Coach’s Corner | Cape Fear Fencing Association

CFFA update for December 23

December 23, 2018December 23, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

We received an offer from the Capitol Clash. They will give clubs $100 for every five “participants” in Vet events or Y-8 events. I have asked for clarification about the definition of participant as to whether that is distinct individuals, or whether multiple entries in separate events count; but as of yet, have not received clarification. At the moment, we have three Vets in 4 events, so it could be important. This is the first year they have added the Vet combined events (and the Y-8) and all of the Vet events are on Saturday, February 2nd. Right now, Vet Men’s epee is at 11 and Herman is the #2 seed, so it might become a B event. Women’s epee is at 6 and we have 1/3 of the field with Christi and Erica. Men’s sabre is a 15 person B1 and would be close for anyone living in the DC area (Don’t know who that might be.) Women’s sabre is at 4 with Erica involved. Vet men’s foil is at 11 and vet women’s foil is 8. Most of the Y-8 events are at 4-5 fencers. The entire Clash goes February 1-3. This is a
large sectional/national event. The events being contested are in all
weapons for Cadets (13-16), Y-14, Y-12, and Y-10. The deadline for entering at
the regular price is December 27. This is the next step up from an RYC
and the level just below National events. The information and registration is on the
national website.

Since
Christmas and New Year’s both fall on Tuesday this year, no Tuesday
practices over break. I know a number of you are planning on going to
Charlotte, so there will be practice, Thursday 12/27,
Saturday 12/29, Wednesday 1/2, and Thursday 1/3.

On New Year’s Day, Wednesday 1/1, Research Triangle Fencing is holding an event. Mixed foil and Sabre plus Y-10 and Y-14 sabre. The Mixed sabre looks like it should become an A event. Of course, you will have to get past Duke’s sabre coach to win.

The homeschool fencers have a meet the first weekend of January, so there will be homeschool practice January 2nd. Since there are also people wanting to get ready for Charlotte, there will be practice that evening. Therefore, I might as well also have afterschool practice for returning fencers. No sweat if that feels too early for anyone and they can’t make it in.

Here
are the people I see entered for the Charlotte NAC, January 4-7. If I
missed you, let me
know. Nicole and Erica in the Div 1 epee Fri/Sat, Will in the Div 1
epee Sun/Mon, Kim in the Div 1 sabre Sun, Nicole in the Junior epee
Sunday, Nicole, Erica, and Christi in the Epee team Monday. I intend to
be out there to help, so no fencing at Hampstead or Camp Lejeune that
Friday. (January 4).

January
5 is also another homeschool meet in Winston Salem at the Star of Bethlehem Church. I may not be there
for any/all of
it due to the conflict with the NAC. If Nicole and Erica finish early I
will try to make it there for at least some of the day. Let’s stay in
communication so that I know you have what you need to compete, and can
arrange rides.

The
new evening class will start on Tuesday, January 8th, at 6:30 pm. The
new class at Topsail Middle school will start on Friday, January 11th.
Camp Lejeune will also get started back up on that Friday with a new beginner class.

January 12 is the next NCFL meet. I am not certain as to where yet, but it may be Chapel Hill. It will be the final regular season team meet.

Also
on that weekend is a foil and epee RYC in Apex. The events are Y-10,
Y-12, and Y-14. Registration at the regular price has ended. It looks like Amelia and Jackson are fencing on the 13th, so I will be up for that.

Also on the 13th is Mid-South’s first set of Youth events for 2019. Check askfred for particulars.

January 19th is a homeschool meet at our club. Looking at a 10 am start time.

Our
first event of 2019 will be the Old Man Winter on January 26th. Open
foil, open epee, and Vet epee. IMPORTANT!! We are going to start requiring that
people are registered a week before the event to get the regular
pricing. We have been unable to gauge the size of events in a manner
that lets us hire the correct number of referees. If we expect a large
crowd that doesn’t materialize the club loses money. If we wait and
things pop a day or two before the event, it can be hard to find any
local referees. Then some of our fencers have to drop out to help
referee. Anyone registering after the deadline will be charged $10
extra per event, so that will hopefully be the incentive for people to
get signed up earlier. Read the More Information section on askfred to
get the full information. Right now the Mixed epee should become at least a B, the Mixed foil is a clash of O’Briens, and the Vet epee is at 3 people.

