Author: Gregory Spahr

St. Mary gym floor

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
St. Mary gym floor
St. Mary will be replacing the gym floor upstairs after the end of basketball season in 2016.  The replacement is supposed to last 5-6 weeks, but we will see.  At the moment we are not anticipating any conflicts with the evening or afterschool programs.  I have to find out about the homeschool program.
This is a good thing for us as we hold many of our tournaments upstairs, a good bit of our footwork practice, and the floor is considered by most fencers to be easier on their knees.  Many of the out of town fencers much prefer that our tournaments are held in the gym,  They will be repainting fencing strips on the floor, so the club has promised to help raise money for the renovation.

If anyone wants to donate to the fund, all the donations are tax deductible.  There are a couple of ways to donate.  There is a link that will allow you to donate through Paypal below.  Donations through this site can be done by credit or debit card even if you do not have a Paypal account.  We also have a number of donation envelopes at the club.  Please make certain that your donations are marked noted as coming from a Cape Fear Fencing member.  Donations can be sent in to be on this year’s taxes or timed for next year.  The hope is to have the donations in by the time the actual work starts, so figure a deadline of the end of January.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Herman or me.
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 December 13

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for December 13
In the I need to kick you before I kiss you vein:  I’ve said this before and I will continue to reiterate it.  Many, most, almost all of you are showing up too late for our events.  I know one of the advantages of having an event is that you can roll out of bed at 9:05 am for the 9:30 am tournament.  That isn’t good for your fencing or for the club.  Yes, some of you can show up a few minutes before the event starts, still be finishing suiting up on the way to the strip for your first bout, and win it; especially if you get a good first match up.  However, you cannot do that at regional and national events where that first bout might be much tougher.  Yet you have trained yourself do start with no warm up and hope for the best.  For most events you should be there 45 minutes to an hour before the end of registration.  That gives you time to get signed in, do armoring check if necessary, warm up, do a little footwork, do a couple of drills, and maybe do a practice bout or two.  Then you will be ready for your first match. 
For the club, not having people come in at a reasonable time means that we don’t know what our numbers will be until it is too late to try to contact someone if we could use another body.  Yesterday’s foil had 14 fencers and was an E instead of a 15 person C1 and we had no time to bump up the numbers.  The epee was a B1 instead of the B2 we thought it might be.  This also leaves some of our members not knowing whether they will have to refereeing or maybe be free to fence.
In the same line of thought, we do want people to sign up as early as possible on askfred, but only if you are actually planning to show up.  We also can get a bad reputation if askfred looks like we will be hosting a large event and people drive all the way down here for an E rated event.  Last minute things come up, but please contact someone, or learn how to remove yourself from askfred, if your plans change.
That also can negatively impact the club.  When something is sitting at 26-27 fencers with a week to go before the event, we are having to decide how many referees we need to hire.  That is right on the breaking point of needing five referees versus four. It is hard for us to get referees down here, which is why you see so many club members refereeing.  If we hire an out of town referee that we don’t need, that eats into the profits made from the event, which effects quality of trophies, having money to repair equipment, etc.  We have no way to predict what out of town fencers may do, so please help our askfred numbers be as accurate as possible from our end.
 
This will also be more important s we go forward because I am certain you all want to have big enough events to up your rating or at least jump the rating up to a x16 instead of an x15.
In the good news column, we defended our house and won all of yesterday’s events. In the foil Oliver Galbraith took out Jesse Harvey for the gold.  Jack Bess of Apex and Ian Dube of Edge of America Fencing tied for the bronze.  In epee we have a new B, Oliver defeated Jack (who earned his C) in the finals of the Open epee.  Ian took another 3rd along with Stephen Kmiec of ECU.  Robert Thomas of CFFA denied Jack the gold in D and under epee.  Isaac Falaschini of CFFA and Bret Silverman of Wilmington Fencing tied for the bronzes.  Thanks to everyone who helped with reffing, set up and clean up.
This is pretty much the last full week of practice before the holidays.  In Wilmington we will have everything going on except for Wednesday night practice.  Friday night brings the close to this session at Camp Lejeune.
Next Saturday is an NCFL meet at Kestrel Heights.  It looks like we will have at least one team.
There is also a women’s epee and open epee at Charlotte Fencing.  The Open looks like it could become a B.  The fees double as of this evening, so get to askfred if you are interested.  I believe they collect the fee through askfred and the early deadline and subsequent fee hike is their way of dealing with the issues I mentioned above.
Next week I plan on being in for Tuesday night.  Christmas Eve is up to those of you still in town.  I hope to be back in time for practice the next Tuesday, but doubt I will come in for New Year’s Eve.
Donny would like to have a Saturday morning practice on the 2nd of January to get the year started right, so I will be in about 10 am.  Between New Bern, us, and anyone else who wants to show up, it should be a good crowd and fun time.  The potential crew from new Bern includes adults and youth fencers, so no one should feel excluded.
Afterschool will start back up on the 4th of January and the next evening beginner class will start on Tuesday the 5th.  No practice Wednesday night as UNCW won’t be back yet.  Camp Lejeune will start their next session on Friday the 8th.
Saturday the 9th is a homeschool meet.  The 16th is an NCFL meet, with the location as yet to be determined.
The division schedule is out, so I will take a look at next year and decide where to put in some 12 and under events.
The 23rd is our next adult event,  Old Man Winter.  Open foil, Open epee, and Vet epee.  I should have it up on askfred later tonight or tomorrow.  There is also a homeschool meet that day, but I can’t be in two places at once.
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 Monday NAC Results

