CFFA update for

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for
Another weekend with a lot going on.  On Saturday at the Apex Novice cup, John Alexander went undefeated in his pool, but lost a close DE in the semis to end up with the bronze medal.  Jackson Jones was 3-2 in his pool, won his first DE, but lost his second to finish 6th in a large field.  Megan Looney competed in the Women’s open foil.  She had a rough pool, and lost a 14-15 DE to finish 10th.

Sunday was the JO qualifiers, again at Apex.  In men’s foil, Will Golder went 2-3 in his pool. won his first DE, but lost the second and finished 8th.  On the women’s side, Amelia Alexander was also 3-2, but lost her first DE and finished 6th.  For the Men’s Junior epee, Eoin O’Brien was 3-4 in the pool, but ran into Will in his first DE and finished 8th.  Kent Walston was 1-6 in the pool, but proving that such things do happen, beat the number 1 seed in his first DE.  Unfortunately, he lost the next DE and then lost the fence off for third, and finished fourth.  Will was 4-3, defeated Eoin, won his next DE, but lost in the final, gaining the silver medal.  This qualifies him for both the Junior and Cadet epee at JOs.  On the women’s epee side Lydia Huggins had to fence her first DE against Amelia, and finished with the bronze medal.  Amelia went on to avenge a pool loss and won the gold medal.  Both women qualify for the junior and cadet epee events at JOs.  The last event CFFA had participants in was the cadet women’s foil.  Megan Looney again had a rough round, but again made the DE close at 13-15. She finished 5th.  Amelia was 3-1 in her pool and went undefeated in the DEs to win that gold medal and qualify for Cadet women’s foil at the JOs.

Just a note that as I ask everyone to sign up early for our events on askfred, I would ask that you tell me early about what events you might be doing elsewhere.  I try to figure out where I will be based on where I can help the most people, or where the event is important enough that a person can really use my help, such as a National event or qualifier.  I have to make decisions about a week ahead so I can plan what happens at the club.  This week I had made the decision to have practice because there was only one person signed up for Apex on Saturday at the time.  Then a couple more people signed up.  We had a good practice on Saturday, 3 strips of epee fencers.  But I would have had to think about which was more important and could have someone else have opened a Saturday practice.

On another, probably more important issue, when you feel a sharp pain in some part of your body or hear a loud pop; STOP fencing immediately.  Get off the strip and give it a couple of minutes to see whether it goes away, still hurts, or gets worse.  Even if starts going away, being done for the night or event is a good idea.  Better to miss out on a couple of bouts than on 6-8 weeks of fencing.  A dull ache that starts the next day, is a different animal. Tthat is just telling you that you haven’t used those muscles in a while.

Thanks to Frank Milewski for doing the contact and sizing work for the jackets.  The order will be going in and everything should be back in time for the holidays.  We should soon have instructions for the people who missed out but will want a jacket or jacket/pants set once they see how cool? phat? neato? groovy? dope? whatever the current expression is? they are.

The
Charlotte NAC (January 3-6) is open for registration until this Wednesday, November
20th.  It has Div I, Junior, and senior team events.  For those of you
wanting to see what the highest level of competition in the US feels
like, this is as close as this kind of event will ever get. 
Additionally, for those of you who qualify for the JOs, this junior is
open, and will give you an idea of what the JOs will be like.  Div I
means you must have a C to enter.  Junior is for those born in the years
2000-2006.  The senior team means you need 3, maybe 4 with an
alternate, people.  Everyone has to be old enough to fence in Senior
(adult) tournaments.  The team event is a DE from the get go, so you may
not want to enter unless you are going for something else as
well.  Here are the dates, but times have not yet been posted, for the
events in which I believe some of our fencers may be interested.  Friday
1/3  Div I Men’s epee; Saturday 1/4  Div I Men’s foil, Div I Women’s
epee;  Sunday 1/5 Men’s epee team, Junior men’s foil, Junior Women’s
epee,;  Monday 1/6  Junior Men’s epee, Junior Women’s foil, Women’s epee
team.  So far Will is the only one of our fencers I see signed up. Our A, Bs, and Cs
should be thinking about the Div I events; our junior fencers should be
entering those.  There should be teams we can put together, those can be
of any rating and (over 13) age combinations, but must be gender
specific.

A regular week of practice this week, including Surf City and Camp Lejeune.

The
next Surf City beginner Class will start on Friday the 22nd.  Those of you who
wish to continue after the beginner class will just roll into fencing
with the more advanced fencers.  Help get the word out.

