Bulletin for the Week of Nov. 16, 2009

1. No fencing next week (Nov. 23-26) as too many people (including me) will be away for Thanksgiving.

I will soon begin registering fencers for winter term. If you have been renting equipment this term and plan to continue fencing this winter, please let me know soon whether you want to continue renting or will get your own equipment. If you don't reserve rental equipment, I may promise it to someone else. Don't forget to spread the word to all your friends to check out our website and contact me for information about winter classes.

2. Next tournament: Upper Valley Holiday Open and Youth, Dec. 6, Sharon Academy. Open foil and epee, Y12 foil (for kids born 1997 or later), Y14 epee (for kids born 1995 or later). Sign up on AskFRED by Dec. 1 to save $10 off your entry fees. To sign up, go to
www.askfred.net/Events/whoIsComing.php?tournament_id=9738
Click on "preregister" and follow the instructions. If this is your first GMD tournament, you will need to enter yourself on the AskFRED database. If you have competed before, you should already be in there.

Host clubs are in the process of finalizing dates for winter tournaments and posting them on AskFRED. Here's how the schedule currently stands:

Jan. 16 or 17, either Hanover or Charlotte (tba): Foil-Epee Doubles, E foil and E epee
Jan. 30 or 31 or Feb 6 or 7, Essex, Groundhog Open and Youth
Feb. 20 Upper Valley Open. Open foil and epee, E foil and epee. Confirmed and posted on AskFRED
March 6-7, 17th annual Middlebury Open. Open, veterans, youth and unrated foil and epee, open sabre. Confirmed and posted.
March 27 or 28, Essex, Spring into Action D Meet. D foil, epee and sabre

3. Calling all youth fencers! Have you done a few local youth tournaments and feel ready to tackly something bigger? Perhaps you are going to JOs for the first time and need some big-tournament experience. The annual Sword in the Snow Regional Youth Circuit will take place at UNH (Durham, NH) on Jan. 8-10. The entry deadline to avoid very hefty late fees is Dec. 13. There are Y14, Y12 and Y10 boys and girls events in each weapon. USFA membership and full competition gear (fencing pants, underarm protector, electric equipment) is required to compete. For more information and to register, go to www.unh.edu/fencing/syc/swordinthesnow/index.html. I am hoping to go to this to coach a large group of VFA fencers, so let me know if you are signing up.

4. With the holidays approaching, people are starting to ask me about how to buy fencing equipment. Here is a complete guide for newbies getting their first set of equipment.

Buying your first set of basic equipment (mask, jacket, glove, practice weapon):
I would recommend ordering on-line from Absolute. They are very fast in filling orders and have reasonable prices. Go to www.absolutefencinggear.com, click on "starter sets" from the sidebar. You will want to get either a "standard" or "advanced" foil set. The standard set (which would do fine) contains a weapon, mask, glove and jacket and is $93 for foil or $103 for epee. The "advanced" set contains a front zip jacket (easier to put on and off) and slightly higher quality items and is $119 for foil or $129 for epee. There are also options of buying sets which contain carrying bags, but a duffel bag, hockey or golf bag, etc also works.
What to order:
Mask-measure all the way around the face in inches from chin to crown, going right through the middle of the ears. Under 21"=extra small, 21-23"=small, 24-25"=medium, 26-28"=large
Glove-measure around palm (excluding thumb) and add 1/2 inch. under 7.5=extra small, 7.5-8"=small, 8.5-9=medium, 9.5-10=large
Jacket-measure around chest and add 6" to get size (for a rapidly growing child or teen, you might add 7 or 8"). Get a regular jacket, not the extra padded one.
Weapon-For a fencer age 11 or older, get a full size (#5) weapon. Most kids under the age of 11 do best with a child-sized foil (size #2). A 10 year old who is big for his age might go straight to a full size weapon (which is what nearly all of my rental foils are). My rental foils all have the traditional straight French grip, and I recommend that for a beginner. For those with some experience who would like a pistol grip, you can try some different ones (the club practice epees have a few varieties) and ask me the name when you find one you like. If you are interested in pursuing both foil and epee in the future, get your set with whichever you think you are likely to do more of, and you can always borrow the other one (free of charge) from me.

In addition to the basic equipment, I recommend purchasing the following as early in your career as possible (click on "uniforms and protective gear"):
Underarm protector (also called a plastron): required for USFA competition, this provides an extra layer of protection where you get hit hardest and most often. I recommend wearing one all the time for comfort and safety. The cheapest one ($15 from Absolute) is fine.
For women: breast protectors. Also required for USFA competition for female fencers. You can get the cheap plastic cups ($7) that go into the pockets in your jacket (you may have to alter the pockets if they are not in the right place for your body), or a full chest plate for $25.

Buying your first set of electric equipment:
Go to www.absolutefencinggear.com, click on "special sets" from the sidebar, then on "electric sets" from the options.
For foil, you have the option of a 3 piece set (foil, body cord and metallic vest) for $99 or a 5 piece set (which contains an extra foil and an extra body cord-eventually fencers need backup equipment to use when their first one breaks) for $141. Choose whichever type of grip you like (French or one of the pistol grips), a 2-prong body cord (NOT bayonet-this is so that you'll be able to use club body cords with your foil if you need to), size #5 blade (unless under 11 years old), and French foil point (not worth the surcharge for German tips for foil). For the metallic vest (lamé), get the same size as your jacket (or one size bigger if growing).
For epee, you can get a 2 piece set (epee and body cord) for $52 or 4-piece set (2 epees and 2 body cords) for $101. Choose whichever type of grip you like (French or one of the pistol grips), and size #5 blade (unless under 11 years old), There is only one type of epee body cord. For epee, I recommend paying the $14 surcharge to get a German point. They require less fussing with and adjustment than French points.

