Coach’s Corner | Cape Fear Fencing Association

update to the CFFA updates

March 24, 2019March 24, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Looking at the driving and parking situations for the Iron Maiden on the 6th, we are doing the following:

We are eliminating the sabre as there was only one entrant. We are moving the foil, which was to begin at 9:30 am to the 3:30 pm spot the sabre was occupying. 5th Street is going to be closed that morning until noon. so getting near the gym would be very difficult. Even when 5th Street becomes open, please expect parking to fill up pretty quickly. Talk to Herman or me if you have questions. We still hope to have a solid tournament.

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 March 24

March 24, 2019March 24, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Sort of like last week, the first part of this will be a public service announcement. PUT YOUR NAMES ON YOUR GEAR!! A lot of you are buying items for yourself or children. When I make a final sweep of the room every night, if I find things, unless it is something pretty unusual, valuable, or I know the owner, I will put the items on the desk in the office. If it is something that looks like it should belong to the club, I don’t always bother to check for a name and just put it back with the club gear. We have Sharpies for this purpose. Usually people put their names on the size tags so it doesn’t bleed through the jacket, knickers, glove, plastron. Masks get tagged on the back tang. Weapons can be marked on the bell pad, or some people put it on the guard under the pad. In ancient times, we used to do color coding of weapons by the color of tape we put on our foils, and some people put the same code on the tang of a mask, or inside the bell of the other weapons. Mine used to be yellow, purple, yellow. In any case have something that delineates an item as yours as we probably only have twenty people who own small right hand brown Absolute gloves, etc.

We had a fun youth event yesterday with a lot of new fencers and people trying other weapons. 18 foilists, 8 epeeists, and 5 sabrists. Occasionally some good fencing broke out. The foil was won by CFFA’s Amelia Alexander over St. Raphael’s Keely Carter. Gaby Caceres of St. Raphael and James Russell of CFFA took the thirds. Everything from there was all CFFA. The 9 and under Gold medal was won by Lou Lightner, silver by John Alexander, and bronze by Noah Droke. Amelia also won the epee with Eamon O’Brien in second. Linus Huggins and Graeme Evans tied for 3rd. John Alexander was 1st in the 9 and under and Ellery O-Brien was second. In the sabre event, Eamon improved one position to win, John fought his way to second. James and Vincent Angel tied for third. Ellery won the gold for 9 and under. Big thank yous to Will Golder, and Eoin and Eilis O’Brien for refereeing help. Thanks to Herman for armoring. Thanks to multiple generations of Alexanders, O’Briens, and Russells for help with set up and tear down. Here are the current sword points for the top 6 people in each gender:

Boys Girls

Eamon O’Brien 29 Amelia Alexander 35

James Russell 27 Keely Carter 17

John Alexander 21 Gaby Caceres 16

Lou Lightner 16 Aparna Dhulipala 14

Graeme Evans 12 Ellery O’Brien 5

Jack Eliezer 12 Lillian Fitzsimmons 4

Pretty regular week of practice this week. Wednesday, March 27th will be the start of the last homeschool beginner class of the year. Friday, March 29th will be the start of the next Camp Lejeune Beginner class.

March
30 and 31 are the NC Divisionals. This is a path to qualify to the
National Championships if you are not already qualified. Times and other info are on askfred. You need to be pre-registered on askfred by 3/28 to avoid double entry fees.

April 1st will be the start of the next Monday/Wednesday beginner evening class.

April
6th is the Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden. Women only events in
foil, epee, and sabre. Our women need to be getting signed up to
attract other fencers. Epeeists have been signing up, but we need to
see more foil and sabre fencers, You need to sign up by 3/30 to avoid higher fees. Right now, we may cancel the sabre due to lack of interest. Additionally, we may have to change some times to avoid the Azalea Festival Parade. I will keep you informed.

April 13th is the next Apex unsanctioned set of events. Check askfred for times and events.

Some of our people are planning to go to the Pirate Olympics in Charleston, South Carolina. A sanctioned open epee with a variety of unsanctioned events. See askfred for more details. Talk to Brendan about ride possibilities.

