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Latest Results 3rd annual Bruce Fusner Memorial (Dunwoody, GA, 9/27/08). Results are not yet posted, but Chad took second in the D & Under Mixed Epee, and earned his E rating. North Georgia Fencing Center September Tournament (Suwanee, 9/13/08). A2 Mixed Epee Event, 41 Competitors: 15. Dorshka Wylie, 18. Shola Wylie. D & Under Epee, (D1 Event), 28 competitors: 3. Shola Wylie. Cumberland d’Escrime Open (Nashville, 9/13/08). B2 Mixed Epee Event, 26 competitors: 5. Jonathan Thrasher, 7. Barrett Stutts, 15. Dave Young.
Website Update Links and Fencing Books pages are up, and the Results page will be up soon. The Our People page has been changed to Photos. Some photos have been added to the information and news pages. Photos for some of the other pages will be added soon. A club history page should be up within a month. At the moment Mike and Ben are reading through old club documents and memorials, and interviewing fencers who belonged to the MARS and HFC clubs in decades past. If you notice any results are missing from the Results page, let Mike or Ben know, and we’ll get them added.
Club Logo Chad has expanded on the club arms, creating a more formal--and quite impressive--version. Not to worry, the shield and thus the club patch remain the same. The arms are posted on our website, and a larger image is posted on the scrapbook page. The motto Patientia Vincit is derived from “Prevail by Patience” and translates literally as “Patience Conquers,” perfectly suitable to epee fencing and beyond. Its origin as our club motto derives from Luigi Barbasetti’s quote, “Patience is the first virtue of the epee fencer,” and from the motto of writer Rafael Sabatini’s hero Charles de Bernis in The Black Swan. The swashbuckling novel is a tale of deceptive tactics patiently applied, culminating in a duel on a tropical island shore. A word of warning: to be patient does not mean to be passive. A patient fencer can still be, and should be, very aggressive.
Equipment for Sale, Equipment Wanted If anyone has fencing equipment for sale or is looking for a particular piece of used equipment or uniform, contact Mike or Ben and we’ll post the appropriate “Equipment for Sale” or “Equipment Wanted” notice in the newsletter and on the info page. We won’t post your contact info on the web, only in the newsletter. We’ll forward any web inquiries to you. Also, you might want to contact Dave, our armorer, as he is usually current on equipment needs among many of our members.
New Foil Mask For those of you interested in foil or who still occasionally fence it, beginning January 2009 the lower part of the mask bib will become part of the foil target in World Cup, World Championship, Grand Prix, and Olympic foil events. The new masks will have a lamé (metallic) lower portion matching that of the metallic jacket, and will be connected to it via a wire with a crocodile clip on each end, in a fashion similar to that of electric saber. To date, the lower part of the bib has been excluded from the target, although per the rules the lower area it covers should be part of the target. The mask specifications are located on the FIE website.
Books and posters for sale: Leon Paul FIE underarm protector, large, right handed, slightly used, $40
Fencing Class: Vanderbilt's Dean Richard Memorial Open 2008, April 5, 2008
Website We’re changing hosts and updating the layout of our website, and Mike Greene is busy working on it. We hope to have the new site up soon. We intend to post club news, announcements, upcoming tournaments, tournament results, and related information, although some announcements will be restricted to email newsletters in order to limit public access. If you have any suggestions regarding the site, email Mike or Ben. Club Database If you haven’t updated your personal information (email, mailing address, and so on) yet, please do so soon. High school and college fencers, please also include your school name. All fencers, please list any other clubs you are a member of or are otherwise affiliated with. Send your info to Charlene at :
Fencing Strips Mike and Dave will be repairing several reels and floor cords for us, so we hope to have another strip or two up and running soon. While club membership hasn’t increased significantly over the past year, the number of fencers fencing two or more times per week has. Fencing Party Thanks again to Charlene for hosting a great party!
Kirstin Anderson Leaving for FU Kirstin leaves this week for her freshman year at Furman University, but will be back to fence with us during summers and holidays. Furman has a fencing club, so we hope her fencing won’t get rusty.
Kristi Chenault--our only foilist--returns to Agnes Scott for the academic year, and Sara Leibold to the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa). We also have members or former members attending the University of Alabama at Huntsville, Calhoun College, the University of Montevallo, and the University of South Alabama. Jeremy Conner and Bree Little have entered their freshman year at Grissom High School, and Karl Kiesler enters his at Sparkman High School.
