Bulletin for the Week of Oct. 5, 2009

1. 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.

Attention Middlebury fencers: Mary Hogan School requests that we do not leave the gym door propped open or resting loosely so it doesn't lock. They are concerned about security as well as heating expense. Even if it gets hot or it's inconvenient to have to keep opening the door when people knock, please honor their request.

2. Have you registered for the WSC Open on Oct. 17 at Essex Middle School? There are open foil and epee events, as well as the first youth events of the season. Sign up on AskFRED!

3. Plan ahead for a road trip! The Northeast Division is holding their big annual tournament, the Granite State Open, in Concord NH on Halloween Weekend. Let's go say boo to them. The Granite State is always a big tournament with something for everyone: E events for less experienced fencers, womens events for the ladies, and mixed open events that are usually pretty strong (A or B events). All events require USFA membership and are open to fencers born 1996 or earlier. Event schedule:

Sat. Oct 31
9 a.m. Womens foil
9:30 a.m. Open foil
12 p.m. womens sabre
12:30 Open sabre
1:30 E womens foil
2 p.m. E foil (mixed)

Sun. Nov 1
9 a.m. womens epee
9:30 a.m. Open epee
12 p.m. E sabre (mixed)
1:30 p.m. E womens epee
2 p.m. E epee (mixed)

For those of you with a few local competitions under your belts, I highly recommend making a habit of occasionally going out of state for meets. Why? It's important to seek out new, unfamiliar opponents to hone your skills of observation and analysis. By visiting other divisions, you act as ambassadors of the Green Mt Division, making new friends and encouraging them to come visit our tournaments. You learn to compete outside your "home field" comfort zone. Carpooling together to tournaments gives you a chance to hang out with your clubmates and get to know them better. It's usually a great time!

As road trips go, the Granite State is high on my list. I'm not sure yet, but I hope to go for at least the Saturday this year (so if anyone is planning to do that and has room in their car for me, I'd love to travel with you). The VFA earned the nickname "The Northern Horde" years ago when we used to regularly swoop en masse from our mountain stronghold to pillage and plunder the lowlands. As our Champlain Cup tournaments have gotten bigger and better, we've become less regular road warriors. Here's a chance to live up to our nickname again. I will put out a carpool sheet at practice this week. If interested in going to the Granite State, please sign up for which day(s) you want to fence and whether you (or your parent for junior fencers) can drive. You must sign up on my sheet by Thursday if you want me to help organize carpools for you. If you don't, you can still go, but you will have to make your own travel arrangements.

4. Julie, Amanda and I all enjoyed the Fence Against Breast Cancer women's tournament in Boston on Saturday. The organizers did a great job, raising over $3000 for the American Cancer Society. A number of sponsors donated money, food and prizes - including brand new FIE weapons donated by Leon Paul for the top foilist and epeeist. I finished 1st of 16 in foil and 3rd of 10 in epee. My gold medal foil bout was with a very experienced veteran fencer who was recently inducted into the fencing hall of fame for her role as one of the pioneers of women's epee (until the late 1970s, women traditionally competed only in foil). The score was 12-12 at the end of the second period. I determined that in order to win, I could not allow her to take the initiative in the final period. I started with a strong attack almost immediately at the start of the period, which caught her by surpise. I scored again, and then, (being a little tired by that point...) relaxed a bit too much and gave her the chance to attack me and bring the score up to 14-13. I decided I couldn't be lazy if I wanted that new foil and would have to set up the last touch rather than wait for it to fall into my lap. I pushed her back with a threatening preparation, did a half retreat to draw her toward me, feinted into her forward step, and did my best disengage attack of the day to win.