Final NAC update

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Final NAC update
On the last day of the NAC Erica Julien fenced the Vet Combined Women’s epee.  She fenced very intelligently, and even used some wily veteran strategy to defeat one opponent.  However she lost her first DE and finished 53rd.

Brendan McConville fenced the Div II Men’s epee.  He went 5-1 in his pool with his only loss being to the eventual winner of the event.  He was seeded 10th going into the DEs.  Unfortunately, his knee was acting up and he tried to ice it (under advice from the trainers) between pools and DEs.  It never really got warmed back up for his DE, which he lost in a close bout.  He finished 34th.

KIm Phillips was 4-2 in his pool in Vet Combined Men’s sabre.  He got a bye for the first round, won his first DE, and then upset (really upset) the previously undefeated number 3 seed.  He then lost a close bout to the sabrist who won the silver medal.  He received the 8th place medal.

The sabre and epee fencers are winning national medals.  The foilists are really letting us down.

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 23

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for April 23
A nice article about Samantha Milewski was in the Jacksonville Daily News.  Here is the link http://www.jdnews.com/sports/20170422/white-oak-senior-milewski-to-fence-for-tar-heels . 
Fencing in multiple locations this week.  At the NAC in Baltimore on Saturday, Erica Julien won a couple of her pool sabre bouts, but lost her first DE and took the 6th place medal in Vet 70 sabre.  Today in Vet 70 epee, she was 3-5 in her pool, but then pulled a 10-9 upset of the number 2 seed.  Erica then lost to the eventual winner and ended up tied for third.  That should put her on pace to be named to the US team for the World Veteran’s Championship in Slovenia this year.
In the Men’s Div. II foil, Brendan McConville had a rough pool and lost his first DE to the person who eventually placed 7th.
Erica, Brendan, and Kim Phillips all have events on Monday.
UNCW fenced a team meet at NC State.  The other teams were NC State, ECU, and UNC-Greensboro.  The foil team of Taylor May, Will Ross, and Richard Everhart; and the epee team of Oliver Galbraith, Whit Stewart, and Eli Nathan both went undefeated.
No afterschool practice this Monday because we still have fencers in Baltimore.  The rest of the week’s schedule should be standard.  This will be the last Wednesday the UNCW fencers will be practicing.
April 29th is our annual Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden.  This is an event for women only.  Right now there are 13 in the epee, so its rating will depend on getting 2 more bodies with ranks.  7 in the foil.  6 Us in the sabre, so we can give out an E to the winner in both events.  You need to get entered ASAP if we hope to get these events up to where there are real ratings on the line.

The next Tuesday/Thursday beginner class will start on May 2nd at 6:30 pm.

Our next 12 and under event will be held on May 6th.  Foil at 10 am, Sabre at 1:30 pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.  $5 per event.  All of our current beginner classes end in time for people to be able to fence, so hopefully at least the foil events will be large.  Volunteer or training referees welcome.

Mid-South has a youth sabre event on May 6th.  Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14  events which are unsanctioned.  A Junior and an adult U event, which I believe will be rated if they can get the bodies.

Salle New Bern is holding their annual Skirmish at Jack’s Island on Saturday, May 13th.  Epee only, has a good chance of becoming an A event.  See askfred for more details.

Apex has a large number of unsanctioned youth and adult events on the 13th.  Check askfred for the details.  If you are interested in going and need equipment, let me know.

Our annual Memorial Weekend Stab-a-thon will be held on Saturday, May 27.  Open foil, epee, and sabre.  If people start getting signed up now they could be really big events.  Epee needs one B and a few bodies to be an A event.  Foil and sabre need bodies to start drawing other 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 April 16

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for April 16
CFFA has its first A rated fencer.  Today Oliver Galbraith won the epee event in Williamsburg, beating Andrew Fulmer 15-12 in the final and earning his A17.  He also finished 7th in yesterday’s foil event.  Doing his best not to be outdone, Captain Kim Phillips won yesterday’s sabre event.  Unfortunately, it was “only” a B event, so he reearns his B17.  Congratulations to both.
No afterschool tomorrow as it is the last day of St. Mary’s spring break.
April
21-24 is the NAC in Baltimore, so no local tournaments.  I
won’t have class Thursday night as we have a fencers in the 8 am event on
Friday.  There will be afterschool and night practice.  No Camp Lejeune fencing on Friday, 4/21.  There are also
fencers involved in the NAC on Monday, so no afterschool on 4/24.

