News | Cape Fear Fencing Association

CFFA update for January 25

January 25, 2015January 25, 2015 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

We held a youth event yesterday. 10 foilists (twice as big as our last adult event) Will Golder of CFFA was first, Kyler Schoonmaker of our homeschool branch (fencing with a cast on his non-weapon arm) took second, Reaghan Juelke of the St. Mary’s program and Caroline Artz, another homeschooler, tied for 3rd. In the 9 and under division, Christopher Donelson and Logan Tounsley from St. Mary’s took the gold and silver. Emily Campbell came down from Salle New Bern to earn the Bronze. Sabre was again the Reaghan Juelke and Amir Shaheen show with Reaghan winning. More of our sabre fencers need to show up so these two have to work harder. Epee was again probably the most competitive group. Nicole Milewski (doing her Paul Perkins imitation) didn’t do so well in pools but the turned it on during DEs to win. Abbey Campbell from Salle New Bern was second, Will Golder and Reichen Storey of the Greensboro Fencing Club tied for the 3rd. Don Evans, a homeschool fencer, switched over to epee and won the 9 and under gold. Lydia Huggins also fenced with a great deal of concentration and point control. It was the valley of the left-handed Amazon women as Nicole, Abbey, and Lydia are all fairly tall southpaws. Pictures are attached, hopefully. The next youth event will be March 14th.

Here are the current points for the swords for the top 5 boys and girls:

Golder 27

Brown, Orion 16

Wells 10

Jenkinson 8

Schoonmaker 8

Juelke
24

Milewski
21

Artz, Caroline
18

Artz, Isabelle
12

Gray 5

Practice is getting back to normal. UNCW’s club starts back up this week, but won’t be coming in until next Wednesday. I will be in Wednesday for anyone wanting some extra practice.

The 31st is the next
NCFL meet and it will be at East Chapel Hill. We should
start trying to determine who we will have going. Remember, you need to
attend two events to qualify for the individual events in February. At
the moment, it looks like those will be held in Elkin. We really would like to find one more foilist so that we might have two full B teams.

For adults on that
weekend, there will be a referee clinic at Mid-South on Saturday and tournament
in conjunction with the clinic on Sunday. See askfred for more details. At the moment the epee looks very winnable and the foil needs one more D and a few more bodies to be a B event.

The next beginner class will start on Monday, February 2nd at 6:30 pm. It will run 6 weeks on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I changed the name of
our next tournament on askfred, as there was some concern that people might
believe it was only for younger fencers. It is still on February 7th and
will have an open foil, an open epee, and a D and under epee.
It is the last chance for those of you going to JOs to get in a
competition. As was obvious from this last event, people read the entries
and decide to come accordingly. Get signed up, if you intend to come, and
want to see a strong turnout.

The NCFL A team championship is February 21st. The homeschool individual tournament is February 22nd. The NCFL individual championship is February 28th.

The Divisional Div
II/III and Y-14 qualifiers are now up on askfred. They will be held on
the weekend of March 7-8 in Raleigh.

Mid-South is again
hosting an RYC for the region on March 28-29. Check askfred for the exact
date and time of your event(s). The qualifying paths have changed, so
merely going to the RYC no longer automatically qualifies you for Y-10 and Y-12
Nationals. You now have to be at a certain level on the National or
Regional points list. Even if you aren’t interested in going to the
National Championships, this is a good way to start finding out about the
larger world of fencing.

Finally, looking way
ahead, camps for 2015 will be in July/August as always. I will probably
use July 13-17 for the beginner camp. The other weeks are July 20-24,
July 27-31, and August 3-7. If anyone has a preference or a conflict let
me know and I will try to make certain your weapon’s camp does not fall on that
week.

