Bulletin for the Week of Jan. 18, 2010

1. Attention Middlebury fencers: There IS fencing tonight. Mary Hogan does not close for MLK day. Next Monday, Jan. 25, there is a school activity in the Mary Hogan Gym. I have an inquiry into the Bridge School to see if we can move there that night, but have not yet heard back. Usually it's not a problem, but I will send out an update and let you know as soon as I hear. If we can not use the Bridge School next Monday, we will need to use one of our make-up days at the end of the term.

Attention Charlotte fencers: Next Tues, Jan. 26, class will meet in the cafeteria due to a school activity in the gym. Because the cafeteria is very small compared to the size of our large horde of fencers, there will not be room for any electric fencing that evening. Jr Team members may choose to either help with the class (always welcome) and then join in playing the Jail Game, or to come to one of the Middlebury evenings that week for electric fencing (Wednesday would be better as Monday will be crowded if it's in the Bridge School). Let me know which you decide to do.

Have you started seeking Middlebury Open sponsors? We have just 3 short weeks to do the most important part of our winter fund drive. All sponsorship money and ads must be turned in to me by Feb. 8 in order to include the sponsors on this year's Champlain Cup t-shirt. Also: raffle tickets are now available. Get sheets of them from me at practice, cut them up and sell them ($1 each or 6 for $5). Bring me back the money and filled in tickets in an envelope that says who collected the money and how much. That way I can credit you toward the Middlebury Open free entry reward for successful fundraisers ($50 or more).

This is a big week for all of our Level 1 newbies. At the end of class we will go over the rules of foil fencing and the new students will fence their first real bouts. From now on, they should be considered full members of the club, available for bouting during open fencing times. Some weeks we will play a game to get everyone used to fencing with eachother, but other weeks I will just declare it open fencing time and leave it up to you to find partners to practice with. Here are some reminders, which I give every term, and which still hold true:
a. Bouting is an important part of learning to fence. If you just come to class and do drills, you never apply what you are learning or learn to improvise. Besides, most people consider bouting the most fun part of practice. So Level 1 students, please make an effort to stay after class for as long as you can and participate in bouting. Whether you can stay 5 minutes or until closing time, the more you fence, the better you'll get.
b. No-one in the club is too good to fence with beginners. It is a time-honored tradition in every successful fencing club that the better fencers take the beginners under their wings and help them to improve. I expect experienced fencers (including - no make that especially- the Junior Team) to find a little time each Monday or Tuesday to work with beginners, either by fencing with them or refereeing them as they fence eachother. When you fence with a beginner, you can make it more challenging for yourself and more fun for them if you give yourself a handicap: for example you may make only simple direct attacks, or each time they score it's worth 3 points. Also, I deputize every experienced fencer as my assistant coach, so go ahead and give beginners helpful tips and pointers (in a nice, constructive way of course, and try to focus on correcting just one or two things at a time). Beginners, don't be shy about asking anyone to fence with you. Also, if you are curious about epee, you might enjoy asking an experienced epee fencer to show you some basics and experiment with it a little. When you get to the Level 2 class, you may do either foil or epee.

2. Last chance to order club sweatshirts and jackets! Order goes to the printer on Wednesday morning. Please bring payment (made to VFA) this week, or mail it to me at 1379 Mountain Rd, Vergennes, VT 05491. Remember, these items are nonreturnable, as they are personalized.

Here is a reminder of what is available, and who has already ordered (in case you can't remember whether you did or not):
Adult heavyweight hoodie ($38)-Ceredwyn, Sam, Don, Hannah
Midweight zip up hoodie ($30) - Amy, Gretchen, Noah, Julie, Zach L
Lighweight child's hoodie ($21) - Owain, Anna
New model warm-up jacket ($47) - Viveka, Jake Q, Zaza, Julie, Charlotte, Ethan, Abby, Ben B, Nick

3. Next Champlain Cup tournament: Sunday, Feb. 7, Groundhog Open at Essex Middle School. Features open foil, open epee, Y14 epee (for kids born 1995 or later) and Y12 foil (for kids born 1997 or earlier). To register, go to www.askfred.net/Events/whoIsComing.php?tournament_id=10509

4. It was long and busy day of fencing yesterday at the Foil-Epee Doubles and E Meet in Hanover. Congratulations to all the finalists:

