Gregory Spahr | Cape Fear Fencing Association

Noah article

June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Nice article on Noah Garay in the Star News today. It is the “headline” article for the sports section. It is also the featured article in the sports section of starnewsonline.com.

pax tibi,

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 8

June 8, 2014June 8, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

The Star News dropped by to do an article on Noah Garay fencing in college. They were going to try to get it in this Wednesday.

Had a good women’s epee practice Saturday morning.

This
week is summer hours. Practice Tuesday and
Thursday, I will be in about 5 as it looks like that works out better for some of the younger fencers.. Camp Lejeune Friday night.

June
14 -15 is the Dave Crevar Memorial up in Raleigh. Y12 and Y-14 events
plus Open foil and epee and a C and under sabre. The last event to warm
up before State Games or Nationals (or both), depending on where you are going. Check askfred for the details. Saturday’s epee needs a B and a few more bodies to be a B1.

We have the option of doing a Saturday 10 am practice or me going up to help fencers at the Crevar. Let me know what people prefer so I can plan.

I have a demonstration lined up at Giggles at 1 pm on Thursday, June 19th. If you might be available to help, please let me know.

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. You have to sign up at ncsports.org, before the rates jump on June 14. An approximate who is coming is on askfred.net. The Y-12s all look like they will have at least 6 fencers, The women’s events should all be Es, in the case of foil, a pretty wicked E. The epee is a B1 and should make it to a B2. The foil and sabre should make it to C1s. The games want to borrow some of our equipment that I will need Friday night for Camp Lejeune. I will be heading to Columbus for the Nationals Saturday, so if there is someone going to State games early Saturday or from Lejeune, please let me know so we can get the equipment there.

I’ll be away to nationals from June 21 until July 3 or 4. The club will be open on at least Tuesdays and Thursdays.
I’ll let you know times once I know them. 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

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

mid week update

June 3, 2014June 3, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Some pictures of Emma, Gerrit, Reaghan, and Jason (plus the back of my bald head) in the sports section of the Star-News today. They are on the local/youth page along with the Stab-a-thon results.

The reporter from the Star-News will be down about 7 pm on Thursday to interview Noah. Hopefully we can have some other fencers around then. The beginner class is to the point where people will be trying to pass moves or needing to do some electric fencing, so go ahead and set up some strips and don’t worry about disturbing us.

Also, I have picked up a demo at Giggles, a day school for the younger set, on June 19th at 1 pm for an hour. The address is 6781 Parker Farm Drive, supposedly behind the Harris Teeter near Mayfaire off Military Cutoff. If anybody is available and would like to help, 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 1

June 1, 2014June 1, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

I still haven’t heard about all of the umbrellas that were left Thursday. I will keep them in the office until they get picked up. Also, a ring was turned in at the kid’s event Saturday. It has Thailand marked on the inside, so I don’t think it is extremely valuable, but let me know if you think it is yours.

Yesterday was the final youth event of the
year. Started slowly, but got bigger as the day progressed. We only had 4 foilists – results.

1. Emma Graf

2. Jason Waldyke

3. tie Gerrit Swart and Reaghan Juelke

We had eight in the sabre

1. Reaghan
Juelke

2. Thomas Moore

3. tie Kent Walston and Jason Waldyke

Among those 9 and under Noah Nunez gold and
Oliver Sickles and Avery Walston tied for silver

There were twelve epeeists to end the day.

1. Jason Waldyke

2. Dylan Craig

3. tie Keegan Million and Nicole Milewski

For the 9 and under crowd Sofia Galbraith gold, Lydia Huggins silver, and Walker Rottman bronze.

Jason won the sword for guys and Reaghan won the girl’s sword. Proving you can be a good fencer and a good sport, Reaghan also won the
sportsmanship sword.

The Star News came by during the foil and took some photos. One ended up in the local section today and a number more are at StarNewsonline.com under photos.

This week we are really working under summer hours. Practice Tuesday and Thursday, I will probably be in about 5 if anyone wants some extra work. Camp Lejeune Friday night. Practice Saturday morning at 10 am until ?

June 14 -15 is the Dave Crevar Memorial up in Raleigh. Y12 and Y-14 events plus Open foil and epee and a C and under sabre. The last event to warm up before State Games or Nationals (or both), depending on where you are going. Check askfred for the details.

I’ll be away to nationals from June 21 until July 3 or 4. The club will be open on at least Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’ll let you know times once I know them. 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

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.

