Bulletin for the Week of March 8, 2010
1. Schedule for remainder of winter term (with apologies for last week's bulletin having 2 days with the same date, and any other possible errors....).
Mon 3/8: Class 10 of the regular 10 for Level 1/2 in Middlebury.
Tues 3/9: Jr Team practice as usual, class 9 of the regular 10 for level 1/2 in Charlotte
Wed 3/10: Class 8 of 10 for Level 3 in Middlebury
Thurs 3/11: Class 9 of 10 for Level 3 in Charlotte
Mon 3/15: Class 9 for Level 3 in Middlebury (make up snow day, at Mary Hogan School). Nothing for Level 1/2
Tues 3/16: Last afternoon Jr Team practice of the season, class 10 of the regular 10 for Level 1/2 in Charlotte
Wed 3/17: Class 10 for Level 3 in Middlebury
Thurs 3/18: Class 10 for Level 3 in Charlotte
Mon 3/22 (Middlebury), Tues 3/23 (Charlotte): Free bonus Try Epee class (maybe a little sabre too) for Level 1 students (and any Level 2 fencers with little or no epee experience), open fencing for all.
March 24-April 5: No fencing, spring break
April 6/7: Spring classes start.
Registration is now open for spring classes. If you are currently renting equipment from me, please let me know soon whether you would like to continue renting this spring, will buy your own equipment for spring (let me know if you need information on purchasing), or do not plan to fence this spring. If you do not reserve rental equipment, I may promise it to someone new and may not have any left in your size.
I have 13 Champlain Cup t-shirts left over from this weekend, all size medium (last year, we sold out of mediums first...go figure). I will bring them to practice this week to sell at the discount price of $10 each. If you participated in any Vermont tournament this season, you are part of the Champlain Cup league. And even if you didn't fence in any tournaments, they are still cool fencing t-shirts designed by reknowned professional artist (and fencer) Paul Rossi. So please snap them up this week!
2. Next Champlain Cup tournament: Spring Into Action D Meet, Sun. March 28, Essex Middle School. This tournament is just for fencers rated D or lower (including unrated fencers). No A, B or C fencers to contend with. If we can turn out 25+ fencers in an event, and there are 4+ D rated fencers in the top 8, the winner will earn a C, 2nd and the two 3rd place finishers will earn a D, and places 5-8 will earn an E rating. This is the one chance locally each season for someone to earn a C rating without having to beat C rated fencers, but only if there are 25+ participants. Our fencing community has grown this season and I think we can do it for foil and epee at least (sabre less likely). I encourage all VFA fencers who are eligible to particpate in this tournament. If you just joined the USFA recently, this is one of only 4 remaining opportunities to use your membership this season, so get out there and get your money's worth! Event schedule:
9:30 a.m. D and Under Epee
12:30 p.m. D and Under Foil
3 p.m. D and Under Sabre
You may participate in as many of these events as you would like. All fencers must be USFA members, born 1996 or earlier. To register, see who is coming, and get directions, go to
www. askfred.net/Events/whoIsComing.php?tournament_id=11180
Sign up by March 23 to save $10 off your entry fees.
Note: we realize March 28 is Palm Sunday and some of you may have church obligations that day. Unfortunately, Essex Middle School was not available on Saturday, and there are so many restrictions on our spring schedule (Sectionals, Summer National Qualifiers, Easter, NACs, etc) we could not schedule this for a different weekend. So come if you can, and if not, we understand.
3. The 17th annual Middlebury Open was one for the record books, with a terrific turn out of fencers from Vermont, NH, ME, MA, RI, NY and Quebec. Thanks to a fantastic crew of volunteers, the tournament ran smoothly all weekend and we were able to handle the crowds and provide everyone with a great weekend of fencing. On top of that, we raised a bunch of money for the club - I'll have a report on our winter fund drive for you in next week's bulletin. Complete results are posted on AskFRED and Champlain Cup points should be updated soon. Congratulations to all the finalists.