Finally: fencing pants are required for USFA competition. While we tend to be lax in enforcing this for beginners in local GMD meets, anyone going to JOs, a regional youth circuit, or any out of state tournament will need them, and anyone who plans to compete regularly should go ahead and get them. With fencing pants, you need long socks, but soccer socks from a local sporting goods store will do fine.

Looking for good used equipment for a smaller left-handed fencer (outgrown by a GMD fencer)? Check out www.burlington.craigslist.org/spo/1446667844.html

5. Congratulations to all the fencers who qualified to represent the Green Mt Division at the national Junior Olympics in Memphis in February! To qualify, a fencer had to finish in the top 3 (for events of 12 or fewer) or 4 (for events of 13+). Fencers ages 13-16 who qualified in Junior (ages 13-19) events automatically qualified for the corresponding Cadet event, giving us some additional qualifiers as well. Introducing our 2010 Junior Olympians:

Junior Mens Foil (13 competitors)
1 Hogan, Ben, VFA
2 Parker, David, VFA
3 Yu, Ethan, VFA
4 Rivait, Birk, VFA/QC

Junior Womens Foil (6 competitors)
1 Willette, Emily, VFA/Smith College
2 Pomicter, Maddy, VFA
3 Looby, Sarah, CVFC

Junior Mens Epee (13 competitors)
1 Rivait, Birk, VFA/QC
2 Parker, David, VFA
3 Crossman, Skyler, RIFRAF
4 Hogan, Chris, VFA

Junior Womens Epee (6 competitors)
1 Lind, Megan, SC
2 Treadwell, Charlotte, VFA
3 Jones, Caroline, VFA

Junior Mens Sabre (6 competitors)
1 Lermontov-Salmon, Lucas, WSC
2 Alvarez, Ashton, VFA
3 Damon, Chris , WSC

Cadet Mens Foil (11 competitors)
1 Parker, David, VFA (auto)
2 Yu, Ethan, VFA (auto)
3 Young, Zac, VFA
4 Alvarez, Ashton, VFA
5 Brisson, Ben, VFA

Cadet Womens Foil (5 competitors)
1 Pomicter, Maddy, VFA (auto)
2 Looby, Sarah, CVFC (auto)
3 Hern, Olivia, VFA
4 Granizo-Mackenzie, Zoe, VFA
5 Schuppe, Sharon, VFA

Cadet Mens Epee (6 competitors)
1 Moreton, Wyatt, VFA
2 Young, Zac, VFA
3 Crossman, Skyler, RIFRAF (auto)
4 Hilker, Lucas, VFA

Cadet Womens Epee (4 competitors)
1 Treadwell, Charlotte, VFA (auto)
2 Staats, Charlotte, CVFC
3 Jones, Caroline, VFA (auto)
4 Granizo-Mackenzie, Zoe, VFA

Performance of the Week: Goes to David and Ethan for leadership, service to the club and sheer expenditure of energy. They were among the first to arrive to help set up, and barely sat down until they left. Over the course of 2 foil events, David only lost to Ben, and Ethan only lost to Ben and David. Ethan even edged out the older and higher rated Birk in his bronze medal bout. Even though they had just completed 2 vigorous foil events and wanted to take a rest, they agreed to enter junior mens epee in order to bring the number up to 13 and gain an extra qualifier. For Ethan, this probably meant sacrificing the opportunity to qualify for cadet epee, as 3 events in a day were enough for him, but he did it to give older, more dedicated epee fencers a shot at qualifying. When they weren't fencing, David and Ethan were helping coach newbies and helping ref. They even got their moms to run the computer most of the day!

Honorable Mentions: Ben H was in good form for his JO swan song, making some spectacular touches (the behind the head riposte onto the back of an opponent who had just passed him was particularly stylish). It was Birk's swan song as well, and he went undefeated in epee to celebrate. After qualifying for JOs for their first time, Ashton and Ben B also jumped into epee when asked, even though they are principally foilists. Chris, be sure to thank all those VFA foilists who stepped up and made it possible for you to qualify. Not that Chris didn't have to do some work of his own, starting DEs seeded 6th and knocking out the C-rated #3 seed, a fencer he had never before beaten in competition. Zac was energetic, enthusiastic and solid in both weapons on his way to qualifying for his first time. Olivia and Caroline qualified at the youngest possible age (they were Y12 fencers last season), with Olivia doing the most sophisticated and most competitive fencing I have seen from her to date, and Caroline quietly and sneakily bumping off an older, more experienced fencer for her junior bronze medal. Charlotte and Maddy both qualified last year by virtue of the girls events being small and not very competitive. This year, as far more skilled competitors, they were among the dominant fencers in much livelier events. It was Lucas H's first tournament ever and Jake's first USFA meet playing with the big boys. Each won one pool bout (that's one more than I won in my first tournament, of course...), with Jake making a good effort and narrowly losing his first cadet DE, while Lucas narrowly won his and even qualified for JOs, giving hope to rookies everywhere.

VFA Pride Statistics: Of the 23 teens who qualified for JOs, only 6 are not past or present VFA members. 10 are members of this year's VFA Jr Team, 4 are alumni of the Jr Team program, and 3 are VFA members who are not on the Jr Team.

Thank you: to the large team of volunteers, mostly adult fencers and parents, who helped manage, ref, sell food, set up and clean up. Thanks to all our volunteers, we got through a large number of events in a relatively efficient manner and provided a quality tournament for the young competitors.