On-line voting is now open for the 2012 USA Fencing Board of Directors and the 2013 Hall of Fame. Read

This video features Valentina Vezzali (ITA) fencing Astrid Guyart (FRA) at the 2012 Shanghai Women’s Foil World Cup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeMSHvCYqPw Spoiler Alert: Guyart defeats Vezzali and goes on to win this world cup event.

The CyrusofChaos YouTube channel has been updated with videos from some of the team matches at the Madrid 2012 Men’s Saber World Cup. Gold Medal Bout: Russia vs. Korea The world #1 Russia vs. 6th ranked Korea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKH7LJ0ExMM Bronze Medal Bout: Romania vs. China http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T60mj9iaoU  

More volunteers are posting their frustration. (via Megan Wadsworth) This post was prompted by an account by Kevin Smith on his dealings with USA Fencing on trying to plan the Coaches Institute.  This account deals with increases in the budgeted staff for the Coaches Institute and interactions with the USFCA and Executive Director Greg Dilworth. Given the recent posts by other long time volunteers and people who have worked with USA Fencing, this comes in a context of an organization that is having a difficult time in making its mostly volunteer staff feel respected and included.  Combined with uncertainty with and a lack of transparency of the organization’s financial state, this is leading to a large amount of frustration that normally would be reserved for water cooler grumblings but is now has snowballed into a large enough issue that volunteers are coming out and detailing their issues with how they, and their projects, are treated by the organization. The Coaches Institute program was something that many are eager to see be successful since Coaches College had not been held for several years.  A good coaching educational program/camp is something that would help many coaches learn and refine their skills while also sharing ideas in the work-group environment. In the past word has been that space in Colorado Springs and at the Olympic Training center (OTC) was extremely difficult to attain, so the idea was to create a coaching training program that did not rely on the OTC and that could become a destination spot for attracting foreign coaches or teams to come to the US for camps, training, and joint development. At the 2012 Junior Olympics (February), Kevin Smith and Michael Marx were on site to promote the Coaches Institute and meet with members of the USFCA to work out joint support of the program.  (The USFCA and Coaches College, while having similar goals, were not the same and had differing levels of accredation.  This seemed to be the case here as well.) Sometime in March, the program was changed to move the Coaches Institute to Colorado Springs and to increase the coaching staff to 10.  As of the Virginia Beach NAC, the change in location had not been communicated to the membership and some coaches only found out about the location change due to a booth that Michael Marx set up next to the stenciling service at that event. The staffing change represented an increase in the budget and would make the program no longer a break-even program but rather one that would be projected to run at a deficit.  The response to concerns by Smith on running the program at a deficit was that, if the Coaches Institute was looked at in conjunction with the Future Stars fencing camp program, then the overall combination of camps would be break even as revenues from the Future Stars camp would pay off any deficit from the Coaches Institute.  Questions regarding these details sent to the national office were unanswered at the time of this posting. Citing changes being made to the program that would make the Coaches Institute run at a deficit when the approved budget was set to be a break-even (or slight profit), Kevin Smith resigned. Below is a letter that Kevin Smith authored following a discussion with Mary Griffith about her recent blog post and his experiences:

