News | Cape Fear Fencing Association

CFFA update for March 11

March 11, 2018March 11, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

At the NAC in Baltimore, Nicole Milewski had a good weekend. On Friday, in the Y-14, she went 6-0 in her pool and was the number 8 seed in the DE. She won her first three DEs. Unfortunately the 8 vs 9 match up in the 16 was with an A who also was undefeated in the pools and went on to finish 3rd. Nicole finished 10th out of 149. That should earn her a slew of National points. The next day was the Div III event, meaning that no one higher than a D (at the time you enter) is allowed in. In some ways this can be the toughest event in fencing, harder than higher level events where everyone is a solid fencer with reasonably good basics. You get the up and comers (like Nicole) who are on their way to bigger and better things, you get wily old veterans who may have lost a step but are still dangerous, you get brand new fencers still figuring out which end you hold; you get people who are A fencers in a different weapon, and you can get “hackers,” people who have one good or weird move that can be very hard to figure out in one bout. Nicole went 4-2 in her pool but had one of the other unusual Div. III issues. International, generally Canadian, fencers can enter these events. If they have not fenced in the US enough to get a rating, they are listed as U rated fencers. The woman she fenced, from Canada, would not have been allowed to fence based on her Canadian rating, but was still a U in the United States. In her DEs, Nicole first got a woman who fenced in the “knife fighter” position a lot, but she won that one in priority. Unfortunately, the next woman she faced was sort of a combination of Herman and Oliver, who then went on to defeat the Canadian from Nicole’s pool and ended up in 8th. Nicole finished 39 out of 119, which is good enough to qualify her for the Div III National Championships. I would say we have a number of people who should start looking to try the NAC events next year, either as the age group events or at the Div. II (C and under) or Div III level. A lot does depend on the location, but in recent years Baltimore or Richmond have seemed to always get at least one of these events.

I’ll be back, UNCW is back, and so this week will be a standard week of fencing at the club, Topsail, and Camp Lejeune.

March
17-18 is the Y-14, Div II, and Div III qualifiers in Greensboro. These
will qualify you (if you do well enough) for the National Championships
in St. Louis. Otherwise they may be good events just for the
practice. Right now, with the possible exception of adult Women’s epee, all the women’s events look wide open. Y-14 men’s epee is wide open, foil and sabre will be tougher. Adult men’s epee needs bodies to be rated higher than an E. The foil should end up as a C event and the sabre a D or C event. Check askfred for more details. Not many of our fencers are
signed up yet. We should have a bigger contingent. Preregistration ends on 3/15.

The
Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden is March 24. This is still the only 3 weapon
event

exclusively for women in the state. Entries are inching up and I still
hope that epee will become a C or higher rated event. It would be nice
to get foil up to where it would at least require two pools and sabre up
to where we will certainly have an E event. Please get signed up ASAP. Also
that day, we will be hosting the State Homeschool Individual
Championships. It would be nice if those who are in the homeschool
class would turn out to support our fencers. That starts at 1:30 pm, so
you also should be able to see some high level epee in the Iron Maiden
as well. Our homeschool fencers who will be competing, please let me know.

Also on that date is Mid-South’s RYC for Y10, Y12, and Y14 sabre.

On March 31 there is a U foil event and mixed epee in Charlotte. The foil is obviously good for a first adult tournament and the epee looks like it should be at least a B, maybe an A event.

The next evening beginner class will start on Monday, April 2nd, at 6:30 pm.

April
7th is our next mixed event. It is up on askfred and will have epee,
foil, and an E and under foil. If we can find fifteen foilists, of whom
at least 4 are Es, there is the possibility of someone earning a D
without having to defeat the heavy hitters. That also makes this a
really good event for someone looking for a first foil tournament. At the moment the epee looks like it will become rated, but hardly any foil fencers are entered.

I
hope to be able to make up for the lack of youth events in the next few
months with one each in April, May, and the season ending one in June.
The first of these would be on April 14th. Standard timing: foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30 pm, epee at 3:30 pm.

