Author: Gregory Spahr

Nationals

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Nationals
Nicole Milewski competed in the Y-12 epee today.  She went 1-5 in her pool and lost her first DE.  She finished 72nd out of 83 fencers.

Sky Miller of Mid-South took the 8th place medal in Y-14 girl’s sabre.  If any other NC people win medals I will let you know on Sunday. 

Hope to see Wilmington people tonight and Jacksonville people tomorrow night.

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

Nationals update

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Nationals update
A good day for both of our fencers.

Robert Thomas, in the Div. III epee, went 3-2 in his pool.  However, there were 4 people who were 3-2 in that pool and Robert came out on top with the best indicators.  He won his first DE pretty handily and then lost the next DE in a close one.  He finished up 47th out of 143.
 
Oliver Galbraith competed in the Div II foil event.  He was 5-1 in his pool , missing going undefeated by one touch.  That made him the number 30 seed in the DE.  He had a bye in the first round, then one by one touch in his first DE.  Oliver won his next DE pretty handily, and then again won by one touch in the waning seconds of his next match.  He then lost to the fencer who ended up in 3rd.  That placed Oliver 13th out of 200, which I think is his best National finish.
Gabe Lima of RTF took the silver medal.
That just leaves us with Nicole doing the Y-12 epee on Thursday.
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

Nationals update

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Nationals update
Through a positively Byzantine labyrinth of unexpected upsets, ties, coin tosses, and people not going; Erica Julien has also qualified for the Vets World Championships in sabre.

Yesterday saw Nicole Milewski in her first Y-14 event.  She went 2-4 in the pool.  Then she pulled an upset 15-14 over a woman ranked about 60 places ahead of her.  She then lost 14-15 to a similarly ranked opponent for the opportunity to get into the top 32.  She finished 62nd out of 149.

Today sees Robert and Oliver in action.  I will keep you updated.  Hopefully we will see most of you this evening.

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 July 3rd

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for July 3rd
CFFA has its first World Championship qualifier, Erica Julien.  Erica took the silver medal in the Vet 70+ women’s epee national championship on Friday.  She came out of the pools ranked in 4th.  She defeated the 5th ranked person, whom she actually lost to at the last NAC, then took out the number 1 seed in the DEs.  She lost in the finals to the highest rated and youngest person there.  This result, plus her second in one of the NACs, puts her on the World Championship veteran’s team which will fence in Germany in October.  Today she took a bronze in the National Championship for Vet women’s 70+ sabre.  She was 5th coming out of pools, and pulled an upset on the number 4 seed, before losing to the first seed.  I don’t think her saber results are good enough to also qualify her for championships in sabre.

Robert Thomas is also at Nationals.  In a very top heavy Vet 40 men’s epee, he defeated an A in his pool.  He made the cut into the DEs, but lost his first DE to the number 5 seed.  Robert has another event and Oliver and Nicole still have their events, so I will keep you updated.

North Carolina is doing pretty well as far as the medals go.  Gillian Litynski, who I believe is a UNC Chapel Hill fencer, took 8th in the women’s Div I sabre and won the women’s Div 1-A sabre.  Carlton Badger of Mid-South, won the Vet 60 men’s sabre and will be on the World Championship team with Erica.  Colleen Gallant of Charlotte took a bronze in the women’s Vet 50 foil and Joel Spielberg of NCFDP took a bronze in the Vet 70+ men’s epee.
In the Vet 40 men’s sabre today, David Minton of Mid-South took 5th and Sean Bates of Queen City won the silver.

I should be back in town for practice Tuesday at 6:30 pm, if the younger ones want to come.  The same for Thursday.  I will be up at Camp Lejeune Friday night and in for practice on Saturday morning.  Thanks to Brendan and Herman for making everything go while I am away.

New Bern is hosting both an E and under epee and an SCA rapier event on July 23rd.  I will be going up.  Light lunch and a potluck dinner around 4-5 pm.  Sign up for the epee is on askfred.  I don’t know about the rapier requirements and sign up.  Only Ed Childs and I have signed up so far so this would be a good event for some new epee fencer to take a shot at.
 
