CFFA update for October 18

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 18
I didn’t get to see much of yesterday’s events, so I will just go with the results.  In the Open Foil, Oliver Galbraith of CFFA took out Connor Costa, fencing unattached, in the finals.  Josh White of Salle New Bern and Nitin Iyengar of Research Triangle Fencing tied for third.  In Open Epee, Shane Mason of the Charlotte Fencing Academy defeated CFFA’s Josh Harvey for first, with Michael Kelly of Columbia Fencing and Oliver tied for third.  In the D and under foil, Nitin won the final over Kevin Maia-Lima, also of RTF, and won his E.  CFFA’s Robert Thomas and Luke Reuwer of Columbia Fencing tied for the thirds.  Thanks to everyone who made the tournament run.
Finally a regular week of practice this week.  UNCW will be in Wednesday night.
Our
next youth event will be October 24th.  Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30
pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.  We have a bunch of new youth fencers chomping at the bit to do their first tournament.  I could probably use some help refereeing foil, so hopefully I can get a couple of volunteers for a couple of hours.

Also
that weekend are a number of adult events.  The Tiger Open at Clemson
has foil and epee events currently rated as A2s  (the epee has over 70 fencers), a C sabre event, and
large D and and under events.  Mid-South has cadet and junior sabre events.  Fredericksburg has Vet events, all of which will be pretty solid events. 
Charlotte has an open epee that might
make it to a B event and a D and under that might make it to a D event. The Open needs 5 bodies and 2 D or higher fencers to be a B.  They sent a number of fencers to our event yesterday, so it would be nice to repay the favor.

The week leading up to Halloween we will be shut down Wednesday and
Thursday night (no afterschool either day) as St. Mary gets ready for the
school Fall Festival.  They do their Haunted House in the basement. The homeschool class will meet Wednesday afternoon.
I don’t know what kind of shape the basement will be in after the
Haunted House, so unless you hear differently next week, assume no
Saturday morning practice.

The closest event on Halloween is in Williambsburg, VA.

The
November adult beginner class starts Monday, November 2nd.  The new set
of afterschool classes will start the same week, Monday through
Thursday.  The next set of homeschool beginner classes will start on
November 4th.

November
7th is the first Homeschool League meet, out in Oak Ridge.  If you want
to fence, all of your information to be on the team needs to be to the
Southeastern Cardinals by November 1.  Public school epeeists are
allowed to fence on B teams, this is for ages 10 and up, so let me know
if you are interested.  Epee will only be B teams, so you would get to fence the best of the homeschoolers.  Since you aren’t homeschooled you do not need to
join the Cardinals.

There
is also a college meet at Greensboro on the 7th for UNCW people’s
possible participation.  No adult events yet listed for the area.

The
14th is the first NCFL meet and we will be hosting.  This is a very
large high school foil event and we need all the volunteer referees we can pull.  A
number of you did this previously and it will be time to give back.  I
need to get an idea of who wants to participate, 6th grade and up. 
Hopefully we can field two B teams, plus Hoggard and Coastal Christian.

The 21st is JOs at a location near Durham.
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

final plea

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
final plea
Right now our tournament tomorrow is just a couple of people in each event from becoming a much bigger tournament.  The epee is at 24 and should be a B1.  If we can get one more fencer, it should turn out as a B2.  That means that the Ds will go two spots lower and Es will go all the way down to 12th.
In the open foil we are still at 13 with 2 Bs, 2 Cs, and 2 Ds.  Two more U fencers (or any two fencers) will make it a B1 and jump it from the winner gets an E to the winner getting a B with Es for 7th and 8th.  Since there are currently only 6 rated fencers, it means two fencers would earn new Es.  If you are concerned about fencing the higher rated fencers, only 6 of the fifteen would have ratings.  The other 8 Us can’t be that much better than you are.
In the afternoon D and under foil, we are still at 12 with 1 D and 1 E.  To be able to give ratings higher than an E, we need three more fencers and two of them must be Es or Ds.
If people know there is the possibility of the tournaments being large, it will be easier to get them here the next time.
Don’t forget two things about tomorrow.  First, the Beach to Battleship triathlon is happening.  If you are coming to the afternoon events, and especially depending on where you are coming from, give yourself some extra time.  The other is that tomorrow is St. Mary’s Parish Festival, so parking will be tight and you may have to walk a bit.  On the other hand that means there will be something to entertain family members while you fence, easy access to lunch, and things for you to do once your fencing is over.
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 13