April
29th is our annual Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden.  This is an event
for women only.  Our women need to start
getting signed up to make it worthwhile for people from other clubs to
show up.  For the UNCW women, consider it a study break. 
For the CFFA women, a few are signed up.  However, a number of you who
told me you were coming out of retirement to fence this are not.  Some
of you who are looking for a good first tournament where you don’t need
to fight your way through a bunch of guys, this is it.  Right now there
are 10 in the epee, so its rating will depend on getting 5 more bodies
with ranks.  6 in the foil.  5 Us in the sabre, so with one more U we
can give out an E.  Things haven’t changed in the last week, so you need to get entered ASAP if we hope to get these events up to where there are real ratings on the line.

The next Tuesday/Thursday beginner class will start on May 2nd at 6:30 pm.

Our next 12 and under event will be held on May 6th.  Foil at 10 am, Sabre at 1:30 pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.  $5 per event.  All of our current beginner classes end in time for people to be able to fence, so hopefully at least the foil events will be large.  Volunteer or training referees welcome.

Mid-South has a youth sabre event on May 6th.  Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14  events which are unsanctioned.  A Junior and an adult U event, which I believe will be rated if they can get the bodies.

Salle New Bern is holding their annual Skirmish at Jack’s Island on Saturday, May 13th.  Epee only, has a good chance of becoming an A event.  See askfred for more details.

Our annual Memorial Weekend Stab-a-thon will be held on Saturday, May 27.  Open foil, epee, and sabre.  If people start getting signed up now they could be really big 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

Saturday peactice/other

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Saturday peactice/other
We will have a Saturday practice this Saturday.  I will be in about 10 am.

Practice and beginner class tonight.  I believe Samantha and Nicole will be down so Samantha can get ready for the NAC next week.

In more Samantha news, she has committed to UNC and will be fencing for the Tarheels next year.

Will everyone who is going to the Nationals in Salt Lake City let me know so I can look at whether I need to go or not.  When planning you may want to remember that Wilmington’s elevation is 30 feet, Salt lake City’s is 4226 feet.  You might want to include an extra day there before your event to get acclimated.  You have to get started on better cardio now or you may find yourself spent right when you get to the good rounds of the DE.

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 10

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for April 10
On
Saturday, Brendan McConville went down to the Charleston Open in South
Carolina.  He placed 6th in foil and 3rd in epee, the third re-earns his
C for 2017.

St.
Mary’s spring break is the week of April 10 – 14 and Monday, April 17,
so no afterschool for those days.  The UNCW students are off Thursday
and Friday, so no Wednesday night practice.  There will be CFFA practice
on Tuesday and Thursday, homeschool practice Wednesday afternoon, and
Camp Lejeune practice Friday night.

April
15/16th is an event in Williamsburg.  Epee is an A1 with only 2 As and 2
Bs and is close to an A2, foil is a B2, sabre is a C that could go
higher.

April
21-24 is the NAC in Baltimore, so no local tournaments.  I
won’t have class Thursday night as we have fencers in the 8 am events on
Friday.  There will be afterschool and night practice.  No Camp Lejeune fencing on Friday, 4/21.  There are also
fencers on involved in the NAC on Monday, so no afterschool on 4/24.

April
29th is our annual Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden.  This is an event
for women only.  Our women need to start
getting signed up to make it worthwhile for people from other clubs to
show up.  For the UNCW women, consider it a study break. 
For the CFFA women, a few are signed up.  However, a number of you who
told me you were coming out of retirement to fence this are not.  Some
of you who are looking for a good first tournament where you don’t need
to fight your way through a bunch of guys, this is it.  Right now there
are 10 in the epee, so its rating will depend on getting 5 more bodies
with ranks.  6 in the foil.  5 Us in the sabre, so with one more U we
can give out an E.

The next Tuesday/Thursday beginner class will start on May 2nd at 6:30 pm.

Our next 12 and under event will be held on May 6th.  Foil at 10 am, Sabre at 1:30 pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.  $5 per event.

Mid-South has a youth sabre event on May 6th.

Salle New Bern is holding their annual Skirmish at Jack’s Island on Saturday, May 13th.  See askfred for more details.