The
23rd is the second NCFL meet, this time at Chapel Hill HS.  We need to start looking at timing. ride sharing, etc. 
Teams and individuals that didn’t compete at our event can still jump
in.  That means all you Coastal Christian, New Hanover, and Hoggard fencers.

Also
on that date for non-NCFL fencers, The Harry Rulnick open is being held
in Fayetteville.  It has open adult foil split between men and women
and is a sanctioned event.  Both events are going to give at least an E
away.  All-American fencers have been showing up to our events, so it
would be nice, and probably beneficial to you, if some of our homeschool
and non high school age foilists showed up to this event.

Mid-South has one of their unsanctioned youth sabre events on that weekend.

For
Thanksgiving week, I would assume we will keep a regular schedule up
through Tuesday.  No homeschool, afterschool or evening
classes or practice on Wednesday or Thursday.  No Surf City (no school) or Camp
Lejeune (Wallace Creek shuts at 6 pm) practice on Friday.  I am open to a Saturday practice if there
is a demand.

Our
next event will be on Saturday, December 7th.  It will have an open
epee, and an open and an E and under foil.  If last weekend’s meet is
prologue, the two foil events will look almost identical.  Meaning all
of you lower level foilists who have been waiting for something where
you don’t have to worry about Cs and Bs, etc. should be jumping in.  I
will say again that if you are coming you should get entered now,
because people from other clubs are already making decisions about where
to fence that weekend.  The more competition they see at our event, the
more likely this is the one they will choose.  Currently there are more Apex foilists entered in our events than CFFA fencers.  Sign up is on
askfred.net.

Apex
is having a number of youth and adult unsanctioned events on that
date.  Those of you too young for our events may want to go up there. 
Check askfred.

November 14 is also an NCFL event, but no location has yet been decided.

I want to know if people want to have a youth event on December 21st.  Let me know and if enough people are for it, I will make it happen.  I certainly understand if it is to close to Christmas travel to make it work.

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

New CFFA jackets are ready for ordering

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
New CFFA jackets are ready for ordering
The time has finally come to get your new CFFA jacket!

After months of planning and long hours at the sewing machine, the newly redesigned Cape Fear Fencing Association jackets are finally ready for ordering. The jackets are all black, with CFFA and the fencer logo over the left pocket, with the classic pirate skull with weapons on the back. The club logo on the back of the jacket has been redesigned with the lettering, skull and weapons now appearing against a black background (rather than the original gray). You can also order black sweatpants, with zippered legs, to match the jacket for the full uniform look

Ordering of the new jackets will take place
this week during the Tuesday and Thursday evening practices from
7:00-8:30pm, and during the Saturday morning practice from
11:00am-1:00pm. Mr. Milewski will be handling the ordering process and
we have a sizing kit, with jackets and pants in every size available, so
that you can try them on at the club to be sure that you order the
perfect fit.  We will devise a way to take care of the Surf City and/or Camp Lejeune people who cannot make it to Wilmington.

The jacket costs $65.00 and the sweatpants cost $30.30. We will be accepting payment this week at the time that you place your order in checks only (made out to Cape Fear Fencing Association), so that the club can then pay the manufacturer as one large order.

The
good news is that by completing the ordering process on Saturday,
unless something unexpected occurs, the jackets and sweatpants should be
delivered during the week of December 15th – just in time for the holiday season and making the CFFA jacket the perfect Christmas gift!

 

For people who enjoy the fine details, feel free to continue reading for even more information on the new club uniforms.

We are ordering the new jackets from a company called the Art of Fencing (aofwear.com). This company was formed by two Fencing Moms, and we became
familiar with them because of their booth at national events. They have
an enthusiasm for the sport and strive to outfit fencers in great
looking, quality gear.

The jacket and pants are from an Italian sports apparel company called Errea. This company outfits many European teams in a multitude of sports, including soccer, basketball, volleyball, and even archery. It
is now starting to move into the US market with recent deals to outfit
US pro soccer teams. It is also the only teamwear company in the world
to be Okeo-Tex certified, which basically means that their clothing is
free of harmful chemicals.For
the fashion-conscious members of the club, you will be pleased to know
that Errea’s clothing is produced in Armani-owned factories in Milan and Parma, Italy!

The jacket is a sport warmup–type jacket, rather than a windbreaker style, and has zippered exterior pockets along with interior pockets. The sweatpants feature a tapered look, with zippers along the lower legs, so that the pants can be removed over sneakers.