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for October 13
A couple of semi fencing things before the meat of the update.  The St. Mary Parish Festival is this Saturday and our fencing tournament is a part of it.  We will have a table and have been given the 12 noon slot to do a fencing demo.  The available adult fencers will be busy with the event, so I would like to have a number of our younger fencers (experience level and weapon doesn’t matter) to help with the demo.  Just a little footwork and bladework, maybe a bit of a lesson depending on whom it is.  Obviously it would be nice to see St. Mary fencers, but other people are welcome as well.
WHQR still has the Sunday October 25 10 am – 1 pm time open for the pledge drive.  Can we get three people to help us getting a few hours of free publicity?  Please let me know ASAP.
We had a few people fencing at the NAC in Richmond.  Joe McLaughlin did the Div II men’s sabre.  He ran into the issue all of us older fencers confront at some time.  He was at least three times as old as any of his competitors.  He gave it a good shot but lost his first DE.
Connor Costa of UNCW fenced the Div I event.  He went 2-3 in his pool.  In his DE he fenced his opponent evenly, but unfortunately the match started with Connor at 0-3 because of equipment problems.  It ended at 12-15.  Connor finished 147th out of 231.  This even better than it sounds because this is an Olympic Year and the event counts in the point standings for making the Olympic team.  A number of the best fencers in the country who normally skip these events are competing to try and get the points to go to Rio.
Erica Julien fenced the Div II epee and ran into similar issues as Joe.  She did push two of her opponents to 4-5.  She won her first DE as her opponent withdrew.  She then got to fence the number 1 seed and pushed her to 7-15.
Samantha Milewski also did the Div II epee.  She went 3-3 in her pool.  In her DE she battled back from deficits of 1-5 and 6-10 to take the match to priority, but lost on a late fleche from her opponent.  She fenced even better the next day in the cadet.  She was 4-2 in her pool, beating both Cs and and taking the number one ranked fencer (an A) to 4-5.  In her DE she ran into a woman listed as an E who had actually won her C the day before in the Div II, and earned her B in this event.  Samantha ended up at 39th of 115, a very solid showing.
Regular practice today, UNCW will be back for Wednesday night, and will we do another armory night on Thursday.  This one will probably concentrate on foil so we can get things ready for Saturday.
The next set of classes on board Camp Lejeune will start this Friday night.

Our

next adult event is this Saturday.  Open foil, open epee, and a D and
under foil.  St. Mary’s Parish
is having a Parish Fall Festival, so we would like to have huge events
to show off what we do.  Right now, epee should be a B, the open foil just needs 3 bodies to be a B, and the D and under needs 5 people to be a D event.  Those of you who have talked to me about getting in to those events need to sign up ASAP to help draw in those last few people.


Our
next youth event will be October 24th.  Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30
pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.  We should have a bunch of new youth fencers to
make the events larger.  I could probably use some help refereeing foil.
Also that weekend are a number of adult events.  The Tiger Open at Clemson has foil and epee events currently rated as A2s, a C sabre event, and large D and and under events.  Charlotte has an open epee that might make it to a B event and a D and under that might make it to a D event.  Mid-South has cadet and junior sabre events.
Fredericksburg has Vet events.  Their foil and epee are both at B level.
The week leading up to Halloween we will be probably shut down the Wednesday night
and Thursday (no afterschool either day) as St. Mary gets ready for the school Fall Festival.  They do their Haunted House in the basement.
The closest event on Halloween is in Williambsburg, VA.
The November adult beginner class starts Monday, November 2nd.  The new set of afterschool classes will start the same week, Monday through Thursday.  The next set of homeschool beginner classes will start on November 4th.
November 7th is the first Homeschool League meet, out in Oak Ridge.  If you want to fence, all of your information to be on the team needs to be to the Southeastern Cardinals by November 1.  Public school epeeists are allowed to fence on B teams, this is for ages 10 and up, so let me know if you are interested.  Since you aren’t homeschooled you do not need to join the Cardinals.
There is also a college meet at Greensboro on the 7th for UNCW people’s possible participation.  No adult events yet listed for the area.
The 14th is the first NCFL meet and we will be hosting.  This is a very large high school foil event and we need all the referees we can pull.  A number of you did this previously and it will be time to give back.  I need to get an idea of who wants to participate, 6th grade and up.  Hopefully we can field two B teams, plus Hoggard and Coastal Christian.
The 21st is JOs at a location near Durham.
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