April 20 (Easter Saturday), and April 27 are currently free from events. I am looking at one of those for the next youth event. Which is better for everyone?

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 March 17

March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Found out that Robert Thomas and Erica Julien went down to South
Carolina to fence in the Catcuda Clash. They both fenced in the mixed
epee. Erica won her first DE and finished around 14th (Robert wasn’t
certain and askfred results are not yet up). Robert made in into the
top 8 at eighth. He then went undefeated in the Div III epee to take
the gold medal. Unfortunately it didn’t have enough bodies or rated
fencers for him to be able to up his rating.

Just
as an aside, this is the second time in two weeks that I have been
“blindsided” by finding out our fencers are going to an event the day
before or afterwards. I don’t have the time to keep tabs on every event
in the eastern half of the U. S. I generally look at the North
Carolina events, bigger regional, and national events. Of course I know
what is up with the various league events. However, not finding out
about these things doesn’t allow me to help prepare fencers for them
(not that Robert and Erica actually need that.) However, younger
fencers going to such things for the first time can use that help and
assistance to make certain they have all the gear they need.

On
the other hand it might have helped Erica and especially Robert, if by
knowing they were going I could have advertised it more in my updates.
It might have been hard to get the ranks down there to have allowed
Robert earn his a C, but a couple of rated fencers would have at least
allowed him to re-earn his D. Plus it sounds like it would be a good
event for a number of our lower rated epeeists to go to. A larger cadre
of our fencers means there is more support for our people at these
events when I can’t go. When our people go places and do well, it also
means that people may look more favorably at coming to our events
because they know the level of competition that will be here.

Bottom line, make certain I know of events that you will be attending with some lead time to help you.

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 March 16

March 16, 2019March 16, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Boys and girls, the word for today is body cord. As in where do all of ours keep disappearing to? I fix some, other people fix some and we started the week with a whole bag of them. The same with mask cords. By Thursday the bag is only about half full and it isn’t like we have a pile of freshly broken ones. I have about 15 foil fencers at Topsail on Fridays and will be having almost 20 at Camp Lejeune. Some of them have their own equipment, but many just finished beginner classes. We can’t waste time having them take off and hand off cords. If we can’t keep a better handle on getting them returned, then we will have to come up with a system, probably something like having you sign them out for practice. Please check your bags and make certain we get the club ones back. I think the Youth event next Saturday will be huge, so we will need all of them.

We held the homeschool individual championships today and provided about half the field. Our best finsiher was Eoin O’Brien who tied for third. Eoin fences for the Southeastern Cardinals. Other Cardinals, all O’Briens, were Eilis in 11th, Eamon in 13th, and Ellery in 15th. We also had four Jacksonville Hurricanes compete. Matthew Burns came in 7th, followed by Noah Snyder 9th, Caleb Forman 10th, and Matthan Droke in 14th. Thanks to Zemi Lawrence for running the event and reffing, William Reid for reffing, and Mile Kinney for armoring.

We had a pair of fencers trek to Apex for the Boys Y10/Y12 foil there. John Alexander took 15th in his tournament outside of our club. Jackson Jones started slow but then got it together, including an upset of the Number 2 seed, to finish tied for 3rd.

This week, the UNCW fencers are back from Spring Break, so there will be practice Wednesday night. On Friday, there will be practice at Topsail, but there is floor refinishing at Wallace Creek, so no practice at Camp Lejeune.

March
23rd will be our next youth event. For those who have not yet done
any of our youth events they are under 12. That means if you were still
12 or under on December 31, 2018, you are eligible. We do all three
weapons. We give away trophies to the top 3 (and ties) finishers.
medals to the top 9 and under finishers (unless they earn a trophy) and
swords to those who earn the most points over the course of the
season.
We have a ton of new fencers so I am be pleading for refereeing help,
especially in foil. Cost is $5 per event. Foil at 10 am, Epee at 1:30
pm, sabre at 3:30 pm.

For
adults, there is an ROC up in Baltimore that has Div 1A, Div II, and Vet
events. You would now be in the late fee period. You have to sign up at the usafencing.org
website under Events.

March 27th will be the start of the last homeschool beginner class of the year.

