CFFA update for 10/28

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for 10/28

We had a couple of people venture out over the weekend.  Elina Grooman went to a tournament at Mid-South.  She went 1-3 in her pool, but lost her first DE.
Oliver Galbraith was our only entrant in the Tiger Open.  He finished 8th in a 72 person A2 for epee while simultaneously finishing 5th in a 45 person A2 in foil.  He re-earns his foil C for the effort.
Things return to the post Florence normal this week.  We will need to put the overheads back up Tuesday night.
November
1st is the date by which I need to turn in a roster for the homeschool
league.  Right now we have the three Hurricanes from Jacksonville and Schoonmakers and O’Briens from Wilmington.
We
will be holding an NCFL meet on Saturday, November 3.  Right now definitely men’s teams from Hoggard, Orange, and Chapel Hill.  Women’s teams from Ashley, Orange, and Chapel Hill.  Hopefully men’s and women’s A teams from RTF, East Chapel Hill, and Epiphany.  B teams from CFFA and a couple from Chapel Hill.  Hopefully some from Thales and Epiphany.  More CFFA fencers – must be middle school and up are welcome to fence and create more B teams.   As
always, refereeing, armoring, managing help from the club is greatly
appreciated.  Set up and tear down is always helpful.
Richmond is holding a Vet series of events on that date.  The epee looks to become a B.  I doubt the foil and sabre will get over an E.
Remember November 4th is the fall back part of Daylight Savings Time.
November
10th is supposed to be a homeschool league scrimmage.  I will let
you have more information once a location is announced.
November
11th is the Harry Rulnick event in Fayetteville.  It has an open Men’s foil event (currently with 5 fencers) and
Women’s foil event (currently with 2 fencers).  I will be going up to observe and am happy to drive someone if that helps.  Check askfred for more info.
November 14th is the last day to enter the Charlotte NAC at regular rates.  The events are Div 1 (You must be a C to enter), Junior, and Senior Team.  The Div 1 epee events have an unusual format.  You fence Day 1.  If you are still in you fence the rest of the event on Day 2.  If you are knocked out on Day 1, there is basically a loser’s bracket on Day 2.  This is often an A event in itself, so you get more bang for your buck.
Our
next home event is November 17th.  It will have an open foil, an open
epee, and a D and under epee.  Get signed up on askfred now, and it
might start to look more like a Tiger Open. The earlier
it looks like an interesting tournament the more likely it is to draw
more and stronger fencers.
The more likely it is to be a rated
(and a highly rated) event, the more likely it is that the people who
sign up will show up.  On the other hand, don’t sign up if you know you
won’t be coming.  We don’t want a reputation for promising big events
and then not delivering.  If the D and under epee can get at least 4Ds,
(Robert, Kenyatta and two more), and 4 Es (Mike and 3 more), and 25
total fencers; the winner can get a C without having to defeat any Cs.  In any event, all of you epee fencers who participated last Saturday can do another Open and then also have an event where there is no Oliver, no Josh or Jesse, and no Erica and Nicole.  You just have to beat on each other.
The
Division qualifiers for the Junior Olympics have been scheduled for
December 8th and 9th at Research Triangle Fencing.  You must attend, and
do well enough (unless you have qualified at a National event), to be
able to go to the JOs.  The JOs are in Denver over the President’s Day
weekend in February, so I certainly understand if you may not be able
to attend that.  In any case, these are really good events to attend to
see how you stack up against the other fencers your age in the state. 
All of the events are split by gender, so ladies, you do not have to
compete against the guys.  If you are looking for that next step up from
local events, these are excellent events to fence.  Additionally, the
number of qualifiers the Division gets is based on the number of fencers
in the event.  Just by going, you may help other fencers from NC be
able to attend.  We will help with plastrons, knickers, etc as much as
we can.  The two age groups are Juniors (ages 13-19) and Cadets (ages
13-16).  All of the Junior events events are on Saturday, and all of the
Cadet events are on Sunday.  If you qualify by placing high enough in
the Junior event, and you are eligible, you are automatically qualified
for the Cadet.  So do well on Saturday, and be eligible for the Cadet,
and you don’t have to re-qualify on Sunday.  No CFFA fencers are signed up yet.
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 21