A Volunteer’s Journey into the USFA Rabbit Hole As I recounted to Mary Griffith my experiences with the current staff and management with the USFA in regard to the Coaches Institute she cautioned me to give a dispassionate recounting of “just the facts”.  A confession is in order; I don’t believe that any human can recount history without adding color and a certain slant that benefits the teller of the story. With that warning I will do my best and leave it to the reader to decide what to believe. I will tell you at the outset I want NO position with the USFA. I will help in limited circumstance if asked, but, I don’t want to be employed or serve on the board. I have had that position from the start…I just wanted the Coaches Institute to be a big success. I wanted a win for fencing in the USA. In the late spring of 2011 Michael Marx was visiting me in Florida doing a weekend camp. As we were marinating ice cubes in some sort of distilled adult beverage we lamented the demise of the very successful Coaches College and chatted about the need to increase the level of coaching as a way of improving the sport of Fencing in the USA. I have a relationship with a very good college in Melbourne that had a small history with fencing. Florida Institute of Technology expressed desire to explore the possibility of a strategic alliance and a perhaps a partnership with the USFA in the future. We had a  meeting with M Marx, Jim Page, myself and 5 or 6 representatives of FIT including the President of Florida Institute of Technology. The meeting was vey positive and as an initial plan to demonstrate our commitment would have the Coaches Institute at FIT. The meeting was so positive an offer of land was made to the USFA for free should they decide to build a permanent program. A budget was developed and approved by the board. For CI funds for 5 coaches were budgeted and my promise to the board was that we would break even or make a little on the program. In the next months a plan was developed and I flew to Boston at my expense to work on things with Michael and he flew at his expense to Florida to finish the planning for both Coaches Institute and Future Stars. An initial framework for cooperation with the USFCA was being developed and was from the outset challenging. Old scores, festering distrust over real and perceived injustices were a stumbling block to progress. In this time frame Greg Dilworth entered the fray as the political go between the USFA and USFCA. For brevities sake I’ll refer to him as the ED. Immediately the process ground to a halt. It is now December things needed to happen. Michael and I asked time and time again for USFA to put the summer programs on the website and develop a Press Release to market the CI and FS. Nothing happened. For two months Nicole Jomantise would not answer or return my telephone calls or answer my emails. Our ED was made aware of this and was unwilling or unable to fix this. So nothing happened. NO press release and no exposure on the website. Hours were spent with no results. I went to the JO’s and spent 3 days in the coach’s lounge. I had the pleasure to meet folks from the USFCA including but not limited to; Rob Handleman, Peter Burcher, and Chuck Alexander. Michael and I spent hours with these gentlemen and at the end of the weekend a deal was largely in place for the certification of coaches. I’m certain I am leaving out some really great people that I spoke to, and for that I apologize. The majority of negotiations were with Rob, Peter and Chuck. Jim Page, a Prince of a guy and a great asset to the USFA was present and instrumental in our talks with the USFCA. During the time after JO’s a great many political absurdities cropped up and were very poorly handled by our ED or in some cases simply not handled. Every time someone at USFCA and there was one party who was particularly contentious, spoke up, our carefully crafted deal with the USFCA was changed. Deals that I had negotiated on behalf of CI were changed to the detriment of the USFA. Planning for Coaches Institute was almost impossible and valuable time to market  the summer programs and get the word out was being lost. Around the beginning of March the ranks of our Coaching staff had swelled to 10. That represented another many thousand dollars of expenses that the budget could not withstand. Enter the Press release. Now all of a sudden the press release is racing to completion with the roster of coaches listed. My concern was simply a financial one. We would lose money on CI and I had promised not to do this. Once this press release was out modifying the coaching staff to stay within budget would have been very difficult. During the problems associated with this Kalle Weeks was copied on numerous emails. I called her with no answer or calls returned. The last issue occurred on March 9th I resigned from all responsibilities concerning CI and FS. The last straw was our ED’s email saying that it didn’t matter if we lost money on CI we would make it back on the FS program. Notwithstanding we had not a single paid registration for the Future Stars Program. Am I disappointed in how this was handled, yes. I have, however, left out a great number of the stupidities perpetrated by some of the parties involved. They serve no purpose in this discussion. And in fact, I probably did some stupid things too. I care about Fencing, I care about the USFA. I am a Veteran Fencer who came to fencing only a few years ago after a 30 year involvement in another sport. I am a Financial Professional with a number of fancy titles and 28 years of experience. I have served on 10 charitable boards in my time. I ran a Municipal Pension Fund for 12 years as Chairman of the Board. This is an open challenge to the President and Board of Directors. I sat through the Board Meeting that was held in Salt Lake. As a business guy I was appalled. Our ED time and time again could not account for large losses in budget line items. His only answer was, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” After talking to a board member last night, he STILL HAS NO ANSWER! In the real world our ED would have already been fired. Would any board member tolerate a large loss in their own account and then continue to employ a manager who could not explain what happen to their money????  Well USFA board, that is your money, my money and it has been entrusted to you watch over. You guys need to demand answers. You need to insure our money is being spent wisely. The board is responsible and accountable. Management works for YOU, the board. Five staff members to London to the Olympics on the membership’s money and the ED can’t explain what they are going to do or why they are needed? And the ED is upset the board questions this?  He made the decision to send them but can’t answer the board’s question why? I have sent emails to Kalle requesting detail on the financial statements. I get NO real answers. Does anyone know? Why are simple answers impossible. The USFA is in SERIOUS trouble. What is the board going to do about it? It’s very clear we need a new President and Executive Director, yesterday. USFA needs to spend our money wisely. USFA needs to communicate. USFA needs to execute and stop having meetings that mean or accomplish nothing. USFA needs to be transparent in its financial affairs. USFA needs to look out for the needs of all its members. USFA needs to be responsive to all its members. USFA needs to focus on the urgent issues until they are resolved. Its very nice to be politically correct and have a massage policy but if we don’t exist as an organization next year it doesn’t really matter…does it? It comes down to effective leadership. We don’t have it, so nothing will change. Respectfully, Kevin Smith