March 29th will be the start of the next Camp Lejeune Beginner class.

March
30 and 31 are the NC Divisionals. This is a path to qualify to the
National Championships if you are not already qualified. You can
qualify to the Division II (C and under) or Division III (D and under)
championships. There are also qualifiers for Y-14. To qualify you must
finish in the top 3 if there are 12 or fewer fencers, or the top 25% if
there are more than 12. The Division II and III events are fenced as
one event and they remove all the Cs from the results to figure out who
qualifies from Division III. This year’s Nationals are in Columbus,
Ohio, so they are not that far away. Also, the venue and area around
the Columbus venue are pretty good as they have hosted the event a
couple of
times in the last few years. Times and other info are on askfred. The
numbers have been going up, so I would assume that it will be a two day
event.

April 1st will be the start of the next Monday/Wednesday beginner class.

April 13th is the next Apex unsanctioned set of events. Check askfred for times and 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 March 10

March 10, 2019March 10, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Much going on, so to update last week first, Erica Julien took the bronze medal for Women’s epee at Mid-South’s event last week. It was fenced as a mixed event and and the medals were given to the top three women’s finishers.

First, a small but spirited event at the club. Will Golder of CFFA won the foil over Jesse Harvey, likewise one of ours. Bruce McRae and Gabe Guevarra, both of All-American took the thirds. CFFA swept the awards in the epee. Jesse improved one position by defeating brother Josh in the final. Tied for third were Eoin O’Brien and Will Golder. Sabre was cancelled due to lack of interest. Thanks to Will, Jesse, and the O’Brien clan for helping with set up. Many thanks to Mike Nicholson and Paul Perkins for refereeing (I actually got to coach for once.) Thanks to Zemi Lawrence for running things and observing.

A number of our other fencers were in the wilds of Georgia. We have a new C in epee; Kenyatta Sanford took second in a large B2 women’s event in Savannah. Nicole Milewski took one of the 3rds and re-earned her C. Erica was 20th and Christi Golder finished 28th. They then fenced against a bunch of fresh (there was no men’s only event) guys in a huge mixed B2. Nicole was 23rd, Kenyatta 30th, Christi 42nd, and Erica 57th. However Erica was 1 touch away from beating the number 8 seed.

In Atlanta, at an RYC, Amelia Alexander took the 6th place medal in the Y-12 event on Saturday and placed 13th in the Y-14 event today.

UNCW is on Spring Break this week, so unless someone tells me they really want to come in on Wednesday, no evening practice. Everything else should be normal.

On March 16th we will be hosting the Homeschool Individual Championships at 10 am. Anyone wanting to practice some foil refereeing is welcome.

Apex is having an unsanctioned Y10/Y12 Women’s and Men’s foil, and Mixed epee on that date as well.

Mid-South is having youth sabre on the 17th. See askfred for both of these events.

March 22nd will be the start of our next class on board Camp Lejeune.

March 23rd will be our next youth event. For those who have not yet done
any of our youth events they are under 12. That means if you were still
12 or under on December 31, 2018, you are eligible. We do all three
weapons. We give away trophies to the top 3 (and ties) finishers.
medals to the top 9 and under finishers (unless they earn a trophy) and
swords to those who earn the most points over the course of the season.
We have a ton of new fencers so I am be pleading for refereeing help, especially in foil. Cost is $5 per event. Foil at 10 am, Epee at 1:30 pm, sabre at 3:30 pm.

For
adults, there is an ROC up in Baltimore that has Div 1A, Div II, and Vet
events. You would now be in the late fee period. You have to sign up at the usafencing.org
website under Events.

March 27th will be the start of the last homeschool beginner class of the year.

March
30 and 31 are the NC Divisionals. This is a path to qualify to the
National Championships if you are not already qualified. You can
qualify to the Division II (C and under) or Division III (D and under)
championships. There are also qualifiers for Y-14. To qualify you must
finish in the top 3 if there are 12 or fewer fencers, or the top 25% if
there are more than 12. The Division II and III events are fenced as
one event and they remove all the Cs from the results to figure out who
qualifies from Division III. This year’s Nationals are in Columbus,
Ohio, so they are not that far away. Also, the venue and area around
the Columbus venue are pretty good as they have hosted the event a
couple of
times in the last few years. Times and other info are on askfred. The numbers have been going up, so I would assume that it will be a two day event.