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 January 19

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Note to self (and club) – don’t schedule any events over MLK day weekend. It seems there were a lot of other things going on, so our events this weekend were on the small side. At Saturday’s Wilmington foil event CFFA’s Jesse Harvey won, followed Sam Cason from Raleigh, and then Brett Silverman of the Wilmington Fencing Club and Brandon Debord from Elkin in an event that didn’t even reach E status. The epee was a solid B, which was won by Andrew Fullmer from Raleigh who updated his B to 2015. Second was Ricki Richards from Charlotte, tied for 3rd were Sandy Tapia from Charlotte, and Jesse Harvey; who all re-earned C15s. By coming in 6th Samantha Milewski of CFFA earned her D15. In the one touch epee, Josh Harvey of CFFA came in 1st, Ricki Richards was 2nd, Andrew Fullmer and Gabe Davis of CFFA tied for 3rd. Thanks to Zemi Zelinski for observing and running things. Thanks to Donny Zelinski, Connor Costa, Brendan McConville, and Herman Smith for refereeing. A special thanks to Donny, Zemi, and Herman for providing lunch and drinks and to everyone who donated to the impromptu fund for Lynn.

Sunday’s event at Camp Lejeune was also a bit small. We tried to do a women’s foil team event and a mixed epee team event. The epee just became a practice session. In the foil, we had 3 teams of two. A team from Guilford came in first, the combination of Emma Graf and Qiaochu Li representing CFFA was 2nd, and the Artz twins, representing the Southeastern Cardinals (and CFFA) was third. The Artz girls were the representatives in the official homeschool league meet that followed. Unfortunately, fencing a person down and against much older fencers they didn’t win any matches, but they did get a bout victory against a fencer from one of the A teams.

No afterschool today, Monday, the 19th due to MLK Day. The UNCW fencers won’t be in on Wednesday for a couple of weeks, but I will hang around for anyone who wants to come in.

The
next set of Camp Lejeune classes should start on the 23rd. This one
looks like it will be a large class with a good mix of adults and
younger beginners.

The 24th will be our first 12 and under event for 2015. $5 entry, Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30 pm, epee at 3:30 pm. (Not 2:30 pm – ignore my previous typo.) I know we have fencers coming in from other clubs for the foil and epee, so it should be a good experience. Volunteer referees always welcome. Remember, we give trophies to 1st, 2nd, and the two 3rds for the entire event; and medals to the top three 9 and under fencers who don’t win a trophy.

The 31st is the next NCFL meet and it looks like it will be at East Chapel Hill. We should start trying to determine who we will have going. Remember, you need to attend two events to qualify for the individual events in February. At the moment, it looks like those will be held in Elkin.

For adults on that weekend, there will be a referee clinic at Mid-South on Saturday and tournament in conjunction with the clinic on Sunday. See askfred for more details.

I changed the name of our next tournament on askfred, as there was some concern that people might believe it was only for younger fencers. It is still on February 7th and will have an open foil, an open epee, and a D and under epee. It is the last chance for those of you going to JOs to get in a competition. As was obvious from this last event, people read the entries and decide to come accordingly. Get signed up, if you intend to come , and want to see a strong turn out.

The Divisional Div II/III and Y-14 qualifiers are now up on askfred. They will be held on the weekend of March 7-8 in Raleigh.

Tony
Viollis, St. Mary’s AD, has asked me to let anyone who is interested
know that there will be a Golf Tournament to benefit the athletic
program fund on March 21st. I believe there is more information on St. Mary’s website.

Mid-South is again hosting an RYC for the region on March 28-29. Check askfred for the exact date and time of your event(s). The qualifying paths have changed, so merely going to the RYC no longer automatically qualifies you for Y-10 and Y-12 Nationals. You now have to be at a certain level on the National or Regional points list. Even if you aren’t interested in going to the National Championships, this is a good way to start finding out about the larger world of fencing.

Finally,
looking way ahead, camps for 2015 will be in July/August as always. I
will probably use July 13-17 for the beginner camp. The other weeks are
July 20-24, July 27-31, and August 3-7. If anyone has a preference or a
conflict let me know and I will try to make certain your weapon’s camp
does not fall on that week.

