Author: Gregory Spahr

CFFA update for July 13

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for July 13
Had the meeting for the NCFL yesterday.  The big change is that home school students will no longer be able to fence on the B teams of the NCFL since they have their own league.  It looks like there will be 12 or 13 teams this year.  I have still not heard from Hoggard regarding where they sit with a team.  A small Christian school in Western NC is looking at entering the Western Conference.  The other change is that besides the regular events we are looking at having some “auxiliary” meets which would be dates set aside for strictly women’s teams and epee.  The qualification path to the individual championships is still the same.  You must fence in two of the four regular season events, if you fence as an A fencer, you are automatically
in (even if you only fence in one event as an A fencer), as a B fencer you have to win at least 25% of your bouts.  The maximum number of men in the individuals is capped at 60, the women’s is capped at 36.  If we have more than the cap, the A fencers are automatically in.  The B fencers competing will be based on the number of wins, not %.  We have dates for the meets so you can start planning now.
November 15 or 22  We are waiting to see if the JO qualifiers are either of those two dates.  If they are, we will take the other.  If neither we will take the 22nd.
December 6
January 10
January 31
February 21 Team Championship  (A teams only)
February 28 Individual Championships
Locations have not yet been decided.  However with the current conference set up, we will probably host one of the first four and the other 3 will be in the Chapel Hill/Durham area.  The team event could be anywhere in the state.  The individuals have been held at East Chapel Hill the last few years.
Locally, although I realize it is the summer doldrums; it would be a good week to get into the club.  Connor Costa, a “B” foil fencer who will be attending UNCW, will be down Tuesday and was hoping to stop by the club and fence.  Mike Courchesne,a “C” foil and epee fencer formerly of CFFA and UNCW, will be doing a residency rotation at New Hanover the next couple of weeks.  He spent last week fixing weapons and says to take it easy on him because he is out of practice.  The last time he showed up and said that he re-earned his C in a tournament.  Finally, Donny and the Salle New Bern posse will be down on Saturday morning for practice (about 10 am.)
For Camp Lejeune, no new fencers this session, so that should give us some time to actually work on fencing.  I will work with the epeeists from about 5:30 – 6:30 and foilists from about 6:30 – 7:30.
The beginning fencing camp starts tomorrow.  Still space available if you know anyone interested.  Mon – Friday, 9 am – 5 pm.  I am still looking for anyone who might be able to come in and help with the 3-5 pm hours on the next four Fridays.  If you have keys that is the best, but some one mature enough to lock it all up after the youngsters have been picked up is fine.
Remember that July 31st is the last day of the season for USA Fencing purposes. 
You need to have the $5 non-competitive membership to practice or compete at any level and the
more expensive competitive membership to participate in official USA
Fencing events.  The local kids events we do here are not official USA
Fencing events.  If you do it electronically at the USA Fencing website, please bring me a copy.  Technically, that means that for August 1st, the Friday of the advanced foil camp and that night at Camp Lejeune, you should have a membership to fence.  I will have the forms which you can fill out then as a backup.

The first evening beginner class will start Tuesday, August 19. 
The experiment I tried with beginner class at the first of the year
didn’t work as well as I had hoped, so I am going back to the 6 week,
two night a week model.  Afterschool will start for returning fencers the day after Labor Day and for new beginners on the Monday after Labor Day.  Homeschool classes will start on the Wednesday after Labor Day.

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 Updates and NCFL questions

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA Updates and NCFL questions
It looks like this Saturday the 12th may turn out to be the NCFL annual meeting.  I need to get an idea on who is interested before then.  For those who don’t know or don’t remember, the NCFL is the North Carolina Fencing League.  It has an A and a B Division.  The A division is high school “varsity” teams.  The B division is the high school 2nd, 3rd, etc. teams, and teams put together from clubs like CFFA or clubs plus homeschool fencers. (the homeschool league will have its own meeting later)   That is where those of you not yet in high school can fence, but it will be primarily against high school fencers.  Last year there were 12 High Schools that fielded A teams, so we split into two conferences of 6
teams.  I don’t know how many teams this year, which will be one of my questions.  Generally there are 6 meets.  Four of the meets are team meets, of which we generally host one.  The fifth meet is the State team championship, which only has the the A teams.  The last meet is an individual championship, which usually anyone who has participated in two meets and won at least 20 % of their bouts can go to.  The A teams usually do a round robin of 6.  The B team system has varied according to numbers.  Sometimes it has been a round robin of B teams, C teams, D & E teams, etc.  Sometimes it has been a double elimination.  Usually it has been foil only, but when we have enough epeeists there has been epee.  You would need to have a full uniform, but we can help with that, particularly knickers and plastrons.