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 21

We (finally) had our first event for the season.  An excellent epee turnout as our fencers were 14 of the 21 participants.  Jesse Harvey and Will Golder defended the home turf by ending up in the final, with Jesse coming out on top.  Colson Combs and John Amoroso, both of Apex, tied for 3rd.   Mr. Amoroso returned to fencing after a many year lay off and earned his D.  We could have had many more of our foilists show up.  The open and the D and under were just about exactly the same competitors.  In the open, Alexander Sichitiu of RTF was first, Asa Beale of Apex was second, Jesse and Mary Kolbas of Apex tied for third.  In the D and under foil, Asa moved up one position, and earned his E by winning.  Mary also moved up one position.  Victoria Schmidt of RTF and Jeremy Wang of Apex tied for third.  Thanks to Kathy Walters for observing and Brendan McConville and Stephen Pashby for refereeing.  Thanks to all of you who pitched in with the set up and tear down.  I know this was the first event or an early event in your fencing careers for a number of you.  The grapevine says that you enjoyed it.  We have a number of people in the club, but could use new blood in a lot of our “support” positions.  It gets old for Brendan and I showing up an hour and a half to two hours ahead to set everything up and then being the last people out after cleaning up.  It doesn’t matter what your talents are, there are probably ways we can use the help.  Having other people who can referee, help run the events, armor, and do other behind the scenes things goes a long way to making the events run more smoothly, and that attracts more fencers from outside our club, which makes our events even more fun.  Talk to Brendan or me if you might be interested in learning some new auxiliary fencing skills.
Friday,
October 26th is St. Mary’s Fall Festival.  We will shut down on
Wednesday and Thursday of this week so that our space can become the
haunted house for that event.  We will pull down the overheads after
practice on Tuesday the 23rd and put them back up on Tuesday the 30th.  Also, there seems to be a weird tradition for this club that I would like to see broken.  It usually happens that the first practice after a club event has very low turnout.  You would think that people would want to get back in and start working on their deficiencies or trying out new things they learned that Saturday. 
There should be practice at Topsail Middle this Friday and will definitely be practice at Camp Lejeune.  If Pender County changes their minds about school, please let me know.
The other way to get more people to come to our events is to go to their events.  This has the added benefit of fencing new people, not having the pressure of organizing the event, and by being the unknown person, doing well because no one has seen how you fence.  Here are some events coming up soon.
October
27th has the Tiger Open at Clemson.  This is a large regional event.  As of today, the epee is a 50+ person A2, the foil is an even stronger (8 As) about 50 person A2.  The sabre is a B2, but just needs two Bs to become an A event.  (Hint, hint Kim) The D and under events are either or will end up being C2s.  Check askfred.net
for more info.
If you prefer to travel North, Williamsburg has a tournament with a B2 epee that needs one A to be an A, a C1 foil, and an E sabre.

Closer to home, Apex
is holding a number of unsanctioned events that date.  Unsanctioned means that you cannot earn a rating, but it doesn’t mean that the fencing will be any less difficult.  There are a couple of
aged events and adult Women’s foil, Men’s foil, and Mixed epee.  Almost all the fencers are Us so it is a good event for those without a lot of experience who are looking for an event without As and Bs, etc.  Check askfred.net for details.

