Bulletin for the Week of Nov. 2, 2009

1. Welcome home to Ray Schuppe, VFA-Charlotte assistant coach and GMD treasurer, who has been in India on business all fall. He returns with many tales of adventure, including this one about his final hours in India:
The connecting flight from Bangalore to Mumbai was over an hour late. In Mumbai I had to:
- Pick up my checked luggage
- Wait 15 minutes for a shuttle bus to arrive to take me from terminal 1 to terminal 2
- Take the shuttle bus ride, 20 minutes. Once the bus got on the terminal¹s departure ramp it had to compete with regular traffic and it took the bus 5 minutes just to park.
- Work my way through Mumbai crowds.
- Recheck my bags, (get told by person at check in that ³You're late²! duh)
- Fill in an India immigration departure form, looking up a bunch of details while standing in line while juggling my briefcase.
- Wait in line 20 minutes, then chat with the immigration official.
- Then immediately wait in a line for security screening, 20 minutes, take all electronics and metallic items of my person, go through security, repack/dress.
- Wait in line for security screening 2 (Yes, you have to do it twice when travelling on an international flight to the US from Mumbai) 40 minute wait in line. Go through second screening.
- Throw everything strewn about in briefcase, slam shut, as people are shouting from the gate.
- Run carrying shoes and briefcase that has belt sticking out of side in socked feet to the gate.
- Then go through a quick US immigration screening
Fortunately I was not the only person connecting from the Bangalore flight, so they held the plane long enough for us to get through. Phew. It was interesting being on the dark side of the planet for 16 hours. Me ane my luggage made it back fine, the framed picture I received from the team in India barely fit in my large suitcase. It came through undamaged and now hangs in our front entrance hall. We had burgers for supper. There is no place like home!

2. 35 fencers from 7 different clubs, ranging in age from 10 through adult, have already signed up for this Sunday's Referama Clinic at UVM. Are you among them? Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to learn and practice reffing skills! If you sign up by midnight tonight (Nov 2) the cost of the clinic is only $5 (free if you already have a refs rating). After that it goes up to $10. To sign up: www.askfred.net/Clinics/whoIsComing.php?clinic_id=9934

3. Teen fencers (born 1990-96): Only one week left to sign up for the Junior Olympic Qualifier tournament in Middlebury on Nov. 14. The idea of this tournament is to bring together all the teen fencers in the Green Mt Division (Vermont plus northern Adirondacks) and select the best among them to represent us at the national Jr Olympics in Tennessee in February. Even if you are not interested in going to TN, or think you don't have much chance of making the team, we want you to be there, as this is the only tournament all season specifically for teens. For events with 12+ competitors, the more who participate, the more who qualify. Posted event times are provisional. Any event with 3 or fewer fencers signed up by midnight Nov. 9 will be cancelled. Once registration closes, a final schedule of event times will be e-mailed to all registered fencers. Loaner equipment will be available for new competitors. USFA membership is required, and you may join that day by filling out a form and paying the $60 annual dues, which entitles you to fence in all upcoming tournaments. If you are a teen who is thinking you might like to get into tournament fencing, this is a great place to start. If you are a fencer who is seriously motivated to qualify for JOs, it is in your interest to talk to all the less experienced teen fencers in your club and get them to sign up this week, as we do not get any additional qualifiers if an event has 12 or fewer fencers in it. To sign up, go to: www.askfred.net/Events/whoIsComing.php?tournament_id=9524

4. The Northern Horde truly lived up to its nickname this weekend, storming out of the mountains in force to loot and pillage the Granite State Open in Concord, NH. Congratulations to all of our finalists:

Open Foil (23 competitors, B1 event)
3. Ben Hogan
6. Viveka Fox
8. David Parker

E Foil (17 competitors, D1 event)
3. Zac Young
6. Ashton Alvarez
7. Zach Lamoreaux

E Womens Foil (7 competitors, E1 event)
3. Julie Lamoreaux

Open Epee (21 competitors, B1 event)
7. Peter Horak
8. Zach Lamoreaux

Womens Epee (6 competitors, E1 event)
1. Charlotte Treadwell - earned E rating
2. Viveka Fox
3. Zoe Granizo-Mackenzie

E Epee (16 competitors, D1 event)
1. Chris Hogan - earned D rating
2. Zac Young - earned E rating
5. Charlotte Treadwell

E Womens Epee (7 competitors, E1 event)
1. Zoe Granizo-Mackenzie-earned E rating
2. Charlotte Treadwell

