Bulletin for the Week of Feb. 22, 2010

1. There is fencing this week, despite some schools being on vacation. Reminder of schedule for this week and next:
Mon 2/22: Practice at Bridge School (usual times)
Tues 2/23: No afternoon Jr Team practice at MUMS. Normal class/practice in Charlotte
Wed and Thurs: normal classes/practices
Next week: No evening practice in Charlotte Tues 3/2. All other practices as normal.

Last Wednesday's cancellation will be made up on Mon 3/15, and the 2 Tues cancellations (afternoon and evening) will be made up on 3/16. The last scheduled Level 3 classes are 3/17 and 18. If we need additional make-up dates, we can use 3/22 and 3/23 (I leave on my band tour later this year, so unless we get a lot of snow days, we should be fine).

The VFA's spring break is March 24-April 5. Spring term starts April 6 in Charlotte and April 7 in Middlebury, and runs through June 8/9. In the spring, we cut back to once a week in each location (Tuesdays in Charlotte and Wednesdays in Middlebury), with no Level 3 classes. Now is a great time to start spreading the word to your friends about spring classes. Make sure to invite anyone who is interested to come visit a winter class and to come watch the Middlebury Open.

Does anyone have an unused/outdated Windows laptop gathering dust in a closet? Would you like to sell it to the VFA for $75 or less (about what we'd pay for one on e-Bay)? I am interested in purchasing one of the new Virtual Scoring Machine set-ups that turns a laptop into a scoring machine, complete with scoreboard, timer, remote control - all the bells and whistles, for a lot less money than a fully outfitted dedicated scoring machine. If you want to learn more, check out www.virtualscoringmachine.com.

2. The 17th Annual Middlebury Open is nearly here! This is the VFA's biggest event of the year, the culmination of our fund drive, and a full festival of fencing fun. I hope that every member of the club will attend for some part of the March 6-7 weekend at Middlebury Union Middle School. Here are the many ways you can get involved:

a. Sign up to compete. Go to www.askfred.net/Events/whoIsComing.php?tournament_id=10288 and do it as soon as possible. The more of us who put our names down well in advance, the better able we will be to attract out of state visitors, who can tell from the AskFRED lists that the events will be exciting. Children under age 13 competing in the Y12 Foil and Y14 Epee events do not need to be USFA members. All other competitors do need to join the USFA (on-line or at the tournament, by paying the $60 season dues). With the exception of the youth events, all competitors must be born 1996 or earlier. Unrated events are perfect for first-time competitors, as no rated fencers (i.e. those with proven competitive success) may compete. Veterans events are just for athletes over the age of 40. Open events are open to all eligible fencers.

b. Sell raffle tickets! The best way to get them is to ask me to e-mail you a sheet. Print out as many sheets as you think you can sell, cut them up and sell them ($1 each or 6 for $5). The drawing will take place on March 7 during the finals of the open epee event. Winners need not be present. In addition to the mystery grand prize yet to be announced by Don (but it will be some kind of fun electronic device, no doubt), we have lots of prizes so we will have many winners. So far, we have gift certicates from several area restaurants, some videos, the latest Atlantic Crossing CD (who wouldn't want that?), and several other goodies which have been mentioned to me as in the works. If you have anything to donate to the raffle, let Don or I know.

c. Make food for our refreshment table, and/or volunteer to help man the concession stand for a shift. In fact, I think we still need a Cafe King or Queen to organize that part of the weekend - any noncompetitors (i.e. parents or partners) want to volunteer? Popular food items include: baked goods, soups (bring in a crockpot to keep warm), sandwiches and wraps (bring in a cooler with ice if needed).

d. Buy a 2010 Champlain Cup t-shirt, designed by artist Paul Rossi of the Champlain Valley Fencing Club. They are going to look great with a black design on a pale yellow shirt, and for the first time this year, we are getting some ladies t-shirts as well as the usual unisex ones. Cost is $15 each, only 72 of them are being printed, and once they are gone they are gone, so snap one up while you have the chance.

e. Volunteer your skills to help the tournament run smoothly. We need meet managers (i.e. computer table people) for both days, and referees for all the youth and unrated events. We also need a volunteer with a home office (or a very friendly boss) to photocopy the program (50 black and white xerox copies, approximately 12 pages, duplexed, collated and stapled. The VFA willl pay for the paper).

f. If you are just competing in morning events (youth, veterans, unrated), or not competing at all, come to the open events as a spectator. The best bouts will be taking place in the late afternoons (roughly 4-6 p.m.), with foil on Saturday and epee on Sunday. The fencers who make it to the finals deserve a lot of cheering (plus watching good fencers is a great way to learn). The Middlebury Open is the GMD's most spectator-friendly event. There will be bleacher seating and a free souvenir program which explains the rules and introduces the VFA's competitors. Bring your friends - this is a great way to talk friends into signing up for spring fencing classes.

g. Once the competition is over for the day, get together with your fencing buddies and go for dinner at a local restaurant. The Middlebury Open is definitely a social event!

3. Thank you to the Upper Valley Fencing Club for hosting a well-run and enjoyable tournament on Saturday. Congratulations to all the finalists!

