CFFA update for August 23

CFFA update for August 23
First, a big thanks to Brendan for mopping much of the floor yesterday.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we won’t get flooded again.
Practice Tuesday and Thursday night, plus Saturday morning.  I am going to take some time the last couple of Wednesdays of the summer, so no practice on that night until classes start up after Labor Day.  I am undecided about Saturday practice on Labor day weekend, let me know what people want.
We are going to make a couple of changes to things to make it a little more organized and give Herman a chance to fence.  Orders will be made on the 1st Thursday of every month, so make certain we know what you want by that date.  You can talk to Herman or e-mail me.  Do try to have an idea as far as size, price range, etc.  Don’t be afraid to ask if we might have what you want, particularly as far as uniforms, sitting in the cabinets downtown.  That means that the next order date will be September 3rd.  This is good because we are then planning an armory night on Thursday, September 10th.  This would be the good night to show up with questions about how to test and repair weapons.  If you don’t have anything personally to repair, we can give you club equipment to practice on.  We will probably put on the Princess Bride or another fencing movie for background noise.
Brendan will be leading footwork from 7:45 – 8 pm.  We expect people to participate.  For the younger ones who will need to leave soon after, we will let you you get in some early bouts before that so you can get some matches in.
On the good news front, we have been named a “Best Fencing Club” by a new organization which is listing such things.  Maybe not quite as exclusive as it sounds.  They looked at national and local results, the number of competitive fencers, produced an index about how effective fencers were at National events, and I assume developed an algorithm to weight everything.  They first cut to 600 clubs and then pared that down to 175 in the US, a number from Canada, and 2 from South Korea.
In North Carolina it was Mid-South, Research Triangle Fencing, and us.  For us it was mainly based on the epeeists, so the foilists and sabre fencers need to step up.
The regular deadline for entries for the Richmond NAC ( Div I, Div II, Cadet, Sr. Team)
is August 31.  Let me know if you are going so I can plan my coaching time and how it might affect classes.
I have a meeting next Sunday in Chapel Hill to get the NCFL season planned out.  I know Coastal Christian is in, but haven’t heard if Hoggard is still going to field a team (at least not from Hoggard students, I have gotten some outside information).  If any other schools were going to try to get a High School team up and running, let me know.  Remember that this is foil, although we keep trying to push for epee.  For those of you who want to fence as part of the Cape Fear “B” level team, let me know this week so I can give everyone an idea of how many we will have.  The NCFL meets are done in a team format of 3 versus 3 with the first team to 5 victories winning.  There is no cost to fence, just the associated, travel and meal costs.  You can ask a number of our fencers who have participated about it.



Mid-South
is holding a sabre clinic on Labor Day weekend, September 4-6.  Starts
Friday evening and goes through Sunday.  The clinician is Ed Korfanty,
the US National team sabre coach.  He is also coach to Mariel Zagunis
who has won two Olympic Gold medals.  You can go to the clinic as a
coach or as a fencer, but realize it is priced as appropriate for a
person of Korfanty’s stature.  They are holding a
sabre tournament on Sunday the 6th that looks like it will be at least a B.  You do not have to attend the
clinic to attend the sabre event.



After
Labor Day we will get back to working in earnest.  Afterschool classes
for returning fencers will start on the 8th.  The new beginners will
start
the week of the 14th.


Homeschool classes will start back on the 9th – advanced fencers can come in at 12:30 pm, new beginners at 1 pm.

With
all of the National tournaments which are close by, the Division
events, our local youth events, and as yet unscheduled NCFL and
homeschool meets, I will certainly not be able to go to every thing
and will have to figure out where I need to be for different events.

We will hold our first youth tournament on the 12th of
September.  Twelve and under fencers can compete.  We give trophies to
the top 3 and ties overall and medals to the top 3 9 and
under fencers unless they win a trophy.  We also award swords to the
top male and female points earners over the course of the season
(probably 5 events).  Finally, we give a sword to the person who is
voted as showing the most sportsmanship by the other fencers
over the course of the season.  $5 per event with foil at 10 am, sabre
at 1:30 pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.  If adults are not going to the other
events, volunteer referees are welcome.

Also
on the 12th, for adults there is a women’s epee and open epee at CHFA
in Charlotte, and men’s and women’s foil and open epee in Fayetteville. 
Check askfred for details.

On Sunday the 13th UNC is holding a mixed foil event.  It will hopefully be a C event.  The Division meeting will be held at UNC after the foil.  I am collecting proxies from competitive fencers 18 and over.



September’s
evening class will start on Monday the 14th and runs for 6 weeks on a Monday/Wednesday schedule. 


Our
first adult event will be Saturday, September 19th.  Open foil at 9:30
am, Open epee
at 1:30 pm, E and under sabre at 3:30 pm. All of our events are mixed
unless otherwise specified.  $20 for your first event, $10 for any
subsequent event.  Make certain your US Fencing membership is a
competitive one or higher.  Sign up on askfred now to try and
draw in more fencers.


Sunday the 20th is Mixed epee and Mixed sabre at UNC.  Epee should be a B or A event and sabre looks like a C.



September
26-27 is the Division 1A ROC in Fredericksburg.  1A means that it is
open to everyone, the events are split as men’s and women’s, and most of
the events will end up as A level.  This is a good event for those of
you looking for a step up in competition, or planning to get ready for
the NACs that will be in the area this season.  The deadline before the
fees jump is September 7, so take a look at
it on askfred.  Right now the only people I see are Oliver and the Harveys.



October 3rd is Mixed sabre at UNC, while the 4th is mixed foil and epee there.


October 9-12 is the actual NAC in Richmond.


Joe
Oliver has some equipment for sale – 48 RH jacket, 34 knickers, 9.5 RH
glove, M mask, RH epee
pistol grip weapons (Electric and dry), body cord, and a bag.  I
believe it is all Absolute.  If interested I can put you in touch.
 
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

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