So I need answers to these questions from everybody.
Which high school might have teams?  Coastal Christian is in.  Hoggard?  Ashley? Laney?  New Hanover?  Jacksonville?  Lejeune?  New Bern?
If you are interested and don’t know if you have any other foil fencers at your school, let me know that.  We might have enough to put something together.
If you don’t go to a high school with a team (not enough fencers, you are homeschooled, or you are too young) are you interested in the B division?  It has been suggested that we try to put together a couple of “teams” of interested B fencers who would commit to fencing as a B team all season.  Are you interested in that?
Can your parents, or you help with driving?
If there is an epee division, would you be interested?  It would probably be all B teams, no official high school teams.
Feel free to ask questions.
On other fronts, Connor Costa, the B foilist from New Jersey, will be down next Tuesday for UNCW Orientation and may stop by the club.  Having some foil fencers for him to go up against would be good.  Also on the 19th, remember that the New Bern club will be sending some fencers down.
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 6

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for July 6
Things will be getting back to summer normal this week.  Practice Tuesday and Thursday, I will show up around 5 pm if anyone wants some extra time.  A new class starts at Camp Lejeune this Friday night. 

No practice next Saturday morning as someone is using the basement.  That means we will need to take down the overheads Thursday night and put
them back up the following Tuesday.
Camps are coming up.  The beginning fencing camp will be July 14-18, let any non fencers who you think might be interested know.  That will be followed by epee camp, July 21-25, foil camp July 28 – August 1, and saber camp August 4 -8.  I am revamping the camps to reflect some things from the Duke clinic, the Michael Marx clinic, and Nationals.
I will need some help on the Fridays of the camps.  I need to get up to Lejeune for classes there and so need to leave a little after three.  Anyone who can take over the camp for the couple of hours until the campers get picked up and then lock up will be appreciated.  The dates are July 18, 25, August 1, and 8.
Looking to next season, most of the National events are a good distance away.  The closest one is the Junior Olympics, in Richmond in February.  That one will require qualification in November, but is probably what fencers 13-19 should be aiming toward.  Next year’s Nationals are in San Jose, California.
Speaking of next season, remember that July 31st is the last day of the season for USA Fencing purposes.  You need to have the $5
non-competitive membership to practice and the more expensive competitive membership to participate in official USA Fencing events.  The local kids events we do here are not official USA Fencing events.
The first evening beginner class will start Tuesday, August 19.  The experiment I tried with beginner class at the first of the year didn’t work as well as I had hoped, so I am going back to the 6 week, two night a week model.
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 – No practice tonight – Nationals wrap up

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA – No practice tonight – Nationals wrap up
Just in case you were wondering, we won’t have practice tonight.  We were already not going to have practice at Lejeune due to the July 4th holiday.  Still hoping for a Saturday morning at 10 am practice, but obviously use your judgement based on the local conditions.
Will Golder had a realistic first Nationals experience.  He got better as his pool went
on and defeated his last opponent 5-0.  That left him at 1-5.  In his DE he happened to draw someone from his pool and did better against him.  He finished 103rd. 
Sadly, the Milewskis have had a death in the family; so Samantha withdrew from her last couple of events.
All in all I think we had a solid Nationals.  Almost everyone fenced right about as well as they are currently capable.  We had 4 fencers attend their first Nationals, so I have even more people who can explain to everyone else the level of some of the best fencers.  I think at least a couple of them want to up the level of their work and practice so they can do better next year.  Of the four none has fenced more than two years and a couple are closer to about one year of fencing.  It is unfair to ask them to successfully compete against fencers who might have 5-6 (or even 10-12) years of fencing and many competitions at this level.  The good news is that their learning curve can still be pretty steep while the more experienced fencers learning curve levels
off.
Herman ordered some new equipment, but that doesn’t mean go crazy and not take care of things!!!
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

