News | Cape Fear Fencing Association

CFFA update for May 21

May 21, 2018May 21, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

We had a solid practice Saturday morning with about a dozen fencers. As the tournaments thin out over the summer, Saturday morning practice will become the norm.

Regular week of practice this week.

Our
next event will be the Stab-a-thon this Saturday. The epee is shaping up
nicely, already a B1, and only needs another A to become an A event.
The foil needs a C and bodies to be a C. The sabre should be an E. If you haven’t, get signed up early this week. Please don’t wait until the last minute.

No afterschool practice May 28th as it is Memorial Day. All of the school year practices will end this week. On Wednesday and Thursday for homeschool and afterschool we will have end of the year parties. Friday will be the final Topsail Middle school practice for this school year.

June
2nd will be the last Youth event for the season. We will give the
swords away after the events. Foil at 10 am, epee at 1:30 pm, sabre at
3:30 pm. Any volunteer help for the foil is greatly appreciated.

Also
on June 2nd, Apex is hosting a referee clinic that will set you up to
take the written referee test. It is written to be difficult so
attending a clinic like this is not only necessary, but very helpful.
It is listed on askfred (look under clinics) for more
details. If you have questions, ask me. They are then having
unsanctioned foil events on the 3rd so that the prospective referees can
be observed.

June 9th is Mid-South’s last sabre extravaganza of the year. They are having a women’s sabre and a Vet combine mixed sabre.

Our
only entrants currently listed for Powerade State Games are Mike
Kinney, Erica Julien, Nicole Milewski, and Kim Phillips. The entry fees
are at their second level but will go up again on June 1st. The games
are the weekend of June 16-17.

On
June 12th I will start having a summer practice for the younger set at
6:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We will go for about an hour and the
cost is $5 per time or $25 per month.

Summer
camps will go 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Thursday and 9 am to 3 pm Friday.
More information is on the website or on a handout I have prepared.
Last year we experimented with allowing adults to take the camps and the
results were solid, so if you would like to attend a camp, talk to me.
If you are attending, please let me know so I can plan the curricula
and tell me your T-shirt size so I can order them. Camp dates are:

Beginning Fencing Camp July 9-13

Advanced Foil Camp July 16 – 20

Advanced Epee Camp July 23 – 27

Advanced Sabre Camp July 30 – August 3

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 May 13

May 13, 2018May 13, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Yesterday we held the first middle school team event with some local teams and teams from Raleigh and New Bern. The team of Megan Looney and Emma Melvin fenced a person short all day for St. Mary and came in seventh. The Topsail Pirates team of Isabella LaCorte, Evan Cherry, and Ivone Alexander finished third. The Topsail Tacos: Logan Schott, Amelia Alexander, and Jackson Jones won the event. If you go to a middle school and would be interested in having a team next year, talk to Herman Smith or me. A huge thank you to Herman for setting this up and sponsoring the event. Thanks yous to Brendan McConville, Kyler Schoonmaker, and Jerry Antonellis of Epiphany for refereeing. Thank yous to the fencers and parents.

We also had fencers go to the event in Apex yesterday. Will Golder finished 14th in the men’s epee and 17th in the men’s foil. Both were A2 events. Erica Julien finished 6th and Nicole Milewski was 8th in women’s epee.

This week practice keeps moving to more of a summer schedule. We should have a Saturday practice on the 19th, starting at 10 am and going until ?

May 19th is open epee and unrated foil at Charlotte. Epee might become a B and the foil may become an E event.

May
20th is a U foil at All-American. I will be going up to observe, but
at the moment the field is maxed out. If they have anyone drop out I
will let you know.

Our
next event will be the Stab-a-thon on May 26th. The epee is shaping up
nicely, already a B1, and only needs another A to become an A event. The foil needs a C and bodies to be a C. The sabre needs warm bodies to become an E.

Afterschool practice will end the last week of May.

June
2nd will be the last Youth event for the season. We will give the
swords away after the events. Foil at 10 am, epee at 1:30 pm, sabre at
3:30 pm.

June 9th is Mid-South’s last sabre extravaganza of the year. They are having a women’s epee and a Vet combine mixed epee.

Our only entrants currently listed for Powerade State Games are Mike Kinney, Erica Julien, Nicole Milewski, and Kim Phillips. The entry fees are at their second level but will go up again on June 1st. The games are the weekend of June 16-17.

On June 12th I will start having a summer practice for the younger set at 6:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We will go for about an hour and the cost is $5 per time or $25 per month.

