Practice tomorrow

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Practice tomorrow
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

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update

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.
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.

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

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 24

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.

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. 

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

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 18

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

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 11

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

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 4

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

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
NCFL meet Saturday, orders
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

CFFA update for 10/28

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for 10/28

We had a couple of people venture out over the weekend.  Elina Grooman went to a tournament at Mid-South.  She went 1-3 in her pool, but lost her first DE.
Oliver Galbraith was our only entrant in the Tiger Open.  He finished 8th in a 72 person A2 for epee while simultaneously finishing 5th in a 45 person A2 in foil.  He re-earns his foil C for the effort.
Things return to the post Florence normal this week.  We will need to put the overheads back up Tuesday night.
November
1st is the date by which I need to turn in a roster for the homeschool
league.  Right now we have the three Hurricanes from Jacksonville and Schoonmakers and O’Briens from Wilmington.
We
will be holding an NCFL meet on Saturday, November 3.  Right now definitely men’s teams from Hoggard, Orange, and Chapel Hill.  Women’s teams from Ashley, Orange, and Chapel Hill.  Hopefully men’s and women’s A teams from RTF, East Chapel Hill, and Epiphany.  B teams from CFFA and a couple from Chapel Hill.  Hopefully some from Thales and Epiphany.  More CFFA fencers – must be middle school and up are welcome to fence and create more B teams.   As
always, refereeing, armoring, managing help from the club is greatly
appreciated.  Set up and tear down is always helpful.
Richmond is holding a Vet series of events on that date.  The epee looks to become a B.  I doubt the foil and sabre will get over an E.
Remember November 4th is the fall back part of Daylight Savings Time.
November
10th is supposed to be a homeschool league scrimmage.  I will let
you have more information once a location is announced.
November
11th is the Harry Rulnick event in Fayetteville.  It has an open Men’s foil event (currently with 5 fencers) and
Women’s foil event (currently with 2 fencers).  I will be going up to observe and am happy to drive someone if that helps.  Check askfred for more info.
November 14th is the last day to enter the Charlotte NAC at regular rates.  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.
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. The earlier
it looks like an interesting tournament the more likely it is to draw
more and stronger fencers.
The more likely it is to be a rated
(and a highly rated) event, the more likely it is that the people who
sign up will show up.  On the other hand, don’t sign up if you know you
won’t be coming.  We don’t want a reputation for promising big events
and then not delivering.  If the D and under epee can get at least 4Ds,
(Robert, Kenyatta and two more), and 4 Es (Mike and 3 more), and 25
total fencers; the winner can get a C without having to defeat any Cs.  In any event, all of you epee fencers who participated last Saturday can do another Open and then also have an event where there is no Oliver, no Josh or Jesse, and no Erica and Nicole.  You just have to beat on each other.
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. 
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.  No CFFA fencers are signed up yet.
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 21

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 21

We (finally) had our first event for the season.  An excellent epee turnout as our fencers were 14 of the 21 participants.  Jesse Harvey and Will Golder defended the home turf by ending up in the final, with Jesse coming out on top.  Colson Combs and John Amoroso, both of Apex, tied for 3rd.   Mr. Amoroso returned to fencing after a many year lay off and earned his D.  We could have had many more of our foilists show up.  The open and the D and under were just about exactly the same competitors.  In the open, Alexander Sichitiu of RTF was first, Asa Beale of Apex was second, Jesse and Mary Kolbas of Apex tied for third.  In the D and under foil, Asa moved up one position, and earned his E by winning.  Mary also moved up one position.  Victoria Schmidt of RTF and Jeremy Wang of Apex tied for third.  Thanks to Kathy Walters for observing and Brendan McConville and Stephen Pashby for refereeing.  Thanks to all of you who pitched in with the set up and tear down.  I know this was the first event or an early event in your fencing careers for a number of you.  The grapevine says that you enjoyed it.  We have a number of people in the club, but could use new blood in a lot of our “support” positions.  It gets old for Brendan and I showing up an hour and a half to two hours ahead to set everything up and then being the last people out after cleaning up.  It doesn’t matter what your talents are, there are probably ways we can use the help.  Having other people who can referee, help run the events, armor, and do other behind the scenes things goes a long way to making the events run more smoothly, and that attracts more fencers from outside our club, which makes our events even more fun.  Talk to Brendan or me if you might be interested in learning some new auxiliary fencing skills.
Friday,
October 26th is St. Mary’s Fall Festival.  We will shut down on
Wednesday and Thursday of this week so that our space can become the
haunted house for that event.  We will pull down the overheads after
practice on Tuesday the 23rd and put them back up on Tuesday the 30th.  Also, there seems to be a weird tradition for this club that I would like to see broken.  It usually happens that the first practice after a club event has very low turnout.  You would think that people would want to get back in and start working on their deficiencies or trying out new things they learned that Saturday. 
There should be practice at Topsail Middle this Friday and will definitely be practice at Camp Lejeune.  If Pender County changes their minds about school, please let me know.
The other way to get more people to come to our events is to go to their events.  This has the added benefit of fencing new people, not having the pressure of organizing the event, and by being the unknown person, doing well because no one has seen how you fence.  Here are some events coming up soon.
October
27th has the Tiger Open at Clemson.  This is a large regional event.  As of today, the epee is a 50+ person A2, the foil is an even stronger (8 As) about 50 person A2.  The sabre is a B2, but just needs two Bs to become an A event.  (Hint, hint Kim) The D and under events are either or will end up being C2s.  Check askfred.net
for more info.
If you prefer to travel North, Williamsburg has a tournament with a B2 epee that needs one A to be an A, a C1 foil, and an E sabre.