Foil-Epee Doubles team event (19 teams)
1. $&%^@* (Ben Hogan, VFA and Delaney Granizo-Mackenzie, Princeton)
2. Peaches (Tian Xu and David Seliger, Dartmouth)
3. Les Champignons (Jared Whalen and Paul Rossi, CVFC)
4. I'd Hit That (Ethan Miller, SFC and Ambrose Granizo-Mackenzie, LFH)
5. Sinking Cups (Tan Chen and Ben Beckerman, Dartmouth)
6. Ladies With Swords (Viveka Fox and Deb Hogan, VFA)
7. Rainbows and Lollipops (Michael Balch and Brett Kolmeister, UVFC)

E Foil (25 competitors, D1 event)
1 VonFischer, Eric, Candlewood - earned D rating
2 Young, Zac, VFA
3TAlvarez, Ashton, VFA
3T Schmidt, Allen, QCFC
5 Coombs, Ariella, UNH
6 Balch, Michael, UVFC
7 Lamoreaux, Zachariah, VFA
8 Brisson, Benjamin, VFA

E Epee (24 competitors, D1 event)
1 Young, Zac VFA - earned D rating
2 Tait, Trevor, MAF
3T Felone, Ryan, UVFC - earned E rating
3T Treadwell, Charlotte, VFA
5 Beckerman, Benjamin, Dartmouth
6 Telesford, Kiel, Dartmouth
7 Minardi, Christopher, Cheshire
8 Balch, Michael, UVFC

Performance of the Week: Zac definitely put in an Ironman effort, fencing and fencing hard in every event of the day. He and his partner Ashton missed out on making the "Shark Pool" of the top 7 teams after the first round, but they edged out a formidable team of 2 higher rated adult fencers by 1 indicator point to claim the top spot in the "Minnow Pool" (the next 6 teams) and finished 8th. During the second round of the team event, the E foil pools started, so Zac was running back and forth between fencing team epee and individual foil. That didn't prevent him from going undefeated in his pool, and winning his semi-final match in overtime before finally falling to a fencer with a fast marching attack after a hard-fought gold medal bout. Not that he got to rest much between his DEs, as the E epee pools had started, and he was once again running between strips (and weapons). He lost one pool bout and was seeded 7th going into epee DEs. He not only dominated his first DE (against a lower seed), but the following one (against the #2 seed), and the semifinal (against Jr Team training partner Charlotte). In the gold medal bout, his opponent gave him more of a run for his money with quick attacks, but Zac never surrendered the lead, winning 14-11 as time ran out. Zac has been experimenting with holding a French grip epee by the pommel for more reach, and put it to good use with a lot of perfect stop hits. It was a punishing day, both in terms of energy expenditure and it terms of minor injuries (strains, bruises), but Zac toughed it out for a well-earned D rating.

Honorable Mentions: Charlotte proved once again that each round of a tournament is a fresh start. Seeded 11th after a lackluster pool, Charlotte determined to take charge of her fencing and turn things around. She bumped off the #6 and #3 seeds 10-9 before coming up against Zac, who had the advantage of being more familiar with her style. It was great to see Gretchen back in action after 2 seasons off to rehab from injury. She won a couple of foil pool bouts and her first DE, and in an exciting match, gave the eventual winner of the tournament quite a run for his money (the score printed in the AskFRED results for that bout is incorrect - it was 10-6 or 10-7, and for much of the bout until her opponent figured out what she was doing, she was tied or ahead). It was frustrating that fate once again grouped Jr Team training partners Maddy, Ben B and Zac in the same quadrant of the foil tableau, so that they had to eliminate eachother, since it is clear to me all 3 of them have the skills to earn new ratings. Maddy went 4-1 in her pool, but was upset in DEs by Ben, who in turn fell to Zac. Ashton was more fortunate to be the only VFA fencer in his quadrant of the tableau, and like Charlotte, he stepped up his game from a lackluster pool to much stronger DE fencing. He started seeded #13, bumped off the #4 and 5 seeds, and gave the eventual winner a strong challenge in the semifinal. Speaking of lackluster fencing, my contribution to the team event wasn't the best (trying to keep too many balls in the air, I suppose), but Deb kept us alive with a lot of her trademark "how the heck is that even possible?" shots to the hand.