February 2nd is a homeschool meet at our place that I am trying to get moved to the 16th so that I can go help our fencers at the Clash. No final agreement from the other clubs. I will keep you informed.

pax vobiscum,

Greg Spahr

Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Damon Runyon

CFFA update for December 16

December 16, 2018December 16, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

A good weekend for the club in multiple places. Starting with the big national thing, the NAC (North American Cup) in Cincinnati. Kim Phillips fenced 3 events starting with the Vet 40-49 sabre on Friday. He went undefeated in his pool and was the number 2 seed in DEs. He defeated Sean Bates in his first DE, but lost his second DE to take a bronze medal. Just FYI, 5 of the top 7 finishers in that group are from North Carolina. His Saturday Vet Combined sabre was truly weird. 43 fencers. He finishes his pool 4-1. That gets him the 15th seed in DEs.??? Won the first, but lost to the number 2 seed and finished 14th. Today Kim was in the Division 1 sabre. He made the cut, but lost his first DE. Erica Julien also competed in Cincinnati. Yesterday was the 70+ women’s epee. Erica had a good first round going 5-1 and went into the DEs as the 2nd seed. She lost her first DE, but still came out with 6th place medal. Today was Vet 70+ sabre and again it was weird. She went 3-4 in her pool which earned her the next to last spot in the DE.??? She won her first DE, but lost the second, but came away with the 8th place medal.

We had fencers go to Apex for their foil and epee unsanctioned events. The Smiths, Joey and Robert, fenced the senior epee. Joey was seeded 6th of 12 for the DE and finished in that position. Robert only lost to Colson Combs all day, once in pools and in the DE to earn a 3rd place medal. Amelia Alexander fenced the women’s Y-12 foil, and only lost one in her pool. She made it into the final, but lost a close 13-15 match to bring home a silver medal.

Finally, the homeschool league held their first official meet of the semester. The Jacksonville Hurricanes ( Matthan Droke, Noah Snyder, and Matthew Burns) discovered what the A teams looked like, but kept a couple close. Eamon and Ellery O’Brien fenced in the B division, which was done as an individual pool. Eamon won a couple and Ellery was the only person to beat the person who won the pool. The Southeastern Cardinals (Kyler Schoonmaker, Eoin and Eilis O’Brien) won all their matches (4), including a 45-44 nailbiter over Twin City.

Congrats to everyone.

This week will wind things down before the lighter holiday schedule. Tuesday night practice as usual. Wednesday will be the last homeschool practice for the year. The Ashley women should be in Wednesday night, so people are welcome to come in to practice. The last day for afterschool will be December 20 and the last day for Camp Lejeune will be December 21.

For Thursday night’s practice, Kenyatta would like to have a bit of a holiday party. If you would like to bring a little something, snacks, munchies, or drinks, please do. In any event, please come in and fence.

Since
Christmas and New Year’s both fall on Tuesday this year, no Tuesday
practices over break. I know a number of you are planning on going to
Charlotte, so there will be practice Saturday 12/22, Thursday 12/27,
Saturday 12/29, and Thursday 1/3.

St. Mary’s is starting back on Wednesday, January 2nd.
I will leave it up to fencers and parents to see if you want to start
afterschool back up for the advanced youngsters on that day. Ditto for
the homeschool fencers. So far the answers I have gotten have been mixed.

January
5 is also another homeschool meet in Winston Salem. I may not be there for any/all of
it due to the conflict with the NAC. If Nicole and Erica finish early I
will try to make it there for at least some of the day. Let’s stay in communication so that I know you have what you need to compete, and can arrange rides.

January 12 is the next NCFL meet. I am not certain as to where yet. It will be the final regular season team meet.

Also on that weekend is a foil and epee RYC in Apex. The events are Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14. Registration at the regular price ends on December 21. This would be a good event for those wanting to get their feet wet in a bit harder competition. Information and registration for this event is on the national website (usafencing.org).

January 19th is a homeschool meet at our club. Looking at a 10 am start time.