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA Monday NAC Results
On Monday Brendan McConville fenced the Div II Men’s epee.  He went 3-3 in a pool where the top 5 fencers all finished with 3 wins or better, but no one fencer was undefeated.  That earned him a bye in the first round of DEs.    He then faced another foil fencer, so it was an epee DE that looked like a foil DE with big foils.  Unfortunately, the other fencer was an A foilist.  Brendan finished up 49th.
For the few of you not hooked into the club on facebook, we have a National silver medalist.  This is the best that anyone in the club has ever done.  In the Vet 70 Women’s epee, Erica Julien went 4-2 in her pool.  That made her seeded third for the DEs.  In her first DE she defeated one of the two women who had beaten her in the pool.  In her second DE she defeated the the number two seed.  She lost her final match, which was against Patricia Bedrosian, who A) has about 50 more years of fencing experience than Erica, and B) just finished 2nd in the Veteran World Championships in October.  If she can achieve similar solid finishes in the other NAC and the National Championships, this puts Erica in line for a place on the US veteran’s team that would compete in Germany next October.

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 December 5

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for December 5
Results so far from the Baltimore NAC:  On Friday Joe McLaughlin went 2-4 in his pool for Vet 60 sabre, won his 1st DE, and finished 15th in the field.  That was the highest placing by an unrated fencer.  Herman Smith went 1-4 in the Vet combined epee, lost his DE to an A, and finished 78th.  Connor Costa of UNCW was 2-3 in his pool and finished 95th in the Div I foil, which I believe was the highest placing of anyone with NC ties.  On Saturday, Joe had a long day with the youngsters in the  Div II sabre, but did have a close DE with the number 18 seed.  Erica Julien fenced the Vet combined, won her first DE, and then lost to the number 1 seed.  On Sunday Joe finished out his week in the combined Vet sabre with a loss to the number 5 seed in his DE.  Erica beat the only B in the field for the Div II epee 5-2 in her pool, but lost her 1st DE and finished 77th.  Samantha Milewski started slowly in her pool, but tied her first DE up on a last second (and I truly mean literally last second) fleche and then won in priority.  She then beat the number 9 seed in the table before losing to the B and finished in 32nd in the Div II.  Erica and Brendan McConville have events tomorrow and I will update you on their results.
No afterschool on Monday December 7th as I will still be in Baltimore.  Tuesday and Thursday will have regular practices all day.  Wednesday will have regular homeschool and afterschool practices, but no evening practice as the UNCW students are doing finals.  We will have practice at Camp Lejeune this Friday.

Get signed up for our next adult event on December 12th.  The open epee is a solid B and could become an A with another A and a couple of bodies.  The D and under epee needs a number of bodies to become a D rated event.  The foil has the ranks to be a C event, but needs more fencers.  Harry, Emma, Connor, and Nora; where are you?

Afterschool practice will end up on the 17th for the year.

The next NCFL event is December 19th.  It has been moved to Kestrel Heights.  So far it is Reaghan and Will.

Charlotte has women’s and open epee on the 19th.

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

Encore article

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Encore article
We have a nice article in today’s Encore by Gwenyfar Rohler.  You can access it electronically at encorepub.com.  The click on News & Views, then Live Local.
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 28

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 28
Had a few people come in for Saturday practice and I think they all had a good time.  Gwenyfar Rohler came in Tuesday and I think we will have an article about us in Encore in the next week or two.
I
will
be away with our fencers at the NAC December 4-7.  Right now I am still
planning to have afterschool practice on Thursday.  There will
be Thursday night practice, but I won’t be there.  No Friday night
practice at Camp Lejeune.  I haven’t heard anything about a practice on Saturday, but if that changes, I will let you know.
This will be the last week that UNCW will be in for the semester.

