13-19 year old fencers should be going
just for the experience.  Most
of the events are really small.
The 29th is an adult event in Williamsburg,  Their epee is shaping up as an A2.

The week of October 31st will begin the next afterschool class.  The next homeschool session will begin on the 2nd of November.

November 1st is when I have to have rosters in for our homeschool league team. No one has told me they are definitely in yet.

We
will be hosting the first NCFL meet of the season on November 5th. 
This tends to be a huge event and we can use help.  The A division is
comprised of official high school teams or clubs and will have divisions
for men’s foil, women’s foil, and mixed epee this year.  The B division
has junior high and up fencers and they compete as mixed foil teams. 
It can be B teams from the high schools, junior high teams, or fencers
can compete under a club banner.  Any of our fencers attending a public
school (junior high and up) can compete.  Let me know if you need gear
as everyone must compete in a complete uniform.  I am assuming a local team from Hoggard and a New Hanover women’s foil team.

For
adults who want to compete rather than help referee, etc.,  ECU is
having their fall event on the 5th.  It has foil, epee, and a C and
under epee.  Very few people are signed up.

November’s beginner class will start on Monday, the 7th.

Our
next event will be November 12th.  It has an open epee that is well on
its way to being a B.  The open foil only has two fencers.  The E and
under foil has 0.  To all the foil people, this is the day you
should be fencing.  You can come in and do foil in the morning in what
could be a large event like our last one, or at the very least do the E
and under where no one will be an absolute dominant fencer.  If we can
get 15 people, with 4 of them being Es, someone will earn a D.  At the
very least 6 people lets someone earn/re-earn an E.

November
13th will be a homeschool league scrimmage in Winston Salem.  Let me
know if you are interested so we can start making uniform and travel
plans.
The following people are whom I see as entered for the December NAC in Richmond,  If I missed someone, let me know so I can be there for you.  Joe Mc, Erica, Ricki, Herman, Paul, Kim, and Samantha.

pax vobiscum,

 
Greg Spahr
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

Last Day to enter December NAC

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Last Day to enter December NAC
Today is the last day to get entered into the December NAC in Richmond, December 2-5, before the triple fees kick in.  It has:

Div 1   must be a C or better  (Just epee & sabre, no Div I foil)
Div 1-A  anyone can enter
Vets combined   all over 40
Vets aged  40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+

Please let me know if you are entered so I can plan.  Thanks.

pax vobiscum,
 
Greg Spahr
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