Category: News

 

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.  Very few of our people are currently entered.   There are only three people in the foil events, but the epee is filling quickly.  A number of other clubs’ events (both sanctioned and unsanctioned) are starting to appear on askfred, so I am listing most of them here.

 

 

The regular fee entry deadline for the Lotus Cup Regional in Myrtle Beach is tomorrow.  Some events are getting close to the cap, but a lot of events are still pretty small.  At this point, the only CFFA fencers I see entered are Thoren, Walter, Robert, Herman, and Graham. Vets need to remember that participation in a Regional qualifies you for National events.  Here are some events in which some of you might want to be interested:

 

Event                                               Current entries             spots available

 

Y10 Men’s epee                                 13                                8

Vet Women’s epee                              9                                12

Div II Women’s sabre                          3                                18

Div 1A Women’s epee                         32                               17      (This is already an A2)

Vet Women’s foil                                  0                               14

Vet Men’s epee                                   15                                6     (This is a C1)

Div 1A Women’s sabre                          3                               25

Vet Women’s sabre                               0                               14

Div II Women’s epee                            20                               8      (This is a C1)

 

The reason the regional participation will become important is that one of the NACs for next season has just had its location announced.  The February NAC (February 12-15) will be in Richmond, VA.  This one has Div I, Junior, and Vet age, Vet combined, and Vet teams.  Fencing (no matter where you come in) in a Vet Regional automatically qualifies you for the NACs.

 

 

Long term club dues are currently on the table (through August).  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.  Only about a week left.

 

 

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.  Very few people are currently entered.  A number of other clubs’ events (both sanctioned and unsanctioned) are starting to appear on askfred, so I am listing most of them here.

 

Local events are starting to happen.  Note the Big Blue at Forge in Durham (sanctioned) and the 82nd Open at All-American in Fayetteville (unsanctioned).  Deadline for the Big Blue is August 19th.  Deadline for the 82nd is right up to the time of the event, but it is considered polite to give the organizers a few days to make certain they have enough refs, gear, etc.  I would say the Wednesday before should be good, but some events will close, or fees will go up after a certain date, so be sure you have read the More Info page for deadlines.

 

As far as the regionals, the one in Virginia Beach (Sept. 12-13) has a deadline of August 28 and, right now, most events are pretty small.

Myrtle Beach (September 19-20) is as close as anything this season (there is another Myrtle Beach regional in December).  Their deadline is August 31 and except for some of the men’s epee events there are still plenty of spots available.

 

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, sallenewbernfencers@gmail.com .

 

 

Long term club dues are currently on the table (through August).  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.  

 

 

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. Saturday mornings have been pretty sparse this year, so please let me know if you are planning on coming in.

 

We had a great advanced foil camp last week with 8 of our younger fencers.

 

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

UPCOMING EVENTS          

 

The next season starts with a ton of regionals, especially for the under 20 crowd.  The new points rules allow fencers to get points from any regional, not just the ones in their region.  I am starting to see some unusual entries to the events in our region, so keep an eye on something you are interested in and make certain you don’t get capped out. 

 

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 + Adult Combined.  This is a new category that allows fencers 21 and up to fence without running into those still in the Junior category.  This is the first tournament I have seen that is offering this group.

 

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

 

December 11-13     Regional                  Myrtle Beach                      Y8, Y10, Y12, Y14, Cadet, Junior, Div 1A, Div II, Vet

 

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.

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.

 

Congratulations to Brendan McConville for going undefeated and winning the McDougal.  (He is not really left-handed.)

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 a couple of weeks 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.

 

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.

 

Last Sunday, James Russell and Jackson Jones were on an epee team with Nick Arzt and Michael Edgecomb from Foothills Fencing Academy in South Carolina. Their first match was a close 37-45 loss and they wound up 41/50.  On Monday, those two were in the huge Junior epee. It was so large that instead of the usual 80% going into the DE round, only 60% got to advance.  181 of the 420 fencers were As.  Neither was able to make the stricter cut.  Jackson was 0-6 to finish 409th, and James was 2-4 to finish 299th.  Tuesday was the busy day as we had three Vet fencers in different epee age categories.  Brendan McConville had an excellent 5-1 pool in the Vet-40s to get a bye in the first round of the DEs.  Alas, he then lost a close 9-10 DE to finish 35/82.  Herman Smith was 3-3 in Vet -70, then won his first 2 DEs, before losing to an eventual bronze medalist.  He wound up 14/43.  In Vet-50 we had Robert Thomas.  He was 3-3 in his pool and won his first DE before dropping the second to finish 52/95.  Wednesday finished up the Nationals for our fencers.  In the Div 1-A epee, James was 3-3 in the pool, got a bye, then pulled a big upset, before dropping out.  He finished a respectable 57/187.  Completing our week was Robert in the Vet epee team.  He teamed with Michael Edgecombe, and Scott Salzer from Montana.  Herman captained but didn’t fence.  They won their first DE, before losing the second to finish 30/45.

 

For former teammates, Erica Julien took the silver in the Vet-80 epee for women.  She says her mangled finger isn’t an excuse, but I find that hard to believe.  Kim Phillips claimed the 5th place medal in the Vet 50 men’s epee.

 

I am human and I make mistakes.  I totally missed that James and Jackson were doing the Senior Men’s epee and I wasn’t there for them.  I totally apologize for that.  If you see something I am missing, a date I have wrong, or even just something about which you have a question, please let me know.

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.

 

Brendan McConville suffered through that nightmare that all fencers have about going to NACs and National Championships.  He arrived in Portland fairly early Friday.  Unfortunately, his weapons, body cords, and masks decided to take some extra sightseeing around the country.  He started his Vet 50 Men’s foil with a new mask, two new body cords, and two brand new, just built weapons.  You cannot get the blades he likes anymore; the blade had a different cant (blade angle) from what he likes, and they were stiff unbroken-in blades.  Just not quite working for him through most of the pool.  His case showed up finally and Lauren brought over his regular weapons.  He was able to win his last bout and his first DE.  Unfortunately, that lined him up to fence the number 1 seed, who was fairly quick (understatement).  He ended up 31st.  No one fencing today.  James Russell and Jackson Jones up tomorrow.

 

Erica Julien won the Vet 80 Women’s sabre and did it with a mangled finger.  She has her epee events today.

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.