Herman
Smith, Joe McLaughlin, Erica Julien, Samantha Milewski, and Brendan
McConville are the fencers I see on the NAC entry lists.  If I am
missing anyone, let me know.
Herman and I will both be heading to Baltimore on Thursday night, so we will need orders for the month by Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.  The good news is that most of the big vendors will be at Baltimore, so we maybe able to save people a few dollars on shipping.

No afterschool on Monday December 7th as I will still be in Baltimore.

I know it is a ways away, but start getting signed up for our next adult
event on December 12th.  There were people at JOs who were interested, but are waiting to see where the numbers end up.  Open epee looks solid, and the D and under is adding a few more people.  Foil needs to get a bunch more people.  Right now it is 4 Cs and a D.  A number of the lower rated foilists need to get signed up. It is called paying your dues.  You need to get the experience of fencing the better fencers in pressure situations.


Afterschool practice will end up on the 17th for the year.

The next NCFL event is December 19th.  It has been moved to Kestrel Heights.  So far it is Reaghan and Will.

Charlotte has women’s and open epee on the 19th.

Some
fencers from other clubs at the JOs were wondering if we would be
holding any day long fencing camps over the semester break.  Is there
any interest in that?  It would probably need to be Monday or Tuesday of
the week before Christmas or Tuesday or Wednesday of the week after. I am leaning against it as I have only had one positive response.

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 23

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 23
We had a few fencers go up to the JO qualifiers in Durham this weekend.  Before the results, there has been a new rule/interpretation of a rule according to Donny Zelinski.  He learned of this by reffing the KC NAC.  In sabre, any start before the command to fence will be an immediate Group 1 yellow card under the disobeying the ref rule.  (Hear that Lara Bergeron?)  For foil and epee, the first violation by either competitor will trigger a warning to both competitors, and subsequent violations will trigger the cards.
In the never give up, never surrender vein; Connor McCormick lost all of his pool bouts, but then won 3 straight DEs to end up against Charles Chow in the final of the Junior men’s foil and finish 2nd.  Oliver Galbraith ran into Charles a round earlier and gave him his only close DE match.  Oliver finished 3rd and they both qualified to Cleveland JOs.  Samatha Milewski finished 3rd in the Junior Women’s epee and qualified for both that and Cadet women’s epee.  Oliver finished 8th in the Junior Men’s epee.  Reaghan Juelke was 6th in Cadet women’s foil.
For
Thanksgiving week practice will be standard for Monday and Tuesday.  There will be practice for the homeschoolers on Wednesday.  No
afterschool or evening practice Wednesday and Thursday.  No practice at
Camp Lejeune Friday.  I can come in for a Saturday morning practice if
there is interest.  Let me know, as of yet no one has really requested it.

Mid-South is holding their annual Black Friday event on the 27th.

The orders for December (Think holiday gifts) will be due by Thursday December 3rd.

I
will
be away with our fencers at the NAC December 4-7.  Right now I am still
planning to have afterschool practice on Thursday, but that may change.  There will
be Thursday night practice, but I won’t be there.  No Friday night
practice at Camp Lejeune.  There may be Saturday morning practice
depending on what the people in town want to do.

Herman
Smith, Joe McLaughlin, Erica Julien, Samantha Milewski, and Brendan
McConville are the fencers I see on the NAC entry lists.  If I am
missing anyone, let me know.

No afterschool on Monday December 7th as I will still be in Baltimore.

I know it is a ways away, but start getting signed up for our next adult
event on December 12th.  There were people at JOs who were interested, but are waiting to see where the numbers end up.

Afterschool practice will end up on the 17th for the year.

The next NCFL event is December 19th.  Start letting me know who is interested.
Charlotte has women’s and open epee on the 19th.
Some fencers from other clubs at the JOs were wondering if we would be holding any day long fencing camps over the semester break.  Is there any interest in that?  It would probably need to be Monday or Tuesday of the week before Christmas or Tuesday or Wednesday of the week after.  Let me know what you think.