April
20-23 is a NAC in Richmond. The only people I saw who were signed up
were Brendan, KIm, Erica, Herman, and Nicole. If I missed you, or you
sign up now (the extra fees would apply) 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 March 3

March 4, 2018March 4, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Yesterday Phil Nazarro and Liam Coyle represented the Southeastern Cardinals in the Homeschool League Team Championships. They fenced well, but were a person down, as teams are actually three people. They did beat New Bern, the other team fencing one person down, in a back and forth 45-44 match. Unfortunately they couldn’t overcome the disadvantage against Twin City (who won the championship) or Oak Ridge.

This week will be unusual due to UNCW’s Spring Break and the Baltimore NAC. No UNCW practice at Trask Monday night. Our next evening class will start Tuesday night at 6:30 pm and runs for 12 sessions on Tu/Th. If anyone wants to come in Wednesday night for practice, let me know ASAP. Otherwise no practice Wednesday after 6:30 pm as the UNCW students are away. On Thursday, I will be leaving for Baltimore after the afterschool session. Brendan will be in by 7:45 pm to run the evening open session, but the evening class will not meet. No Topsail or Camp Lejeune classes this week.

This weekend is the Youth NAC in Baltimore. If anyone besides
Nicole is signed up, please let me know ASAP.

Let me try to outline what looks to be on tap for the rest of the fencing “season.” However, first I do need to apologize for not telling you about one fencing opportunity. The week long Fencing and German Beer Festival ends today in Munich. I was just afraid we would never see Brendan again. Most of these events are listed on askfred.net, if you want more information or to preregister.

March
17-18 is the Y-14, Div II, and Div III qualifiers in Greensboro. These
will qualify you (if you do well enough) for the National Championships
in St. Louis. Otherwise they may be good events just for the
practice. Check askfred for more details. Not many of our fencers are
signed up yet. We should have a bigger contingent. Preregistration ends on 3/15.

The
Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden is March 24. This is still the only 3 weapon
event

exclusively for women in the state. Entries are inching up and I still hope that epee will become a C or higher rated event. It would be nice to get foil up to where it would at least require two pools and sabre up to where we will have an E event. Please get signed up ASAP. Also that day, we will be hosting the State Homeschool Individual Championships. It would be nice if those who are in the homeschool class would turn out to support our fencers. That starts at 1:30 pm, so you also should be able to see some high level epee in the Iron Maiden as well.

Also on that date is Mid-South’s RYC for Y10, Y12, and Y14 sabre.

On March 31 there is a U foil event and mixed epee in Charlotte.

April 7th is our next mixed event. It is up on askfred and will have epee, foil, and an E and under foil. If we can find fifteen foilists, of whom at least 4 are Es, there is the possibility of someone earning a D without having to defeat the heavy hitters. That also makes this a really good event for someone looking for a first foil tournament.

I hope to be able to make up for the lack of youth events in the next few months with one each in April, May, and the season ending one in June. The first of these would be on April 14th.

April 20-23 is a NAC in Richmond. The only people I saw who were signed up were Brendan, KIm, Erica, Herman, and Nicole. If I missed you, or you sign up now (the extra fees would apply) please let me know.

April 28th is New Bern’s epee event, the Skirmish at Jack’s Island. I will be going up in some capacity, so should be able to take some people. This is always a solid tournament and the New Bern people host an excellent end of the tournament year (for them) brunch. They are sort of our “sister” club, so we should have a large representation.

Apex will be doing some youth events that day.

I hope to have a youth event on May 5th, unless some other fencing opportunity precludes it.

May 12th has Y10 and Y12 foil events and Senior foil and epee events at Apex.

May 19th is a mixed epee and a U foil event at Charlotte. Also on the 19th, All-American, in Fayetteville, will be having Y10 and Y12 foil. On Sunday, they will be hosting an adult men’s U foil event. They already have enough people signed up that the winner will get an E. I will be observing that event, so can take people up. More details on askfred.

May 26th ends our adult season with the Stab-a-thon. Mixed foil, epee, and sabre.

June 2nd is another set of youth events at All-America. They will also be hosting a sanctioned adult U foil, only for women on that day.

On June 2nd, Apex is hosting a referee clinic with Doug Findlay, a highly rated US and International referee. The time is 2 pm – 8 pm, so those of you who like later events, this is in your ballpark. Attending one of these clinics is a necessary step to getting a referee rating, as well as keeping your ratings current. Check askfred for more details.