Summer camps will go 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Thursday and 9 am to 3 pm Friday. More information is on the website or on a handout I have prepared. Last year we experimented with allowing adults to take the camps and the results were solid, so if you would like to attend a camp, talk to me. If you are attending, please let me know so I can plan the curricula and tell me your T-shirt size so I can order them. Camp dates are:

Beginning Fencing Camp July 9-13

Advanced Foil Camp July 16 – 20

Advanced Epee Camp July 23 – 27

Advanced Sabre Camp July 30 – August 3

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

Next season’s NAC locations

May 7, 2018May 7, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

The locations for next year’s NAC’s (except the April one) have been announced. Here is the line up:

October NAC 10/12-15 Div I, Div II, cadet Milwaukee, WI

November NAC 11/9-12 Junior, Cadet, Y-14 Kansas City, MO

December NAC 12/14-17 Div I, Div II, Vet Cincinnati, OH

January NAC 1/4-7 Div I, Junior Charlotte, NC

February JOs 2/15-18 Junior, Cadet Denver, CO

March NAC 3/1-4 Y-10, Y-12, Y-14 Cleveland, OH

April NAC ? Div I, Vet, maybe other ?

Summer Nationals 6/28 – 7/7 Everything Columbus, OH

Not quite as nice as this year, but not horrible. Since most of this is sort of middle of the country, I could see the April event going to either coast. I don’t know if it not being listed means no one applied for it, they didn’t like the packages sent in by those who did, or they just haven’t decided yet.

I will have to see how things line up with my teaching schedule to see what I can get away to. December is right after the end of the semester and January is right before the start of that one. March is the beginning of Spring Break. At least Columbus should be pretty easy.

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 May 6

May 6, 2018May 6, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Pleasant
youth event at the club yesterday. Kiearon Marshall of WFC won the 12
and under foil. Izzy LaCorte of our Topsail branch was 2nd. Evan Cherry
and Jackson Jones, both of Topsail tied for 3rd. In the 9 and under
division, John Alexander took gold, Lou Lightner took silver, and Boyd
Sprague (all CFFA) took bronze. In epee, it was Nyc Baynes 1st, Amelia
Alexander 2nd, and Eamon O’Brien 3rd (all CFFA). Boyd is still looking
for someone to come and fence him in sabre. Many thanks to Paul Perkins
and Herman Smith for helping make the tournament run.

Here are the current top 5 in sword points:

Boys Girls

Schoonmaker 32 Alexander, Amelia 38

Jones 28 Rayle 21

Marshall 25 Dhulipala 15

Alexander, John 16 LaCorte 10
Baynes 14 Cherry 9

Regular week of practice this week.

May 12th at Apex are sanctioned foil and epee events, split by gender. They are also having unsanctioned Y-10
and Y-12 foil. Right now the Women’s epee needs bodies to be at least a
C event, otherwise it will be a really nasty E. Foil looks to be a much more reasonable E event. Both Men’s foil
and epee should be A events, foil looks to be an A2.

We
will hold a junior high team event on May 12th. Fencers would need to
be between the fourth and eighth grades. Looks like at least a couple
of teams from Topsail. Possibly 2 teams from Raleigh and maybe one from New Bern. Probably a combo team with some St. Mary fencers. The format will be like the NCFL team events It will start at 11:30 am. Volunteer referees welcome, contact me if you are available.

May 19th is open epee and unrated foil at Charlotte. A bit too early to predict the field.

May
20th is a U foil at All-American. I will be going up to observe, but
at the moment the field is maxed out. If they have anyone drop out I
will let you know.

Our
next event will be the Stab-a-thon on May 26th. The epee is shaping up
nicely, already a B1. Foil and sabre are still very small.

June 2nd will be the last Youth event for the season. We will give the swords away after the events. Foil at 10 am, epee at 1:30 pm, sabre at 3:30 pm.

I have been given some
equipment to see if anyone might be interested. It looks to be in good
shape. It consists of a Blue Gauntlet fencing bag, a RH xsmall glove,
RH small glove, RH visconti 2 prong foil, a 2 prong body cord, small
foil mask, 34 RH jacket, and a set of knicker proportionate to that (I
cannot find an actual size in them.) If you are interested, let me
know. Taking best offer.

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

State Games entries

May 4, 2018May 4, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Remember that today is the last day to enter the Powerade State Games at the regular price. As of tomorrow the entry fee goes up by $10.

The games will be held June 16-17 at Forsyth Country Day School in Lewisville. The schedule and entry in formation are at North Carolina Amateur Sports

North Carolina Amateur Sports

At the moment we only have a couple of people entered and the over all entries are low. There are Y-12 events that are mixed for each weapon. There are gender specific competitions for each weapon for adults. In each adult competition they give medals for the overall, top 3 Veterans, Juniors, and Cadets.