Performance of the Week: Our foil contingent did respectably well on Saturday, but our epee fencers just blew the doors off the place on Sunday. There were so many great bouts fenced by our epeeists, and they did such a great job supporting and inspiring eachother, that I could easily give the Performance of the Week to all of them. However, I want to single out two fencers who led the charge with breakthrough performances. In the morning womens epee event, Charlotte went after her opponents with gusto, dominating the pool (which included me and another wily, C-rated veteran). In DEs, Charlotte bumped off Zoe (who would get her revenge later), while I narrowly defeated the other C in the pool, bringing us face to face in the gold medal bout. Charlotte was not in the least intimidated by fencing her coach, and came out swinging with a couple of fast attacks. As soon as I started defending against her attacks, she switched over to an excellent remising game, making all of her attacks in sets of two, adjusting the distance forward or backward depending on what I did, and accelerating to hit the remise before most of my ripostes could land. She opened up a sizeable lead that way, until I adjusted and began waiting for the remise, parrying that and scoring some ripostes. She then had the good sense to change her game, opening to a bigger distance and scoring on my hand and foot (faking to one and hitting the other). She won 15-11 for a well-earned E rating. Despite having pouring tremendous energy into her morning fencing, she entered two simultaneous afternoon events, running back and forth between them, fencing 13 pool bouts and 5 DEs with little rest. She managed to go undefeated in her mixed E pool, and 4-2 in her women's E pool, although her fatigue finally began to show in her gold medal womens bout with Zoe as she got a little sloppy and a motivated Zoe was ready to pounce and win 15-14. Chris got off to a slow start in his pool, going 3-3 and seeding 9th into DEs. In the past, I have seen Chris give up on himself if he doesn't feel he is fencing well, or hold back from giving 100% effort if he fears failing. Yesterday, he took charge of his own destiny and fenced with a boldness and determination I have rarely seen from him before. As he went through his DEs, he directed his total focus and energy into each bout, one touch at a time, regardless of the score. In his semi-final bout, against a lefty he had lost to in pools, he changed his game to come from behind and win 15-12. His gold medal bout with Zac, center stage in front of an appreciative audience, was simply epic. From the moment the two fencers got en garde, I could see they were not the easy-going teenagers of everyday life. These were some serious warriors about to do battle. Chris seized the initiative almost immediately and fired the opening salvo, Zac responding with a counterattack for a double touch. After a few of those, Chris found the correct rhythm and distance to pull ahead with some blazing fast fleches. He was relentless in maneuvering on the strip, preventing Zac from establishing opportunities to attack. But Zac played a solid defensive game, and as the bout unfolded, he adjusted to Chris's speed and rhythm, and began to land more single touches on ripostes and stop hits. In the 3rd period, Zac tied the score at 12, and then a double touch brought it to 13 all. The Chris of old might have crumbled under the pressure of having lost his lead late in the game, but this Chris saluted as if to say "nice work, but I'm not done with you." He then pulled out an attack in preparation to Zac's arm, followed by an infighting riposte to end the bout 15-13 and prove what I've known all along - that Chris has the skills of a D-rated fencer. When he took his mask off at the end of the bout, Chris looked drained, but as I came over to congratulate him, he said with satisfaction "Now that was intense!".

Honorable Mentions: In order to earn the right to face Chris for the gold, Zac had to defeat a fencer who had beaten him 5-1 in pools. I told Zac there was no magic move that would win the bout, but instead he should use a variety of tactics to surprise his opponent. Zac did exactly that, acting aggressively to make his opponent think he was about to attack, and then fading away with a stop hit, or acting as if he was going to retreat and defend, and then attacking in preparation, winning 15-10. That got Zac into the semifinals, where he handily demolished the next opponent with well-timed attacks in preparation. Zac also had a good day in foil, going undefeated in his pool. Zac observed "After practicing and competing with higher level fencers all fall, I feel really powerful in these E events!" Zoe took a step up in her fencing yesterday, especially when it came to moving efficiently from parry to riposte, and to taking over her opponent's attacks at the right moment. She used this last skill to great effect against Charlotte in several bouts (with all the events they were in, they kept meeting eachother), making a quick turn around just as Charlotte missed her. After earning his D the "easy way" in a U event last season (no longer possible under the new ratings rules), Zach truly arrived among the big boys with his first top 8 appearance in a B1 open. He dominated his first DE by pushing his opponent to the end of the strip, defending if his opponent rushed into an ill-considered attack, and attacking if his opponent hesitated. His second DE was the upset of the tournament, as he bumped off the B-rated 4th seed by inviting attacks, then retreating and mercilessly exploiting his reach advantage. Although she didn't win a medal this time, Caroline has some great bouts, going 4-2 in her womens E pool, beating Chris in her mixed E pool, and narrowly losing 15-14 to an adult male eventual bronze medalist who towered over her. Julie showed good improvement, especially in her beat and prise de fer attacks, by moving into correct distance first rather than telegraphing her intentions from too far away. She happily picked up her first ever medal ("I love prizes - they're so motivational!"). Like Zac, Ashton's Jr Team training made him feel pretty powerful in the E event, as he went 4-1 in his pool and dominated his first DE. Unfortunately, he was overrelying on power and speed against the eventual silver medalist, a methodical and not easily rattled defender. In open foil, Ethan fenced a strong pool, beating a B-rated eventual bronze medalist and going 4-1. Unfortunately, David has gotten off to a slow start in his pool and was seeded low enough so that the two frequent training partners met eachother in their first DE, and David was wise enough to Ethan's tricks to bump him down to a 9th place finish. Ben went undefeated to the semifinal, where, in his determination to surprise his opponent with attacks rather than wait passively as might be expected if you have a narrow lead, he rushed and missed a few, including the critical one in sudden death overtime.