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 January 11

January 11, 2015January 11, 2015 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

The NCFL held its first event of 2015 yesterday at Kestrel Heights High School. Hoggard sent a team of Ryan, Michael, and Natalie. They went 1-3, gathering strength as they went through the day. Many thanks to Nick for coaching the Hoggard team. CFFA sent a team of Emma G., Harry, and Will; who went 3-2. They are all junior high schoolers fencing primarily high school fencers, so it was a good showing.

We are getting back to normal as far as practice. The UNCW folks probably won’t be in on Wednesday until the 28th, but I will hang around this week in case someone wants to some in for some extra work. Class at camp Lejeune will have to be finished by 2000 this Friday because Wallace Creek closes early due to the MLK Day holiday.

The

17th is our first adult event of the New Year. With this one we are
bringing back the one touch epee event in addition to the open foil and
epee. All of our spring events are now up on askfred, so start getting
signed up. There isn’t much to compete with on many of our weekends, so
if we can get our folks signed up we can probably attract out of town
fencers. If it looks like there will not be anyone competing, people
will stay home. Right now the epee for the 17th looks to be solid B event, but the foilists need to get themselves signed in so we have more bodies and ranks.

The

18th is a homeschool event. I have permission to hold it aboard Camp
Lejeune.. In addition to the homeschool teams, I am going to try to
have
a meet with women’s foil teams and mixed epee teams in the morning.
The epee and women’s foil would start about 11 am and the homeschool
will be at 1 pm. These would all be for high school age and
below fencers and you would need a full uniform. We will loan you
knickers (if we have them in your size) and underarm protectors. No
cost to fence and we can always make composite teams. I will need to
know who would be driving so you can get a pass to get on base. I think we will have some epee teams and individual women foilists from Lejeune. I would hope we can put together some high school age and below women’s foilists and mixed epeeists so they have a variety of people with whom to compete. It looks like this will be the only meet with any crossover between the high school and home school leagues this year. I will be asking people specifically so I can plan ahead.

No afterschool on Monday the 19th due to MLK Day.

The
next set of Camp Lejeune classes should start on the 23rd. This one
looks like it will be a large class with a good mix of adults and
younger beginners.

The 24th will be our first 12 and under event for 2015. $5 entry, Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30 pm, epee at 2:30 pm.

The 31st is the second NCFL meet of January, location yet to be decided.

Finally,
looking way ahead, camps for 2015 will be in July/August as always. I
will probably use July 13-17 for the beginner camp. The other weeks are
July 20-24, July 27-31, and August 3-7. If anyone has a preference or a
conflict let me know and I will try to make certain your weapon’s camp
does not fall on that week.

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 January 4

January 4, 2015January 4, 2015 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

Happy New Year! And the club has a new B in epee. Josh Harvey started slow in the Hangover in Richmond today but ended up tied for 3rd in an A2 and earned his B15. (the up side is that you now don’t have to fence him at Divisionals.) Oliver Galbraith went 4-1 in his pool, won his first DE, but lost his second DE to an A from DCFC. Josh then avenged Oliver in the next round by taking out the A. Oliver ended up 10th. In yesterday’s B2 foil, Oliver was 5-1 and first out of his pool, but lost his first DE and ended up 17th. Jesse Harvey was 4-1 in his pool, won his first DE, but then lost 13-15 to the B who ended up winning the entire event. Jesse placed 12th. A good job from all the guys.

Afterschool

and a new beginner afterschool class will start tomorrow (or Tuesday for the beginners). The
next adult beginner class will start on Tuesday, January 6th at 6:30 pm, with an
intermediate class to follow at 7:30 pm if anyone is interested. The next
Homeschool beginner class and new homschool session will start onWednesday, the 7th, at 1 pm. There look to be a fair number in all of the beginner classes.