Before ordering the jacket or pants, it is highly recommended that you come to the club for fitting with the sizing kit. First, since it is an Italian company, their clothing has a
more Italian cut/style to it, so the usual American sizes may not fit
like you are used to. Second, it is also important to consider whether
you plan to wear the jacket and pants over your fencing gear, as many
people do at national events. Since we will have the sizing kit at the
club during practice, you can just put on your gear and then try
everything on to find the right fit.

Finally, the last thing to consider is whether you want to just get a jacket or get both the jacket and pants. Beyond the obvious coolness
of the full uniform look, this is an important consideration for anyone
who competes at national events (NACs, JOs, Championships). USA Fencing
has a specified protocol for awards – you must present to the awards
area dressed in a warmup suit. This consists of a warm-up jacket and
warm-up pants; while they do not state it on the site, the jacket and
pants must match to be considered a warm-up suit. Knickers or white
jacket may not be combined with a warm-up, otherwise full whites must be
worn. Anyone who competes at this level plans to be on the award stand at the end of the event, so it’s best to look as good as you’ll feel when you get your medal!

If you have any questions, or want more information, stop by the club this week during the Sizing Party and ask Mr. Milewski.

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 11th

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 11th
First, Mr. Milewski will be in Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of this week to size and take orders and payment for the new CFFA jackets and, if desired, the matching pants.  I will be sending out a more detailed note from Mr. Milewski a bit later.  Many thanks to Frank for his dogged pursuit of this.  (Hint, hint: the holidays are coming.)

The good news:  our tournaments Saturday looked so good that a fencer came from Alaska to partake in them.  The bad news:  Y’all let him win.  You are carrying the Southern hospitality thing a little too far in my opinion.  In the opening foil event, Josh White of Salle New Bern prevailed over Victoria Schmidt of Research Triangle Fencing.  Our Amelia Alexander and Catherine Zulueta of the Apex Fencing Academy tied for third.  In the Open epee, Niul Manske of the Anchorage Fencing Club beat CFFA’s Paul Perkins to earn his B19.  Paul re-earned his C19.  CFFA’s Kenyatta Sanford and Will Golder took the two third place cups.  Joey Smith earned his E19 with a twelfth place finish.  (Another advantage of large events.) If we could have had a couple more bodies the Vet epee would have been a C event and some people would have earned or reupped their ratings.  As it was, Mr. Manske took home that first place trophy over Marston Crawford of Salle New Bern.  Paul and David Hueske of Edge of America Fencing tied for the third places.  Of course, Mr. Manske does have an advantage because what else is there to do in Anchorage for abut 8 months out of the year?  Thanks to Brendan for a huge amount of set up work that he did.  Thanks to Ryan Hightower for the Saturday morning set up assistance.  Thanks to Donny Zelinski, Brendan, Josh, and Victoria for refereeing.  Zemi Lawrence ran and observed the event.  Herman and Mike Kinney kept all the armoring stuff running.

On another fencing front, Nicole Milewski participated in the Milwaukee NAC over the weekend.  She had an excellent day Friday in the Junior (13-19) Women’s epee.  She was 5-1 in her opening pool, beating an A and a B; and only losing 3-5 to the woman who would eventually finish 3rd.  She won her first DE.  As sometimes happens at these events, I don’t know if her next opponent was able to watch her first DE.  But her next opponent was an A from the same club as the woman she had just defeated, so she had some level of a scouting report.  She defeated Nicole who ended up in 45th out of 230 fencers.  This gets her National Junior points, and I believe auto qualifies her for the JOs, so no one has to deal with her Sunday.  Sunday’s Cadet (13-16) epee was not quite as good, but still very solid.  A 4-2 pool, with one of the victories being the only loss the B who won the pool suffered.  In her DE she hit a B who had recently won the Division II NAC event.  Nicole finished 78/209 which I think was still good enough to get her a few more Cadet National points.  So a very solid weekend.

The
Charlotte NAC (January 3-6) is open for registration until November
20th.  It has Div I, Junior, and senior team events.  For those of you
wanting to see what the highest level of competition in the US feels
like, this is as close as this kind of event will ever get. 
Additionally, for those of you who qualify for the JOs, this junior is
open, and will give you an idea of what the JOs will be like.  Div I
means you must have a C to enter.  Junior is for those born in the years
2000-2006.  The senior team means you need 3, maybe 4 with an
alternate, people.  Everyone has to be old enough to fence in Senior
(adult) tournaments.  The team event is a DE from the get go, so you may
not want to enter unless unless you are going for something else as
well.  Here are the dates, but times have not yet been posted, for the
events in which I believe some of our fencers may be interested.  Friday
1/3  Div I Men’s epee; Saturday 1/4  Div I Men’s foil, Div I Women’s
epee;  Sunday 1/5 Men’s epee team, Junior men’s foil, Junior Women’s
epee,;  Monday 1/6  Junior Men’s epee, Junior Women’s foil, Women’s epee
team.  So far none of our fencers have signed up. Our A, Bs, and Cs
should be thinking about the Div I events; our junior fencers should be
entering those.  There should be teams we can put together, those can be
of any rating and (over 13) age combinations, but must be gender
specific.

