CFFA update for July 24

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for July 24
Erica and I went up to New Bern’s Tournament of Past and Present which featured an E and under epee and some SCA rapier fighting yesterday.  Erica started slowly in the pool because she was having some weapon issues, but caught fire in the DEs.  She won her first one, then defeated Ed Childs, the number one seed, 15-14 in the 3rd period.  I won my first DE and then squared off against Erica in the final; winning a close one and re-earning my E.
The advanced foil camp starts tomorrow at 9 am.  Practice Tuesday and Thursday night and Saturday morning at 10 am.
July 29th is also the start of the next set of classes in Jacksonville on board Camp Lejeune.

The
“Toomey” epee team tournament has been moved to July 30th in Charlotte. 
Their coach will set the teams to try to make them even rather than
allowing one team to be overpowering.

Since
no one had ideas for what to do with the week of August 1-5, I am going
to take advantage of the Olympics and try a couple of new things
combined into a camp.  This will be a half day camp (9 am – 1 pm, no
lunch) that will get people through the beginner class with an
additional emphasis on the upcoming Olympic Fencing.  I have had some requests so I
will also throw this one open to adults as well as children.  Cost will
be $99 plus the $10 USA Fencing membership.  Help get the word out. 
This could be the opportunity some of you have talked about to learn
what the kids like about the sport, or for a parent and child to take
the class together.

August
1 is the start of a new season, so you will need to be updating your
USA fencing membership to be on the club’s insurance.  If you just
joined in the last couple of months, you should be good until July 31 of
next year.  Updating can be done at usfencing.org.  I am hearing that USA Fencing is trying to get rid of the paper applications and as yet one has not appeared.  Thus everyone may have to go to the website to update your registration.  If you can, please bring in a copy.  I am also hearing that a paper application may yet appear, but that there will be a processing fee added to paper applications.

August
1 also means that it will be time for those of you who pay the yearly
or 6 months dues to get those in.  Regular dues are $35 month for
unlimited evening and Saturday fencing.  6 month memberships give you
those 6 months for price of 5 ($175) and the year long membership gives
you 12 months for the price of 10 ($350).

An
RYC in Baltimore on the 6-7 of August.  That is in the next season, so
age classifications will change for some of you.  RYCs have events for
Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14 fencers.  More info on askfred.

Olympic Fencing starts on August 6th and lasts until the 14.

Mid-South
has their Big Blue event on August 13-14.  Open sabre, open foil, and
Y-12 saber events on Saturday.  Open epee on Sunday looks like it will be at least a C and should be higher rated than that.  Strangely enough the smallest event right now is the sabre.  See askfred for
more details.

Advanced epee camp August 8-12.  I have been getting requests, so I am throwing this open to adults as well.  The youngest person saying he/she is coming right now is Nicole Milewski and she needs to be fencing adults anyway.

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 week advanced foil camp

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Next week advanced foil camp
I am trying to get a handle on who is coming to next week’s advanced foil camp.

I know Amelia and Ivone are in
Don and Joseph are in
Lexi is in

Harry may be in if he isn’t three times as tall as the next biggest fencer.  LOL

So please let me know if you are attending next week.  Thanks.
 
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 July 17

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for July 17
The
beginner camp last week had 8 very nice young people and was a pleasant
learning experience.  You may see some of them in the upcoming weeks. 

This
week is advanced sabre camp.  We will definitely be working on how the
changes in the rules which start in August will have an impact on the
beginning of the sabre fencing season.  As with all the camps, let me
know if we can stop around 3 pm on Friday. 

Otherwise practice Tuesday and Thursday nights,  plus Jacksonville.

New
Bern is
hosting both an E and under epee and an SCA rapier event on July 23rd. 
I will be going up.  Light lunch and a potluck dinner around 4-5 pm. 
Sign up for the epee is on askfred.  I don’t know about the rapier
requirements and sign up.  It is up to 6 people, so an E can be earned.

July
25-29 is the advanced foil camp.  Looking at the level of the fencers, I
plan to concentrate more on footwork and technique, with less emphasis
on tactics and strategy.