Check out the FM poster facing out to the street! We’re excited to have many members of Sheridan Fencing located in Manhattan’s East Side to the tournament on June 26 at Hammerstein Ballroom! Check out Sheridan Fencing: http://www.sheridanfencing.com Get your Fencing Masters tickets! http://www.fencingmastersnyc.com/tickets

Fencer Tim Morehouse poses for a portrait during the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit in Dallas, Texas May 15, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS PROFILE PORTRAIT FENCING TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) More pictures of athletes from the Summit: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/entertainment-slideshow/fencer-tim-morehouse-poses-portrait-during-2012-u-photo-014311206–spt.html

Spent a quick day in Dallas, Texas today at the US Olympic Committee media summit.    It is a great opportunity to get the word out about fencing to hundreds of different media outlets in a one-day marathon of interviews, photo shoots and video shoots. Got to re-connect with some Olympic friends from other sports [...]

USA Fencing USA Fencing and U.S. Fencing Coaches Association will be hosting the first USA Fencing Coaching Institute at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. As part of USA Fencing’s new coaching accreditation program, participants will have the opportunity to earn Assistant Monitor and Monitor certifications as well as preparation to earn their Prevost and Master degree. Week 1: Fundamental Skill and Education Development (July 16-20, 2012) – This level will focus on the newly developed USA Coaching Development Program and along with fundamental fencing skills will offer courses such as:

    Critical thinking     Ethics in Coaching     The Artistry of Coaching     Modern Footwork     Terminology     Working with groups     Preparatory actions     Stretching and Warming up     Problem solving skills     Situational Bouting     Proper Drilling     Teaching Methodologies     What it means to be a coach     Common Coaching errors     Ethics and Risk Management     Lesson Development     Armoring     Refereeing

Week 2: Foundations for Competitive Coaching (July 23-27, 2012) – This level will focus on coaches who are preparing to attain Prevot and Masters degrees. In addition to continuing week 1’s topics, additional classes will include:

    Running a club     Developing athlete profiles     Developmental Exercises     Change of rhythm/surprise     Supporting actions     Lesson Development     Teaching Methodologies     Reactions     Training the Brain     Technical and Tactical choices     Problem solving skills     Bout Analysis     Motivation     Modern Fencing Actions     Types of Lessons     Sport Psychology