This week will run pretty normal.  Afterschool today as St. Mary is using Veteran’s Day as a Dorian make up day.  I will be in on Saturday to give people a chance at getting their sizing for jackets done and to give the people going to the JO qualifiers a chance for one last practice.

On
the 16th Apex
has another of their unsanctioned youth and adult events. 
Right now we have few (one) people going.

The
JO qualifiers are going to be November 17th at Apex.  This year the
JOs are in Columbus, Ohio.  The Columbus venue is pretty good and the
drive/flight is not too bad.  Hopefully we can have a large contingent
at the qualifiers even if not everyone makes it to JOs.  It is a one day
event, so timing will be tight and I imagine that if you attempt to
qualify in multiple weapons you will be running back and forth from one
to the other.  You need to be signed up by 11/14.  If you fence a Junior
event and qualify for the junior, you are automatically qualified for
the cadet if you are the correct age.  You would not then have to fence
the cadet later in the day.  For that reason, all of the junior events
happen first and the cadet events later.  Right now only the foil events and the men’s sabre events are big.  There are a couple of days to sign up, so things may get larger.  However, I can list a large number of our fencers who are not registered but should be.

The next Surf City Class will start on Friday the 22nd.  Those of you who wish to continue after the beginner class will just roll into fencing with the more advanced fencers.  Help get the word out.

The
23rd is the second NCFL meet, this time at Chapel Hill HS.  We will
start looking at timing. ride sharing, etc. in the next week or so. 
Teams and individuals that didn’t compete at our event can still jump
in.  That means all you Coastal Christian, New Hanover, and Hoggard fencers.

Also
on that date for non-NCFL fencers, The Harry Rulnick open is being held
in Fayetteville.  It has open adult foil split between men and women
and is a sanctioned event.  Both events are going to give at least an E away.  All-American fencers have been showing up to our events, so it would be nice, and probably beneficial to you, if some of our homeschool and non high school age foilists showed up to this event.

Mid-South has one of their unsanctioned youth sabre events on that weekend.

For Thanksgiving week, I would assume we will keep a regular schedule up through Tuesday.  I will leave it up to the homeschool fencers as to whether they want a Wednesday practice.  No afterschool or evening classes or practice on Wednesday or Thursday.  No Surf City or Camp Lejeune practice on Friday.  I am open to a Saturday practice if there is a demand.

Our next event will be on Saturday, December 7th.  It will have an open epee, and an open and an E and under foil.  If last weekend’s meet is prologue, the two foil events will look almost identical.  Meaning all of you lower level foilists who have been waiting for something where you don’t have to worry about Cs and Bs, etc. should be jumping in.  I will say again that if you are coming you should get entered now, because people from other clubs are already making decisions about where to fence that weekend.  The more competition they see at our event, the more likely this is the one they will choose.  Sign up is on askfred.net.

Apex is having a number of youth and adult unsanctioned events on that date.  Those of you too young for our events may want to go up there.  Check askfred.

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 3

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for November 3
We held the first NCFL meet of the season at the Tileston Gym yesterday.  In the A men’s foil Will Golder went 11-1.  Unfortunately he was fencing as a solo act and Hoggard lost all four of their meets.  Ashley also lost of both of their meets in the women’s A foil.  Better results in the B division.  Surf City Middle School was undefeated in 3 meets.  Amelia Alexander was 6-0. James Russell was 5-1, and Jackson Jones was 4-2.  Saint Raphael was 2-1 (only losing to Surf City while fencing a person short).  Keely Carter was 7-1, while brother Cole was 6-1.  St. Mary was also fencing a person short and went 0-3.  Megan Looney individually was 6-1.  Finally, the CFFA epee team kept its tradition of winning even when a person short intact.  They were 4-0 with Miller Dumas going 8-1 while Niicole Milewski was 7-0.  Many thanks to Brendan NcConville for help with the set up and refereeing, Jesse Harvey with refereeing, and Herman Smith, Mike Kinney, and Kenyatta Sanford with armoring. This was one of the most efficient NCFL meets ever as we were done and cleaned up by 2 pm.  I did find a green sweatshirt, a metal water bottle, and a multi hex wrench tool while cleaning up.  Let me know if any of them might belong to you.