November
1st is the date by which I need to turn in a roster for the homeschool
league.  Right now we have the three Hurricanes from Jacksonville and Schoonmakers and O’Briens from Wilmington.
We
will be holding an NCFL meet on Saturday, November 3.  With all that is
going on I am not certain what the number of teams and levels will be. 
I would guess probably 6-8 A foil teams for both men and women. 
Probably that for foil B teams.  I know a number of our fencers have
been trying to get clubs up and running, but have had their efforts
delayed by Florence.  If we have people who want to fence but don”t have
a team, and you are at least in middle school, we can put together B
teams under the CFFA banner.  You will need a full uniform and we will
help with that as much as we can.  We have at least two fencers interested in that.  Epee fencers also compete as B teams
currently, so we can try to get a team (or more) together for that.  As
always, refereeing, armoring, managing help from the club is greatly
appreciated.
Richmond is holding a Vet series of events on that date.
November 10th is the Harry Rulnick event in Fayetteville.  It has open Men’s and Women’s foil.  Check askfred for more info.  It looks to be a mid-level event somewhere closer to the Apex event than something like a Tiger Open.
November
10th is also supposed to be a homeschool league scrimmage.  I will let
you have more information once a location is announced.
Our next home event is November 17th.  It will have an open foil, an open epee, and a D and under epee.  Get signed up on askfred now, and it might start to look more like a Tiger Open than Saturday.  The earlier it looks like an interesting tournament the more likely it is to draw more and stronger fencers.
The more likely it is to be a rated (and a highly rated) event, the more likely it is that the people who sign up will show up.  On the other hand, don’t sign up if you know you won’t be coming.  We don’t want a reputation for promising big events and then not delivering.  If the D and under epee can get at least 4Ds, (Robert, Kenyatta and two more), and 4 Es (Mike and 3 more), and 25 total fencers; the winner can get a C without having to defeat any Cs.
The Division qualifiers for the Junior Olympics have been scheduled for December 8th and 9th at Research Triangle Fencing.  You must attend, and do well enough (unless you have qualified at a National event), to be able to go to the JOs.  The JOs are in Denver over the President’s Day weekend in February, so I certainly under stand if you may not be able to attend that.  In any case, these are really good events to attend to see how you stack up against the other fencers your age in the state.  All of the events are split by gender, so ladies, you do not have to compete against the guys.  If you are looking for that next step up from local events, these are excellent events to fence.  Additionally, the number of qualifiers the Division gets is based on the number of fencers in the event.  Just by going, you may help other fencers from NC be able to attend.  We will help with plastrons, knickers, etc as much as we can.  The two age groups are Juniors (ages 13-19) and Cadets (ages 13-16).  All of the Junior events events are on Saturday, and all of the Cadet events are on Sunday.  If you qualify by placing high enough in the Junior event, and you are eligible, you are automatically qualified for the Cadet.  So do well on Saturday, and be eligible for the Cadet, and you don’t have to re-qualify on Sunday.
Let me know if there are any questions over all this.
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 14

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 14

We held our first youth event of the season yesterday.  Small turnout, but the first event always is a bit small.  The foil was won by Jackson Jones, with Amelia Alexander coming in second.  A bit of a youth movement, with Lou Lightner and John Alexander tied for third.  Ellery O’Brien won the gold medal for 9 and under foil.  In epee Amelia won, with Eamon O’Brien second and James Russell third.  Eamon won the sabre with sister Ellery taking second.  Thanks to Donny Zelinski for refereeing and Herman Smith and Kenyatta Sanford for armoring.  I don’t quite yet know when the next event will be.  Here are the current sword points:

Boys                                            Girls
Jones                        7                 Alexander, Amelia        9
Alexander, John           5                 O’Brien, Ellery             2
Lightner, Lou               5
Russell                       4
O’Brien, Eamon            4
Willis                         2
For those of you checking on Kim Phillips at NAC, unfortunately his airline connection was cancelled and didn’t make it to Milwaukee.
This week we will try to get closer and closer to normal.  Afterschool should be regular, with evening practice on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights.  Afterschool will still be at 4:30 pm on Wednesday.  Camp Lejeune will meet on Friday night.  Topsail is still saying they will be open Friday, but that is a bit suspect.  I will try to keep up with everyone regarding Friday practices.


My mistake last week, October 17th is the last day for
regular fees if you want to go to the December Cincinnati NAC.  It has
Div I, Div II, and Vet events.  Please let me know if you sign up, so I can plan to be there for you.

Our
new first adult event is scheduled for next Saturday, October 20th.  Open epee, open
foil, and a D and under foil.  Right now still the first large
sanctioned event in the Division since Florence.  Epee is a C1. It would be good to see some Bs and As.  Both foils need bodies to reach anything over an E level.

Friday, October 26th is St. Mary’s Fall Festival.  We will shut down on Wednesday and Thursday of that week so that our space can become the haunted house for that event.  We will pull down the overheads after practice on Tuesday the 23rd and put them back up on Tuesday the 30th.
October
27th has the Tiger Open at Clemson.  This is a large regional event
that usually has all three opens be A level events.  They also have D
and under events that usually end up being C2 level.  Check askfred.net
for more info.

Apex
is also holding a number of unsanctioned events that date.  A couple of
aged events and adult Women’s foil, Men’s foil, and Mixed epee.