Only had about eight people ask about T-shirts so far.  Many of you who had mentioned it in passing haven’t given me a size or a definite indication of interest.  We need to be closer to the 24 minimum order to make this happen.  So far only one person has expressed a definite interest in a jacket.

Beginner camp July 11-15.  Advanced sabre July 18-22.  Advanced foil July 25-29.  No one has expressed an idea August 1-5, so that may be something or nothing.  Advanced epee August 8-12.
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 July 26

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for July 26
I will be in for practice Tuesday night well before 6:30 pm if any youngsters want to show up.  Then I am going to visit relatives for a few days.  Brendan will be in at 7:30 pm on Thursday.  No Camp Lejeune practice Friday.  I am assuming no one will be in Saturday.  I will be back in time for 6:30 practice on Tuesday the 5th.

Robert, Erica, Oliver, and Nicole are all fencing at Nationals.  Most of the events look tougher than normal.  I will keep people updated as to how they do.  Tuesday will pretty much be their last practice and I am certain they would like a strong turnout for their final preparations.

New Bern is hosting both an E and under epee and an SCA rapier event on July 23rd.  I will be going up.  Light lunch and a potluck dinner around 4-5 pm.  Sign up for the epee is on askfred.  I don’t know about the rapier requirements and sign up.
 
Only had about eight people ask about T-shirts so far.  Many of you who had mentioned it in passing haven’t given me a size or a definite indication of interest.  We need to be closer to the 24 minimum order to make this happen.  So far only one person has expressed a definite interest in a jacket.
Beginner camp July 11-15.  Advanced sabre July 18-22.  Advanced foil July 25-29.  No one has expressed an idea August 1-5, so that may be something or nothing.  Advanced epee August 8-12.
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

practices

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
practices
Just a reminder that we have some people going to Nationals who would like to see some strong competition this Saturday and next week as final preparations for their events.

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 June 19

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for June 19
CFFA had a good day at the Powerade State Games of North Carolina, which were held in Raleigh yesterday.
Nicole Milewski got things started right as she went undefeated in both her pool and DEs to win the gold in the Y-12 mixed epee.  Reaghan Juelke competed in the women’s foil, going 1-4 in her pool and getting stronger as the pool went on.  Unfortunately she lost her 1st DE and finished 10th.
The men’s sabre was the largest event, a B2 with 30 participants.  Alex Hoelscher went 2-2 in his pool, won his first DE and lost his second, finishing 15th.  Erik Graf was 1-3 in his pool, lost his DE and finished 21st.
The epee was a possible A1.  CFFA had 4 fencers competing, 3 of whom made the top 8, with the 4th being an impossibility because two of them ran into each other in the round of 16.  Robert Thomas went 3-2 in his pool, only losing to the two people who finished 1st and 2nd in the end.  Unfortunately, that got him Josh Harvey for his DE.  Robert ended up 12th and received the silver medal for men’s vet epee, only losing to three medalists.  Oliver Galbraith went 3-1 in his pool, won his 1st DE, and then lost a solid bout to Andrew Fullmer, finishing 7th.  Jesse Harvey, was 4-1 in his pool.  He then made everyone else in the room mad by taking our Steve Kmiec in his first DE, dropping the tournament to a B event.  That set up a brother on brother confrontation which Jesse lost, finishing 5th.  Josh was 3-1 in his pool, then knocked out Robert and Jesse before losing to the eventual winner in the semis.  He picked up the bronze medal for his efforts.
Will Golder had a break out performance in the Y-12 foil.  He was 3-1 in his pool.  Then he ground out a workmanlike performance against a 3 foot tall, left handed, energizer bunny.  He then beat the number one seed 15-3 and finished by getting revenge against the fencer who defeated him in the pool, netting him the gold medal.
Samantha Milewski went 5-2 in the women’s epee pool.  She won her first 2 DEs, and lost a close bout in the finals to win the silver for the overall, Junior, and Cadet.  Oliver Galbraith was our only fencer to do two events.  He went 4-1 in his men’s foil pool, won his first DE, then lost the next one.  He ended up with the bronze for the open and Junior divisions.
Congratulations to everyone and thanks to the organizers, armorers, and referees.
Standard week of practice, Tuesday and Thursday, plus Camp Lejeune Friday.  I will be in for Saturday practice as well.
Not a lot of fencing locally for a while.  However, Charlotte is holding a team epee event next Saturday.  The twist is that once everyone who wants to fence shows up, Coach Toomey will put the teams together, trying to balance them rather than allowing the fencers themselves to create a really overwhelming team.
The week of the 27th I will be in Tuesday, but then am taking some time off to visit family.  Someone will be in to open up Thursday.  I’ll give you more details next week.  No Camp Lejeune practice on Friday, July 1.  I will find out if anyone will be in for a Saturday practice on the 2nd.  I intend to be back for the Tuesday, July 5th practice.
People