If you win a medal you are then qualified to go to the States Games of America. These are held every other year, so the next one is in 2019. It will be in Lynchburg, VA, so it is extremely close.

Email me if there are 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 April 29th

April 29, 2018April 29, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

It was a beautiful day for an outdoor tournament in New Bern and we provided almost half of the field for the Skirmish at Jack’s Island. The CFFA people did a lot of beating up on each other in pools before moving into the DE rounds. In the end Lars Hansen of All-American edged out Stephen Kmiec of ECU for the trophy. Ryan Miller of Salle New Bern took one of the third places and he was joined by our Nicole Milewski, who earned her C18. Kudos to everyone who helped make the event a success.

The next evening beginner class will begin on Tuesday, May 1st, at 6:30 pm. Remember we are transitioning to summer hours, so no Wednesday night practice.

May 4th is the last day to sign up for the Powerade State Games before the prices go up. The event will be held at Forsyth Country Day School on the 16th and 17th of June. Sign up is on the Powerade site (pag.ncsports.org), not askfred.

May
5th will be our next under 12 youth event. I want to change up the
times a bit since we never seem to have sabre fencers. Foil at 10 am,
epee at 1:30 pm, sabre at 3:30 pm. Foil refereeing help will be appreciated.

May 12th at Apex are sanctioned foil and epee events, split by gender. They are also having unsanctioned Y-10 and Y-12 foil. Right now the Women’s epee needs bodies to be at least a C event, while women’s foil will probably be an E1. Both Men’s foil and epee should be A events.

We
will hold a junior high team event on May 12th. Fencers would need to
be between the fourth and eighth grades. Looks like at least a couple
of teams from Topsail. Hopefully we can get a St. Mary’s team
together. Possibly 2 teams from Raleigh and maybe some from New Bern. The format will be
different than the usual individual format. It will probably start
late morning. More details as we get closer.

May 19th is open epee and unrated foil at Charlotte. A bit too early to predict the field.

May
20th is a U foil at All-American. I will be going up to observe, but
at the moment the field is maxed out. If they have anyone drop out I
will let you know.

Our
next event will be the Stab-a-thon on May 26th. The epee is shaping up
nicely, already a B1. However only three people each in the foil and sabre.

June 2nd will be the last Youth event for the season. We will give the swords away after the events.

Also
on June 2nd, Apex is hosting a referee clinic that will set you up to
take the written referee test. It is written to be difficult so
attending a clinic like this is not only necessary, but very helpful.
It is listed on askfred (look under clinics, click on more) for more
details. If you have questions, ask me. They are then having unsanctioned foil events on the 3rd so that the prospective referees can be observed.

I have been given some equipment to see if anyone might be interested. It looks to be in good shape. It consists of a Blue Gauntlet fencing bag, a RH xsmall glove, RH small glove, RH visconti 2 prong foil, a 2 prong body cord, small foil mask, 34 RH jacket, and a set of knicker proportionate to that (I cannot find an actual size in them.) If you are interested, 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

Monday NAC results

April 24, 2018April 24, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

In the men’s sabre combined, Kim Phillips had a rough start with some reffing calls (It is sabre). He went 3-2 in his pool, then punished a number of fencers for it. He took out the number one seed and then lost a close bout in the eight, finishing 7th and picking up his second medal.

In the women’s Div II epee, Nicole Milewski went 5-1, only losing to the woman who would end up tied for 3rd. She won her first DE, but then lost to a starter from from the Air Force Academy’s team. Nicole finished 20th.

A good showing all around from our fencers. In fact North Carolina had very good results as a number of the clubs won multiple medals.

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 April23

April 23, 2018April 23, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Some very good results from the NAC going on in Richmond over the weekend. Herman Smith started things off in Vet 60 – 69 men’s epee. Unfortunately, he had a flare up of various issues, so he started slowly. Once he got settled, he fenced better, ending up 2-4 in his pool. He won his first DE and then lost a close one to the number 2 seed, finishing 30th. Also up on Friday was Erica Julien, fencing in the Vet 70+ women’s sabre. She went 1-3 in her pool, then won her first DE. She lost to the number one seed and finished 8th, getting a medal.

On Saturday, it was just Erica in Vet 70+ women’s epee. She was perfect in her pool, going 5-0. She won her way to the final, but lost, thus earning the silver medal. She should hang on to her #1 in the country rating with that performance.