USA Fencing Coaching Education Coordinator Michael Marx (Boston, Mass.) will be the director for the Coaching Institute. “I look forward to working with USA Fencing and the USFCA in a combined effort to develop a comprehensive education process for fencing coaches.  This endeavor will incorporate all levels while providing continuing education to our current professional membership,” Marx said. “These sessions are part of a larger strategy from USA Fencing and the USFCA to bring more high quality fencing instruction and certification to coaches at all levels in order to improve competitive fencing in the United States.” All three weapons will be represented and instructors with unique expertise in each weapon will be teaching. Coaching Institute Staff: • Brad Baker (Pennsauken, N.J.), Temple University epee and saber coach and former USA Fencing Coaches’ College instructor • Peter Burchard (San Francisco, Calif.), North Bay Fencing Academy head coach and USFCA vice president • Gary Copeland (Boulder, Colo.), former USA Fencing National Team Coach and former USA Fencing Coaches’ College instructor • Christophe Duclos (Portland, Ore.), former National Team Coach for Jordan and Qatar and Level 2 French Master • Rob Handelman (San Francisco, Calif.), Coach at Halberstadt Fencers’ Club and Chair of the USFCA Certification and Accreditation Board • Maureen Griffin (San Francisco, Colo.), four-time Cadet Women’s Epee World Team Coach • Gia Kvaratskhelia (South Bend, Ind.), Notre Dame University foil coach • Laurie Schiller (Deerfield, Ill.), Northwestern University head coach • Kelly Williams (Shawnee Mission, Kans.), former chair of the USA Fencing Youth Development Committee and former USA Fencing Coaches’ College instructor. Facilities: The University of Colorado, Colorado Springs The modern, park-like campus at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs provides guests with a stimulating, comfortable, and scenic environment. State of the art classrooms allow coaches to use video and multimedia presentations to highlight technical details. The Summit Village at UCCS provides some of the most comfortable and convenient lodging at any college. Residence halls include high speed Internet, common lounge areas, and private bathrooms in every suite. Colorado Springs is home to the U.S. Olympic Committee and outdoor attractions including Pikes Peak. Vibrant downtown Colorado Springs offers a unique mixture of locally-owned retail shops, restaurants, brewpubs, and coffee shops. Tuition Tuition is $950 per one-week session. A discounted rate is available for participants staying off campus. Registration Register online through USA Fencing: RailStation. For further information contact Michael Marx at m.marx@usfencing.org

The U.S. Men’s Saber Team finished eighth on Sunday at the Madrid World Cup in Spain. Read

London Olympic nominees Seth Kelsey and Soren Thompson each placed in the top 32 of the Stockholm… Read

An interesting peak at the European Olympic qualifier zonal via saber fencer Van Holsbeke from Belgium.

London Olympic Team nominee Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.) advanced to the table of 16 at the… Read

Mary Griffith is a long time member of the bout committee that helps to run USA Fencing’s large North American Cup Tournaments.   On May 13th, she took to her blog to share her frustrations with the organization and to explain why she has had enough. From http://marygriff.com/2012/05/13/burning-my-bridges/: I’ve written several times before about how I [...]

Awesome!