I hope to have our season ending Youth event on June 9th, after which we can award the swords. Mid South is doing women’s and Vet sabre on that date.

And finally, the Powerade State Games of North Carolina occur on June 16-17. They have men’s and women’s events, and mixed Y-12 events in all weapons. They will be held in Lewisville. The original registration ends on May 4th, with fees increasing until June 8th, after which there is no more registration. There will be no at the door registration. They ask that you register under fencing at the ncsports website as well as askfred (The ncsports.org is the official registration.). The adult events are fenced as one large group (by gender) with awards then being given out to the top 3 overall, cadet, junior, and vets. This year and next the games are specifically important as the 2019 State Games of America will happen in Lynchburg, VA in Late July – August, 2019. However, a quick check of that website does not show fencing listed as a sport. I will keep you updated.

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 February 25

February 25, 2018February 25, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

It was a good day for Wilmington at the NCHSFL individuals in Greensboro yesterday. These are still done in the old style of fencing pools, then a cut, then another round of pools, another cut etc. It means the you have to keep fencing better as the day goes on, but you won’t be eliminated if you have a total brain freeze in one match. The winner is the person who has enough left and comes out ahead in the pool in that final round. Both of the high school events (men’s and women’s foil) in which we had entrants went for 5 rounds. In men’s foil we had two Hoggard fencers. Andrew Whitehead finished 26th of the 42 competitors. That means he was eliminated in the first round as they did a hard cut to 24, but as he has just been competing a few months, that was still a very solid result. Will Golder, made it a bit farther, getting to the finals and finishing third overall, which was excellent, especially considering he is a freshman. On the women’s side from Hoggard, Cammy Herbert fenced the best she has all year and made it into the third round. She finished 14/31 overall. The Ashley women had Katelyn Guthrie also make the third round and finish 17th. Both Cammy and Katelyn just started fencing this year. Emma Graf saved her best fencing for the final round and went undefeated, becoming the women’s champion for the NCHSFL for 2018. Will and Emma, by reason of making the final pools, are also accorded All-State honors. Congratulations to everyone.

This week should be a totally regular week of practice.

February
28th is the last day to enter the April NAC in Richmond at the “cheap”
fees. The NAC will actually be held over the dates of April 20-23. The
events are Div I, Div II, and Div III, plus Vet and Vet combined. For
those of you looking at an entry event into national level competition,
the Div III is the way to go (unless you are of age to be a Vet). Right now, other than Erica, I don’t see anyone signed up. Given the proximity and the events involved, we should be sending a large contingent. Let me know if/when you sign up so I will be able to plan my schedule.

March 3rd is the homeschool team championship in Greensboro. I will send out an email later to let everyone know where that stands.

Also
on March 3rd are some unsanctioned foil and epee events in youth and
adult categories at Apex. Check askfred for more details. These are primarily for novice/U level fencers, so don’t poach them if you are more advanced.

March 6th will be our next evening beginning class, running on Tuesday and Thursday.

The
weekend of March 10th is a Youth NAC in Baltimore. If anyone besides
Nicole is signed up, please let me know. It will cause some changes in
my schedule, primarily no Thursday evening class and no Friday classes.

March
17-18 is the Y-14, Div II, and Div III qualifiers in Greensboro. These
will qualify you (if you do well enough) for the National Championships
in St. Louis. Otherwise they may be good events just for the
practice. Check askfred for more details. Not many of our fencers are signed up yet. Again, we should have a bigger contingent.

The
Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden is March 24. This is still the only 3 weapon
event

exclusively for women in the state. Those of you who have been telling
me you will be fencing need to get signed up NOW. Epee is inching up to be a rated event, but we still should be seeing more of our people. Laurie, Nora, and Lydia for epee would make it a rated event. Nora and Emma G. (if you are going to win things you need to put yourself on the line.) should be entered in foil. The other Ashley and Hoggard women should be using this time to get better for next season and start with some local competition.

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 February 11

February 11, 2018February 11, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Another busy weekend with a number of good results for CFFA fencers.

To start with, on Friday night, Catherine Shin of UNCW scared away all the other women at Mid-South’s Grand Open tournament. She had to fence with the men, and won her first DE pretty easily. That got her a match with number one seed Stephen Pashby. She finished 8th. The next day in the same event, Kim Phillips tied for third out of an A1 event.