April
6th is the Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden. Women only events if
foil, epee, and sabre. Our women need to be getting signed up to
attract other fencers. I know it is a way out, but the women’s epee
in Savannah this weekend had 30 and there is no reason we cannot have
that big of an event. For epee we need to see Erica, Alice, Christi, Summer, and maybe Eilis to sign up. For foil we need the Ashley girls, Chloe, Taylor, and Olivia. For sabre: Erica, Chloe, Elina, and Bea (If swimming is over).

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 March 3rd

March 4, 2019March 4, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

We had two teams competing at the homeschool league team championships yesterday. Unfortunately, neither was at full strength due to injuries and illnesses. The Southeastern Cardinals team of Eoin, Eilis, and Eamon O’Brien went 2-2 defeating Oak Ridge and Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Hurricanes had only Noah Snyder and Caleb Forman. They probably would have won one or more if they had a third fencer, but as it was they went winless.

From Facebook, it looks like Erica Julien won something up at Mid-South, but no results are up on askfred for me to tell you exactly what.

Regular practice this week with the March classes getting started. This Tuesday,
March 5th will start our next evening beginner foil class. The next
beginner class at Topsail will start Friday, March 8th. Remember that Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, so parking may be difficult near the church.

Our
next event, Battle of the Ironclads, is on March 9th The preregistration is over and unless we get a number of additional fencers we will cancel the sabre. Foil and epee are still on.

On March 16th we will be hosting the Homeschool Individual Championships at 10 am.

Apex is having an unsanctioned Y10/Y12 Women’s and Men’s foil, and Mixed epee on that date.

Mid-South is having youth sabre on the 17th. See askfred for both of these events.

Nothing
currently shows up on any schedule for March 23rd, so I would like to
consider having a youth event that day. For those who have not yet done
any of our youth events they are under 12. That means if you were still
12 or under on December 31, 2018, you are eligible. We do all three
weapons. We give away trophies to the top 3 (and ties) finishers.
medals to the top 9 and under finishers (unless they earn a trophy) and
swords to those who earn the most points over the course of the season.
We have a ton of new fencers so I am be pleading for refereeing help, especially in foil. Cost is $5 per event.

For adults, there is a ROC up in Baltimore that has Div 1A, Div II, and Vet events. Monday the 4th is the last day for preregistration so get on it if you are interested. You have to sign up at the usafencing.org website under Events.

March
30 and 31 are the NC Divisionals. This is a path to qualify to the
National Championships if you are not already qualified. You can
qualify to the Division II (C and under) or Division III (D and under)
championships. There are also qualifiers for Y-14. To qualify you must
finish in the top 3 if there are 12 or fewer fencers, or the top 25% if
there are more than 12. The Division II and III events are fenced as
one event and they remove all the Cs from the results to figure out who
qualifies from Division III. This year’s Nationals are in Columbus,
Ohio, so they are not that far away. Also, the venue and area around
the Columbus venue are pretty good as they have hosted the event a
couple of
times in the last few years. Times and other info are on askfred. Keep
an eye on the entries; if they are low numbers it may be rescheduled
into a Saturday only event.

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

March 9 tournament

March 2, 2019March 2, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Remember that you only have until midnight tonight to get registered on askfred at the “early bird” price. After midnight the cost goes up $10 per event. At the moment there are only 10 epee, 11 foil, and 1 sabre fencer.

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 February 24

February 24, 2019February 24, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

First, a big apology for not mentioning the armory work that Mike Kinney, Kenyatta Sanford, and Herman Smith did at our homeschool event last week.