Beginning Fencing Class We’ll be announcing the date of the next beginning fencing class within the next ten days, and expect the class to begin at the end of August or in early September. If you know anyone who might be interested, please forward their contact info to Ben or Charlene, or have them contact Ben directly at :
USFA Registration If you intend to compete this season, don’t forget your USFA registration. (The fencing season runs August to July.) Although you can register online, we suggest you do so only if absolutely necessary: the USFA adds a $5 charge online. A stamp is much cheaper, as is registering at your first tournament of the season. Remember also that when you designate a primary club, that designation will in most cases remain with you throughout the season. Division membership is normally determined by your primary address, and you may qualify for JOs and summer nationals only through the designated division. Collegiate and high school fencers are permitted to represent their school in intercollegiate or other school fencing events, and may still represent their primary club in USFA events. Otherwise, you may only represent one club in competition. In general, see page 5-3 in the USFA Operations Manual (available online at usfencing.org).
New Club Armorer Dave Young is our new club armorer, and is usually stocked with blades and other epee parts. Brian Parker, our previous armorer, has offered to help out when he can, and may have various parts, including blades, available as well.
Olympic Fencing Results The IOC limited fencing in the 2008 Olympics to ten events: women’s epee team and men’s foil team were dropped. Additional qualifying limitations also restricted the field significantly in both team and individual events, leaving many viable contenders out of the games. The results below read from 1st to 3rd. · Men’s epee individual: Italy, France, Spain (US fencer Seth Kelsey placed 17th) · Men’s epee team: France, Poland, Italy (The US did not qualify a team) · Women’s Epee Individual: Germany, Romania, Hungary (US fencer Kelly Hurley placed 20th) · Men’s saber individual: China, France, Romania (US fencer Keith Smart placed 6th) · Men’s saber team: France, USA, Italy · Women’s saber individual: USA sweep · Women’s saber team: Ukraine, China, USA · Men’s foil individual: Germany, Japan, Italy (US fencer Gerek Meinhardt placed 10th) · Women’s foil individual: Italy, Korea, Italy · Women’s foil team: Russian, USA, Italy
The US earned six medals overall (one gold, three silver, two bronze), more than the previous US total from all Olympics of the past sixty years. The US is ranked second in the overall 2008 fencing medal count, behind Italy (seven medals) and ahead of France (four), Germany and China (two apiece), and the Ukraine, Poland, Spain, Romania, Hungary, Japan, and Korea (one apiece). Italy, France, and Germany each earned two gold medals. The In 2004 the US earned its first fencing gold in a century (women’s saber individual). Team events were limited to eight teams: the top four teams in the world, and the top team from each of the four geographical regions, leading to an imbalance. Germany and Russia, ranked 6th and 7th in men’s epee, were left out, for example, while South Africa, ranked 19th, qualified. The New York Times has a graphical application showing medal results in each Olympic sport and event geographically: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/17/sports/olympics/20080817-goldmedals-graphic.html The French women’s epee coach was black-carded during the gold medal bout: http://www.fencing.net/olympics/beijing-2008-fencing/french-coach-black-carded-in-epee-event.html
Modern Pentathlon Men’s modern pentathlon will be held August 20-21 EST, and women’s August 21-22 EST in Beijing. The sport consists of a 200 meter swim, air pistol shooting, one touch epee fencing, horseback riding over a show jumper course, and a three kilometer cross country run. The epee event retains the double defeat, which has unfortunately been otherwise stricken from epee fencing. Originally held over four days, the modern pentathlon has been pared down to a single day event, ostensibly, and under pressure from the IOC, to help hold the audience’s attention. The modern pentathlon is among a number of sports threatened with removal from the Olympics. By a vote of the IOC, it is safe only through 2012, notwithstanding that the sport has been in every modern Olympic games since their inception. The US has four athletes competing this year, two in the men’s and two in the women’s. One of the US women, Sheila Taormina, has competed previously in the Olympics in swimming and triathlon, and is will be the first woman to compete in the Olympics in three different sports. The US has won two silver and two bronze Olympic medals in modern pentathlon, but never a gold, although US athletes have won two world championships: one men’s and one women’s. Perhaps the most famous US modern pentathlon Olympic athlete was George S. Patton, later the noted WWII general.
January 2, 2006: SE Sectionals and Summer Nationals: SE Sectionals will be held in Birmingham, AL this spring. Summer Nationals will be held in Atlanta, GA the first week in July 2006. More information to follow. February 4, 2006: The Winter 2006 Beginning Fencing Class starts. Anyone interested in taking the class, please contact Brian Parker or Ben Little. You may use the Contact Us form here on the webpage. Second button from the bottom on the left. Or call/stop by the Huntsville Athletic Club. Classes are 8 weeks long. They begin promptly at 12:00 noon and run until 2;00PM. All Basic equipment provided for duration of class. Wear comfortable clothes and preferably flat soled tennis shoes. Cost is $90.00, payable after the second class. We hope to see you there. Contact soon, class size is limited. March 4-5, 2006: New Orleans, LA. The Crescent City Open Tournament (see Fencing Mag for details) We will post more here as we know who is going and the trip details. Thanks.
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Copyright © 2004 Huntsville Fencing Club. All rights reserved.
Revised:
October 03, 2008