CFFA update for October 23rd

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 23rd
KIm Phillips tied for 3rd yesterday at the Tiger Open at Clemson.  This was in a field of 68 sabre fencers, so he had a long day.

A lot of things going on, so we will have some alterations to the schedule for the next few weeks.

St.
Mary’s Fall Festival is October 27th, so we will be shut down a bit
this week.  On Tuesday night we will be pulling the overheads down after practice, so they will not be in the way of the Haunted House. We will have the homeschool practice as our last event on
Webesday.  No afterschool or evening practice Wednesday or Thursday.

I have a demo scheduled with the YWCA at 4 pm on Wednesday.  If you might be interested in helping, let me know.  We will meet out there.

Class on board Camp Lejeune Friday will end this beginner session.  There will also be class at Topsail Friday.

October 28th is the Ryder Cup sabre event at Mid-South.  Cadet, Junior, and Senior sabre events.  I don’t see any of our fencers signed up.  The Div 1A should be at least a B1 event.

Also
the 28th is the first homeschool tournament of the year, up at New
Bern.  If you are interested in fencing for the homeschjool league, you
need to sign up with the Southeastern Cardinals and let me know.  It looks like they will be playing the A League age rules closer to what the other sports are.  That means our team may end up being a B for this one.

We will need to get the overheads back up on Tuesday, October 31.

Camp Lejeune’s next beginner class will start at 7 pm on Friday, November 3rd.

November
4th is the first NCFL meet of the year and we are hosting it.  As
always help refereeing, setting up, armoring, managing is appreciated.  I am not certain what the number
of teams will be yet, but it looks a little down from previous years. 
Starts at 10 am and finishes as soon as we can get done.  If you are not
part of an official high school fencing club, or are still in middle school,
there are B division teams.  There will certainly be B division teams
in foil, and hopefully epee.  Start letting me know if you are
interested.  You do need a full uniform, but we can lend you what you
need.  Looks like Hoggard will have a team.  Ashley maybe.  There are certainly enough other foil fencers that we can put together a B team or two.

For
those of you who would rather fence than referee, Charlotte is holding
Women’s epee, and Open epee events that day.  The open epee might get to an A.

Also, there is a Vet event
in Richmond where the epee might get to a B or A event.

Charleston, SC, is holding epee events.  Their open might also reach B status, plus they have Y14 and other unsanctioned events.  See askfred.net for further details.

Monday,
November 6th will mark the start of the next evening beginner class at
6:30 pm.  The next afterschool beginner class will start on that Monday
and Tuesday.  A homeschool beginner class will start on Wednesday,
November 8th at 1:30 pm.

On Thursday, November 9, at 4 pm at CFCC’s Union Station, Cuccalorus will be screening “Under the Mask,” Alex
Hoelscher’s film about Erica Julien’s journey to last year’s World
Veteran Championships.  Tickets are $10.  Afterschool is cancelled for that day as I would like to go and see the film and support Alex and Erica.  It would be great to have a large contingent of fencers there.  Afterwards there is a gathering for the film makers and film goers at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.  Therefore, evening practices will also be cancelled.

Topsail has no school on Friday, November 10th, so no practice.  Most of the Camp Lejeune fencers also have plans for that date, so no practice on board the base that Friday either.

Our
next event will be on Veteran’s Day, November 11th.  Current numbers
are 9 open epee, 2 open foil, and 4 E and under foil.  Figuring that there will be some local press surrounding Erica and Cuccalorus, I would love to invite the press, but I cannot do so with those numbers.  We will also be holding the “official” fencing celebration for Erica at Satellite after the event ends.  GET SIGNED UP NOW!

The
JO qualifiers are November 18-19 at Research Triangle.  More info is on
askfrred.  The actual JOs are in Memphis over President’s Day weekend.  Only 2 CFFA fencers are currently signed up.
 