Our first event of 2019 will be the Old Man Winter on January 26th. Open foil, open epee, and Vet epee. I should have it up on askfred by tomorrow night. IMPORTANT!! We are going to start requiring that people are registered a week before the event to get the regular pricing. We have been unable to gauge the size of events in a manner that lets us hire the correct number of referees. If we expect a large crowd that doesn’t materialize the club loses money. If we wait and things pop a day or two before the event, it can be hard to find any local referees. Then some of our fencers have to drop out to help referee. Anyone registering after the deadline will be charged $10 extra per event, so that will hopefully be the incentive for people to get signed up earlier. Read the More Information section on askfred to get the full information.

The Capitol Clash is being held the first weekend in February. (February 1-3). This is a large sectional/national event. The events being contested are in all weapons for Cadets (13-16), Y-14, Y-12, Y-10, and the rare Y-8. They are also holding combined Veteran events. The deadline for entering at the regular price is December 27. This is the next step up from the RYC and the level just below National events. The information is on the national 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

CFFA update for December 9

December 9, 2018December 9, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

The JO qualifiers were cancelled due weather and all the preregistrants were granted the right to appeal and fence in the Junior Olympics. For us that is Nicole Milewski, Eoin O’Brien, and Joey Smith. Not certain if they are all going.

Things are winding down before the holidays. The big holiday order is in and we will let you know when it arrives. If there are other requests out there, get them to us ASAP.

Practice is also slowing down. I believe there will be some high school fencers in Wednesday night and maybe some sabre fencers. Probably closer to starting about 6:30 pm or so. Friday the 14th will be the last 2018 practice for Hampstead. There will be practice at Camp Lejeune.

December
15 is the first official event for the homeschoolers, in Winston
Salem. It will start about 10 am, which means an early morning, but
hopefully getting back at a decent time. It will be at the Star of
Bethlehem church in Winston-Salem.

If
you are not
homeschooled, the Apex Fencing Academy is hosting novice unsanctioned
events that
day. If you are a U fencer and want to go up against other U fencers,
check askfred for more details. They have Men’s and Women’s Y10/Y12
foil, Men’s and Women’s Senior foil, and a mixed Senior epee. If you
are unrated, this is a good event to see how you stack up against the
other unrated people. We do have some people going and it is always a good thing to get out and fence new people.

For those of you who want to just check up on our other fencers, Kim Phillips and Erica Julien are fencing in the Cincinnati NAC next weekend. Kim is fencing on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (Vet 40 sabre, Vet combined sabre, Div I sabre). Erica is fencing Saturday and Sunday (Vet 70 epee and sabre). If I have missed anybody, let me know. Usually usafencing.org will have a link to a reasonably real time results page.

The last day for afterschool will be December 20 and the last day for Camp Lejeune will be December 21.

Here
are the people I see entered for the Charlotte NAC, January 4-7. If I missed you, let me
know. Nicole and Erica in the Div 1 epee Fri/Sat, Will in the Div 1
epee Sun/Mon, Kim in the Div 1 sabre Sun, Nicole in the Junior epee
Sunday, Nicole, Erica, and Christi in the Epee team Monday. I intend to be out there to help, so no fencing at Hampstead or Camp Lejeune that Friday.

The
new evening class will start on Tuesday, January 8th, at 6:30 pm. The new class at Topsail Middle school will start on Friday, January 11th. Camp Lejeune will also get started back up on that Friday.

January 12 is the next NCFL meet. I am not certain as to where yet. It will be the final regular season team meet.

January 19th is a homeschool meet at our club. Looking at a 10 am start time.

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

Practice tomorrow

December 7, 2018December 7, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Due to inclement weather expected in the Raleigh area, the JO qualifiers have been cancelled.

Therefore, I will be in for practice about 10 am if anyone is interested.

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

December 2, 2018December 2, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Please get us (Herman or I) holiday orders by the end of this week. Please double check items and make certain we have order as it gets pretty hectic.