On Saturday, a number of our fencers went to the Holy City Open in Charleston, South Carolina. In their foil, Will Golder had a solid 1st round, crushed his first two DEs, then defeated the B rated number 1 seed. He lost 11-15 in the finals to Luke Kinney (no relation to Mike). That earns Will his D18. Our epeeists also did well. Kenyatta Sanford tied for 3rd in the C rated event and earns her D18. The person she tied with was Robert Thomas, who re-earns his D18. Rounding out the top 8 was Mike Kinney, who earns an E18. Congrats to all.

Last and not least a number of local fencers went to the NCFL seeding event in Apex. Andrew Whitehead, Paul Corpening, and Cammy Herbert, all of Hoggard, lost their first DEs. Emma Graf and Katelyn Guthrie of Ashley both won their first DE, but lost their second. All of them are qualified for the finals in Greensboro on the 24th.

I am going to be away to the Junior Olympics in Memphis
over
the President’s Day weekend. On Saturday the 17th, Donny Zelinski is
coming down to
run a youth event. We will compress our normal schedule so foil will
start at 10 am, sabre AND epee will both start at 1:30 pm. We will
award the medals and sword points for events per usual. It looks like, particularly the foil, may be a large event. Besides our evening, afterschool, homeschool, Topsail, and possibly Jacksonville fencers; there will be fencers from the Wilmington Fencing Club and New Bern, possibly even Raleigh. Anything that
parents or older siblings can do to help such as hooking up fencers,
refereeing, and dressing fencers will be appreciated.

Because
of my travel times, etc., there will be no Thursday, February 15
afterschool or evening class (there will probably be a standard
practice starting about 7:30 pm). No Topsail or Camp Lejeune classes on Friday. No
afterschool on Monday, the 19th as St. Mary is off for President’s Day. I may not make it to UNCW practice Monday, depending on when I get back.

February 24th is the NCFL individual championships in Greensboro.

March 3rd is the homeschool team championship in Greensboro.

Also on March 3rd are some unsanctioned foil and epee events in youth and adult categories at Apex.

March 6th will be our next beginning class, running on Tuesday and Thursday.

The
weekend of March 10th is a Youth NAC in Baltimore. If anyone besides
Nicole is signed up, please let me know. It will cause some changes in
my schedule.

The
Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden is March 24. This is still the only 3 weapon
event

exclusively for women in the state, so it would be good to get our
people signed up
soon to draw other women. There hasn’t really been anyone signing up
from our club in the last couple of weeks. We can
make this a really excellent competition, but our women need to show
they are interested. I realize it is still almost two months out, but
we need to pump up the numbers now to attract rated fencers.

I have received very little input regarding camps. Here is a first draft of dates. Let me know if anyone has any issues. Last call.

July 9-13 beginning foil

July 16-20 advanced foil

July 23-27 advanced epee

July 30 – August 3 advanced sabre

August 6-10 ?

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 February 5

February 5, 2018February 5, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Congrats to all the Eagles fans.

Per usual, there was a lot of fencing going on this weekend. On the homeschool front, Phil Nazzaro and Liam Coyle represented Southeastern in Oak Ridge. We borrowed one of the Oak Ridge fencers to fill out the team and they went 3-0. They beat New Bern and Twin City 45-31 and Oak Ridge 45-29.

At the RYC in Apex, on Saturday Will Golder went 3-3 in his pool for Y-14 men, won his first DE, but then lost the second to the number one seed and finished 13th out of 31. Jackson Jones in his first USA Fencing competition lost a close first DE 8-10 to finish his day in the Y-10 mixed foil. On Sunday, Nicole Milewski went 5-1 in her pool of Y-14 women’s epee. She got her revenge for the one loss in the gold medal match, winning 15-13.

Our next beginner class starts tonight, February 5th, at 6:30 pm. Otherwise it will be a regular week of practice.

February 10 is the NCFL individual conference qualifiers at Apex.

That
weekend is also Mid-South’s Annual Grand Open. They will have events
in all three weapons split by gender. See askfred for the schedule.