July 29th is also the start of the next set of classes in Jacksonville on board Camp Lejeune.

The
“Toomey” epee team tournament has been moved to July 30th in Charlotte. 
Their coach will set the teams to try to make them even rather than
allowing one team to be overpowering.

Since
no one had ideas for what to do with the week of August 1-5, I am going
to take advantage of the Olympics and try a couple of new things
combined into a camp.  This will be a half day camp (9 am – 1 pm, no
lunch) that will get people through the beginner class with an
additional emphasis on Olympic Fencing.  I have had some requests so I
will also throw this one open to adults as well as children.  Cost will
be $99 plus the $10 USA Fencing membership.  Help get the word out. 
This could be the opportunity some of you have talked about to learn
what the kids like about the sport, or for a parent and child to take
the class together.

August
1 is the start of a new season, so you will need to be updating your
USA fencing membership to be on the club’s insurance.  If you just
joined in the last couple of months, you should be good until July 31 of
next year.  That can be done at usfencing.org or I should be getting
the new form for the upcoming season soon.

August
1 also means that it will be time for those of you who pay the yearly
or 6 months dues to get those in.  Regular dues are $35 month for
unlimited evening and Saturday fencing.  6 month memberships give you
those 6 months for price of 5 ($175) and the year long membership gives
you 12 months for the price of 10 ($350).

An
RYC in Baltimore on the 6-7 of August.  That is in the next season, so
age classifications will change for some of you.  RYCs have events for
Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14 fencers.  More info on askfred.

Olympic Fencing starts on August 6th and lasts until the 14.

Mid-South
has their Big Blue event on August 13-14.  Open sabre, open foil, and
Y-12 saber events on Saturday.  Open epee on Sunday.  See askfred for
more details.

Advanced epee August 8-12. Not quite certain what I will emphasize until I get a better idea of who is attending.

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 July 9th

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for July 9th
The last day of Nationals was cancelled due to the events in Dallas,  We had no one fencing in the events that day anyway.
The beginner foil camp starts Monday at 9 am.  Looks to be 8-12 campers depending on if everyone shows up.  Still can handle a few more if you know anyone who is interested.  Info is on the website.  I may be asking to see if someone can watch the end of camps Friday these next few weeks if it isn’t possible for us to end a bit early so I can get on the road to Jacksonville.
Otherwise practice Tuesday and Thursday nights, Jacksonville on Friday, and Wilmington Saturday for this week.
New
Bern is
hosting both an E and under epee and an SCA rapier event on July 23rd. 
I will be going up.  Light lunch and a potluck dinner around 4-5 pm. 
Sign up for the epee is on askfred.  I don’t know about the rapier
requirements and sign up.  It is up to 4 people, so it will need a couple of more to get it to where an E can be earned.

The “Toomey” epee team tournament had been moved July 30th in Charlotte.  Their coach will set the teams to try to make them even rather than allowing one team to be overpowering.
An RYC in Baltimore on the 6-7 of August.  That is in next season, so age classifications will change for some of you.
Mid-South has their Big Blue event on August 13-14.  Open sabre, open foil, and Y-12 saber events on Saturday.  Open epee on Sunday.  See askfred for more details.

Advanced sabre camp July 18-22.  Advanced foil July
25-29.  No one has expressed an idea August 1-5, so that may be
something or nothing.  Advanced epee August 8-12.  Let me know if you are coming to an advanced camp so I can reconfigure what we do for the level of the people involved.

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

Nationals

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Nationals
Nicole Milewski competed in the Y-12 epee today.  She went 1-5 in her pool and lost her first DE.  She finished 72nd out of 83 fencers.

Sky Miller of Mid-South took the 8th place medal in Y-14 girl’s sabre.  If any other NC people win medals I will let you know on Sunday. 

Hope to see Wilmington people tonight and Jacksonville people tomorrow night.

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

Nationals update

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Nationals update
A good day for both of our fencers.