The
Charlotte NAC (January 3-6) is open for registration until November
20th.  It has Div I, Junior, and senior team events.  For those of you
wanting to see what the highest level of competition in the US feels
like, this is as close as this kind of event will ever get. 
Additionally, for those of you who qualify for the JOs, this junior is
open, and will give you an idea of what the JOs will be like.  Div I
means you must have a C to enter.  Junior is for those born in the years
2000-2006.  The senior team means you need 3, maybe 4 with an
alternate. people.  Everyone has to be old enough to fence in Senior
(adult) tournaments.  The team event is a DE from the get go, so you may
not want to enter unless unless you are going for something else as
well.  Here are the dates, but times have not yet been posted, for the
events in which I believe some of our fencers may be interested.  Friday
1/3  Div I Men’s epee; Saturday 1/4  Div I Men’s foil, Div I Women’s
epee;  Sunday 1/5 Men’s epee team, Junior men’s foil, Junior Women’s
epee,;  Monday 1/6  Junior Men’s epee, Junior Women’s foil, Women’s epee
team.  So far none of our fencers have signed up. Our A, Bs, and Cs should be thinking about the Div I events; our junior fencers should be entering those.  There should be teams we can put together, those can be of any rating and (over 13) age combinations, but must be gender specific.

The next Monday/Wednesday classes will begin on November 4th at 6:30 pm.
The next Jacksonville classes will start on Friday evening, November 8th.  Everything else is should be pretty normal, for the first week in a while.

Our
next USA Fencing event is next Saturday, November 9th.  Mixed foil, mixed
epee, and Vet epee.  We have passed the regular fee preregistration date, but you can still sign.  Prices now would be $30 for the 1st event and $20 for subsequent events.  Epee is large but could still use higher ranked fencers.  Foil and Vet epees could get rated with more bodies.

On
the 16th Apex
has another of their unsanctioned youth and adult events.  Right now we have few people going so I would probably open up for a Saturday practice, primarily for those going to the qualifiers on Sunday.

The
JO qualifiers are going to be November 17th at Apex.  This year the
JOs are in Columbus, Ohio.  The Columbus venue is pretty good and the
drive/flight is not too bad.  Hopefully we can have a large contingent
at the qualifiers even if not everyone makes it to JOs.  It is a one day
event, so timing will be tight and I imagine that if you attempt to
qualify in multiple weapons you will be running back and forth from one
to the other.  We can probably have a Saturday practice if there is
interest.  You need to be signed up by 11/14.  If you fence a Junior
event and qualify for the junior, you are automatically qualified for
the cadet if you are the correct age.  You would not then have to fence
the cadet later in the day.  For that reason, all of the junior events
happen first and the cadet events later.

The 23rd is the second NCFL meet, this time at Chapel Hill HS.  We will start looking at timing. ride sharing, etc. in the next week or so.  Teams and individuals that didn’t compete at our event can still jump in.

Also
on that date for non-NCFL fencers, The Harry Rulnick open is being held
in Fayetteville.  It has open adult foil split between men and women
and is a sanctioned event.

Mid-South has one of their unsanctioned youth events.

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

Updates

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Updates
A couple of quick reminders and some new information.
Our next USA Fencing event is on Saturday the 9th.  Remember that you need to be signed up by midnight tomorrow or your fees are increased.  Right now it is a large epee event that needs some Bs and As to make it a higher rated event.  The foil needs a bunch of bodies to get near a D or better event.  The Vet epee needs 5 more old folks to be a C event.
The NCFL meet is tomorrow and hopefully will start at 10 am.  You should probably be there a little after 9 am, to get gear, have your mask and maybe glove checked, and help us to determine exactly how many teams we will have.  I may reach out to a couple of people to try to make certain we have plenty of referees.
Frank Milewski has been working to get a new version of our club jacket up and running.  The example of what it will look like is here.  It is actually made in Italy by the factory that makes Armani (for those of you who need to be trendy for your on line influencer positions).  I am attaching pictures of the lovely Nicole Milewski modeling the jacket and the optional pants that will go with it.  There is also a picture of the equally? lovely Herman Smith with the jacket, but without our logos so you can see how it fits men and women.  You can get it sized so that it can be a regular jacket, or (perhaps a different size) large enough that it will fit over your gear to keep you warm at events.  Frank hopes to have the sizing kit so that we can get the order together in the next week or so.  Another advantage of this company is that once we have started ordering, they don’t need a specific number for new orders.  People will be able to go to their website and order individually without the club being involved.  The current pricing looks like it will be $65 for the jacket and $30.30 for the pants.  Ask Frank or me if you have 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 October 28

