RESULTS
Mark Benton travelled to Monroe, NC (near Charlotte) yesterday to fence in his first “official” tournament. It was hosted by the Triple Threat Academy, and they have a nice set up. They decided to combine their two epee events (Y-10 and Y-14) to get people more fencing. They had large pools, so each one was a bunch of Y-14s and a few Y-10s. Mark went 2-5, beating the other Y-10s in his pool.
He won his first DE (which was also combined), beating another of the Y-10 fencers. In the end, he was the highest-ranking Y-10 and won the gold medal.
DUES UPDATES
Membership fees for USA Fencing are going up for next season. Not tons, but about $10 per membership. However, they don’t technically go up until August 1. So, if you get your membership before then, you actually still pay this year’s fee. $10 is $10. Only 5 days left.
Long term club dues are also getting close. You can get 6 months of club membership for the cost of 5 months ($225 instead of $270) by paying August through January all at one time. Or you can go really big and get a whole year for only 10 months ($450 instead of $540). We only offer this when it falls in line with the USA Fencing calendar, so it is only available for August to July. Or the 6 month is August – January and a second shot of February – July.
CLUB UPDATES
Regular schedule for this week as far as lessons and practice. That is: club practice Tuesday and Thursday nights, and Saturday morning I will be in starting about 11 am. The advanced foil camp starts tomorrow.
Time to start thinking about Fall classes, so here is the schedule so far:
August 18 Tu/Th 6 week beginning evening foil class
September 8 Afterschool fencing starts for advanced fencers
September 9 Homeschool fencing starts for both returners and the new beginner class (8 week)
September 14 Afterschool 6 week beginning classes start
September 14 Mon/Wed 6 week beginning evening foil class
GARAGE? BASEMENT? SALE
We are selling our club jackets and knickers to our members for $5. We are going to keep it going through the camp season. Some other clubs want to buy some of our inventory, so this is the last week to get stuff if you are interested.
SUMMER CAMPS
We had a good beginning foil camp last week and hopefully you will see new faces in the next few weeks. The advanced foil looks like it is going to be a big come together of most of our up-and-coming foilists, around 10-12 in all. This may be the strongest advanced foil camp we have ever had.
July 27 – 31 Advanced foil
Email me if you have questions or want to jump in.
INFORMATION ON UPCOMING EVENTS
We have had our fall events approved by the North Carolina Division. Our first event will be on October 24th and will include Open Foil, Open Epee, and a Div III (D and under) Foil event. The second will be December 5th and will have an Open Foil, Open Epee, and a Div III Epee. They are now up on askfred, and have caps of 28 fencers, so start getting signed up. The only people signed up so far are from South Carolina.
The National Office has announced the dates and locations of a couple more of the 2026-2027 National Events. The April NAC will be the 3rd weekend of April in Cincinnati, Ohio. That is an easy one day drive (remember I am a Midwesterner) for the NAC. Next year’s Nationals will be July 2-11 in Salt Lake City, Utah. I will probably say this early and often for those thinking about going. Try to schedule yourself a day or two early to acclimatize before your events. You will be about 8/10 of a mile high versus the 43 feet of Wilmington. There is enough to do and visit in SLC that those days can be fun.
USA Fencing has listed the events for the NACs and SJCCs, even if they don’t have a location secured yet. Here is the list of the events our people might be interested in:
October 9-12 NAC Orlando, FL Div 1, Cadet, Y-14
November 20-23 NAC Columbus, OH Div 1, Junior, Cadet
December 4-6 SJCC Milwaukee, WI Junior, Cadet
January 8-11 JOs Oklahoma City, OK Junior, Cadet
February 12-15 NAC ? Div 1, Junior, Vet Age, Vet Combined
March 5-8 NAC ? Y14, Y12, Y10, Div II
April 16-19 NAC Cincinnati, OH Div 1, Junior, Vet Age, Vet Combined
May ? SJCC ? Junior, Cadet
July 2-11 Summer Nationals Salt Lake City, UT All ages and events
ENDING ON A HAPPY NOTE
There will be an engagement celebration In New Bern on August 29th to celebrate Ryan Miller and Sarah Kate Childs. It will start around 2:30 -3 pm with a dinner at 5 pm. The location is Marston Crawford’s house, 2504 Old Cherry Point Road in New Bern. Marston does have one electric strip so some epee bouts will be available. If you know them and want to attend, RSVP to Donny Zelinski, foilclown@gmail.com.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The next season starts with a ton of regionals, especially for the under 20 crowd.
September 12-13 Regional Virginia Beach, VA Y8, Y10, Y12, Y14, Cadet, Junior
September 18-20 Regional Myrtle Beach, SC Y8, Y10, Y12, Y14, Cadet, Junior, Div 1A, Div 2, Vet
(Obviously, this is the one most of our fencers need to be looking at. Registration is open from now until August 31, but all the events are capped. Few entries at the moment, but be certain you get registered before the limits are reached if you are interested,)
September 25-27 Regional Richmond, VA Y8, Y10, Y12, Y14, Cadet, Junior
October 3-4 Regional Suwanee, GA Y8, Y10, Y12, Y14, Cadet, Junior
October 9-12 NAC Orlando, FL ?
October 24 CFFA Wilmington Open foil and epee, Div III foil
December 5 CFFA Wilmington Open foil and epee, Div III epee
pax vobiscum,
Greg Spahr
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association