Sunday was the busy day. Brendan McConville fenced the Div II men’s epee. Brendan went 3-3 in his pool and was then done in by a weird set of circumstances. When you enter a Div. II competition, you must be a C or lower fencer. Brendan’s first DE opponent had just jumped from a C to an A by his results in an event the day before. But as he was a C when he entered, and his A isn’t registered yet, he could still compete. Brendan kept it close, but lost, coming in 75th. Kim Phillips was next up in the men’s Vet 40-49 sabre. He was 5-0 in his pool. He had a close call in one of his DEs, coming back from 4-9 to win 10-9. He made the finals, but lost to Sean Bates, so he also took a silver medal. Nicole Milewski finished the day in the Div III women’s epee. She had a solid 4-2 round and kept getting better as the day went on before losing to the eventual 2nd place woman. She finished 7th, also winning a medal.

So, six events, 4 national medals, none of which were gimmes. Kim and Nicole still have events today so the total may go up.

No afterschool fencing today as I am still in Richmond. Afterschool will start back up tomorrow. UNCW is getting ready for finals, so no more Wednesday night practice until the fall.

April 27 is the next beginner class on board Camp Lejeune.

April 28 is Salle New Bern’s Skirmish at Jack’s Island. Always a fun time, so far 16 fencers are entered, but no one over a C is entered yet. This is totally weird as they let A and B fencers enter for free. It is on askfred. I will be going in some capacity, so can take people if needed. Get signed up soon so they can plan for the number of people at the after party.

On that weekend, Mid-South is having sabre events, split by gender, for those so inclined.

The next evening beginner class will begin on Tuesday, May 1st.

May 5th will be our next under 12 youth event. I want to change up the times a bit since we never seem to have sabre fencers. Foil at 10 am, epee at 1:30 pm, sabre at 3:30 pm.

May 12th at Apex are sanctioned foil and epee events, split by gender. They are also having unsanctioned Y-10 and Y-12 foil.

We will hold a junior high team event on May 12th. Fencers would need to be between the fourth and eighth grades. Looks like at least a couple of teams from Topsail. Hopefully we can get a St. Mary’s team together. Possibly teams from Raleigh and New Bern. The format will be different than the usual individual format. It will probably start late morning. More details as we get closer.

May 19th is open epee and unrated foil at Charlotte. A bit too early to predict the field.

May 20th is a U foil at All-American. I will be going up to observe, but at the moment the field is maxed out. If they have anyone drop out I will let you know.

Our next event will be the Stab-a-thon on May 26th. The epee is shaping up nicely, already a dozen fencers. STILL, only Brendan in the foil and a couple of sabre fencers.

June 2nd will be the last Youth event for the season. We will give the swords away after the events.

Also on June 2nd, Apex is hosting a referee clinic that will set you up to take the written referee test. It is written to be difficult so attending a clinic like this is not only necessary, but very helpful. It is listed on askfred (look under clinics, click on more) for more details. If you have questions, ask me.

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 April 15

April 15, 2018April 15, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Nicole Milewski fenced in the Y-14 epee at the SYC in Fairfax, VA, on Friday. She had a solid 4-2 first round, including beating the number 6 fencer her age in the country. She won her first DE, but lost the second 14-15, finishing 9th.

Some changes to the schedule this week and next due to the Richmond NAC. Pretty much standard through Wednesday. This beginner class will finish up on Tuesday. There were no beginning homeschoolers, so unless someone shows up this week, I will be working with experienced fencers for the rest of the year. I will be at afterschool all week, but someone else (probably Brendan) will be opening up Thursday night. NO practice at Topsail or Camp Lejeune Friday. No afterschool on Monday, April 23rd. I probably will not be back in time for UNCW practice that evening. From Tuesday on next week should be regular.

April 27 is the next beginner class on board Camp Lejeune.

April
28 is Salle New Bern’s Skirmish at Jack’s Island. Always a fun time,
so far 15 fencers are entered, but no one over a C is
entered yet. This is totally weird as they let A and B fencers enter for free. It is on askfred. I will be going in some capacity, so can take people if needed.

On that weekend, Mid-South is having sabre events, split by gender, for those so inclined.

The next evening beginner class will begin on Tuesday, May 1st.

May 5th will be our next under 12 youth event. I want to change up the times a bit since we never seem to have sabre fencers. Foil at 10 am, epee at 1:30 pm, sabre at 3:30 pm.

May 12th at Apex are sanctioned foil and epee events, split by gender. They are also having unsanctioned Y-10 and Y-12 foil.