Army cadets prepare to go tête-à-tête against members of the Navy squad. Pictured back row (L to R) Tessa Knight, Joseph Dooley, and Lawrence Hoffman. Pictured front row (L to R) Patty Fors, Lexie Blair, and Sally Sittnick Army Ripostes Navy at First Annual Fencing Tournament in Warrington, Pa. Army claims victory in historic series of bouts Warrington, Pa – It came down to the last point in a fencer’s platform as Army engaged Navy in an intense fencing meet on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at Liberty Fencing Club, located at 366 Easton Road, Unit D-1, Warrington, PA.  The event was split into three sets of nine bouts, each set representing a different weapon – foil, sabre and epee.  The first team to win 14 of the 27 bouts was the victor.  The Navy men’s team put forth a tremendous effort in the epee bouts, taking eight of nine possible points.  Army’s women dominated Navy with an overall score of 17-10. Navy’s men upset Army 14-13 (Army’s men had just finished 2nd at Nationals and won the Southern Atlantic Conference Championship this year), and for men and women combined, Army won the overall contest by a final score of 30-24. A local fencer from the Army team experienced his share of excellence as well.  Jeff Nielsen, a Washington’s Crossing resident and graduate of Council Rock High School North class of 2009, won all three of his bouts without allowing a touch.  Currently, Jeff is a junior at West Point and is the captain of Army’s foil team. Referees for the day were Charles Greene, Philip Butler, and two former U.S. Fencing Olympians – Ivan Lee (Olympian in 2004 and now a New York City police officer); and David Micahnik (Olympian in 1960, 1964, 1968, member of US Fencing Hall of Fame, and former coach of University of Pennsylvania’s fencing team). Members of the Navy men’s team prepare to square off against their Army counterparts. Pictured in the front center is Kyle Hanton, surrounded by teammates (L to R) John Beach, Joe Kessopha, Russ Kealing, Pete Roemer, Conor Cross, Michael Costello, and Cedric Wilson. This event marks the beginning of a new local tradition that our area will share with two of the nation’s most honored institutions.  Marshal Davis, owner of Liberty Fencing Club and fencing coach at Swarthmore College, is responsible for presenting the idea for this annual event to Bob Grieser and Emil Petruncio, head coaches for the Army and Navy fencing teams respectively.  Davis said, “This event was a great opportunity for people to see a collegiate fencing meet close to home and, most importantly, to support the future leaders and officers of our armed forces.” Also on hand to compete against the Army and Navy teams in sabre and foil were three fencers representing the British Royal Marines.  Accompanied by their coach Warren Keays-Smith, the “Royals” went tête-à-tête against members of the Army and Navy men’s and women’s teams. The event concluded with a cookout for all of the fencers and referees, with food and refreshments provided by Liberty Fencing Club. It was an opportunity for all 3 teams to lay down their weapons, break bread and mingle. Like the annual Army-Navy football classic which takes place in Philadelphia each year, Liberty Fencing Club has set the stage for future engagements in the exciting rivalry that Army-Navy athletics represents to our area. Members of the British Royal Marines Fencing Team under the direction of Coach Warren Keays competed in foil and sabre against members of both Army and Navy men’s and women’s teams. Pictured from L to R are Aly Mills, Daniel French, and Edward Hill.   About Liberty Fencing Club, LLC: Liberty Fencing Club offers programs designed to provide introductory, intermediate, and advanced training for one of the most fascinating, exciting, and safest sports. They offer both recreational & competitive programs for: youth (8 and up), adults, and seniors. Liberty Fencing Club, LLC has two locations- in Haverford, PA and Warrington, PA. For more information, visit: http://www.libertyfencingclub.com.

Hi Friends, Here is part 2 of my thoughts, questions and ideas about the future of our sport.  This post is more of a quest for understanding and also bit of insight into how i think about things. My question is, what are the distinct constituency groups in US fencing that require specific attention, resources, [...]

Want the chance to meet the 2012 US Olympic Fencing Team and then watch them compete at Fencing Masters 2012 in-style with dinner and other perks? DIRECTIONS Post the Fencing Masters 2012 promo video with the Fencing Masters NYC page tagged (so we can find you) http://www.facebook.com/fencingmastersnyc and you will get a free $25 ticket to the [...]

A really nice email I got from a parent about my book American Fencer.   Really nice to see it is having a positive impact! “I started reading your book today and read the bit about you being bullied out aloud to my daughter to demonstrate how in the midst of misery, you can have [...]

