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Reminder - Salle Closed Saturday 14
November
We will be
supporting Amelia Steel in running their
tournament at the Amelia Middle School.
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Why Bother To Maintain
Your Equipment?
For many fencers
the answer is "I don't bother." Fencing
bags are filled with rusted weapons,
dented masks, and clothing that is both
rank in smell, yellow sweat stained in
color, and poor in protection. People
who take pride in keeping the car shiney
and their clothes stylish happily treat
their fencing equipment like old trash
waiting for the junk heap. And from
time to time the old trash bites back.
Two stories from
the first week in November bear this
out. First, there are now two
reports of lexan visor masks failing,
one in practice in Venezuela, and the
second in a bout in the European Junior
Championships. The first involved an
epee and is not well documented, but in
the second an unbroken foil blade
penetrated the face plate, punching a 2
centimeter hole, and wounded the fencer
in the face in a major international
tournament. The analysis is not
complete (as you can imagine this
attracted a considerable amount of
attention), but the Federation
Internationale d'Escrime has suspended
the requirement for the use of clear
visor masks. The Italian federation
has gone further and banned visor masks
in competitions and practice. These
masks have very detailed requirements
for maintenance - treating the mask like
a sack of rocks gets you poked in the
face.
A second instance
in the European Junior Championships -
Great Britain was fencing Norway in team
Epee in direct elimination. Lest you
think Norway a push over, Norwegian
epeeists have been formidable opponents
for at least the last 20 years. The
Twitter feed from British Fencing tells
the story:
"GBR beaten by
Norway by 1 hit in final extra minute,
hit registered on the guard but
impossible to reproduce."
Hits register on
the guard because corrosion makes a good
contact surface. And, yes, aluminum
corrodes, and, yes, all it takes is a
very small area of corrosion to make a
workable target.
One fencer could
have been killed or lost his sight
because of an equipment failure. One
team lost its chance for promotion
because of an equipment failure.
Fencing is an incredibly safe sport.
Fencing equipment, although difficult
to maintain, works very well when
properly cared for. So take care of
your gear!
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Junior and Cadet Championships
The Virginia
Division of the United States Fencing
Association is holding its Junior (born
1990-1993) and Cadet Championships (born
1993-1996) on Saturday and Sunday (14
and 15 November) in Charlottesville.
This event is the qualifier for the
National Junior Olympic Championships in
Memphis, 12-15 February. Claire
Schlichtherle will be representing the
Salle in Junior (Under 20) Women's
Foil. Everyone (and that means you)
give her a boost by wishing her success
this week.
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Amelia Steel Meet For Under 18s
Amelia Steel, the
4H Fencing Club in Amelia, will be
hosting a Fence Dry youth tournament on
14
November, registration
starting at 8:30 am and fencing at 9:00
am. If you plan to
attend, please e-mail Maitre Green at
wgreen@sallegreen.com to confirm and
make equipment arrangements.
Events will include foil for all age
groups under 18, and epee for the
Youth 10 age group.
The venue is the gymnasium of the
Amelia Middle School, located on the
west side of Amelia Court House.
Entry fee is $15 and includes the
$10 annual registration with Fence
Dry!, a rating service for dry
fencing events.
We would appreciate the help of any
Salle members willing to come and judge
or referee or time keep or score keep.
Because we are supporting this event
with both fencers and bout committee,
the Salle will be closed on that day.
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Competition Results
7 November 2009
- Dark Horse Fencing Club Veterans Day
Tournament
... Mark Logan placed 10th in Mixed
Foil, a B1 competition, in a field
of 15 fencers.
... Nathaniel Ewell placed 10th in
Mixed Sabre, an E1 competition in a
field of 11 fencers. This was
Nathaniel's first time out in
electric sabre, and he won two pool
bouts - well done!
31
October 2009 - William and Mary
Halloween Open
Claire Schlichtherle placed 35th in
Mixed Foil, a B2 competition, in a
field of 43 fencers.
24
October 2009 - Tech Open
Claire Schlichtherle placed 34th in
Mixed Foil, a C2 competition, in a
field of 39 fencers.
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November-January Ladder
... has
started. If you did not sign up you
can still do so by adding your name
to the record sheet for each
weapon.
Why should you fence in the
Ladder? The simplest answer is
that this is a regular
competition played out over
three months. Every bout you
fence is for final standings,
just like every bout you fence
in a tournament. The bottom
line is that you get better as a
fencer when you fence for
something that counts. The
fencer who ends up at the top of
the ladder each quarter is the
Salle's best fencer in that
weapon, because he or she could
beat any challenger when it
counted. The prize is small, a
Salle Ribbon for 1st through
10th place, and a permanent
record on the Salle's website,
but the experience under
pressure is very important.
We have had a rule that to earn
a ribbon, regardless of how you
place, you must fence at least 6
bouts. That number increases to
9 this Ladder. Nine bouts equal
3 bouts a month - in each month
you have at least 4 class
sessions and 4 open fencing days
to fence 3 competitive bouts.
To put this in context, 3 bouts
is half or less of the bouts you
have to fence to place last in
any US Fencing senior tournament
in Virginia.
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