A big day at the NCFL individual championships in Greensboro yesterday. In high school women’s foil

three women from
Ashley competed. Emma Graf went 5-0 in her pool, received a bye for the
first round, won her first DE (against her teammate, Katelyn Guthrie),
but then lost in the round of 8 to the eventual winner. Claire Hommes
had a solid pool round and received a bye for the first DE round, but
lost in the second round. Katelyn Guthrie had a good pool round, won
her first DE, but then lost to Emma. Final results – Emma 7th, Claire
10th, Katelyn 10th. In high school men’s foil two
students from Hoggard competed. Will Golder went 5-0 in the pool round
with a +25 indicator. (Think about it.) He won
through in the DEs to the semifinals, where he lost to the eventual
winner. He then won the 3rd place match. Andrew Whitehead won his
first DE, but lost his second to finish 29th. For middle school women’s foil, all
three women fence under CFFA auspices. Megan Looney lost her first DE
and finished 12th. Chloe Craig came out of the pool round seeded
third. She received a first round bye, then won her first DE, but then
ran into teammate, Amelia Alexander, and lost. She then won her last
match for the bronze medal. Amelia went 5-0 in her pool and was seeded
second in the DEs. She received a first round bye, won her fist match,
then defeated Chloe, and won her next match to earn the gold medal. Finally in high school epee two fencers fought under the CFFA banner. Joey Smith came out of the first round seeded fourth. In
his first DE, he found himself down 1-7 at the end of the first period.
He then staged an epic comeback to tie the match at 13 and then won in
priority. He then fenced teammate,
Nicole Milewski, and lost, but won his final bout to garner the third
place trophy. Nicole came out
of the pool round seeded first. She won her DE bout, then defeated
Joey, and won her last bout to win the first place trophy. Congratulations to all.

Also fencing, but up at Apex, was Jackson Jones. He finished 8th out of 27 after winning his first two DEs.

A standard week of practice this week.

March
2nd is the Homeschool A team Championship at Winston Salem (the Star
of Bethlehem Church). B team fencers will not be fencing.

For
everyone else, Mid-South has their Grand Opening anniversary
tournament. Sabre Men’s and Women’s on Saturday. The men’s should be a B1. The formerly women’s
events in foil and epee have been folded into mixed events in those
weapons on Sunday. Right now foil is a B1 and epee is an A1. Check askfred.

Tuesday, March 4th will start our next evening beginner foil class. The next beginner class at Topsail will start Friday, March 8th.

Our
next event, Battle of the Ironclads, is on March 9th The policy of you
need to be entered
on askfred by a week prior for the regular registration fee will
continue, so you need to be entered by midnight, March 2nd. This tournament will have open foil, epee, and sabre. Most
of our women will be away to a large epee women’s and mixed event in
Georgia, so guys, you need to get signed up soon. Right now the numbers
are so low ( 8 epee, 7 foil, 0 sabre) we may need to consider cancelling it. See askfred for
further details.

On March 16th we will be hosting the Homeschool Individual Championships at 10 am.

Apex is having an unsanctioned Y10/Y12 Women’s and Men’s foil, and Mixed epee on that date.

Nothing
currently shows up on any schedule for March 23rd, so I would like to
consider having a youth event that day. For those who have not yet done
any of our youth events they are under 12. That means if you were still
12 or under on December 31, 2018, you are eligible. We do all three
weapons. We give away trophies to the top 3 (and ties) finishers.
medals to the top 9 and under finishers (unless they earn a trophy) and
swords to those who earn the most points over the course of the season.
If the date stays open, I will get you more info in a couple of weeks.
We have a ton of new fencers so I may be pleading for refereeing help, especially in foil. Cost is $5 per event.

March
30 and 31 are the NC Divisionals. This is a path to qualify to the
National Championships if you are not already qualified. You can
qualify to the Division II (C and under) or Division III (D and under)
championships. There are also qualifiers for Y-14. To qualify you must
finish in the top 3 if there are 12 or fewer fencers, or the top 25% if
there are more than 12. The Division II and III events are fenced as
one event and they remove all the Cs from the results to figure out who
qualifies from Division III. This year’s Nationals are in Columbus,
Ohio, so they are not that far away. Also, the venue and area around
the Columbus venue are pretty good as they have hosted the event a
couple of
times in the last few years. Times and other info are on askfred. Keep
an eye on the entries; if they are low numbers it may be rescheduled
into a Saturday only event.