November 1st is the date by which I need to turn in a roster for the homeschool league.  We will have at least an A team from Wilmington (for the Southeastern Cardinals) and a Jacksonville team.
We
will be holding an NCFL meet on Saturday, November 3.  With all that is
going on I am not certain what the number of teams and levels will be. 
I would guess probably 6-8 A foil teams for both men and women. 
Probably that for foil B teams.  I know a number of our fencers have
been trying to get clubs up and running, but have had their efforts
delayed by Florence.  If we have people who want to fence but don”t have
a team, and you are at least in middle school, we can put together B
teams under the CFFA banner.  You will need a full uniform and we will
help with that as much as we can.  We have at least one fencer interested in that.  Epee fencers also compete as B teams
currently, so we can try to get a team (or more) together for that.  As
always, refereeing, armoring, managing help from the club is greatly
appreciated.
November 10th is the Harry Rulnick event in Fayetteville.  It has open Men’s and Women’s foil.  Check askfred for more info.
November 10th is also supposed to be a homeschool league scrimmage.  I will let you have more information once a location is announced.
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

tomorrow, other updates for fencing

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
tomorrow, other updates for fencing
The remnants of Michael are supposed to move through the area tomorrow starting around 4 pm tomorrow.  New Hanover schools are already closed.  They are talking gusts into the 50s with possible power outages, more trees uprooted and possible flooding.  Let’s go ahead and cancel afterschool, beginner class, and open fencing for tomorrow.
No problem with classes for today and open fencing tonight.
Pender County schools remain closed, so no fencing Friday.  I will send out a note to the Pender people in a few minutes.
Everything is supposed to move through quickly so I am assuming we will be good for Camp Lejeune Friday night.  I’ll send out a note to you in a few minutes as well.
I am also still planning to have the youth event on Saturday.
If any of these plans change I will contact everyone affected.
On a happier note, Erica Julien fenced yesterday at the World Veteran Championships in Livorno, Italy.  She went 3-3 in her pool, pulled a mild upset in her first DE, but then lost to the eventual silver medalist in the round of 16.  She finished 14th out of 28.  The other Americans finished 10th, 13th, and 23rd.  Considering she has had very little practice in the last month and everything else she has going on, that was terrific.
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 7

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 7

We had a really large turn out for Jacksonville Friday night.  It seems like people are at the point where they want to get some normalcy.

At the Fairfax Challenge yesterday, Nicole Milewski went 5-1 and came out number 1 in her pool.  Unfortunately she dropped a close first DE and finished 17th.  She received some National Points.  She has fenced maybe 2-3 times in the last six weeks, so a good showing.

Herman
(wisely) didn’t send in the order that people were putting together
right before Florence.  If you want or need something get us what you
want by this Wednesday.  That would mean we can get it here by our first
adult event.

Next
week afterschool will get started back.  Topsail should get back into
the swing of things (I will double check with the school).  Homeschool
will continue to meet at 4:30 pm until I know what is up with St. Mary.  Evening beginner classes will continue.  I believe the UNCW fencers will start coming down this Wednesday evening.

On
10/13, I would like to try to have our first 12 and under event for the
season. Foil at 10 am, Epee at 2 pm, sabre at 3:30 pm.  Volunteer help for foil refereeing (and epee/sabre) is welcome.

My mistake last week, October 17th is the last day for
regular fees if you want to go to the December Cincinnati NAC.  It has
Div I, Div II, and Vet events.

Our
new first adult event is scheduled for October 20th.  Open epee, open
foil, and a D and under foil.  Right now still the first large
sanctioned event in the Division since Florence.  Need a few more bodies and some higher ranks to get all the events rated above an E.

October 27th has the Tiger Open at Clemson.  This is a large regional event that usually has all three opens be A level events.  They also have D and under events that usually end up being C2 level.  Check askfred.net for more info.

Apex is also holding a number of unsanctioned events that date.  A couple of aged events and adult Women’s foil, Men’s foil, and Mixed epee.