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 28
We had a number of people go up to the Peak event at Apex yesterday.  In men’s foil Brendan McConville and Oliver Galbraith competed.  Both went 3-3 in their pools in an A2 event.  Brendan won his first DE and then lost a close one to Tom Bryan, finishing 11th.  Oliver won his first DE and then lost his second, finishing 9th.  They both stayed for the epee and were joined by Eoin O’Brien and Kent Walston.  Brendan was 2-4 in the pool in the midst of his back seizing up and pulled out prior to the DE, finishing 17th is what could have been an A event, but ended up as B.  Eoin had a solid first round going 3-2 in the pool, but drew one of his pool opponents who learned from the match in his first DE.  He finished 11th.  Kent Walston did a bit better going 4-2 in his pool, but also lost his first DE and finished 10th.  Oliver had the best performance, going 5-1, won his first DE, but then lost to the eventual winner, Lars Hansen, and finished 5th.  On the women’s side, in foil, Amelia Alexander and Eilis O’Brien both competed.  Eilis went 2-3 and lost her first DE finishing 11th in what was a D event.  Amelia (already tired from epee – but more on that later) was 2-2 in her pool.  In her first DE, she got down by 5 points and then pulled an epic comeback to win 15-14.  Her second DE was against a B rated fencer.  She fell behind in the first period, held the B even in the second and finally lost in the third, after putting up a good fight.  She finished 8th.  Saving the best for last (not actually how it happened chronologically),  we had five competitors in the women’s epee:  Alice Bromberg, Erica Julien, Erin and Amelia Alexander, and Nicole Milewski.  Alice had a bunch of teammates in her pool, never a good thing; and the lost her first DE to Erin, finishing 12th.  Erica Julien was 1-4 in her pool and then pulled an upset in her first DE, before losing in the second, finishing 8th.  Erin  had a very good first round, going 3-2, beat Alice in her first DE, but then got Amelia in her next DE.  I believe Amelia has been grounded for beating her mom, who finished 5th.  Amelia, who was 4-1 in her pool, after beating her mom, lost her next next DE and received a bronze medal.  Nicole was 5-0 in her pool, easily won her first DE, then solidly defeated a person who had given her trouble in her pool, and finally got over the major hurdle of Lauren Dunseath to win the event.  Good fencing by everyone and report cards will be forthcoming.

We
will need to put the overheads back up before practice on October
29th.  The next set of afterschool classes will start this week.  The
next set of homeschool classes will start on this Wednesday.  Just FYI, I
expect a light turnout from our younger fencers on Thursday
(Halloween.)  That may also mean very few adult fencers, but I will hang out at least until I see if anyone shows up.

The Charlotte NAC (January 3-6) is open for registration until November 20th.  It has Div I, Junior, and senior team events.  For those of you wanting to see what the highest level of competition in the US feels like, this is as close as this kind of event will ever get.  Additionally, for those of you who qualify for the JOs, this junior is open, and will give you an idea of what the JOs will be like.  Div I means you must have a C to enter.  Junior is for those born in the years 2000-2006.  The senior team means you need 3, maybe 4 with an alternate. people.  Everyone has to be old enough to fence in Senior (adult) tournaments.  The team event is a DE from the get go, so you may not want to enter unless unless you are going for something else as well.  Here are the dates, but times have not yet been posted, for the events in which I believe some of our fencers may be interested.  Friday 1/3  Div I Men’s epee; Saturday 1/4  Div I Men’s foil, Div I Women’s epee;  Sunday 1/5 Men’s epee team, Junior men’s foil, Junior Women’s epee,;  Monday 1/6  Junior Men’s epee, Junior Women’s foil, Women’s epee team.

The
first event for the NCFL
for the year will be here on November 2nd.  Get ready as there should
be a lot of fencing.  As always, help refereeing will be appreciated. 
High school foilists should start getting ready NOW.  I will be
contacting you to start confirming who will be fencing.  For this you
need a complete uniform, so if you don’t have knickers or a plastron
talk to me.  The B division can consist of anyone who is 6th grade and
up.  We can probably pull together a couple of actual teams from St.
Mary and Surf City.  We will put together composite teams for other
interested fencers.  I need to know who is fencing ASAP.