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 15

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA Update for November 15
Held a large NCFL meet yesterday.  The conference was 6 coed team A teams and maybe 5-6 B teams last year.  Yesterday we had 6 men’s A teams, 5 women’s A teams, and 7 B teams.  For the men, Coastal Christian came in 1st at 4-1, with the win coming on indicators.  Oliver Galbraith was 15-0.  Mack (It helps if you put last names on the forms) was 9-3.  This was especially impressive as they were a two person team.  Hoggard was 1-5.  In the women’s A Hoggard was 2-2 and was led by Cali Pray at 5-4.  In the B Division a CFFA team of Emma Filer, Reaghan Juelke, and Nicole Milewski went 5-1 and finished 2nd.  Emma was 11-1 and Reaghan went 10-3.  Our other team of Will Golder, Logan Pfeifle, and Harry Shaheen went 4-2 and finished third.  Will was 10-2.  When our two teams went head to head it was probably the largest crowd of people watching a match we have had.  A big thanks to Michael Glapion, Kaitlyn Hall, the Shaheens, Golders, and Juelkes for assisting with set up and clean up.  Also thanks to Michael, the Galbraiths, and Samantha Milewski for refereeing.
Regular practices all this week.
The
21st and 22nd is JOs at Research Triangle Charter School near Durham. 
Saturday is for the junior events and Sunday is for the cadet events. 
If you qualify for the junior event and are young enough to be a cadet
you automatically are qualified for the cadet. The JOs are in Cleveland
over the President’s day weekend in February.  Even for those of you do
not intend
to go to the JOs, these are good events in which to participate.  You do
need to be signed up on askfred by the 20th or the fees double.  Samantha Milewski, Oliver Galbraith, and Reaghan Juelke are our
only fencers I see signed up.
For Thanksgiving week practice will be standard for Monday and Tuesday.  I would like to hold practice for the homeschoolers on Wednesday.  No afterschool or evening practice Wednesday and Thursday.  No practice at Camp Lejeune Friday.  I can come in for a Saturday morning practice if there is interest.  Let me know.

Mid-South is holding their annual Black Friday event on the 27th.
The orders for December (Think holiday gifts) will be due by Thursday December 3rd.

I will
be away with our fencers at the NAC December 4-7.  Right now I am still
planning to have afterschool practice, but that may change.  There will be Thursday night practice, but I won’t be there.  No Friday night practice at Camp Lejeune.  There may be Saturday morning practice depending on what the people in town want to do.
Herman Smith, Joe McLaughlin, Erica Julien, Samantha Milewski, and Brendan McConville are the fencers I see on the NAC entry lists.  If I am missing anyone, let me know.
No afterschool on Monday December 7th as I will still be in Baltimore.

I know it is a ways away, but start getting signed up for our next adult event on December 12th.  Currently we don’t have more than 6 people in any event.

The next NCFL event is December 19th at Chapel Hill High.
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 8

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 8
We had a couple of groups of fencers braving the rain to compete in the western part of the state yesterday.  Phil Nazzaro, Isabelle Artz, and Caroline Artz represented the homeschool fencers in Oak Ridge.  The homeschool fencing league is experimenting with doing the USA Fencing/Olympic relay system.  Our people fence for the Southeastern Homeschool Cardinals, and went up against the FHE (I believe it is Forsythe Homeschool Educators) Hawks, and the Oak Ridge Mustangs.  We lost 22-45 and and 28-44.  However considering the other groups fencers were in the 15-18 agerange and our fencers are in the 15-11 age range they did very well.  Phil made a great comeback in the 9th bout of one match, outscoring his opponent 14-4 before time ran out.
The UNCW fencing club took a number of people to an event at UNC Greensboro.  I am not totally certain of the format, but everyone won at least one bout.  Josh Dubois won 4 matches in his group in foil.  Felix Thibodeau won 3 bouts in his epee pool, won his first DE, and lost the second DE 11-15.
Lots going on this week.  On Tuesday, the Milewski girls will be in for the evening practice and are hoping a lot of epeeists show up.  On Wednesday, the UNCW club will be in, and I think the Hoggard club will be in to learn about electric foil fencing before Saturday’s meet.  On Thursday my one beginner will should be finishing up her class and it would be nice to have some foilists in early for her to fence electrically.  Regular practices everywhere/everywhen else.
The

14th is the first NCFL meet and we will be hosting.  This is a very
large high school foil event and we need all the volunteer referees we
can pull.  A
number of you did this previously and it will be time to give back.  CFFA should field two B teams, plus Hoggard and Coastal Christian.
The men’s and women’s “A” teams are split, so I am not yet certain how
that will affect the number of teams.  “B” teams can still be coed.This
will use the gym and basement and will start at 10 am.  For younger
fencers, this would be a good event to come watch.


The
21st and 22nd is JOs at Research Triangle Charter School near Durham. 
Saturday is for the junior events and Sunday is for the cadet events. 
If you qualify for the junior event and are young enough to be a cadet
you automatically are qualified for the cadet. The JOs are in Cleveland
over the Presidents day weekend in February.  Even for those of you do
not intend
to go to the JOs, these are good events in which to participate.  You do
need to be signed up on askfred by the 20th or the fees double.  Right now Samantha Milewski is still our
only fencer who is signed up.

Mid-South is holding their annual Black Friday event on the 27th.

I will
be away with our fencers at the NAC December 4-7.  I will probably need
someone to open and close on Thursday the 3rd.  Right now I am still
planning to have afterschool practice, but that may change.

I know it is a ways away, but start getting signed up for our next adult event on December 12th.

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