We will be holding an NCFL meet on Saturday, November 3.  With all that is going on I am not certain what the number of teams and levels will be.  I would guess probably 6-8 A foil teams for both men and women.  Probably that for foil B teams.  I know a number of our fencers have been trying to get clubs up and running, but have had their efforts delayed by Florence.  If we have people who want to fence but don”t have a team, and you are at least in middle school, we can put together B teams under the CFFA banner.  You will need a full uniform and we will help with that as much as we can.  Epee fencers also compete as B teams currently, so we can try to get a team (or more) together for that.  As always, refereeing, armoring, managing help from the club is greatly appreciated.
Homeschoolers are not allowed to compete in the NCFL.  I am supposed to hear from Tammy Reid regarding the homeschool information sometime today and will put out a note to the homeschoolers when I get it.
November 10th is the Harry Rulnick event in Fayetteville.  It has open Men’s and Women’s foil.  Check askfred for more info.
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 5

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 5

A couple of Housekeeping things first.  The Bogerts sent a note to the club hoping that everyone is well.


Herman (wisely) didn’t send in the order that people were putting together right before Florence.  If you want or need something get us what you want by next Wednesday.  That would mean we can get it here by our first adult event.

Fencing will resume at Jacksonville this evening.


Saturday, tomorrow, I’ll be in for practice at 10 am.


Next week afterschool will get started back.  Topsail should get back into the swing of things (I will double check with the school).  Homeschool will continue to meet at 4:30 pm until I know what is up with St. Mary.

On
10/13, I would like to try to have our first 12 and under event for the
season. Foil at 10 am, Epee at 2 pm, sabre at 3:30 pm.

Our
new first adult event is scheduled for October 20th.  Open epee, open
foil, and a D and under foil.  Right now still the first large
sanctioned event in the Division.  8 and 9 already registered for the foil events, 12 in the epee.  Hopefully we can get every event to the pint where it has a solid rating.

October 27th is the last day for regular fees if you want to go to the December Cincinnati NAC.

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 September 28

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for September 28
I want to get this out a bit early as I think I have a handle on what may be happening for the next week or so.
I’ll be in tomorrow at 10 am for practice.  It is Erica’s last practice before she heads to Italy so it would be nice to see a good crowd.
Mid-South has some unsanctioned sabre events and Apex has some unsanctioned foil and epee tomorrow.  Go to askfred.net for more details.
It looks like all of the local schools are still out next week so no afterschool and no Topsail.  Hopefully things will actually restart on the 8th as stated.
I would like to restart the August(!) beginner class on Tuesday at 6:30 pm.  Regular practice at 7:45 pm.
I would like to continue the September beginner class on Wednesday at 6:30 pm.  This is actually only the 2nd class for that session, so if you know anyone who is interested, have them contact me.  I would also like to throw it open to anybody for open fencing at that same time.  UNCW fencers, afterschool, homeschool, regular CFFA people, etc.  Get the rust off, relieve some cabin fever, it’s all good.
I will be sending a separate note to the homeschoolers about some further updates and some questions.
Thursday should be like Tuesday.

If everything goes right we should be able to have practice at Jacksonville next Friday.

Saturday, 10/6, I’ll be in for practice.

Hopefully, everything will be up and running by the 8th.  However, we’ll have to see what decisions school systems make later in the week.

On 10/13, I would like to try to have our first 12 and under event for the season. That should give everyone a week to knock the rust off.
Our new first adult event is scheduled for October 20th.  Open epee, open foil, and a D and under foil.  Right now still the first large sanctioned event in the Division.  Get signed up so we can hopefully get a good turn out.
Please feel free to email if you have questions.
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 9/22