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 2nd

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for April 2nd
This weekend we had fencers competing in Wilmington, in another North Carolina city, in another state, and in another country.
Working inward, Captain Kim Phillips participated in the sabre World Cup in Seoul.  My guess is he will be back and working harder than ever, so don’t expect him to take it easy on you.
Oliver Galbraith went down to Columbia, South Carolina, and participated in a pair of B events.  He finished 10th in foil, where he almost knocked off Julio Diaz.  He finished  8th in epee, where he was eliminated in a close match by the eventual winner.
Will Golder and Nicole Milewski went to the Ned LIght RYC at Mid-South.  Will finished 7th in the Y-14 Men’s foil.  Nicole was second in the women’s Y-14 epee on Saturday and trekked back on Sunday to win the Y-12 mixed epee event.
Finally, UNCW hosted a threeway meet among Appalachian State, UNC Charlotte, and themselves.  They dominated the foil with Will Ross first, Connor Hebert second, and Taylor May and Seth Garrison tied for third.  UNCC did best in epee with Shane Mason winning and Jaylon Smallwood and Christopher Smith tied for Bronze.  UNCW’s Eli Nathan took the silver to prevent a sweep.  In the Sabre, Appalachian State garnered a gold medal via Patrick Arsena.  UNCC took the next three plaxce with Shane Mason getting silver and Robert Ross and Andrew Wiggs earning the bronzes.
The next beginner class starts Monday, April 3rd, at 6:30 pm, and runs M/W.  The rest of practice should be regular for this week.

Charleston
South Carolina has an event on 4/8.  Open epee, foil, and sabre;
unsanctioned Y-12 foil and Y-14 epee.  It is about 3 1/2 hours from
Wilmington.  A number of their people attend our events, so it would be
nice to return the favor.  Epee needs a B to be a B.  Foil and sabre need bodies and ranks.  The Y-14 epee has 8 people.

St. Mary’s spring break is the week of April 10 – 14 and Monday, April 17, so no afterschool for those days.  The UNCW students are off Thursday and Friday, so probably no one will be around Wednesday night.

April 15/16th is an event in Williamsburg.  Epee is an A, foil is a B, sabre might make a C.

April
21-24 is the NAC in Baltimore, so no local tournaments.  I probably
won’t have class Thursday night as we have fencers in the 8 am events on
Friday.  There will be afterschool and night practice.  There are also
fencers on involved in the NAC on Monday, so no afterschool and probably no evening class.

April
29th is our annual Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden.  This is an event
for women only.  Our women need to start
getting signed up to make it worthwhile for people from other clubs to show up.  For the UNCW women, consider it a study break.  For the CFFA women, a few are signed up.  However, a number of you who told me you were coming out of retirement to fence this are not.  Some of you who are looking for a good first tournament where you don’t need to fight your way through a bunch of guys, this is it.

We have met the minimum order for T-shirts, so get signed up quickly if you have not already.

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 25

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for March 25
I
am going to be doing a stage combat workshop tomorrow, March 26th, for
one of the local pirate organizations.  If you are interested, it will
last from 1-5 pm, and costs $25.  If you have a saber or a dry foil,
bring it.
Regular week of practice this week.

The weekend of April 1-2 is the Ned Light RYC at Mid-South. 
This has Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14 events for our fencers who are ready to
step up into regional competition.  These can help qualify you for
National events, but you will be up against the best fencers in the
Southeast.  Check askfred and talk with me to make certain you have the
gear you need.  Entry deadline is 3/26.

The next beginner class starts on April 3rd at 6:30 pm,  and runs M/W.

Charleston
South Carolina has an event on 4/8.  Open epee, foil, and sabre;
unsanctioned Y-12 foil and Y-14 epee.  It is about 3 1/2 hours from
Wilmington.  A number of their people attend our events, so it would be
nice to return the favor.  Epee needs a B to be a B.  Foil and sabre need bodies and ranks.
St. Mary’s spring break is the week of April 10 – 14 and Monday, April 17, so no afterschool for those days.

April 15/16th is an event in Williamsburg.  Epee might make an A and foil might make a B.

April
21-24 is the NAC in Baltimore, so no local tournaments.  I probably
won’t have class Thursday night as we have fencers in the 8 am events on
Friday.  There will be afterschool and night practice.  There are also fencers on Monday, so no afterschool and probably no evening class.

April
29th is our annual Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden.  This is an event
for women only.  Our women (CFFA and UNCW) need to start
getting signed up to make it worthwhile for people from other clubs to show up.

There
is a sign up sheet for ordering CFFA T-shirts on the board at the
club.  Price should be around $15, but Herman thinks he can beat that.  We
need a minimum order of 24, but will probably go ahead if we are close
because these do sell.  We could look into ordering jackets as well. 
However, the minimum order is still 24 and these run $45 apiece with the
extras being harder to move if they are not the correct size.  Let us
know if you are interested.  We are at about 20 T-shirts, so sign up quickly as the order will be soon.

I
know a number of you have told me you are coming to the summer camps,
but if you could please e-mail me so I can put together an accurate
list.

Beginner camp     July 17 -21
Advanced foil      July 24-28
Advanced Epee   July 31- August 4
Advanced Sabre  August 7 – 11

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

Saturday

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Saturday
Looks like I am going to be free on Saturday morning.  I will be in at 10 am for anyone who wants to practice.