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

another day, another medal

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
another day, another medal
Erica Julen has now won a gold medal at the world championships to go with her bronze from yesterday.  This one is as a part of the Veteran women’s team epee.
Competing
with Erica on the team were Leslie Marx, Tanya Hurley, Bettie Graham, Elizabeth
Kocab, and Carola Scmid.  The US went 2 –
0 in the opening round, defeating Switzerland 30-21 and Finland 30-26.  This put them in 3rd place for the direct
elimination round.  They then defeated
Great Britain 30-13.  That was followed
by the defeat of number 2 ranked Germany 24-21. 
In the finals the women defeated number 1 ranked France 24-23 in overtime.
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

results/other updates

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
results/other updates
I am pleased to announce that CFFA has its first World Championship medalist.  Erica Julien won the bronze medal this morning (our time) in the Women’s 70+ epee event at Maribor, Slovenia.
Erica went 2-2 in the opening round, finishing
second in her five person pool.  This
placed her in 10th position going into the direct elimination.  In her first DE match, she defeated the
number 7 seed, Silvia Brown, of Germany in a close 10-9 match.  She followed that with a second upset,
defeating number 2 seed, Janet Cooksey of Great Britain; again by a 10-9
score.  Erica then lost to Coraine Sopru
of Austria. 6-10 to tie for 3rd, earning a bronze medal.   

Congratulations to Erica.  Erica is the subject of a short documentary by
Alex Hoelscher, “Under the Mask.” 
The film will be presented as a part of the Cucalorus Film Festival at 4 pm at the CFCC Student Union on
November 9th.  The film follows Erica on her
to journey to the 2016 World Veteran’s Championships in Straslund, Germany, and
her quest to find her roots in Europe.  I will update you with further information as the date approaches.  I will probably cancel afterschool that day so I can attend the screening.

At the NAC in Anaheim,   Kim Phillips, missed making the cut by a few touches.  North Carolina did not do well as a whole and Kim says it is due to the way our referees are calling the action in the box.  It is something we will try to work on at the club to bring us in line with the National referees.

On the 25th of October there will be no afterschool practice due to the preparation for St. Mary’s Haunted House for their Fall Festival.  However, I have scheduled a demonstration at the YWCA for 4 pm that day.  If you might be available and are interested in helping with the demo, please let me know.

pax vobiscum,                         
 
Greg Spahr
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association

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

CFFA update for October 15

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 15
We held a pretty successful event yesterday.  In the open foil, Patrick Lausi of Edge of America Fencing defeated Daniel Freeman of Apex for the gold.  CFFA’s Oliver Galbraith and Edge’s Luke Kinney tied for third.  UNCW’s Brandon DeBord re-earned his E with a 7th place finish.  In epee, David Dimmett of Richmond re-earned his A with a first place while Jesse Harvey of CFFA earned his B with second.  Oliver was again third, this time tied with Ryan Miller of Salle New Bern.  Will Ross of UNCW took 8th which earned him a new E.  In the last event, a D and under epee, Eli Nathan  of UNCW squeaked out a 15-14 victory over Daniel Freeman.  Kenyatta Sanford of CFFA and Patricia Wilkins of Savannah Fencing tied for the bronzes.  Thanks to Kathy Walters for observing and armoring, to Herman Smith, Paul Perkins, and Nora Reber for refereeing, to Ryan Miller and Kenyatta Sanford for helping with setting up and picking up, and Brendan McConville for ordering the medals.

That being said, the club once again did the thing that I keep imploring you to not do.  That is signing up at the very last minute.  On Monday morning the numbers were 8 for epee, 5 for foil, and 3 for the D and under epee.  We have to start making decisions based on those numbers which held steady for about 2-3 weeks.  The numbers were still not a lot higher by Wednesday.  About 11 epee and 8 in the others.  Then epee jumped to 15 by Thursday morning, then became an A and jumped to 21 by Saturday.  The D and under pretty much stayed the same but the foil jumped to 15 on Friday afternoon.  That presents huge headaches for tournament organizers.  We are making plans based on the numbers and the amount of money those entries will bring in.  On Monday, that was $175-200 total.  That has to pay an observer (or the tournament isn’t sanctioned and no one gets new ratings), referees, and for awards, lunch for those working, etc.  Decisions like whether to buy and engrave plates, cups, etc. about $150-200 in themselves versus medals for $40-50 have to be made so we have something.  Referees are not not sitting by their phones waiting for calls.  By Thursday or Friday referees not hired for other events have probably made family plans and are no longer interested in the opportunity.  The bump in numbers even affects small things like having to run out to get water.  Please get signed up earlier for our next event which is on November 11th.  It will help us not feel like we are going crazy on the day or two before an event and will help you get bigger and better tournaments, awards, etc.