A good day for all the fencers who participated in the NCFL meet at Chapel Hill High School. Will Golder and Andrew Whitehead fenced for Hoggard and even though they were a person short, they still went 5-2 in the Men’s A division. Will was undefeated for the day and Andrew was 9-6. Nicole Milewski and Joey Smith went undefeated in epee, both as a team and individually. CFFA had a full foil B team with Amelia Alexander, Megan Looney, and Chloe Craig also going undefeated as a team at 3-0. San Raphael middle school, who are loosely allied with us, had a B team of Cole and Keely Carter, and Raul Carranzo-Gomez go 2-1, with the one loss being 4-5. They also loaned Jack Burich to a second team which was unfortunately a two person team which didn’t win any. Congratulations to everyone. Thanks to all the parents for driving, hauling equipment, etc.

Practice for this week will be regular with the possible exception of Wednesday night. I don’t yet know if UNCW or the Ashley women’s team will be in.

The
Division qualifiers for the Junior Olympics have been scheduled for
December 8th and 9th at Research Triangle Academy. Entries right now
are very light. Today is the last day to preregister at the regular rate. It doubles tomorrow. No decision yet on whether it will be a one or two day event. I will let you know as soon as I hear. A good event to fence, even if you are probably not going to
JOs in Denver.

I doubt the UNCW fencers will want to go next Wednesday, as it is in the middle of finals. We will see about Ashley or other high schoolers. The last day for Topsail Middle School fencing for the year will be December 14.

December
15 is the first official event for the homeschoolers, in Winston
Salem. It will start about 10 am, which means an early morning, but hopefully getting back at a decent time. It will be at the Star of Bethlehem church in Winston-Salem. We will figure car pooling, etc. next week.

If
you are not
homeschooled, the Apex Fencing Academy is hosting novice unsanctioned
events that
day. If you are a U fencer and want to go up against other U fencers,
check askfred for more details. They have Men’s and Women’s Y10/Y12
foil, Men’s and Women’s Senior foil, and a mixed Senior epee. If you are unrated, this is a good event to see how you stack up against the other unrated people.

The last day for afterschool will be December 20 and the last day for Camp Lejeune will be December 21.

St. Mary’s is starting back on Wednesday, January 2nd. I will leave it up to fencers and parents to see if you want to start afterschool back up for the advanced youngsters on that day. Ditto for the homeschool fencers.

Here
are the people I see entered for the Charlotte NAC, January 4-7. If I missed you, let me
know. Nicole and Erica in the Div 1 epee Fri/Sat, Will in the Div 1
epee Sun/Mon, Kim in the Div 1 sabre Sun, Nicole in the Junior epee
Sunday, Nicole, Erica, and Christi in the Epee team Monday.

January 5 is also another homeschool meet. I may not be there for any/all of it due to the conflict with the NAC. If Nicole and Erica finish early I will try to make it there for at least some of the day.

The first day for new afterschool fencers will be Monday, January 7th. The new evening class will start on Tuesday, January 8th, at 6:30 pm.

January 12 is the next NCFL meet. I am not certain as to where yet. It will be the final regular season team meet.

January 19th is a homeschool meet at our club. I believe the west wants a 10 am start time, but will confirm.

pax vobiscum,

Greg Spahr
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Damon Runyon

CFFA update for November 24

November 24, 2018November 24, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

First, some business. For those
wanting to order gear for the holidays, please get orders to Herman or
me quickly. It usually takes a couple of sets of orders for us to be
able to get everything. If we could get the last order going out about the end of the first
week of December, that would give us time to receive everything and
maybe get things reordered if there are mistakes.

We had two epeeists and one epee/sabre person go to Black Friday event at Mid-South yesterday. Erica Julien did something at that tournament that it seems none of our people could do the week before. She beat Colson Combs. Ian Dube knocked her out in the first DE. She stayed and fenced sabre, blitzing an App State fencer, but again losing in her first DE. Brian Burns fenced his first couple of As and his first Olympian. Unfortunately it was Leslie Marx in his first DE, That ended 12-15, so he kept it respectable. Nicole Milewski won her first DE, but had to come back from 12-14 deficit to do it. She then ran into Tom Bryan (who finished second to Andrew Fullmer) and ended up eighth.

Things should be back to normal (or as normal as this place gets) as far as practice this week.

November
28th will start the next homeschool fencing beginner class. Hopefully
this one will not last as long as the last one. LOL

The
next NCFL meet is December 1st at Chapel Hill High School. We need to
start seeing what teams and who we will have. Remember if your school
doesn’t have a team, you can fence as a CFFA team. Foil and epee are
available.