It’s come to my attention that there is some teasing and name calling going on. This needs to stop ASAP. Everyone needs to understand that a lot of you have now known each other for five to six years or longer, have a number of shared experiences, and therefore have a comfort level that leads to a lot of teasing. Many of our fencers are much newer, and we may have a number of afterschool and homeschool youngsters attending over the summer, so there will be even more unfamiliar faces. The same level of teasing that you do with long time friends may be uncomfortable or hurtful to people you don’t know so well yet. On the other hand, some newer and younger fencers may try to jump in to fit with the “older cooler” kids. Since you are not as familiar with everyone, you may say something that they would laugh off coming from a long time friend that isn’t as acceptable coming from some one they don’t know.
Thus it backfires and makes you “uncool.” The bottom line is that everyone who comes into fence has to be feel welcome and we cannot have anyone ruining that environment. If someone is making other people uncomfortable, then the club will have to deal with that person.

On a congratulatory note, Noah Garay has been accepted to Cleveland State and is planning to fence on the Viking’s Division I team. Longer term members may
have to correct me, but I think this will make him the first CFFA fencer to go off to compete at the NCAA level in college. Right now, the Star News is planning to do an article on him and may be in Thursday for the interview. If that happens, it would be nice to have a good crowd to show them what the club looks like. I’ll keep you posted.

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 5/24

May 24, 2014May 24, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Large turnout for the Stab-a-thon. We had 29 in epee (a B2) and 23 in foil (a B1), but only 3 in the unrated foil. We had fencers from as far away as Florida and Indiana. If we start drawing these kind of numbers and fencers for events, you are all going to have to practice much harder or you will be the cannon fodder.

Open Epee

1. Bryce Bogert    Unattached
2. Whit Stewart   Knights of Siena
3 tie   Shane Mason    Charlotte Fencing Academy
        Brett Bogert    Unattached

Open
Foil

1. John Crumpler   Unattached
2. Eric Boros   Chapel Hill Fencing Club
3. tie    Brett Bogert   Unattached
    Jason DuPertuis   Mid-South Fencers Club

Unrated Foil

1. Nikhil Shankar    UNC-Chapel Hill Fencing Club
2. Josh White    Salle New bern
3. Brett Silverman Wilmington Fencing Club

Thanks to everyone who helped with running, setting up, and reffing the event.

No afterschool on the 26th since it is Memorial Day. No Wednesday night practice until after Labor Day.

The
last day for this academic year’s afterschool will be Thursday, May
29th. It will be our standard end of year party. We will provide
refreshments, but feel free to bring something if you want to share.

The
last youth event will be that Saturday, the 31st, and we will give the
swords away at that event. Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1 pm, and epee at
3:30 pm. Anyone wanting to volunteer as a referee is appreciated.

June 14-15 is the Dave Crevar Memorial event at Raleigh. Y-12, Y-14, open foil and epee and a Div II sabre.

State
games are expanding to the entire weekend of the 21st -22nd of June
this year. See askfred for the schedule and entry information.
Remember you actually have to enter through the State Games website. Deadline is June 14th.

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

Tournament prep tonight

May 23, 2014May 23, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Herman and Brendan are going to be at the club about 7 pm tonight to do some final quick cleaning and furniture moving for the tournament tomorrow. I am certain they would appreciate any help that might be available.

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 May 18

May 18, 2014May 18, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Spent a good day at Duke at the coaching clinic yesterday. Thanks to Emma Graf who went along as a test subject for the coaches.

Tomorrow, May 19th is the last day
for entries to Nationals before the obscene triple rates kick
in. If you are going to nationals, let me know so I can plan my time there.

Practices for this week, weekend, and next week are a bit unusual due to the Memorial Day.

All should be normal until Friday. Wallace Creek closes early (20 00). We will have practice and classes, but we will just need to pick up a bit early. Probably good to get you all home early anyway since….

May

24th is our Stab-a-thon. Open foil and epee, and an unrated foil
event. The epee looks like it will be a solid B event. The open foil needs one more person to make it a C event. We need two more unrated foilists to crawl out of the woodwork so we can hand out an E for the uinrated event.

Michael
Marx, 8
time
US foil champion and 4 time Olympian (3 in foil and 1 in epee) will be
at the event as part of a clinic he is doing at NBS gym. He will be
coaching and assessing those fencers who are registered for the 3 day
version of the clinic. Cost for the 3 day version of the clinic is
$245,
for the two day version (no assessment or
coaching at our event, just the two day clinic in Raleigh) is $195. A rare opportunity to get coaching from someone at that level if you think you are ready for it.

No afterschool on the 26th since it is Memorial Day.

The
last day for this academic year’s afterschool will be Thursday, May
29th. It will be our standard end of year party. We will provide refreshments, but feel free to bring something if you want to share.

The last youth event will be that Saturday, the 31st, and we will
give the swords away at that event. Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1 pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.

June 14-15 is the Dave Crevar Memorial event at Raleigh. Y-12, Y-14, open foil and epee and a Div II sabre.

State
games are expanding to the entire weekend of the 21st -22nd of June this
year. See askfred for the schedule and entry information. Remember
you actually have to enter through the State Games website.

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