An example of what can happen when people sign up early is the Tiger Open which will be held 10/21 at
Clemson. Here are there numbers:  Open epee an 82 person A4 (meaning the top 8 fencers get As), their D and under epee is a 57 person C2.  Open foil is a 57 person A2 with a 45 person C2, D and under.  Sabre is a 48 person B1 which needs an A to be an A2.  and a 41 person D and under C2.  No CFFA fencers are currently entered.  I am not certain we want to try to run an 80 person A4, but you can see the difference and imagine the fencing.  (And they are still a week out.)

Regular practice this week.  If you decide not to head to the Tiger, I will be having the last Saturday practice for a while at 10 am.

St.
Mary’s Fall Festival is October 27th, so we will be shut down a bit
that week.  We will have the homeschool practice as our last event on Webesday.  No afterschool or evening practice Wednesday or Thursday.

October 28th is the Ryder Cup sabre event at Mid-South.  Cadet, Junior, and Senior sabre events.

Also
the 28th is the first homeschool tournament of the year, up at New
Bern.  If you are interested in fencing for the homeschjool league, you need to sign up with the Southeastern Cardinals and let me know.

November
4th is the first NCFL meet of the year and we are hosting it.  As
always help refereeing is appreciated.  I am not certain what the number
of teams will be yet, but it looks a little down from previous years. 
Starts at 10 am and finishes as soon as we can get done.  If you are not
part of an official high school fencing club, or are still in middle school,
there are B division teams.  There will certainly be B division teams
in foil, and hopefully epee.  Start letting me know if you are
interested.  You do need a full uniform, but we can lend you what you
need.

For
those of you who would rather fence than referee, Charlotte is holding
Women’s epee, and Open epee events that day.  Also, there is a Vet event
in Richmond and  Charleston, SC, is holding epee events.  See askfred.net for further details.

Monday, November 6th will mark the start of the next evening beginner class at 6:30 pm.  The next afterschool beginner class will start on that Monday and Tuesday.  A homeschool beginner class will start on Wednesday, November 8th at 1:30 pm.

Sometime
that week, Cuccalorus will be screening “Under the Mask,” Alex
Hoelscher’s film about Erica Julien’s journey to last year’s World
Veteran Championships.  I will let people know once time and location
firm up.

Our next event will be on Veteran’s Day, November 11th.  Current numbers are 4 open epee, 1 open foil, and 4 E and under foil.  Get signed up ASAP.

The
JO qualifiers are November 18-19 at Research Triangle.  More info is on
askfrred.  The actual JOs are in Memphis over President’s Day weekend.  Only 2 CFFA fencers are currently signed up.

People
have been asking about doing an intermediate class.  If you might be
interested, please email back and let me know what days and times work
best.

Kim Phillips is fencing the NAC in Anaheim and Erica Julien is at the World Veteran’s Championships in Slovenia.  I will update their results once I have them.

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 8

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 8
It should be a standard week of practice this week.
Our
next event is next Saturday.  It will have a mixed foil event, a
mixed epee event, and for those not wanting to jump right in to a full
adult open epee competition, a D and under epee event. We are again at that awkward place where we do not know how many referees to hire because our numbers are low.  If you intend to fence Saturday, please get signed up on askfred.net today.  If you are concerned about your ability to compete, these are all currently small events and would be good ones in which to get your feet wet.

The
next huge regional event is the Tiger Open which will be held 10/21 at
Clemson.  This is a tournament that always has an open and a Div III  (D
and under) in each weapon.  The open epee and foil are A2s, with the correct entrants, the epee could become an A3 or A4. The Div III
epee and foil are both C2s.   Sabre is lagging behind.  Check askfred for more details. 

St. Mary’s Fall Festival is October 27th, so we will be shut down a bit that week.  Usually it is Wednesday afterschool (but not homeschool) and evening practice and all day Thursday.

October 28th is the Ryder Cup sabre event at Mid-South.  Cadet, Junior, and Senior sabre events.

Also the 28th is the first homeschool tournament of the year, up at New Bern.  I will be sending a separate email out to the homeschoolers with info.