The
Division qualifiers for the Junior Olympics have been scheduled for
December 8th and 9th at Research Triangle Academy. Entries right now
are very light. Check about December 1st, because they may make it a 1
day event. A good event to fence, even if you are probably not going to
JOs in Denver.

The last day for Topsail Middle School fencing for the year will be December 14.

December
15 is the first official event for the homeschoolers, in Winston
Salem. I will be emailing the homeschoolers with some updated
information.

The last day for afterschool will be December 20 and the last day for Camp Lejeune will be December 21.

Since Christmas and New Year’s both fall on Tuesday this year, no Tuesday practices over break. I know a number of you are planning on going to Charlotte, so there will be practice Saturday 12/22, Thursday 12/27, Saturday 12/29, and Thursday 1/3.

Her are the people I see entered for Charlotte, if I missed you let me know. Nicole and Erica in the Div 1 epee Fri/Sat, Will in the Div 1 epee Sun/Mon, Kim in the Div 1 sabre Sun, Nicole in the Junior epee Sunday, Nicole, Erica, and Christi in the Epee team Monday.

pax vobiscum,

Greg Spahr
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Damon Runyon

CFFA update for November 18

November 18, 2018November 18, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

First, some business. For those wanting to order gear for the holidays, please get orders to Herman or me quickly. It usually takes a couple of sets of orders for us to be able to get everything. If we could get an order together by the end of this week, with the last order going out about the end of the first week of December, that would give us time to receive everything and maybe get things reordered if there are mistakes.

At the Harry Rulnick last week, James Russell won the Y-10 and came in 8th of the 15 in the Y-12.

At our tournament yesterday, Will Golder of CFFA dispatched a difficult Josh White of Salle New Bern to win the foil event. Asa Beale of Apex and CFFA’s Brendan McConville took the thirds. In a very tough open epee, Colson Combs of Apex won, claiming his B. He defeated CFFA’s Jesse Harvey, with Scott Anderson of Mid-South and Wesley Chen of a seemingly revitalized, NC State Fencing Club taking the 3rds. In the finale D and under epee, CFFA took 3 of the four top places. Kenyatta Sanford won the gold, Mike Kinney took the silver, and Robert Smith took one of the bronzes. Edward Childs of Salle New Bern won the other bronze. Thanks, to Jesse, Brendan, Josh, and Paul Perkins for a long day of refereeing. Thanks to Zemi Lawrence for observing and managing the tournament. Thanks to Kenyatta for armoring and Emmers and Ellery O’Brien for assisting her. Thanks to everyone who assisted with the set up and cleanup. We put on a solid event that ran remarkably well considering it’s size and complexity.

This week will obviously be unusual due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Monday and Tuesday should run as usual. Wednesday will have no afterschool and no evening fencing. Homeschool fencing will occur with the returning fencers at 1 pm and the beginners finishing up their class at 1:30 pm. If other people need a Wednesday fencing fix, you would be welcome. I am looking more at younger fencers, but adults would be fine. (Or parents can read this as dump the kids for a couple of hours.)

On Thursday, no fencing and enjoy your Thanksgiving meal. On Friday, no fencing at Topsail and Camp Lejeune and finish as many left overs as possible. There will be Saturday practice at 10 until ? if anyone can still move by that point.

11/23
is the Black Friday Open at Mid-South for those not doing shopping. Foil is already a C and might become a B. Epee needs a couple of bodies to be a B event. Sabre has fewer people and right now is a very tough E event. See askfred to get signed up or for more details.

November 28th will start the next homeschool fencing beginner class. Hopefully this one will not last as long as the last one. LOL

The
next NCFL meet is December 1st at Chapel Hill High School. We need to start seeing what teams and who we will have. Remember if your school doesn’t have a team, you can fence as a CFFA team. Foil and epee are available.

The
Division qualifiers for the Junior Olympics have been scheduled for
December 8th and 9th at Research Triangle Academy. Entries right now are very light. Check about December 1st, because they may make it a 1 day event. A good event to fence, even if you are probably not going to JOs in Denver.

December
15 is the first official event for the homeschoolers, in Winston
Salem. I will be emailing the homeschoolers with some updated
information.