Also
on Saturday the 10th is a foil and epee event in Charleston, South
Carolina. At the moment, a number of our fencers are planning to attend
and the epee looks to be at least a B event. The foil make make a C event.

I am currently planning to be away to the Junior Olympics in Memphis
over
the President’s Day weekend. On Saturday the 17th, Donny Zelinski is coming down to
run a youth event. We will compress our normal schedule so foil will start at 10 am, sabre AND epee will both start at 1:30 pm. We will award the medals and sword points for events per usual. Anything that parents or older siblings can do to help such as hooking up fencers, refereeing, and dressing fencers will be appreciated.

Because
of my travel times, etc., there will be no Thursday, February 15
afterschool or evening class (there will probably be a standard
practice). No Topsail or Camp Lejeune classes on Friday. No
afterschool on Monday, the 19th as St. Mary is off for President’s day.
There should be the Monday evening class.

February 24th is the NCFL individual championships in Greensboro.

March 3rd is the homeschool team championship in Greensboro.

Also on March 3rd are some unsanctioned foil and epee events in youth and adult categories at Apex.

The weekend of March 10th is a Youth NAC in Baltimore. If anyone besides Nicole is signed up, please let me know. It will cause some changes in schedule.

The
Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden is March 24. This is still the only 3 weapon
event

I have received very little input regarding camps. Here is a first draft of dates. Let me know if anyone has any issues.

July 9-13 beginning foil

July 16-20 advanced foil

July 23-27 advanced epee

July 30 – August 3 advanced sabre

August 6-10 ?

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 January 28

January 28, 2018January 28, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Wrightsville Beach Magazine has done a nice article about fencing in Wilmington. You can access it through the link: http://www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com/flash/2018-2/#/20/

I have a few hard copies at the club for those who want one for a scrapbook.

Herman is looking to put together an order this week, so get us what you need. Additionally, 6 month dues are due on Feb 1 or thereabouts.

Yesterday, Robert Thomas went out to the epee event in Charlotte. He went 3-3 in his pool and won his first DE. He then succumbed to Lars Hansen, the A from Fayetteville.

I went up to Chapel Hill and refereed the NCFL team event. For the men, it was Research Triangle 1st, Bishop 2nd, and Chapel Hill 3rd. For the women, it was Chapel Hill 1st, Orange 2nd, and Salem 3rd.

Practice will be getting more toward normal this week as UNCW will start coming down on Wednesday nights. Friday is a new class at Camp Lejeune.

February 3rd is a homeschool meet at Oak Ridge which will start at 1:30 pm.

February
3rd and 4th is a foil and epee RYC at Apex. The events are split by
gender and are Y10, Y12, and Y14 events. More information is up on
askfred. The first entry deadline has passed so entering will be a bit expensive.

Our next beginner class starts Monday, February 5th, at 6:30 pm.

February 10 is the NCFL individual conference qualifiers at Apex, I believe.

That
weekend is also Mid-South’s Annual Grand Open. They will have events
in all three weapons split by gender. See askfred for the schedule.

Also
on Saturday the 10th is a foil and epee event in Charleston, South
Carolina. At the moment, a number of our fencers are planning to attend
and the epee looks to be at least a B event.

I am currently planning to be away to the Junior Olympics in Memphis over
the President’s Day weekend. I believe Donny Zelinski is coming down to run a youth event. I will let everyone know for certain once we can confirm that and determine start times.

Because of my travel times, etc., there will be no Thursday, February 15 afterschool or evening class (there will probably be a standard practice). No Topsail or Camp Lejeune classes on Friday. No afterschool on Monday, the 19th as St. Mary is off for President’s day. There should be the Monday evening class.

The Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden is March 24. This is still the only 3 weapon event

exclusively for women in the state, so it would be good to get our
people signed up
soon to draw other women. There hasn’t really been anyone signing up from our club except for Taylor in the last couple of weeks. We can make this a really excellent competition, but our women need to show they are interested. I realize it is still almost two months out, but we need to pump up the numbers now to attract rated fencers.

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 January 22

January 22, 2018January 22, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Herman has put in the most recent order and is looking at the first week of February for the next order. Let him or me know if you want/need something.

Also, for those of you on the 6 month plan, the next installment for dues is February 1st.