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for 9/22
I hope this finds everyone well and recovering.  I have heard from a number of you and it sounds like just about everyone has incurred some damage, with some being pretty severe.  I totally realize that fencing may be the last thing that many of you will be thinking about for the near future.  We will try to get things back up and running so we will be there when you are ready.  I am actually still out of state, so much of this is predicated on my ability to get back.
The youth event that I had scheduled for the 29th is cancelled.  We will try to get it in sometime in October.
Our next adult event is scheduled for October 20, and has Open epee, Open foil, and D and under foil.  I was very encouraged by the amount of sign ups we had for the event we were supposed to have had last weekend and hopefully that energy can just be transferred to this next one.
I haven’t had a precise update on the condition of the club, but the general gist of what I have heard is that it flooded, but pretty much just like one of our regular flooding incidents.  I am hoping to get things back up and running for the 1st of October.  We won’t officially start the afterschool program back up until St. Mary is back in session.  If school isn’t back in session and you need to keep the kids from going stir crazy, I should be able to open up if people want to get them out of the house for awhile.  I will move payments for September to October and the beginner class will just go until it gets finished.
Homeschool folks can let me know how Wednesday the third looks.  We will just restart that as the second week of the session.
Adult beginner classes will try to pick up that week and just continue until finished.
Topsail Middle school will not restart until they are back in session.  
Camp Lejeune will depend on what I get told by MCCS.
Erica Julien was one of the people hit harder.  She has very little time to get ready for her World Championships in Italy in about three weeks.  If you fence her before she leaves, I would ask that you fence her for what she needs over what you need.  Additionally, and I know this is a small list, if anyone has left handed FIE ready pistol grip epees, let me know.
A couple of things I have heard over the last couple of weeks:
The reinforced mask rule will not trickle down to local events this year.  
They have changed the injury time rule.  You now only get 5 minutes (once the injury is confirmed by medical staff) and once the injury is treated you do not get the rest of the time.
They will be charging non-USA Fencing members for attending NACs and Nationals.  $5 per day or an all tournament pass for $15.  The non-competitive membership does not count.  Children under 10 will be free.  You must present your membership card to get a free tournament pass.
A recent study has shown that over the past five years fencing has been the fastest growing high school sport for boys and the second fastest for girls.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
pax vobiscum,
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 9/22

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for 9/22
I hope this finds everyone well and recovering.  I have heard from a number of you and it sounds like just about everyone has incurred some damage, with some being pretty severe.  I totally realize that fencing may be the last thing that many of you will be thinking about for the near future.  We will try to get things back up and running so we will be there when you are ready.  I am actually still out of state, so much of this is predicated on my ability to get back.
The youth event that I had scheduled for the 29th is cancelled.  We will try to get it in sometime in October.
Our next adult event is scheduled for October 20, and has Open epee, Open foil, and D and under foil.  I was very encouraged by the amount of sign ups we had for the event we were supposed to have had last weekend and hopefully that energy can just be transferred to this next one.
I haven’t had a precise update on the condition of the club, but the general gist of what I have heard is that it flooded, but pretty much just like one of our regular flooding incidents.  I am hoping to get things back up and running for the 1st of October.  We won’t officially start the afterschool program back up until St. Mary is back in session.  If school isn’t back in session and you need to keep the kids from going stir crazy, I should be able to open up if people want to get them out of the house for awhile.  I will move payments for September to October and the beginner class will just go until it gets finished.
Homeschool folks can let me know how Wednesday the third looks.  We will just restart that as the second week of the session.
Adult beginner classes will try to pick up that week and just continue until finished.
Topsail Middle school will not restart until they are back in session.  
Camp Lejeune will depend on what I get told by MCCS.
Erica Julien was one of the people hit harder.  She has very little time to get ready for her World Championships in Italy in about three weeks.  If you fence her before she leaves, I would ask that you fence her for what she needs over what you need.  Additionally, and I know this is a small list, if anyone has left handed FIE ready pistol grip epees, let me know.
A couple of things I have heard over the last couple of weeks:
The reinforced mask rule will not trickle down to local events this year.  
They have changed the injury time rule.  You now only get 5 minutes (once the injury is confirmed by medical staff) and once the injury is treated you do not get the rest of the time.
They will be charging non-USA Fencing members for attending NACs and Nationals.  $5 per day or an all tournament pass for $15.  The non-competitive membership does not count.  Children under 10 will be free.  You must present your membership card to get a free tournament pass.
A recent study has shown that over the past five years fencing has been the fastest growing high school sport for boys and the second fastest for girls.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
pax vobiscum,
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 September 15

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for September 15
I will try to keep this relatively short.  I hope you are all safe and sound.  
No fencing of any kind this week.  Next week looks unlikely.  The tournament on the 22nd has been cancelled.
Kudos to Tim Buckland for his reporting.  It is how I am staying informed.  
I am in the boondocks of Indiana.  It is a few miles to the nearest WIFI.  However I will be checking stuff most days, so if you want to get a general shout out to the other fencers to let them know how you are doing feel free to email me and I will act as a conduit.
I hope to see you all as soon as practical.
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