E Foil (17 competitors, D1 event)
1 Alvarez, Ashton, VFA -earned D rating
2 Brackett, Rurik, DESF
3 Hern, Olivia, VFA - earned E rating
3 Lamoreaux, Julie, VFA - earned E rating
5 Brisson, Ben, VFA
6 Timian, Joseph, UVFC
7 Looby, Sarah, CVFC
8 Granizo-Mackenzie, Zoe, VFA/3MB

E Epee (20 competitors, D1 event)
1 Larochelle, Olivier, SRN - earned D rating
2 Pray, Nicholas, NHSFT
3 Horak, Paul, UVFC
3 Choy, Ida, SFC -earned E rating
5 Treadwell, Charlotte, VFA
6 Stone, Abigail, NHSFT
7 Martel, Benoit, SRN
8 Brackett, Ian, DESF

Open Foil (16 competitors, B1 event)
1 Hogan, Ben, VFA
2 Flynn, Joanna. SC
3 Whalen, Jared. CVFC
3 Fox, Viveka, VFA
5 Harris, Keegan, SC
6 Schuppe, Ray, VFA
7 Yuan, Jie, Richmond FC
8 Horak, Peter, UVFC

Open Epee (23 competitors, C1 event)
1 Larochelle, Olivier, SRN - earned C rating
2 Pray, Nicholas, NHSFT - earned D rating
3 Horak, Peter, UVFC
3 Brackett, Ian, DESF - earned D rating
5 Jijina, Marc, QCFC
6 Granizo-Mackenzie, Ambrose, LFH
7 Hogan, Chris, VFA
8 Schuppe, Ray, VFA

Performance of the Week: Up until his gold medal bout, Ashton had no trouble using his natural speed to defeat all opponents, but in the end, he found himself matched with an opponent of similar physical abilities. Therefore, the gold medal (and D rating) would be a test of technique, tactics and nerve. In the first period of the bout, Ashton was a little wild with his blade. His tactical ideas and sense of when to strike were good from the beginning, but he missed a lot of opportunities with poor point control and was trailing 5-4 at the first break. His goal in the 2nd period was to focus on his execution, making his blade actions smaller and controlling the distance better. He improved steadily and led 9-7 at the 2nd break. He really hit his stride at the start of the final period, fencing creatively yet also with good control of his blade and body, repeatedly surprising his opponent with a nice variety of actions to pull out to a 14-9 lead. At which point, he made a common mistake of young competitors. He lost the will to take risks, assuming (or at least hoping) that the last touch would just fall into his hands or time would run out while he was ahead. His opponent, on the other hand, was all the more motivated knowing time was draining away, and began a serious of furious and effective marching attacks. With no active response from Ashton (other than some ineffective counterattacks), the gap quickly closed until the score was 14-14. Fortunately, Ashton realized not only that he needed to seize the initiative and attack, but that he had run out of second chances and would have to do it immediately. When the ref said "fence", as his opponent stepped forward to get into distance to start his attack, Ashton was already extending his arm, and beautifully executed a simple attack to end the bout. I told Ashton afterward that he had just demonstrated two important lessons: one - a worthy opponent is not going to just give you the last touch, no matter how far ahead you are, and two - it doesn't matter whether you are ahead, behind, or at game point, your job is always to figure out the best way to score and then make yourself execute it cleanly.

Honorable Mentions: With our epeeists shut out of medals this time around, it was the VFA foilists' day to shine, scooping up 5 of the 8 foil medals. For Olivia and Julie, it was a personal best. Olivia has really become a serious athlete this season. While the rest of us have gotten lazy about our "5 minutes of glory" this winter, Olivia has stuck with her end-of-practice conditioning routine, and you can see her improved strength and speed in her presence on the fencing strip. She has also become very competitive, with all the agony and ecstasy that entails for a passionate personality like Olivia. She is still figuring out how to harness her emotions for positive motivation without the flip side of that coin. Saturday, she did a great job both physically and emotionally, posting her first ever undefeated pool (and it wasn't an easy pool, containing one of her Jr Team training partners, a longstanding rival she has always narrowly lost to, and the eventual silver medalist). Julie is a perfect example of why I love teaching adults. In addition to her infectious enthusiasm, she understands what it takes to work toward a goal and has the maturity to fully enjoy the journey. She told me this fall that she knew that she would eventually become a successful competitor, and she was quite happy plugging away at it until she got there, whenever that might be. She also joked that when she earned a rating, she was going to add it to her business card, after the long string of initials for her various professional accreditations. I'm looking forward to seeing that business card! What made the difference for her Saturday was that she improved the coordination of her hand and her feet, so that she was able to make an action on the blade and immediately drive for the point. Ben Brisson has been on a long quest to earn his E rating, and he narrowly missed again this time, losing by a few points to the eventual silver medalist. Although he's stoical about it, he has knee problems which might have slowed him down. I suspect he'll end up like his mentor Ben Hogan, who worked for years to move up from a D to a C, narrowly missing again and again - and then was a C for 15 minutes (he earned his B in the next bout). Sharon seemed to take it to heart when I told her that she should invest at least as much energy in trying to hit her opponents as in trying to prevent them from hitting her, and really improved in her last few bouts. Ben H led the charge in the open foil event, not only going undefeated, but having only 5 touches scored against him in an 8-person pool. If I may indulge in a little self-congratulation (hey, it's my newsletter....), I was quite pleased with my exercise in minimalist fencing. Just getting over an illness and wanting to conserve my energy, I decided to focus on defending only when truly threatened, attacking only when a good opportunity truly existed, and initiating actions slowly enough to see the difference. It worked pretty well. Now I know how I'm going to fence when I'm 65.