November 4th is the first NCFL meet of the year and we are hosting it.  As always help refereeing is appreciated.  I am not certain what the number of teams will be yet, but it looks a little down from previous years.  Starts at 10 am and finishes as soon as we can get done.  If you are not part of an official school fencing club, or are still in middle school, there are B division teams.  There will certainly be B division teams in foil, and hopefully epee.  Start letting me know if you are interested.  You do need a full uniform, but we can lend you what you need.

For those of you who would rather fence than referee, Charlotte is holding Women’s epee, and Open epee events that day.  Also, there is a Vet event in Richmond.

Sometime that week, Cuccalorus will be screening “Under the Mask,” Alex Hoelscher’s film about Erica Julien’s journey to last year’s World Veteran Championships.  I will let people know once time and location firm up.

The
JO qualifiers are November 18-19 at Research Triangle.  More info is on
askfrred.  The actual JOs are in Memphis over President’s Day weekend.

People have been asking about doing an intermediate class.  If you might be interested, please email back and let me know what days and times work best.

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 3rd

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 3rd
Don’t forget to get orders in by Thursday if you want any equipment through the club.

The UNCW fencers decided enough of them were staying in town that there WILL be practice Wednesday night.

Ryan Miller is coming down from New Bern Thursday and would love to have lots of people to fence.

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

WHQR

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
WHQR
WHQR will be holding their Fall pledge drive Thursday, October 12 – Wednesday October 18. They are asking for volunteer groups to help man the phones.  Usually it takes 4 people – figure me + 3 others. (Though people could certainly do it at a time I cannot make it).  They mention us and usually we get to do a quick interview each hour.  The weekday shifts are 6-9 am, 9 am – noon, noon – 4 pm, and 4 -7 pm.  That Saturday is our tournament, so we won’t have people free.  The Sunday hours are 7-10 am or 10 am – 2 pm.  If you might be interested, please contact me with times and dates that would work best.  Some shifts are already taken, so no guarantee that a certain time would work.  Thanks.

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 24

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for September 24
We held our first youth event of the season yesterday.  In the foil, the winner was Raine Schoonmaker, second was Amelia Alexander, with Jaden Scott and Lexi Williams tied for third.  For 9 and under, Jackson Jones took gold, Lou Lightner took silver, and John Alexander won the bronze.  In sabre, only Baden Salinas showed up, so we didn’t have a competition.  In epee, Raine won again, with Nyc Baynes second, and Linus Huggins third.  Thanks to Kyler Schoonmaker for helping with reffing and Herman Smith for the armoring help.  Thanks to all the parents for bringing your children.  I am still waiting for some other competitions to come into focus before I schedule the next one.  Here are the sword point standings, currently:
Boys                                                Girls
Raine Schoonmaker      11                    Amelia Alexander    7
Jaden Scott                 6                    Lexi Williams          6
Jackson Jones              4
Lou Lightner                 3
Nyc Baynes                  2
John Alexander              2
Linus Huggins                1
Drew Sullivan                1
Also fencing this weekend were the Milewski women up at the Division 1-A ROC in Owing Mills, Maryland.  Samantha went 3-2 in her pool, only losing to a pair of Bs.  She got a bye into the second round, but unfortunately had one of the Bs from her pool for the DE and lost 13-15.  Nicole went 2-3, won her first DE, and then lost to an A from New Jersey.
This week will have the standard everything for practice.  Afterschool, Tu/Th evening, homeschool, UNCW practices, Topsail and Camp Lejeune on Friday.
UNC
Chapel Hill has September 30/October 1 for their Tarheel
Open.  The epee is a very strong A2.  The foil has become an A2. 
It is comparably weak as there are only 2 As and 2 Bs and overall it is bottom heavy.  Sabre is a B2 (with lots of Bs) that needs 1 A to be an A2.

Also
on September 30 is Salle New Bern’s E and under foil event.  This is an
unsanctioned training event.  That means it is cheaper than a
sanctioned event and is used to walk people (fencers and parents)
through one of their first or early tournaments.

Our next evening beginner class starts on Tuesday, October 3rd, at 6:30 pm, and goes for 6 weeks.

Mid-South has their first youth sabre event of the year on October 7th.