A lot of fencing happened this weekend. On Saturday, we hosted the Homeschool League meet. Our Southeastern Cardinal A team of Phil Nazzaro, Kyler Schoonmaker, and Liam Coyle went 2-1. They defeated New Bern 45-31 and Twin City 45-36. They lost to Oak Ridge 40-45.

On Sunday, we had 3 teams go to the NCFL meet in Apex. The Hoggard men’s team of Will Golder and Andrew Whitehead went 2-2. Cammy Herbert was the Hoggard women’s team again, and you cannot win with just one fencer. It is hard to win with just two fencers. Will only lost one bout on the day. Also competing was the Ashley Women’s team. This was their first competition and they went 3-1, defeating Hoggard, Research Triangle, and Orange High Schools. They were led by founder Emma Graf.

Elina Grooman competed in her first USA Fencing event at Mid-South. She won a couple of pool bouts, but lost her first DE to the person who finished third. She came in at 10th.

January
27th is supposed to be the NCFL State team championship. I am
not certain of the location, but will keep you informed.

For adults Charlotte has an Open epee event and a U foil event on the 27th. The epee is currently an A event while the foil needs a couple of bodies to be rated.

Sunday,
January 28th, is an unrated, split by gender event up at All-American
in Fayetteville. Lots of spaces for women, only one for men. Men’s is listed as sanctioned, the women’s is not. See
askfred for details.

February 3rd is a homeschool meet at Oak Ridge which will start at 1:30 pm.

February 10 is the NCFL individual conference qualifiers at a location to be decided.

That
weekend is also Mid-South’s Annual Grand Open. They will have events
in all three weapons split by gender. See askfred for the schedule.

Also
on Saturday the 10th is a foil and epee event in Charleston, South
Carolina. At the moment, a number of our fencers are planning to attend
and the epee looks to be at least a strong C event.

I am currently planning to be away to the Junior Olympics in Memphis over
the President’s Day weekend. We may
actually use this date as a make up for the Old Man Winter. If not, it will be a youth event. I will
keep you posted.

The Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden (March 24). This is still the only 3 weapon event

exclusively for women in the state, so it would be good to get our
people signed up
soon to draw other women. There is no reason the epee can’t be an A and
the foil and sabre at least have some kind of rating, but we need our women to get entered.

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 January 14

January 14, 2018January 14, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Hoggard sent a two man team and a one woman team to the NCFL meet at Chapel Hill yesterday. Will Golder and Andrew Whitehead went 1-3 as they were always giving away 3 matches out of the 9. Will went 8-2 for the day. Cammy Herbert fenced for the women and inevitably lost all of her matches, but actually went 4-4 individually.

Nicole Milewski attended the Capitol Clash Super Youth Circuit up in Maryland. On Saturday, in the Y-14, she was 3-3 in her pool and unfortunately lost her first DE. Today in the Cadet she was also 3-3, but won her first two DEs, one of which was an upset of the number 7 seed. She ended up 13th out of 79 fencers and was the highest finishing D rated fencer.

Tomorrow there is no afterschool practice as St. Mary is closed for MLK day. The rest of the week should be pretty well back to normal. I will be in Wednesday evening to help prep the Ashley school team if anyone wants to come down.

January
20 is the next homeschool event and we will be hosting it. Start time
is 1:30 pm. We can actually hold a morning practice as I doubt the
homeschoolers will be arriving early, although I will invite them. I will be in at 10:00 and we will need to opening up strips for the homeschoolers so their meet can ruin smoothly at 1:30 pm.

For
adults, Mid-South is having a women’s sabre and a Vet combined sabre
event.

Richmond is hosting the Hangover Open. Usually the Hangover has
solid B or A rated events, but looks smaller than normal this year. Only the open epee looks like it might become an A event.

Sunday, January 21st will be a make up date for an NCFL meet and will be held at Apex.

January
27th is supposed to be the NCFL State team championship. It appears that they will let people with only one other event attend so Hoggard and Ashley (if they make the 21st) should both be able to attend. I am not certain of the location.

Again, for adults Charlotte has an Open epee event and a U foil event on the 27th.

Sunday,
January 28th, is an unrated, split by gender event up at All-American
in Fayetteville. Lots of spaces for women, only three for men. Men’s is listed as sanctioned, the women’s is not. See
askfred for details.