The
10th is the first NCFL meet of 2015, at Kestrel Heights. Harry and
Will could really use a third fencer if anyone is interested. Let me know who is interested in going, needs a ride, etc.

The

The
next set of Camp Lejeune classes should start on the 23rd. This one
looks like it will be a large class with a good mix of adults and
younger beginners.

The 24th will be our first 12 and under event for 2015. $5 entry, Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30 pm, epee at 2:30 pm.

The 31st is the second NCFL meet of January, location yet to be decided.

Tony Viollis, St. Mary’s AD, has asked me to let anyone who is interested know that there will be a Golf Tournament to benefit the athletic program fund on March 21st. I believe there is more information on St. Mary’s website.

Finally, looking way ahead, camps for 2015 will be in July/August as always. I will probably use July 13-17 for the beginner camp. The other weeks are July 20-24, July 27-31, and August 3-7. If anyone has a preference or a conflict let me know and I will try to make certain your weapon’s camp does not fall on that week.

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

Practice tonight

January 1, 2015January 1, 2015 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

I will be in about 7 pm for 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: Thursday and Saturday practice?

December 31, 2014December 31, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

I won’t be going to the homeschool meet, so we will have practice Saturday about 10 am.

Last night, people were inquiring about maybe having practice Thursday night. If we do, who would definitely be there?

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 December 29

December 30, 2014December 30, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

I hope every one is having a good holiday break. I am back from Indiana and will be in to the club tonight about 7 pm for all of you who want to get out and try out your new equipment. or get ready for the Hangover. No practice tomorrow or Thursday. No practice at Camp Lejeune Friday.

Looking
at the New Year, the next homeschool meet is January 3rd at Oak Ridge.
We may not have enough people for a team. If we don’t, I will have practice about 10 am Saturday. I will keep everyone informed.

For adults there is the Hangover in Richmond. It is usually a large
event with each weapon being an A in the opens and with separate strong
women’s events.

Afterschool
and a new beginner afterschool class will start on January 5th. The
next adult beginner class will start on January 6th at 6:30 pm, with an
intermediate class to follow at 7:30 pm if anyone is interested. I do have a few people expressing interest in the beginner class. The next
Homeschool beginner class will start on the 7th at 1 pm.

The
10th is the first NCFL meet of 2015, at Kestrel Heights. Harry and
Will could really use a third fencer if anyone is interested. We need to start touching base so we can figure out rides, etc.

The

17th is our first adult event of the New Year. With this one we are
bringing back the one touch epee event in addition to the open foil and
epee. All of our spring events are now up on askfred, so start getting
signed up. There isn’t much to compete with on many of our weekends, so
if we can get our folks signed up we can probably attract out of town
fencers. If it looks like thee will not be anyone competing, people
will stay home. Right now the epee for the 17th looks to be solid, but the foil can use more bodies and ranks.

The

The next set of Camp Lejeune classes should start on the 23rd. This one looks like it will be a large class with a good mix of adults and younger beginners.

The 24th will be our first 12 and under event for 2015. $5 entry, Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30 pm, epee at 2:30 pm.

The 31st is the second NCFL meet of January, location yet to be decided.

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

December 21, 2014December 21, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

I will be away for a bit. Herman and Brendan are planning to have practice on this Tuesday night. I should be back in time for practice next Tuesday. Nothing else until we gear back up for 2015.

Looking
at the New Year, the next homeschool meet is January 3rd at Oak Ridge.
For adults there is the Hangover in Richmond. It is usually a large
event with each weapon being an A in the opens and with separate strong
women’s events. Sign up on askfred before December 28th, after that the fees jump a great deal.

Afterschool
and a new beginner afterschool class will start on January 5th. The
next adult beginner class will start on January 6th at 6:30 pm, with an
intermediate class to follow at 7:30 pm if anyone is interested. The next
Homeschool beginner class will start on the 7th.

The
10th is the first NCFL meet of 2015, at Kestrel Heights. Harry and
Will could really use a third fencer if anyone is interested.