Mid week update

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
Mid week update
Things are moving a little bit as far as getting people signed up on askfred. The epee fencers are doing their job as they are just 2 people away from a B event.
The foilists are missing a couple of good opportunities.  Right now the open foil has only 9 fencers.  It has the exact 6 rated fencers it needs to become a B rated event.  If that happens, the top 8 people get ratings.  So some of the people who are only in the D and under should jump in  (Logan).  The D and under has 8 people and needs two more Es or better to be able to give out a D and and 3 Es if it gets to 15.  That makes both foil events a good time for a first tournament, good one to attend even if you are rusty, etc.  (Reaghan, Bobby, Nora, Emma. F., Galen, Dylan, and the list could go on.)
I need one more person to be on a team that would do the WHQR pledge drive for the 7 – 10 am Sunday morning slot, although a couple (so we have a spare) would be better.  The date is October 25th.
I forgot to mention all the events going on on the 24th.   The Tiger Open in Clemson is always a large 2 day event.  They do Open and D and under events.  Right now the open epee is an A2 and the D should end up as a C2.  The foil should end up as an A2 with D being a D event, and the sabres should be C and D events.
Charlotte is having Open and C and under epee events.  Durham is having regional Junior and Cadet sabre events.
Fredericksburg, VA is hosting a large Vet tournament.  The Foil is already a B, the epee could easily end up as a B, and the sabre needs bodies to get to a D. 
All of these are up on 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 10/4

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for 10/4
First, a big thanks to everyone who helped with the demo on board Camp Lejeune.
With the Chapel Hill events cancelled, our only fencer in action this week (to my knowledge) was Nicole Milewski at the SYC in Atlanta.  In Y-12 epee, she won her first DE but lost her second to the eventual winner.  In the Y-14 epee she lost her first DE 13-15.  It was her first time moving up to those age classes.
The New Hanover County schools are closed.  Although I don’t see anything specifically closing St. Mary, let’s call off afterschool tomorrow.  The next beginner class will begin this Tuesday, October 6th, at 6:30 pm.  Help get the word out.  UNCW will begin coming down on Wednesday nights starting this Wednesday.  A number of foilists and a few epeeists should be there.
No Camp Lejeune practice Friday due to the Holiday and the Richmond NAC.


October 9-12 is the actual NAC in Richmond.  Here are the people that I know will be there:  Samantha Milewski, Herman Smith, Joe McLaughlin, Erica Julien, and Connor Costa.  If I missed anyone, let me know.
No afterschool next Monday due to the holiday and the fact that I will be in Richmond.
The next set of classes at Camp Lejeune will start on Friday, October 16th, at 7 pm.
I would like to propose an armoring night for Thursday, October 15.  We need to get the club equipment up to snuff in case.people need it for the event on the 17th.

Our
next adult event is October 17th.  Open foil, open epee, and a D and
under foil.  St. Mary’s Parish
is having a Parish Fall Festival, so we would like to have huge events
to show off what we do.  That means get signed up NOW so people will
come out.  Askfred doesn’t seem to be up and running, but the last time I checked, our numbers were horribly low. The idea of having a D and under is so
that there is the possibility of someone winning a C without having to
beat any Cs.  That requires 25 fencers with 4 Ds and 4Es.  If we get our
epeeists in and can pull in Steve Kmiec, we now need only one more A
for A event.  In addition, I will be hosting a booth and we want to have
a
demonstration involving our afterschool fencers. 

Our
next youth event will be October 24th.  Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30
pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.  We should have a bunch of new youth fencers to
make the events larger.  I could probably use some help refereeing foil.
I have had a few responses concerning WHQR’s pledge drive, but not enough to fill a time slot yet.  Things are still relatively open, so if you might be available, please let me know.  Usually we have grabbed a Sunday time, although I am open to whatever works for everyone else.
We used to hold a once a month in club tournament we called the McDougal.  The winner got to hold the trophy until the next months event.  It was a non-sanctioned event that had a couple of dollar entry fee.  Is anyone interested in trying to start it back up?
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