Y12 Foil (20 competitors)
1 Yu, Abigail, VFA
2 Rossi, Max, CVFC
3 Granizo-mackenzie, Gwynn, VFA/3MB
3 Horak, David, UVFC
5 Ma, Lina, 3MB
6 Pomicter, Nicholas, VFA
7 Quatt, Jake, VFA
8 Brisson, Jack, VFA
Veterans Foil (11 competitors)
1 Schuppe, Ray, VFA
2 Fox, Viveka, VFA
3 Tasker, Monisha, Boston FC
3 Astolfi, Tom, Concord FC
Unrated Mens Foil (15 competitors, E1 event)
1 Lee, Noah, VFA - earned E rating
2 Brisson, Benjamin, VFA
3 Paroline, Micah, WSC
3 Mulholland, Eric, Bard College
Unrated Womens Foil (7 competitors, E1 event)
1 Schuppe, Sharon, VFA-earned E rating
2 Eilertsen, Amy, UVFC
3 Hogan, Debra, VFA
3 Granizo, Amanda, VFA/3MB
Open Foil (42 competitors, B2 event)
1 Hogan, Benjamin, VFA
2 Hohensee, Dianna, UNAT
3 Siy, Rory, Gristmill FC - earned C rating
3 Yu, Ethan, VFA
5 Jacovino, Jonathan, Barn Door FC
6 Woodward, Maureen, Moe FC
7 Whalen, Jared, CVFC
8 Smith, Peter, UNH
Y14 Epee (19 competitors)
1 Yu, Ethan, VFA
2 Witten, Tommy, Riverside FC
3 Horak, David, UVFC
3 McDermott, James, Ocean State FC
5 Yu, Abigail, VFA
6 Jones, Caroline, VFA
7 Lambert, Lancelot, AEB
8 Belisle, Morag, Avalanche FC
Veterans Epee (12 competitors)
1 Crocket, Daniel, QCFC
2 Schuppe, Raymond, VFA
3 Fox, Viveka, VFA
3 Witten, Lyons, Riverside FC
Unrated Mens Epee (17 competitors, E1 event)
1 Belisle, Denis, Avalanche FC -earned E rating
2 Yu, Ethan, VFA
3 Witten, Tommy, Riverside FC
3 Lambert, Francis, AEB
5 Brisson, Benjamin, VFA
6 Witten, Lyons, Riverside FC
7 Waller, Jackson, Bard College
8 Glazer, Adam, VFA
Unrated Womens Epee (15 competitors, E1 event)
1 Looby, Sarah, CVFC - earned E rating
2 Schuppe, Sharon, VFA
3 Jones, Caroline, VFA
3 Staats, Charlotte, CVFC
Open Sabre (9 competitors)
1 Rea, Franklin, Dartmouth
2 Ford, Tyler, BSC
3 Lermontov-Salmon, Lucas, WSC
3 Parker, David, VFA
Open Epee (55 competitors, B2 event)
1 Jacovino, Jonathan , BDFC
2 Bianca, Gregory, WCBG
3 Seliger, Dave, Dartmouth
3 Shellenberger, Peter, Seacoast FC-earned C rating
5 McDarby, Michael, Swords and Strategy FC
6 Granizo-Mackenzie, Ambrose, LFH
7 Rivait, Birk, QCFC
8 Hamilton, Paul, Swords and Strategy FC
Performance of the Week: Ben Hogan was among the first to arrive on Saturday morning (leading the strip set up effort) and among the last to leave on Sunday night (after helping clean up). He reffed the entire youth and most of the unrated foil event, and then did some more reffing for epee on Sunday. When I was fencing, he filled in for me as ref assigner/DE organizer to make sure DEs from the morning events ran efficiently. And that was just the stuff he did when he was not fencing. His mission for this tournament was to defeat a particular B-rated opponent he had lost to twice this season due to playing around too much and fencing sloppily. He met that opponent in the round of 8 this time. My coaching advice was my standard advice to Ben these days when I want him to fence brilliantly for the entire bout - "surprise him". Ben took charge of the bout from the beginning, using a combination of footwork and bladework to mislead his opponent, making his opponent think he was going to do one thing, and then doing something different. Using a great variety of purposeful and well set-up actions, Ben dominated the bout for a 15-5 win. In his semi-final bout, he relied more on his physical abilities (speed in particular) and experience, so he was able to win 15-10 even though he did not control the entire bout and got hit on a fair number of counterattacks. But when he got into the gold medal bout, against a wily B-rated fencer with a subtle and sneaky style, he returned to total focus, making good use of his height advantage, being careful not to fall into her traps, and setting some traps of his own, to win 15-8. With only one major foil open left in the Champlain Cup calendar this year, Ben looks to have an unassailable lead for a record 4th year in a row (nobody has gotten their name on the Champlain Cup trophy more than 3 times so far).