The
17th is our first adult event of the New Year. With this one we are
bringing back the one touch epee event in addition to the open foil and
epee. All of our spring events are now up on askfred, so start getting
signed up. There isn’t much to compete with on many of our weekends, so if we can get our folks signed up we can probably attract out of town fencers. If it looks like thee will not be anyone competing, people will stay home.

The
18th is a homeschool event. I have permission to hold it aboard Camp Lejeune.. In addition to the homeschool teams, I am going to try to have
a meet with women’s foil teams and mixed epee teams in the morning. The epee and women’s foil would start about 11 am and the homeschool will be at 1 pm. These would all be for high school age and
below fencers and you would need a full uniform. We will loan you
knickers (if we have them in your size) and underarm protectors. No
cost to fence and we can always make composite teams. I will need to know who would be driving so you can get a pass to get on base.

The next set of Camp Lejeune classes should start on the 23rd.

The 24th will be our first 12 and under event for 2015. $5 entry, Foil at 10 am, sabre at 1:30 pm, epee at 2:30 pm.

The 31st is the second NCFL meet of January, location yet to be decided.

Merry Christmas/ Happy Hannukah/ Joyous Kwanzaa/ or a rollicking Winter Solstice to all.

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

December 19, 2014December 19, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

I will be in Saturday if anyone wants to practice. Probably about 10:30 am – ?, you all go home.

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 December 14

December 14, 2014December 14, 2014 Gregory Spahr Coaches Communication

We held the Old Man Winter event yesterday. Strong fields in all events, but we were a couple of bodies short for getting ratings in the foil and Vet epee. Gabe Lima of Apex won the foil with our Jesse Harvey coming in second. Sam Cason, now of the Raleigh Fencers club and CFFA’s Oliver Galbraith tied for 3rd. In the epee, Patrick Lausi of Palmetto Fencers Club took a B1 event. Oliver came in second and earned his C14 in epee. Ryan Miller from Salle New Bern and our Paul Perkins tied for 3rd. CFFA’s Nick Chambers came in 5th earning a D14 and Gabe Davis came in 8th updating to an E14. In the Vet epee, Paul was first, Robert Thomas of CFFA was 2nd, and Scott Butler of Wilmington Fencing Club and Herman Smith of CFFA tied for 3rd. Thanks to everyone who helped with refereeing, set up and tear down, and managing the event.

We then adjourned to Herman and Suzanne Smith’s house for the club Holiday/after fencing tournament party. Many thanks to the Smith’s for all the work that went into hosting the mob.

Today, Reaghan Juelke participated in Mid-South’s Y-12 event.

Last week of fencing before we take a holiday break. The UNCW students are gone, so if anyone wants to come in on Wednesday evening, tell me by Tuesday night. I
am looking at the 18th as the last day for afterschool this year. The last day for Lejeune will be the 19th.

I
will be gone the week of Christmas, but will let you know if it looks
like people will be getting together for practice on Tuesday of that
week.

Afterschool
and a new beginner afterschool class will start on January 5th. The
next adult beginner class will start on January 6th at 6:30 pm, with an
intermediate class to follow at 7:30 pm if anyone is interested. The next
Homeschool beginner class will start on the 7th.

The
10th is the first NCFL meet of 2015, at Kestrel Heights. Harry and
Will could really use a third fencer if anyone is interested.

The
18th is a homeschool event. I am hoping to get it on board Camp
Lejeune. In addition to the homeschool teams, I am going to try to have
a meet with women’s foil teams and mixed epee teams in the morning. I
will keep everyone posted. These would all be for high school age and
below fencers and you would need a full uniform. We will loan you
knickers (if we have them in your size) and underarm protectors. No
cost to fence and we can always make composite teams.

The next set of Camp Lejeune classes should start on the 23rd.

The 24th will be our first 12 and under event for 2015. Standard times and rules.

The 31st is the second NCFL meet of January, location yet to be decided.

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