The US is entering an historic time coming into London for the 2012 Olympics.  Over the last 20 years, US Fencing has transformed from having the fencers that athletes wanted to fence because it was a good draw, to having the fencers whom no one wants to face. A country that struggled to get two Olympic medals prior to 2004 emerged in 2008 to place second to Italy in total medal count:  My how things have changed. The US stands alone in 2012 as the only team to field a full Olympic team (16 athletes).  Even mighty Italy couldn’t field a full Olympic fencing team in London. In April at Kiev, Ukraine, the US men’s epee team became the first US men’s team ever to hold the world champion title after defeating eight time defending champion France. In Kiev, the women’s saber team also took bronze, where they lost to the reigning Olympic champions, Ukraine, in the semis, but came back to beat Italy in the bronze medal bout.  It is a shame that these two medals are not counted in the Olympic medal for this quadrennial, but it shows how competitive the US now is at the world level. Over the next months, Fencing.net will highlight the US Fencing Olympians as well as some of the international Olympians prior to London. Gerek Meinhardt won bronze at the 2010 World Championships. He will be the alternate for the US Men's Team in London. Photo S.Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com We caught up with some of the members of the US Fencing Olympic team hours after their announcement at the Virginia Beach, VA North American Cup (NAC). Gerek, how are you feeling after the long season? Well, it’s been a real long season!  I had surgery on my right meniscus in Jan 2011.  It was hard because I couldn’t put any weight on my right leg for two months. When I finally healed, I was able to physically move, but I had lost my fencing sense and timing.  I was excited that I could run around and that I was physically fit, but my timing was off and I lost my strategic feel and feel for the game. Every tourney I knew I had to fight as hard as I could and I had nights of lost sleep. I had to win everything all of the time. The one benefit was at least I had some time before the first world cup and the start of qualification period for the Olympics.  I got so excited training because I could physically move again that I over exerted myself! When you started the qualifications for the Olympics, where were you in the standings?   I was in the top 16 still which was great, but taking two months off was really hard.  I was physically fit after my rehab, but I was out of fencing shape. Fencing requires using very unique muscles and when you don’t use them for a time; it takes time for them to get back in shape.  I was running around because I could move, but I wasn’t doing much strategy in my movement. What was going through head after world championships? I have had breaks in my fencing before for a month or two, but nothing like this.  I went into the qualification year knowing I had to get some results.  I went into my first couple of world cups just moving around, but not being real smart about my movement.  My family and teammates had to calm me down a bit to remember to be smarter in how I fenced and not just move for movement’s sake! I took a year off of school [Notre Dame ‘13, IT Management] so I could train for the Olympics which were great.  I knew I had the NACs and four World Cups left to try and qualify.  There was lots of pressure and no room for error.   Looking back, I really wish I could have a few bouts back where I was up also. Every tourney I knew I had to fight as hard as I could and I had nights of lost sleep.  I had to win everything all of the time. And it all came down to this Virginia Beach NAC. Yep, I knew I could only do what I could do.  Miles [Chamley-Watson] was ahead in points and if he made the top 8, there was a pretty good chance he was going as the third team member even if I won the event. It’s crazy to think that after a year of fencing world cups and NACs with thousands of points being racked up, that there was less than 10 points from the replacement athlete to the Olympic shot.  It just shows how close things were for all of us! What is your mindset from the last Olympics to this Olympics? Now that I know that I am the 4th!  HA!  It’s a bit different now.  I can still do the world cups and I’ll be training hard; but now I can be a bit more creative with my fencing. It’s hard to break habits when you can’t make any mistakes.  You have to be ready at all times.  Now that some of the pressure is off, I can try and be more creative in how I make my touches.  You can get into a rut because of the pressure to always get that touch, but now I have a bit of creative license so to speak! How do you feel about the chances for the US? I’m super excited!  We are all great friends and we travel together a lot.  Each of us has had great results individually and collectively, we hope to bring home a medal!  I just need to be ready for the opportunity if it presents itself.

Ever a man of the people, our very own James (Jaim-o) Williams allowed himself to be interviewed on camera during his bus ride to practice a few years ago.   My only regret is not finding this gem until now! PS James will be fencing at Fencing Masters on June 26 in NYC.  Tickets: http://www.fencingmastersnyc.com [...]