End of June update

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
End of June update
We have had some more people fence at Nationals.  Emma Graf was in the Y-12 foil and went 1-4 in her pool.  The person she beat ended up 14th.  She won her first DE, but lost her second and finished up 121st.
Nicole Milewski went 3-3 for her pool of Y-10 epee, won her first DE and
just lost her 2nd to finish up 24th.  I think she gets National Points for that, so she is rated higher than all the rest of you epeeists.  (Except maybe Erica, who will also have National points)
Big sister Samantha was in the Junior epee today.  As we told her, there were 4 Bs at State Games.  There were 3 Bs in her
pool.  She went 1-5, but took 2 of the Bs to 4-5 and was fencing well.  Unfortunately she just missed the 80% cut and finished 192nd.
Not to pick on Charles Chow, but as a cautionary note for anyone doing these big events; he thought he did so poorly that he wouldn’t make the 80% cut and left the venue.  As it turned out, he got the very last spot in the DEs, but he wasn’t there, so he was black carded.  Never assume…..
On the good news front, it appears that UNCW will be picking up B rated foil fencer in January.  He is coming down from New Jersey to study Marine Biology.  Right handed, pretty good sized guy.  I think her finished about 114 in the Junior foil.  His father is a National armorer.  His name is Connor Costa.
I assume some one
will be in to open up on Tuesday and Thursday.  No Jacksonville practice on July 4th.  July 11th starts the next Camp Lejeune session.
Vassa Falls has some friends from Atlanta coming in for the 4th.  They are fencers who also went to App State.  They want to make certain that we have a good practice on Saturday, July 5th so they can get some strip time.  In the same vein, the New Bern people will be coming down on Saturday, July 19th, so a good
turnout then would be great.

Not really much in the way of tournaments that are close until August, so this is a good time to practice with no pressure and try to perfect new things.
The camps this year are:  Beginning Fencing  July 14 -18
Advanced epee   July 21 – 25  Advanced foil July 28 – August 1  Advanced sabre August 7 – 11
Let me know if you are coming so I can plan the level the
camp needs to be at and give me a T-shirt
size so I can make that order.  Also I will need some help on Fridays to look after the camp so I can head up to Lejeune.  If you could come in about 3 pm on Friday and can lock up at 5 pm, please let me know.

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
We have had two fencers compete since the last update.
Noah Garay fenced the Div III foil and unfortunately had one of those days.  He went 1-4 and lost his first DE finishing 103.
Oliver Galbraith fenced the Div II foil the next day.  He had a pretty tough pool and went 3-3.  He won his first DE with a strong performance against a fencer seeded about
20 spots higher.  He lost his second DE to a fencer who finished 9th and I believe also took out Eric Boros.  He ended up in the 58th spot.
Among the other North Carolinians, Phil Allen took 8th in the Division II epee and Clare Droppleman was 5th in the Division II sabre.
Our next fencers are up on Sunday.
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 23