WHQR Pledge Drive

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
WHQR Pledge Drive
WHQR will again be having community groups man the phones for their Pledge Drive, October 21 -27.  This is done as a contest and the group that raises the highest % over what was expected for that time period wins $1000 of free advertising on WHQR.  The second place group gets $500 of advertising.
We have done it before and although we have never won, just get our name out over the air for 3-4 hours never hurts.  They usually have someone from the organization speak on air every hour about the organization.
To do it we would need to have 3 people (plus me) for a total of four.  Most shifts are 3-4 hours long and actually signing people up and taking pledges is done by walking you and the donor through a computer program.  They generally have a lot of food there to get you through the shift.
Usually we have found it best for everyone’s schedule to grab a Sunday time.  It is scheduled up against the second day of the Tiger Open (MF).  The Sunday time slots are 7 – 10 AM and 10 Am – 1 PM.  If you might be interested and available for one of those times, please let me know.  The other available times are listed on their website whqr.org.  They ask that you sign up for 3 times in case your choices get taken, so if you have other good times, let me know.
If you are a regular donor to WHQR and your pledge is ending I would ask that you hold off to renew until we find out if we will be doing this and then donate during our time period.
As soon as we have four people for a team at the same time I will put in a request. 
Thanks and stay dry.
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 September 28

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
CFFA update for September 28
First, in a peripherally fencing related matter, Emma Filer has been chosen by the Star News as one of their 15 under 15 award winners.  She is featured in a special section in Sunday’s newspaper.  There is also a website with additional fencing pictures and a short video interview at StarNewsOnline.com/15under15.
We had a number of fencers go up to the ROC in Fredericksburg.  All of the men’s events were A events, and the women’s were at least C events.  (The epee was an A)  Our fencers had varying degrees of success in the pools, but all were eliminated in their first DE.  The epee was an A4.  Paul Perkins was never quite on and went 1-4 in his pool.  Josh Harvey was a solid 3-3 and went out to the fencer who finished third.  Herman Smith was 4-2 and the only person who beat the A in his pool.  On Saturday Jesse Harvey found out what kind of tournament this was.  He learned that the U in the event with his name in Korean (Not a Korean name, his name written in Korean script) is probably not really a U.  Jesse was 2-4 in his pool.  The Korean gentleman won the entire event going from a U to an A.
Some NC fencers had some very good results.  In foil, Charles Chow and Joe Alter were 3rd and 2nd respectively and earned their As.  Sandt Tapia was 6th in women’s epee.  Steve Kmiec also finished 6th and won his A in men’s epee.
This
week, regular homeschool, afterschool, and Camp Lejeune practice. 
Regular Tuesday and Thursday night practice, but I will again be out at
UNCW Wednesday night.  They start coming in on Wednesdays beginning in October and will have a number
of experienced fencers, at least in foil, for you to practice against.

October 3rd is Mixed sabre at UNC, while the 4th is mixed foil and epee there.

On October 3rd we will be doing an intro to fencing demo on board Camp Lejeune.  I will e-mail those fencers the details.

The next beginner class will begin on Tuesday, October 6th, at 6:30 pm.  Help get the word out.


October 9-12 is the actual NAC in Richmond.  There are significant late fees if you are not already entered.

Our next adult event is October 17th.  Open foil, open epee, and a D and under foil.  St. Mary’s Parish
is having a Parish Fall Festival, so we would like to have huge events
to show off what we do.  That means get signed up NOW so people will
come out.  We are still only at 6 epeeists, 2 foilists in the open, and 6 foilists in the D and under.  The idea of having a D and under is so that there is the possibility of someone winning a C without having to beat any Cs.  That requires 25 fencers with 4 Ds and 4Es.  If we get our epeeists in and can pull in Steve Kmiec, we now need only one more A for A event.  In addition, I will be hosting a booth and we want to have a
demonstration involving our afterschool fencers.  I will be e-mailing
you with more details.

Our next youth event will be October 24th.  Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30 pm, and epee at 3:30 pm.  We should have a bunch of new youth fencers to make the events larger.
It is that time of year when I will be going through my e-mail lists and pulling people we haven’t seen in a long time.  If you want to stay on the list, but just haven’t been around recently, 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

NCFDP

Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication
NCFDP
Dr. Galbraith is going to start taking Oliver up to NCFDP about once per week.  If anyone else is interested in going you can contact him through the e-mail above.
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