We will hold a junior high team event on May 12th. Fencers would need to
be between the fourth and eighth grades. Looks like at least a couple of teams from Topsail. Hopefully we can get a St. Mary’s team together. Possibly teams from Raleigh and New Bern. The format will be
different than the usual individual format. It will probably start late morning. More details as we get
closer.

May 19th is open epee and unrated foil at Charlotte. A bit too early to predict the field.

May
20th is a U foil at All-American. I will be going up to observe, but
at the moment the field is maxed out. If they have anyone drop out I
will let you know.

Our
next event will be the Stab-a-thon on May 26th. The epee is shaping up
nicely, already a dozen fencers. Only Brendan in the foil and a couple of sabre fencers.

June 2nd will be the last Youth event for the season. We will give the swords away after the events.

Also on June 2nd, Apex is hosting a referee clinic that will set you up to take the written referee test. It is written to be difficult so attending a clinic like this is not only necessary, but very helpful. It is listed on askfred (look under clinics, click on more) for more details. If you have questions, ask me.

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 April 8

April 9, 2018April 9, 2018 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Lots of fencing this weekend with a big number of “upsets” and unexpected finishes in epee. First in the adult event on Saturday, the A fencers all got taken out before the finals in epee. Daniel Freeman of Apex won over Carlson Combs, also of Apex. Tied for third were Will Golder of CFFA and Lars Hansen of All American. Carlson went to a C18 from an E and Will did it from a U. Edward Childs of Salle New Bern finished 7th, earning his E18. The open foil went pretty well as expected as the four rated fencers took the top four places. Will Golder beat Brandon DeBord of UNCW for the top spot. Kyler Schoonmaker of CFFA and Josh White of Salle New Bern tied for 3rd. In the E and under foil, Josh White re-earned his E by winning. Frank Newson of Charlotte was 2nd, followed by Taylor May and Seth Garrison of UNCW tied for 3rd. Thanks to Jesse Harvey, Brendan McConville, and Josh White for refereeing, Herman Smith for armoring, and Zemi Lawrence for running the event.

On Sunday, we ran our third youth event of the season. In the opening foil, Ava Rayle of the Wilmington Fencing Club defeated Rayne Schoonmaker of CFFA 15-14 in the final. Tied for third were Amelia Alexander and Jackson Jones. In the 9 and under crowd, Ollie Cook won gold, John Alexander won silver, and Ellery O’Brien won bronze. For the epee, Nyc Baynes avenged a pool loss by defeating Amelia in the final. Eamon O’Brien tied with Linus Huggins for third. Lily Thompson took the gold medal for the 9 and under. Still no sabre fencers. Thanks to Herman for armoring and Donny Zelinski for making the trip down from New Bern to referee.

Here are the 6 top people in the sword points for boys and girls:

Boys Girls

Schoonmaker 32 Alexander, Amelia 29

Jones 19 Rayle 21

Marshall 14 Dhulipala 10

Baynes 11 Williams 6

Alexander, John 10 Thompson 5

Cook and Salinas (tie) 9 O’Brien 1

A regular week of practice this week.

The last homeschool beginner class of the academic year will start on April 11 at 1:30 pm.

No
Saturday practice on the 14th due to Azalea Festival. There is a large
SYC shaping up in Fairfax, Virginia for those 14 and under over Friday – Sunday, but the fees are now doubled.

April
20-23 is a NAC in Richmond. The only people I saw who were signed up
were Brendan, Kim, Erica, Herman, and Nicole.

April 27 is the next beginner class on board Camp Lejeune.

April
28 is Salle New Bern’s Skirmish at Jack’s Island. Always a fun time,
so far we have over half of the 12 fencers entered, but no one over a C is
entered yet. It is on askfred. I will be going in some capacity, so can take people if needed.

On that weekend, Mid-South is having sabre events for those so inclined.

May 5th will be our next under 12 youth event. Times should be back to the standard 10 am foil, 1:30 pm sabre, 3:30 pm epee.

May 12th at Apex are foil and epee events, split by gender. They are also having Y-10 and Y-12 foil.

We may hold a junior high team event on May 12th. Fencers would need to be between the fourth and eighth grades. Hopefully we can get a St. Mary’s and maybe a topsail team or two together. The format will be different than the usual individual format. More details as we get closer.

May 19th is epee and foil at Charlotte. A bit too early to predict the field.

May
20th is a U foil at All-American. I will be going up to observe, but
at the moment the field is maxed out. If they have anyone drop out I
will let you know.

Our next event will be the Stab-a-thon on May 26th. The epee is shaping up nicely. There are currently more sabre fencers listed than epee 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