April
6th is the Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden. Women only events if
foil, epee, and sabre. Our women need to be getting signed up to
attract other fencers,

The
schedule for summer camps looks like it will Be July 8-12, Beginner
Camp; July 15-19, Advanced Foil Camp, July 22-26, Advanced Sabre Camp,
and finally July 29 – August 2, Advanced Epee Camp.

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 February 17th

February 17, 2019February 17, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Yesterday
we held the last of the homeschool regular season meets. The regular A
team of Kyler Schoonmaker, Eoin and Eilis O’Brien started for the
Southeastern Cardinals. Kyler had to withdraw due to a hip injury after
a couple of meets and was replaced by Eamon O’Brien. They went 2-2,
defeating Jacksonville and Oak Ridge. The Jacksonville Hurricanes
(Matthew Burns, Noah Snyder, and Matthan Droke) went 1-3 defeating Oak
Ridge. In the B level, which was fenced as an individual tournament,
Caleb Forman of the Hurricanes came in 1st. Noah Droke, also a
Hurricane,in his first tournament came in 3rd, and Ellery O’Brien of the
Cardinals was 5th.

We will have a new
afterschool class starting on the 18th. I am trying to keep Tu/Th open
for St. Mary students, so M/W will be more for new students. Otherwise
it will be a standard week of practice, including back at Camp Lejeune
Friday night.

February
23rd is the NCFL individual finals at the Simpkins Center in
Greensboro.

Also next Saturday are unsanctioned events in Apex. They are having Y-10/12
Women’s and Men’s foil, Senior Women’s and Men’s foil, and a mixed
Senior epee. Check askfred for more details.

Thirdly on that date is a saber RYC at Mid-South. Details are on askfred, but the actual registration is through usafencing.

March
2nd is the Homeschool A team Championship at Winston Salem (the Star
of Bethlehem Church). B team fencers will not be fencing.

For
everyone else, Mid-South has their Grand Opening anniversary
tournament. Sabre Men’s and Women’s on Saturday. The formerly women’s
events in foil and epee have been folded into mixed events in those
weapons on Sunday. Right now both are B1s. Check askfred.

Our
next event, Battle of the Ironclads, is on March 9th The policy of you
need to be entered
on askfred by a week prior for the regular registration fee will
continue. This tournament will have open foil, epee, and sabre. Most
of our women will be away to a large epee women’s and mixed event in
Georgia, so guys, you need to get signed up soon. Right now the numbers
are so low we may need to consider cancelling it. See askfred for
further details.

On March 16th we will be hosting the Homeschool Individual Championships at 10 am.

Apex is having an unsanctioned Y10/Y12 Women’s and Men’s foil, and Mixed epee on that date.

Nothing
currently shows up on any schedule for March 23rd, so I would like to
consider having a youth event that day. For those who have not yet done
any of our youth events they are under 12. That means if you were still
12 or under on December 31, 2018, you are eligible. We do all three
weapons. We give away trophies to the top 3 (and ties) finishers.
medals to the top 9 and under finishers (unless they earn a trophy) and
swords to those who earn the most points over the course of the season.
If the date stays open, I will get you more info in a couple of weeks.
We have a ton of new fencers so I may be pleading for refereeing help, especially in foil. Cost is $5 per event.

March
30 and 31 are the NC Divisionals. This is a path to qualify to the
National Championships if you are not already qualified. You can
qualify to the Division II (C and under) or Division III (D and under)
championships. There are also qualifiers for Y-14. To qualify you must
finish in the top 3 if there are 12 or fewer fencers, or the top 25% if
there are more than 12. The Division II and III events are fenced as
one event and they remove all the Cs from the results to figure out who
qualifies from Division III. This year’s Nationals are in Columbus,
Ohio, so they are not that far away. Also, the venue and area around
the Columbus venue are pretty good as they have hosted the event a
couple of
times in the last few years. Times and other info are on askfred. Keep
an eye on the entries; if they are low numbers it may be rescheduled
into a Saturday only event.