If you are not homeschooled, the Apex Fencing Academy is hosting novice events that day. If you are a U fencer and want to go up against other U fencers, check askfred for more details.

We tried a one day camp over
Christmas break last year and unfortunately hit one of the coldest days
of the year. Let me know if you might be interested in such a thing and
the weapon you would prefer, if interested. So far doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest.

In the same vein, at the moment, very few clubs are running sanctioned events. That is one reason our events may keep getting bigger. It also makes it harder and harder for us to find enough referees. Therefore we are looking at trying to grow some referees of our own. The idea is to try to have some epeeists who can handle foil events and some foilists who can pitch in with the epee events. Sabre reffing is an art of its own, but we may need some of those as well. In order to referee at a sanctioned event you need to upgrade your membership and have a background check, plus passing a safe sport on line class. To get a formal USA Fencing referee certification you must attend an official seminar. However, we can use people without that certification. Therefore, if you might be interested in reffing our events, let me know so we can try to set up a class, probably on a Saturday without lots of other things going on.

The
Capitol Clash has been announced and will be February 1-2, 2019. This
is an SYC (Super Youth Circuit) and is another one of those events that
is a good first large regional to national event for those who want to
try that level. In addition to the standard, Y-10, Y-12, Y-14, and
Cadet events, they are adding Y-8 and Veterans Combined events. Let me
know if you are registering. I will try to make it, but the 2nd has a
homeschool meet scheduled. The homeschool league has agreed to think
about moving it, but I only want to ask if there are really enough
people going.

pax vobiscum,

Greg Spahr
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Damon Runyon

CFFA update for November 11

November 11, 2018November 11, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Busy weekend. I know that James Russell fenced in the Harry Rulnick at Fayetteville, but don’t know how he did.

There was a homeschool scrimmage this Saturday in Winston Salem. The Camp Lejeune Hurricanes (Matthew Burns, Matthan Droke, and Noah Snyder), were all fencing in their first official competition They started off against defending state champion Twin City. They started slowly but ended up only losing by a score of 37-45. They then fenced a combined team from RJ Reynolds and the Salem Academy. Normally the two high schools would be in the B division, but this was a scrimmage for practice. The boys won 42-41 as Matthew scored the winning touch in priority. They are all in elementary to middle school, so they did very well.

Nicole Milewski fenced in the NAC at Kansas City this weekend. Her best result was 16th in the Y-14 competition.

There may be some adjustments to the schedule this week as I am having some car issues, but I will try to let people know well ahead of time.

November 14th is the last day
to enter the Charlotte NAC at regular rates. The dates for the NAC are
January 4 -7 (Friday – Monday.) 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. This is easily the closest
NAC to our area this season.

Our
next home event is this Saturday, November 17th. It will have an open foil, an open
epee, and a D and under epee. Get signed up on askfred now. Right now we are up to 18 in
the open epee. It just needs a second A to become an A event. 8 in the D and under epee, and only 6 in the Open foil. Those two could use some more fencers so this would be a good event to enter for your first tournament.

That Sunday, Mid-South is having a number of youth sabre events. See askfred.

11/23 is the Black Friday Open at Mid-South for those not doing shopping. Foil may reach the level where it has the 15 to give some ratings, the other two are a little smaller.

The
next NCFL meet is December 1st at Chapel Hill High School. We will
start to see who is going and how we can car pool as it gets closer.

The
Division qualifiers for the Junior Olympics have been scheduled for
December 8th and 9th at Research Triangle Academy. 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. NO CFFA fencers are signed up yet. 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). Numbers are small enough they are looking at changing it to a one day event. Keep an eye on askfred to be certain.

December 15 is the first official event for the homeschoolers, in Winston Salem. I will be emailing the homeschoolers with some updated information.

We tried a one day camp over Christmas break last year and unfortunately hit one of the coldest days of the year. Let me know if you might be interested in such a thing and the weapon you would prefer, if interested.