For the older people who might not be assisting with NCFL, there is a Vet event in Richmond.  Epee needs one person for a B event, an A would make it an A.  Foil needs bodies for a B event.

The next Monday/Wednesday classes will begin on November 4th at 6:30 pm.

The next Jacksonville classes will start on Friday evening, November 8th.

Our
next USA Fencing event is Saturday, November 9th.  Mixed foil, mixed
epee, and Vet epee.  Not a lot of people signed up yet.  Epee finally has the bodies, but needs A s and Bs to be a higher rated event.  Foil and
vet epee are lagging way behind.  Foil needs bodies and Es to be a D event.  Vet epee needs bodies to be a C event.  Get signed up now so we can attract
more people and have a
larger event like the first one.  Remember you must be signed up before midnight on Saturday, November 2nd, or the fees increase.

On the 16th Mid-South has a series of Vet events in all weapons and Apex has another of their unsanctioned youth and adult events.

The
JO qualifiers are going to be November 17th at Apex.  This year the
JOs are in Columbus, Ohio.  The venue is pretty good and the
drive/flight is not too bad.  Hopefully we can have a large contingent
at the qualifiers even if not everyone makes it to JOs.  It is a one day
event, so timing will be tight and I imagine that if you attempt to
qualify in multiple weapons you will be running back and forth from one
to the other.  We can probably have a Saturday practice if there is
interest.  You need to be signed up by 11/14.  If you fence a Junior event and qualify for the junior, you are automatically qualified for the cadet if you are the correct age.  You would not then have to fence the cadet later in the day.  For that reason, all of the junior events happen first and the cadet events later.

The 23rd is the second NCFL meet, this time at Chapel Hill HS.

Also
on that date for non-NCFL fencers, The Harry Rulnick open is being held
in Fayetteville.  It has open adult foil split between men and women
and is a sanctioned event.

On Sunday, Mid-South is holding the next in the program of youth sabre events.

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

KC update for CFFA

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
KC update for CFFA
Today in the Division II Women’s epee Nicole Milewski went 5-1 in her pool, her loss being 4-5.  She won the pool and ended up seeded 5th out of the 91 fencers.  She won her first DE 15-13, the second 15-8, and the 3rd 15-14.  She lost 14-15 to high ranked Canadian fencer.  She finished 6th with her only two losses being by one point to the fencers who finished 3rd and 7th.
Sister Samantha, after a two and a half year lay off from National competition, went 2-4 in her pool.  She lost her first bout and ended up 74th.
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 held our first event for the youth yesterday.  Some good fencing, some things to work on.
12 and under foil
1st      Keely Carter    Saint Raphael
2nd     Matthew Higgin   Apex Fencing Academy
3rd (tie)  Jackson Jones   Surf City
        Jonathan Jarrett  St. Mary
9 and under
Gold  Aubree Cooper  St. Mary
Silver  John Alexander  Surf City
Bronze  Ellery O’Brien   CFFA
12 and under epee
1st  Matthew Higgin  Apex Fencing Academy
2nd  John Alexander   Surf City
3rd (tie)  Linus Huggins   CFFA
        Ellery O’Brien   CFFA
9 and under
Gold  Emers O’Brien  CFFA
12 and under sabre
1st  Matthew Higgin  Apex Fencing Academy
2nd  John Alexander  Surf City
3rd  Ellery O’Brien     CFFA
Top 5 in sword points
Boys                                                      Girls
Higgin        21                                         Carter             14
Alexander   14                                         Cooper, A.       10
Jones        12                                        O’Brien, Ellery      8
Jarrett       12                                        Ferrel, G.           4
Williams       9                                        O’Brien, Emers     4
Thanks to the Ferrells and O’Briens for the set up help.  Thanks to the O’Briens for reffing and coaching help.  Thanks to Herman Smith, Mike Kinney, and Kenyatta Sanford for armoring help.
Just a note to everyone.  Our youth events are not open events.  That is why I do not put them on askfred.  There is a clause in our insurance from USA Fencing that says that unsanctioned events must have no more than three clubs represented or our insurance doesn’t hold.  There are standing invitations to all of the various groups under our umbrella, the Wilmington fencing Club, and Salle New Bern.  Additionally, I try to run these events at a break even level.  The entry fees usually cover medals, trophies, and swords.  Thus I can keep the entry fees low.  That is dependent on all the help I have always received from volunteers for the reffing, etc.  If the events get significantly bigger, I would probably have to start hiring additional referees and the cost would go up.  I prefer to keep things smaller and more accessible to everyone.
In Kansas City, Nicole Milewski is fencing in the October NAC.  In the Cadet epee Saturday, she beat a B, C, nad D in her pool.  She beat another B in her first DE and then lost to an A in the next round.  She finished 46th of 135, a 20 place improvement on her original seeding.  Today, a bit of a different story.  It was the Division I and in an Olympic year everyone is out for blood.  Nicole didn’t win any in her pool.  However, to give you an idea of how intense it is, half of the current US National team did not make the top 8.  All of them lost at least one bout in the pools.