Honorable Mentions: The Middlebury Open is a family affair, and certain families not only contributed a great deal to the weekend, but met with success on the strip as well. First of all, the rest of the Hogans: Chris served as armorer most of the weekend and kept our equipment working. With every tournament this season, he becomes more consistent, more focussed, and more consistently focussed. He had a respectable 4-2 pool record and was seeded 21st going into DEs, where he upset the #12 seed (an opponent he has had trouble with before) in a dramatic 10-9 comeback victory to make the top 16 (and much to his satisfaction, finish higher than his illustrious older brother). Deb did a little of everything, from fencing foil (quite respectably) to get the womens U numbers up, to helping with meet management, to reffing, and then fenced 2 events on Sunday. Although she struggled in DEs, she fenced better in her pool bouts, including beating me in the veterans event. Then there are the Schuppes: I can't imagine a Middlebury Open without Ray, who was everywhere doing everything (from setting up the computer, to reffing, to making a mean lasagna for the cafe). He was the ironman of the weekend, fencing in 5 events and earning 2 medals. This is the 4th year and a row Ray and I have fenced for the veterans foil gold, and the first time Ray has prevailed. I kept hoping he would make some of the ill-advised counterattacks I've seen him do in practice, but no such luck for me - he fenced assertively, with good awareness of distance and right-of-way, taking an early lead and not relenting until the job was done. For Sharon, this weekend was a breakthrough in her fencing as important things really clicked into place, and she was able to intuitively sense when to attack, when to defend, and how to transition from one to the other. Having her friend Ethan's enthusiastic coaching definitely helped too. Speaking of the Yus...Ethan was a fireball in open foil, pouring on his power attacks with great intensity, and generally doing some very rowdy but very effective fencing. He followed it up with a nice job in epee on Sunday, and most of the time he wasn't fencing he was reffing. Abby sailed through youth foil undefeated, using her newly improved marching attack to defeat her closest rival in the GMD youth series. And Yong was one of several parents who organized and ran the cafe. Working along with her on a successful cafe venture were the Young and Parker parents. Zac got a whole lot of good reffing experience under his belt, when not busy frustrating a number of opponents (myself included) with his ever-improving footwork speed and ability to use his long reach. David was also vital to the reffing effort this weekend. In open foil, he gave Ben his strongest challenge of the day with some blazing fast attacks in preparation that kept Ben on his toes until time ran out at 13-10. In sabre, which he rarely gets to practice, he defeated a wily C-rated veteran to make the medal round. Of those participating in this year's Middlebury Open, the Flynn family probably has the longest tenure (after me of course). Even without Joanna (away for UVM spring break), Melly put in a huge number of hours manning the computer and being the welcoming face of the GMD at the registration table, while Joe fenced in 4 events with his usual enthusiasm. I reffed the best epee bout I have seen him fence, as he defeated a D-rated fencer with some well-timed, well-executed attacks. In addition to these, there were many more triumphs (like former Junior Olympian Noah's return to tournament fencing as an adult, after 8 or 9 years away from it), near misses (like Charlotte's 10-9 near upset of the #1 open epee seed, or Adam's missing his first medal by 2 points, or Ben B falling 1 bout short of his E after fencing consistently well through the U event), and personal accomplishments. And there were so many dedicated volunteers who contributed in so many ways to a great weekend, all I can say is thank you and congratulations to the whole VFA!