The Capitol Clash has been announced and will be February 1-2, 2019. This is an SYC (Super Youth Circuit) and is another one of those events that is a good first large regional to national event for those who want to try that level. In addition to the standard, Y-10, Y-12, Y-14, and Cadet events, they are adding Y-8 and Veterans Combined events. Let me know if you are registering. I will try to make it, but the 2nd has a homeschool meet scheduled. The homeschool league has agreed to think about moving it, but I only want to ask if there are really enough people going.

pax vobiscum,

Greg Spahr
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Damon Runyon

CFFA update for November 4

November 4, 2018November 4, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Yesterday we hosted the first NCFL meet of the current season. There were 22 teams in four divisions. For the first time in a while we had participants in all divisions. In the Men’s high School division, Will Golder was a 1 man army for Hoggard High School. He went 15-1, allowing Hoggard to go 2-5, event though most teams had 3 people. Katelyn Guthrie and defending women’s state Champion, Emma Graf, fenced for Ashley. I don’t know how Ashley did as a two person team, but Emma only lost one match all day. In the B Division (High School B teams, middle school teams, or a mix of each) Amelia Alexander of Surf City Middle School and Megan Looney of St. Mary teamed up and borrowed a fencer from New Bern Christian who was in her first meet. The team team went 1-4, however, Amelia was 8-2. In epee a CFFA team of Joey Smith and Nicole Milewski not only went undefeated as a team, but both were undefeated individually. Thanks to Robert Thomas for refereeing the epee and Will for reffing some foil once he was finished fencing. Also thanks to Kenyatta Sanford, Herman Smith, and Mike Kinney for armoring (and fixing some club gear). Thanks to our parents who brought fencers and helped with the set up and clean up. On the other hand, from what I saw reffing and watching downstairs, we have much to work on.

I spoke with the Saint Mary principal and they are certain they will not need the fencing space at this point, so homeschool fencing can return to its regular 1 pm for the returning fencers and 1:30 for the beginners slot this week. All of the other fencing should now also be back to “normal.” We are starting a new set of beginner Tuesday/Thursday classes (6:30 pm) this week if you know anyone interested.

November
10th will be a homeschool league scrimmage. I don’t have a final time and place confirmation, but they are looking at the Star of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Winston-Salem.

November
11th is the Harry Rulnick event in Fayetteville. It has an open Men’s
foil event (currently with 9 fencers) and
Women’s foil event (currently with 5 fencers). I am certain they would love to see at least one more women’s fencer as that would get them to 6 and an E could be given away (everyone so far is a U). I will be going up to
observe and am happy to drive someone if that helps. Just understand that I will need to be there for both events. Check askfred for
more info.

November 14th is the last day
to enter the Charlotte NAC at regular rates. The dates for the NAC are January 4 -7 (Friday – Monday.) 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. This is easily the closest NAC to our area this season.

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. Right now, the numbers are so low that we may have to cancel it. Once we pay referees, buy awards, etc. we have to have a certain number of entries to break even. The actual idea is to hopefully pay for the rent for that month, so losing money is not a viable long term option. Right now we only have 10 in the open epee (but the ranks are such that it will be a B tournament if we can just get the numbers up), 6 in the D and under epee, and only 2 in the Open foil. One thing that helps is if we can get fencers to volunteer to referee if they are not fencing a particular event., and they are actually qualified to fence that event.

That Sunday, Mid-South is having a number of youth sabre events. See askfred.

11/23 is the Black Friday Open at Mid-South for those not doing shopping.

The next NCFL meet is December 1st at Chapel Hill High School. We will start to see who is going and how we can car pool as it gets closer.

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. NO CFFA fencers are signed up yet. 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.

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

NCFL meet Saturday, orders

October 31, 2018October 31, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Just as an FYI here is what things look like for the meet on Saturday. It starts at 10 am. If I could have our people show up about 9 am to help with some set up, that would be terrific. As always, volunteer referees are greatly appreciated.

Men’s A teams – Chapel Hill, Hoggard, Orange, Epiphany, Research Triangle, Thales. East Chapel Hill has one male fencer. I don’t know if he will fence as a 1 person A team or with the B fencers.

Women’s A teams – Chapel Hill, Ashley, Orange, Research Triangle

B teams – at least 1 CFFA, at least 1 Chapel Hill, 4 Epiphany, 1 Research Triangle, 1 Thales

Epee – At least one person from CFFA, 4-5 people from Epiphany, one person from East Chapel Hill

Herman is getting together the next order, so touch base in the next few days if you need something.

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