Robert Thomas, in the Div. III epee, went 3-2 in his pool.  However, there were 4 people who were 3-2 in that pool and Robert came out on top with the best indicators.  He won his first DE pretty handily and then lost the next DE in a close one.  He finished up 47th out of 143.
 
Oliver Galbraith competed in the Div II foil event.  He was 5-1 in his pool , missing going undefeated by one touch.  That made him the number 30 seed in the DE.  He had a bye in the first round, then one by one touch in his first DE.  Oliver won his next DE pretty handily, and then again won by one touch in the waning seconds of his next match.  He then lost to the fencer who ended up in 3rd.  That placed Oliver 13th out of 200, which I think is his best National finish.
Gabe Lima of RTF took the silver medal.
That just leaves us with Nicole doing the Y-12 epee on Thursday.
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

Nationals update

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Nationals update
Through a positively Byzantine labyrinth of unexpected upsets, ties, coin tosses, and people not going; Erica Julien has also qualified for the Vets World Championships in sabre.

Yesterday saw Nicole Milewski in her first Y-14 event.  She went 2-4 in the pool.  Then she pulled an upset 15-14 over a woman ranked about 60 places ahead of her.  She then lost 14-15 to a similarly ranked opponent for the opportunity to get into the top 32.  She finished 62nd out of 149.

Today sees Robert and Oliver in action.  I will keep you updated.  Hopefully we will see most of you this evening.

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 July 3rd

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for July 3rd
CFFA has its first World Championship qualifier, Erica Julien.  Erica took the silver medal in the Vet 70+ women’s epee national championship on Friday.  She came out of the pools ranked in 4th.  She defeated the 5th ranked person, whom she actually lost to at the last NAC, then took out the number 1 seed in the DEs.  She lost in the finals to the highest rated and youngest person there.  This result, plus her second in one of the NACs, puts her on the World Championship veteran’s team which will fence in Germany in October.  Today she took a bronze in the National Championship for Vet women’s 70+ sabre.  She was 5th coming out of pools, and pulled an upset on the number 4 seed, before losing to the first seed.  I don’t think her saber results are good enough to also qualify her for championships in sabre.

Robert Thomas is also at Nationals.  In a very top heavy Vet 40 men’s epee, he defeated an A in his pool.  He made the cut into the DEs, but lost his first DE to the number 5 seed.  Robert has another event and Oliver and Nicole still have their events, so I will keep you updated.

North Carolina is doing pretty well as far as the medals go.  Gillian Litynski, who I believe is a UNC Chapel Hill fencer, took 8th in the women’s Div I sabre and won the women’s Div 1-A sabre.  Carlton Badger of Mid-South, won the Vet 60 men’s sabre and will be on the World Championship team with Erica.  Colleen Gallant of Charlotte took a bronze in the women’s Vet 50 foil and Joel Spielberg of NCFDP took a bronze in the Vet 70+ men’s epee.
In the Vet 40 men’s sabre today, David Minton of Mid-South took 5th and Sean Bates of Queen City won the silver.

I should be back in town for practice Tuesday at 6:30 pm, if the younger ones want to come.  The same for Thursday.  I will be up at Camp Lejeune Friday night and in for practice on Saturday morning.  Thanks to Brendan and Herman for making everything go while I am away.

New Bern is hosting both an E and under epee and an SCA rapier event on July 23rd.  I will be going up.  Light lunch and a potluck dinner around 4-5 pm.  Sign up for the epee is on askfred.  I don’t know about the rapier requirements and sign up.  Only Ed Childs and I have signed up so far so this would be a good event for some new epee fencer to take a shot at.
 
Only had about eight people ask about T-shirts so far.  Many of you who had mentioned it in passing haven’t given me a size or a definite indication of interest.  We need to be closer to the 24 minimum order to make this happen.  So far only one person has expressed a definite interest in a jacket.

Beginner camp July 11-15.  Advanced sabre July 18-22.  Advanced foil July 25-29.  No one has expressed an idea August 1-5, so that may be something or nothing.  Advanced epee August 8-12.
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