have been asking about T-shirts and jackets.  The last time we had
shirts done they ran $15 and are the design with the club logo on the
back and the fencer on the front.  The jackets have the club logo on the

back and were $45.  I don’t know if they would be that exact price as it
was a couple of years ago, but that should be a good approximate.  If
you might be interested, let me know what you want and the correct size
so we can get an order together.  So far very few people have contacted
me, even a number of those who had said they wanted shirts and jackets.


Beginner camp is July 11-15.  Spread the word.
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 June 12

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for June 12
CFFA had a number of fencers perform in the Swan Lake ballet on Friday.  I have attached a photo from one of the performances.
This week, practices in Wilmington on Tuesday and Thursday.  Practice on board Camp Lejeune Friday night.
This
summer, I would like to have sessions for the 12 and under set on
Tuesday and Thursday, starting at 6:30 pm.  This will give the fencers of
that age group a chance to keep up with things over the summer.  My beginner class is finished so I can give you more hands
on instructions.    Costs would be $35 per month or the $5 per session
floor fee.
The

Powerade State Games are next Saturday  You can check askfred for
an approximate entry list.  However, the actual entry is done on
pag.ncsports.org under fencing. The event is only about 2 hours away in
Raleigh this year.  Events are split as Y-12, Women’s, and Men’s.  They
give awards within the adult events for cadet, junior, and vet; as well
as the
overall results.  You needed to be registered by the 4th as now the fees have gone up.  Right now I have those entered as the Milewskis, the Harveys, Oliver, Will, Robert, and Reaghan (from askfred).  I am going up to coach, so if I don’t have you listed let me know so I can look for you.  Getting a medal qualifies you for the next State Games of America which will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan next August.  If you medaled last year, you are already qualified.  One difference from previous years (I think) is that medaling in any fencing event qualifies you for all the fencing events.  Robert has the knowledge of who qualified from last year if you have forgotten if you won a medal.


The only people who I have seen on the Nationals entry list are Erica, Robert, Nicole, and Oliver.  If I have missed anyone, let me know so I can help you get ready for the competition (if you want it).  I will actually be going to Indiana to see my mom, so I won’t be at Nationals.

People
have been asking about T-shirts and jackets.  The last time we had
shirts done they ran $15 and are the design with the club logo on the
back and the fencer on the front.  The jackets have the club logo on the
back and were $45.  I don’t know if they would be that exact price as it
was a couple of years ago, but that should be a good approximate.  If
you might be interested, let me know what you want and the correct size
so we can get an order together.  So far very few people have contacted me, even a number of those who had said they wanted shirts and jackets.
Beginner camp is July 11-15.  Spread the word.

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

weather

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
weather
 Just a quick play the weather by ear note.  Most of the forecasts I have seen say that things will be better by this evening, but some say that is when it will be worst.  I will be in (if it gets bad enough that changes, I will let you know), but don’t endanger yourselves.
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