February 3rd is a homeschool meet at Oak Ridge which will start at 1:30 pm.

February 3rd and 4th is a foil and epee RYC at Apex. The events are split by gender and are Y10, Y12, and Y14 events. More information is up on askfred. The entry deadline is this Friday and you must prepay on askfred to be registered.

February 10 is the NCFL individual conference qualifiers at a location to be decided.

That weekend is also Mid-South’s Annual Grand Open. They will have events in all three weapons split by gender. See askfred for the schedule.

Also on Saturday the 10th is a foil and epee event in Charleston, South Carolina. At the moment, a number of our fencers are planning to attend and the epee looks to be at least a strong C event.

I am currently planning to be away to the Junior Olympics in Memphis over
the President’s Day weekend. We may
actually use this date as a make up for the Old Man Winter. I will
keep you posted.

The Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden (March 24). This is still the only 3 weapon event

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

NO afterschool fencing January 8th

January 8, 2018January 8, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

New
Hanover schools remain closed today, which means that St. Mary Catholic
school is also closed. Therefore no afterschool fencing today.

For
beginners, the first day is mainly about getting signed in and an
introduction to the history of fencing with a little bit of beginning
footwork. We’ll repeat the first class tomorrow (as is the usual
practice) if that works for you. If not we will get people signed up,
then just dive into the footwork, getting equipment, and moving on
during Wednesday and Thursday’s classes. If classes are cancelled
tomorrow, we will just start with the regular first class on Wednesday
and Thursday.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

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 January 4

January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

I decided to go ahead and put out the weekly update early because of all the things (not) happening.

No practice at Wilmington this evening. No practice at Topsail or Camp Lejeune tomorrow. We are also cancelling the Old Man Winter tournament on Saturday. About half the field is from at least two hours away and many of those people are up the coast where it sounds like they got hit worse than we did.

At this point it looks like we will be able to get up and running next week. January
8th the next afterschool beginner class starts and afterschool fencing
will resume. January 9th is the next evening beginner class (a
Tuesday/Thursday one). January 10th will start the next homeschool
beginner class and finish up the one we cancelled from this week.

Right now I am planning to stay for Wednesday evening practice on the 10th even if UNCW is not there yet.

There should be fencing at Topsail and Camp Lejeune. We will pick up where we left off and add a week at the end so we can cover everything.

January
13 is the date for the next NCFL meet. Chapel Hill high has offered to host on that date. We can start looking into who is going and how we can get there.

January
20 is the next homeschool event and we will be hosting it. Start time
is 1:30 pm. We could actually hold a morning practice as I doubt the
homeschoolers will be arriving early.

For adults, Mid-South is having a women’s sabre and a Vet combined sabre event. Richmond is hosting the Hangover Open. Usually the Hangover has solid B or A rated events.

Sunday, January 21st will be a make up date for an NCFL meet and will be held at Apex.

January
27th is supposed to be the NCFL State team championship. You are
supposed to have attended two events to be eligible, so there needs to
be at least one more or a decision as to how we allow people to enter.

Again, for adults Charlotte has an Open epee event and a U foil event on the 27th.

Sunday,
January 28th, is an unrated, split by gender event up at All-American
in Fayetteville. Lots of spaces for women, only two for men. Men’s is listed as sanctioned, the women’s is not. See
askfred for details.

All
of our events for next spring are on askfred, including the Lynn Krupey
Memorial Iron Maiden (March 24). This is still the only 3 weapon event

I
am currently planning to be away to the Junior Olympics in Memphis over
the President’s Day weekend if all our fencers get signed up. The club
has cancelled the event we had scheduled for that day. (February 17)
Donny Zelinski, the coach at New Bern, has offered to run a youth event
at our club. He would need the help of some parents to make it
possible. Let me know if you can help, even if it is just keeping
everyone organized, hooking up fencers during the events in which your
children might be participating, etc. I would probably try to truncate
the schedule a bit because he would be driving two hours just to do this
for us, and we never seem to have sabre fencers. A few people have
contacted me about being willing to help, so this should happen. We may actually use this date as a make up for the Old Man Winter. I will keep you posted.

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