The
next week is a short week.  No afterschool Monday because I am in KC to help Nicole and her sister, Samantha, in their event.  St. Mary’s Fall Festival is Friday and the
fencing space gets used for the Haunted House.  Therefore, we will take
down the overheads on Tuesday night.  On Wednesday, homeschool will
meet, but after that the rest of the week is cancelled.  NO Wednesday
afterschool or evening fencing and no fencing on Thursday. 

On
October 26th Apex is holding sanctioned foil and epee events, split by
gender.  Currently, the women’s epee and the women’s foil are both D1s.  If all of our epee women show up, it would probably raise to being
a C event.  A couple of you will be there anyway with your children who
are fencing.  The men’s epee is a B1 and only needs an A or B to become a A1. 
However, the men’s
foil is a nasty A2.  We have a number of
fencers there at the moment, so no Saturday practice.

We
will need to put the overheads back up before practice on October
29th.  The next set of afterschool classes will start that week.  The
next set of homeschool classes will start on that Wednesday.  Just FYI, I expect a light turnout from our younger fencers on Thursday (Halloween.)

The
first event for the NCFL
for the year will be here on November 2nd.  Get ready as there should
be a lot of fencing.  As always, help refereeing will be appreciated. 
High school foilists should start getting ready NOW.  I will be
contacting you to start confirming who will be fencing.  For this you
need a complete uniform, so if you don’t have knickers or a plastron
talk to me.  The B division can consist of anyone who is 6th grade and up.  We can probably pull together a couple of actual teams from St. Mary and Surf City.  We will put together composite teams for other interested fencers.

The next Monday/Wednesday classes will begin on November 4th at 6:30 pm.

Our
next USA Fencing event is Saturday, November 9th.  Mixed foil, mixed
epee, and Vet epee.  Not a lot of people signed up yet.  Entries have
been stagnant, but bwe are finally a B away from a B event.  Foil and vet epee are lagging way behind.  Get signed up now so we can attract more people and have a
larger event like the first one.

On the 16th Mid-South has a series of Vet events in all weapons and Apex has another of their youth events.

The JO qualifiers are going to be November 17th at Apex.  This year the
JOs are in Columbus, Ohio.  The venue is pretty good and the
drive/flight is not too bad.  Hopefully we can have a large contingent
at the qualifiers even if not everyone makes it to JOs.  It is a one day event, so timing will be tight and I imagine that if you attempt to qualify in multiple weapons you will be running back and forth from one to the other.  We can probably have a Saturday practice if there is interest.

The 23rd is the second NCFL meet, this time at Chapel Hill HS.

Also
on that date for non-NCFL fencers, The Harry Rulnick open is being held
in Fayetteville.  It has open adult foil split between men and women
and is a sanctioned event.

On Sunday, Mid-South is holding the next in the program of youth sabre events.

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

Junior Olympic Qualifiers

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Junior Olympic Qualifiers
The information on the JO qualifiers is up on askfred.net.  It will be a one day event on November 17th, at the Apex Fencing Academy in Apex.  The actual JOs are in Columbus, Ohio, on President’s Day Weekend in February, so they are with a one drive as far as travel.
If you want to go you need to be preregistered by Thursday night, November 14th.
If you qualify in a Junior event and you are eligible to fence cadet, you are automatically qualified to fence the cadet at JOs.  You would be allowed to fence the qualifier for free, but if you take what would be a qualification spot, you keep someone else from qualifying.  All of the junior events are fenced before the cadet events, so you may know if you have qualified before the cadet starts.
They are running a very tight schedule, so if you fence more than one weapon, be prepared to possible be switching back and forth between the DE of one and the pool of the other, or the DEs of both.  This will be even more complicated for those of you planning to try to qualify in two weapons for junior and cadet.
Let me know 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