Closer to home, Apex
is holding a number of unsanctioned events that date.  Unsanctioned means that you cannot earn a rating, but it doesn’t mean that the fencing will be any less difficult.  There are a couple of
aged events and adult Women’s foil, Men’s foil, and Mixed epee.  Almost all the fencers are Us so it is a good event for those without a lot of experience who are looking for an event without As and Bs, etc.  Check askfred.net for details.

November
1st is the date by which I need to turn in a roster for the homeschool
league.  Right now we have the three Hurricanes from Jacksonville and Schoonmakers and O’Briens from Wilmington.
We
will be holding an NCFL meet on Saturday, November 3.  With all that is
going on I am not certain what the number of teams and levels will be. 
I would guess probably 6-8 A foil teams for both men and women. 
Probably that for foil B teams.  I know a number of our fencers have
been trying to get clubs up and running, but have had their efforts
delayed by Florence.  If we have people who want to fence but don”t have
a team, and you are at least in middle school, we can put together B
teams under the CFFA banner.  You will need a full uniform and we will
help with that as much as we can.  We have at least two fencers interested in that.  Epee fencers also compete as B teams
currently, so we can try to get a team (or more) together for that.  As
always, refereeing, armoring, managing help from the club is greatly
appreciated.
Richmond is holding a Vet series of events on that date.
November 10th is the Harry Rulnick event in Fayetteville.  It has open Men’s and Women’s foil.  Check askfred for more info.  It looks to be a mid-level event somewhere closer to the Apex event than something like a Tiger Open.
November
10th is also supposed to be a homeschool league scrimmage.  I will let
you have more information once a location is announced.
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 than Saturday.  The earlier it looks like an interesting tournament the more likely it is to draw more and stronger fencers.
The more likely it is to be a rated (and a highly rated) event, the more likely it is that the people who sign up will show up.  On the other hand, don’t sign up if you know you won’t be coming.  We don’t want a reputation for promising big events and then not delivering.  If the D and under epee can get at least 4Ds, (Robert, Kenyatta and two more), and 4 Es (Mike and 3 more), and 25 total fencers; the winner can get a C without having to defeat any Cs.
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 under stand 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.  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.
Let me know if there are any questions over all this.
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 14

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 14

We held our first youth event of the season yesterday.  Small turnout, but the first event always is a bit small.  The foil was won by Jackson Jones, with Amelia Alexander coming in second.  A bit of a youth movement, with Lou Lightner and John Alexander tied for third.  Ellery O’Brien won the gold medal for 9 and under foil.  In epee Amelia won, with Eamon O’Brien second and James Russell third.  Eamon won the sabre with sister Ellery taking second.  Thanks to Donny Zelinski for refereeing and Herman Smith and Kenyatta Sanford for armoring.  I don’t quite yet know when the next event will be.  Here are the current sword points:

Boys                                            Girls
Jones                        7                 Alexander, Amelia        9
Alexander, John           5                 O’Brien, Ellery             2
Lightner, Lou               5
Russell                       4
O’Brien, Eamon            4
Willis                         2
For those of you checking on Kim Phillips at NAC, unfortunately his airline connection was cancelled and didn’t make it to Milwaukee.
This week we will try to get closer and closer to normal.  Afterschool should be regular, with evening practice on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights.  Afterschool will still be at 4:30 pm on Wednesday.  Camp Lejeune will meet on Friday night.  Topsail is still saying they will be open Friday, but that is a bit suspect.  I will try to keep up with everyone regarding Friday practices.


My mistake last week, October 17th is the last day for
regular fees if you want to go to the December Cincinnati NAC.  It has
Div I, Div II, and Vet events.  Please let me know if you sign up, so I can plan to be there for you.

Our
new first adult event is scheduled for next Saturday, October 20th.  Open epee, open
foil, and a D and under foil.  Right now still the first large
sanctioned event in the Division since Florence.  Epee is a C1. It would be good to see some Bs and As.  Both foils need bodies to reach anything over an E level.

Friday, October 26th is St. Mary’s Fall Festival.  We will shut down on Wednesday and Thursday of that week so that our space can become the haunted house for that event.  We will pull down the overheads after practice on Tuesday the 23rd and put them back up on Tuesday the 30th.
October
27th has the Tiger Open at Clemson.  This is a large regional event
that usually has all three opens be A level events.  They also have D
and under events that usually end up being C2 level.  Check askfred.net
for more info.

Apex
is also holding a number of unsanctioned events that date.  A couple of
aged events and adult Women’s foil, Men’s foil, and Mixed epee.

November 1st is the date by which I need to turn in a roster for the homeschool league.  We will have at least an A team from Wilmington (for the Southeastern Cardinals) and a Jacksonville team.
We
will be holding an NCFL meet on Saturday, November 3.  With all that is
going on I am not certain what the number of teams and levels will be. 
I would guess probably 6-8 A foil teams for both men and women. 
Probably that for foil B teams.  I know a number of our fencers have
been trying to get clubs up and running, but have had their efforts
delayed by Florence.  If we have people who want to fence but don”t have
a team, and you are at least in middle school, we can put together B
teams under the CFFA banner.  You will need a full uniform and we will
help with that as much as we can.  We have at least one fencer interested in that.  Epee fencers also compete as B teams
currently, so we can try to get a team (or more) together for that.  As
always, refereeing, armoring, managing help from the club is greatly
appreciated.
November 10th is the Harry Rulnick event in Fayetteville.  It has open Men’s and Women’s foil.  Check askfred for more info.
November 10th is also supposed to be a homeschool league scrimmage.  I will let you have more information once a location is announced.
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