April
6th is the Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden. Women only events if
foil, epee, and sabre. Our women need to be getting signed up to
attract other fencers,

The
schedule for summer camps looks like it will Be July 8-12, Beginner
Camp; July 15-19, Advanced Foil Camp, July 22-26, Advanced Sabre Camp,
and finally July 29 – August 2, Advanced Epee Camp.

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 February 10th

February 10, 2019February 10, 2019 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

It is February, so those of you who do six month dues, it is time to catch the last half of the year. If you want to save a little money, avoid the hassle of having to remember dues every month, and can do it; CFFA offers a six month membership plan at the price of five months ($175) for the evening classes.

Yesterday we had two teams participate in the NCFL State Team Championships yesterday at Orange High School. Emma Graf and Claire Hommes fenced for Ashley High School. Although a person short they only lost their first match 4-5 and won their second match to finish up 5th in the state. A CFFA epee team of Joey Smith and Nicole Milewski. also a person short, defeated Bishop McGuinness 5-4 to win the state epee championship.

No practice at Camp Lejeune due to the early closure for the holiday. All of the classes/practices should be meeting.

February 16th is the last homeschool regular meet, which will be held here starting at 10 am.

We may have a new afterschool class starting on the 18th, but I have to get some okays from St. Mary. I will keep you posted.

February 23rd is the NCFL individual finals at the Simpkins Center in Greensboro. I received the information last night and have passed it on the those eligible.

Also
on that date are unsanctioned events in Apex. They are having Y-10/12
Women’s and Men’s foil, Senior Women’s and Men’s foil, and a mixed
Senior epee. Check askfred for more details.

Thirdly on that date is a saber RYC at Mid-South. Details are on askfred, but the actual registration is through usafencing.

March 2nd is the Homeschool A team Championship at Winston Salem (the Star of Bethlehem Church). B team fencers will not be fencing.

For
everyone else, Mid-South has their Grand Opening tournament. Men’s and
Women’s events in all three weapons. Women’s sabre had a number of
fencers, but the other two are pretty low at the moment. All the men’s events should be at least B events Check askfred.

Our next event, Battle of the Ironclads, is on March 9th The policy of you need to be entered
on askfred by a week prior for the regular registration fee will continue. This tournament will have open foil, epee, and sabre. Most of our women will be away to a large epee women’s and mixed event in Georgia, so guys, you need to get signed up soon. See askfred for further details.

On March 16th we will be hosting the Homeschool Individual Championships at 10 am.

Apex is having an unsanctioned Y10/Y12 Women’s and Men’s foil, and Mixed epee on that date.

Nothing currently shows up on any schedule for March 23rd, so I would like to consider have a youth event that day. For those who have not yet done any of our youth events they are under 12. That means if you were still 12 or under on December 31, 2018, you are eligible. We do all three weapons. We give away trophies to the top 3 (and ties) finishers. medals to the top 9 and under finishers (unless they earn a trophy) and swords to those who earn the most points over the course of the season. If the date stays open, I will get you more info in a couple of weeks. We have a ton of new fencers so I may be pleading for refereeing help.

March 30 and 31 are the NC Divisionals. This is a path to qualify to the National Championships if you are not already qualified. You can qualify to the Division II (C and under) or Division III (D and under) championships. There are also qualifiers for Y-14. To qualify you must finish in the top 3 if there are 12 or fewer fencers, or the top 25% if there are more than 12. The Division II and III events are fenced as one event and they remove all the Cs from the results to figure out who qualifies from Division III. This years’s Nationals are in Columbus, Ohio, so they are not that far away. Also, the venue and area around the venue are pretty good as they have hosted the event a couple of times in the last few years. Times and other info are on askfred.

April 6th is the Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden. Women only events if foil, epee, and sabre. Our women need to be getting signed up to attract other fencers,

The
schedule for summer camps looks like it will Be July 8-12, Beginner
Camp; July 15-19, Advanced Foil Camp, July 22-26, Advanced Sabre Camp,
and finally July 29 – August 2, Advanced Epee Camp.

There
was a request for a camp in mid-late June for those who cannot attend
one of the other camps. It would probably be an advanced three weapon
camp for one week. Any other people interested? So far no one has said so.

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