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 20

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for March 20
We had a small youth tournament on Saturday.  The day opened up unexpectedly and to try to fit 3 youth events in this spring, I went ahead and did the event.  In foil, Rayne Schoonmaker defeated Don Evans for first.  Joseph Evans and Baden Salinas tied for 3rd.  In the 9 and under category, Jackson Jones took gold.  In the epee, Abbey Campbell came down from Salle New Bern to win an exciting (for epee fencers) 6-4 match (all the points were scored in priority) over Lydia Huggins of CFFA.   Nyc Baynes and Linus Huggins tied for 3rd.  Thanks to Kyler Schoonmaker for help refereeing the foil.  Here are the top 5 people in the year long sword points race.
Boys                                                    Girls
Evans, Don                    23                    Milewski                        27
Scott                           17                     Williams                        13
Schoonmaker                 15                    Campbell                         7
Martin, Luke                   12                    Huggins, Lydia                 5
Evans, Joseph                  8                    Grooman                         2
Right now, I am looking at May 6th and June 3rd to be the final two events.
A regular week of practice this week.
Saturday the 25th is the championships for the homeschool league at Oak Ridge.  I know our team cannot make it, but I will let people know the times for the individuals when it is decided.
For adults looking for a challenge, the Cherry Blossom in the DC area is this weekend.  Right now the Women’s epee is an A, Women’s foil need an A to be an A, and Women’s sabre is a bit light compared to past years.  Open Mixed epee is a top heavy A2, probably on its way to an A3 and maybe an A4.  Mixed foil needs an A to be an A.  Mixed sabre is a C and needs a B to be a B.  Check askfred for more details.
I am going to be doing a stage combat workshop on Sunday, March 26th, for one of the local pirate organizations.  If you are interested, it will last from 1-5 pm, and costs $25.  If you have a saber or a dry foil, bring it.
The weekend of April 1-2 is the Ned Light RYC at Mid-South. 
This has Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14 events for our fencers who are ready to
step up into regional competition.  These can help qualify you for
National events, but you will be up against the best fencers in the
Southeast.  Check askfred and talk with me to make certain you have the
gear you need.  Entry deadline is 3/26.

The next beginner class starts on April 3rd, and runs M/W.

Charleston
South Carolina has an event on 4/8.  Open epee, foil, and sabre;
unsanctioned Y-12 foil and Y-14 epee.  It is about 3 1/2 hours from
Wilmington.  A number of their people attend our events, so it would be
nice to return the favor.

April 15/16th is an event in Williamsburg.  Epee might make an A and foil might make a B.

April 21-24 is the NAC in Baltimore, so no local tournaments.  I probably won’t have class Thursday night as we have fencers in the 8 am events on Friday.  There will be afterschool and night practice.

April 29th is our annual Lynn Krupey Memorial Iron Maiden.  This is an event for women only.  The epee is shaping up nicely, but women need to start getting signed up for the foil and sabre.

There
is a sign up sheet for ordering CFFA T-shirts on the board at the
club.  Price should be around $15, but Herman thinks he can beat that.  We
need a minimum order of 24, but will probably go ahead if we are close
because these do sell.  We could look into ordering jackets as well. 
However, the minimum order is still 24 and these run $45 apiece with the
extras being harder to move if they are not the correct size.  Let us
know if you are interested.

I know a number of you have told me you are coming to the summer camps, but if you could please e-mail me so I can put together an accurate list.

Beginner camp     July 17 -21
Advanced foil      July 24-28
Advanced Epee   July 31- August 4
Advanced Sabre  August 7 – 11

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

Saturday, John Martin, Y-12 event

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Saturday, John Martin, Y-12 event
A final thank you for all your condolences.

I will be in Saturday at 10 am if anyone wants to come in for practice.

The John Martin has had to be cancelled by New Bern as they lost their venue.

However that leaves the 18th as an open date.  I would like to use it to have a youth event.  I realize that this is really short notice, which will affect attendance, but there are so few open dates and I wanted to get 3 events in before the end of the school year.  This is about the only way to make that happen.

Standard times and prices:  Foil  10 am, sabre 1:30 pm, epee 3:30 pm.  $5 per fencer per event.  If anyone is free, refereeing help is appreciated, especially in foil.  Let me know if you have questions.  As a note to all the girls and epeeists,  Nicole will be at a big tournament in Maryland.  This is your chance to catch up some to her and to have a wide open epee event.

Don’t forget to put your clocks back one hour Saturday night or early Sunday.
pax vobiscum,
Greg Spahr
Head Coach
Cape Fear Fencing Association

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Damon Runyon