October
7-8 has a referee clinic and tournament at Research Triangle Fencing. 
It is being conducted by Darius Wei and Matt Cox.  For those of you who
want to improve your refereeing skills and/or become official USA
Fencing referees, this would be a great clinic to attend.  Cost is $75
which gets you the clinic, entry into the observation tournament the
next day, and
the ability to take the written and practical refereeing tests.  People
are needed to fence in the observation event on Sunday.  One thing that
affects the rating a referee can get is the fencing they are reffing. 
Hard to get a good rating if you are watching beginners.  More
info is up on askfred.

Our
next event is on October 14th.  It will have a mixed foil event, a
mixed epee event, and for those not wanting to jump right in to a full
adult open epee competition, a D and under epee event.  Please get
signed up now so we 1) attract other fencers, and B) can plan for
referees, etc.  Right now even very few of our people are signed up.  These events require a fair amount of work to put on, and if we lose money, it would make more sense to not have them.

The
next huge regional event is the Tiger Open which will be held 10/21 at
Clemson.  This is a tournament that always has an open and a Div III  (D
and under) in each weapon.  The open epee is already an A2 with 8 As,
the D and under epee should become a C2.  The open foil is now an A. The Div III
foil should end up as a D1, maybe a C2.  Sabre is lagging behind.

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 17

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for September 17
Samantha and Nicole Milewski attended an epee clinic given by Olympian Kat Holmes in the DC area yesterday.  Once I get the low down I will pass on good drills and advice.  The early word from the girls is that there were a lot of warm up and footwork drills.
We
will have a class starting about 3:30 pm at Topsail Middle School on Friday,
September 22nd.  It will be following the same type 8 week schedule as the
Camp Lejeune and homeschool classes.

Other than that, it should be a regular week of practice.

September
23rd will be the first youth event of the
season.  Ages 12 and under, foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30 pm, epee at
3:30 pm.  $5 per event.  This is the first time in years that there
really is no preseason favorite in either the boy’s or girl’s
competitions.  Not expecting lots of fencers for sabre and epee, but
foil could be large, so volunteer referees are quite welcome and
appreciated.  For you new fencers, too early to compete, but you might want to come watch the foil.

UNC
Chapel Hill has September 30/October 1 for their Tarheel
Open.  The epee is a very strong A2.  The foil is an A1 that needs a few
bodies to become an A2, that is not nearly as strong as the epee. 
Sabre is a B1 that needs 1 A to be an A1.

Also
on September 30 is Salle New Bern’s E and under foil event.  This is an
unsanctioned training event.  That means it is cheaper than a
sanctioned event and is used to walk people (fencers and parents)
through one of their first or early tournaments.

Mid-South has their first youth sabre event of the year on October 7th.

October
7-8 has a referee clinic and tournament at Research Triangle Fencing. 
It is being conducted by Darius Wei and Matt Cox.  For those of you who
want to improve your refereeing skills and/or become official USA
Fencing referees, this would be a great clinic to attend.  Cost is $75
which gets you the clinic, entry into the observation tournament the next day, and
the ability to take the written and practical refereeing tests.  People are needed to fence in the observation event on Sunday.  One thing that affects the rating a referee can get is the fencing they are reffing.  Hard to get a good rating if you are watching beginners.  More
info is up on askfred.

Our
next event is on October 14th.  It will have a mixed foil event, a
mixed epee event, and for those not wanting to jump right in to a full
adult open epee competition, a D and under epee event.  Please get
signed up now so we 1) attract other fencers, and B) can plan for
referees, etc.  The reason yesterday’s event dropped to a B was that we
only had the 4 As and Bs necessary.  When two of them met in the 1st DE
round, it was automatic that since we wouldn’t have 4 As and Bs in top 8
that out event was no longer an A rated event.  No one has jumped in since last week.

The next huge regional event is the Tiger Open which will be held 10/21 at Clemson.  This is a tournament that always has an open and a Div III  (D and under) in each weapon.  The open epee is already an A2 with 8 As, the D and under epee should become a C2.  The open foil has the necessary As and Bs, but needs Cs to become an A event.  The Div III foil should end up as a D1, maybe a C2.  Sabre is lagging behind.

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