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for June 23
First, a thanks to everyone who helped with Giggles demo – Eleanor, Nicole, Samantha, Chloe, and Riley.  It might be a few years before we see any of those kids fencing.
Yesterday was the first day of the National Championships in Columbus, Ohio.  We had Erica Julien competing in the
Women’s Vet 60 – 69 epee.  Erica had a good pool.  She went 2-2 with the 2 losses both being 4-5 against two C fencers.  She came out second in the pool and 7th overall.  Unfortunately she drew a very good Vet foil fencer and lost 4-5 in
priority.  She ended up 9th, just missing the medals.
I helped with Ryan Miller from Salle New Bern who was competing in the Div III epee.  He went 4-2 in his pool, won his first DE and lost a close one in his second.  He ended up tied for 41st.
A couple of people from NC earned medals yesterday.  Henri Gales finished 7th in the same event Erica was in.  Tom Bryan took 2nd in the Men’s Vet 40-49 foil and earned his B.
A Number of people competed in the State games over the weekend.  Thanks to Robert for the update on who won medals.  Emma Graf won the silver medal in the mixed Y-12 foil.  In Women’s epee, Samantha Milewski took the bronze.  Emma Filer won the gold for Women’s foil.  It looks like overall our best results were in the
mixed foil.  Oliver Galbraith took the silver for the overall, silver for Junior foil, and Gold for Cadet foil.  Jesse Harvey got the bronzes for the overall and Junior division.  Congratulations to everyone and we can talk about what to do next when I get back.  The full results, but not split into all the other divisions, are up on askfred.
I will be back around the 4th of July.  We still have a number of people competing at Nationals and I will try to keep you updated on their results.  This week, the club will open for practice about 7 pm on Tuesday and 7:30 pm on Thursday.  A number of people are still prepping for Nationals, so a large number of fencers to practice against would be a good thing.
Vassa Falls has some friends from Atlanta coming in for the 4th.  They are fencers who also went to App State.  They want to make certain that we have a
good practice on Saturday, July 5th so they can get some strip time.  In the same vein, the New Bern people will be coming down on Saturday, July 19th, so a good turnout then would be great.
Not really much in the way of tournaments that are close until August, so this is a good time to practice with no pressure and try to perfect new things.
The camps this year are:  Beginning Fencing  July 14 -18
Advanced epee   July 21 – 25  Advanced foil July 28 – August 1  Advanced sabre August 7 – 11
Let me know if you are coming so I can plan the level the
camp needs to be at and give me a T-shirt size so I can make that order.  Also I will need some help on Fridays to look after the camp so I can head up to Lejeune.  If you could come
in about 3 pm on Friday and can lock up at 5 pm, please let me know.
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 16

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for June 16
We had a couple of people compete over the weekend.  Erica Julien competed in The Dave Crevar Memorial in Raleigh and Josh Harvey took 2nd at an epee tournament in Richmond.  Not certain how that event ended up, but it looked to be a B event from the preregistration.

Last week of practice before Nationals and the State Games, so hopefully things will be busy on Tuesday and Thursday night.  I will be in around 5 pm for those looking for a little extra practice.  Hopefully we can finish up with the last couple of beginners this week.

I
have a demonstration lined up at Giggles at 2 pm on Thursday, June
19th.  If you might be available to help, please let me know.  Anyone in any weapon is fine.

Friday will finish up this set of classes at Camp Lejeune.

The
State Games are June 21-22 in Charlotte.  It is expanding to two days
and adding specific women’s events.  There are also Y-12 events and
opens in all weapons.  An approximate who is coming is on askfred.net.
The Y-12s all look like they will have about 6 fencers, The women’s
events should all be Es, in the case of foil, a pretty wicked E.  The
epee is a B2.  The foil and sabre are C1s and foil might become either a C2 or B1.

I’ll be away to Nationals from June 21 until July 3 or 4.  The club will be open on at least Tuesdays and Thursday probably around the usual 7 – &:15 pm time.  Camp Lejeune won’t
meet on
June 27 or July 4 and the new session will begin July 11.

The camps this year are:  Beginning Fencing  July 14
-18
Advanced epee   July 21 – 25  Advanced foil July 28 – August 1  Advanced sabre August 7 – 11
I want to get the T-shirt order in this week, so please let me know who is coming and their size if you haven’t already.  Also I will
need some help on Fridays to look after the camp so I can head up to
Lejeune.  If you could come in about 3 pm on Friday and can lock up at 5
pm, please let me know.

I’ll probably being doing periodic updates once Nationals start.  For those of you who want the fastest information, go to the USA Fencing website usfencing.org, click Events, then click All Results, click Nationals, and then click the event you want to see.  They have the pretty much real-time results at that location.

Here is who we have competing:

Sunday 22nd    Erica Julien   Vet 60 Women’s epee  8 am
Tuesday 24th  Noah Garay   Men’s Div III foil   8 am
Wednesday 25th  Oliver Galbraith  Men’s Div II foil  8 am
Sunday 29th  Emma Graf Y-12 Women’s foil 3:30 pm
                    Nicole Milewski  Y-10 Women’s epee  3:30 pm
Monday 30th  Samantha Milewski  Junior Women’s epee  7 am
Tuesday 1st  Will Golder  Y-10 Men’s foil   2 pm
Wednesday 2nd  Samantha Milewski  Cadet Women’s epee  8 am
Thursday 3rd  Samantha Milewski  Y-14 Women’s epee  7 am
 
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