Fencing in the News

[LongBlade]

Fencing club comes to Billerica
By Steve Tobey/ Staff Writer
Boston Herald-Willminton Advocate
Thursday, December 16, 2004

www2.townonline.com/wilmington/schoolSports/view.bg?articleid=146401

The Prise de Fer Fencing Club began the same way many clubs do, with two people sharing their knowledge and passion for the sport.

David Blake and his wife Ariana Klinkoff taught fencing to students of all ages in town recreation centers, dance studios and school gyms for seven years.

"I just started teaching fencing in recreation department classes," said Blake, who fenced for Concord-Carlisle High School in the mid-'80s and has coached the Patriots boys team to back-to-back state championships. "I was competing and going to tournaments and it kind of grew."

Now his club has a permanent home.

Last Thursday, the Prise de Fer Fencing Club opened its permanent home in the Faulkner Mills building in North Billerica. The club held an open house on Sunday and 40 people visited and learned about the sport.
"I've been through enough clubs to know what works and what doesn't work," said St. John's Prep coach Jim Carter as he toured the facility. "Everything here will work out well."

Before moving into the new facility, Blake ran his program at the Town Center building in Bedford. When that building was torn down in August, he moved the club to Concord Academy, but he had been looking for a permanent home for a while.

"I'd been looking for a few years," said Blake. "It was a long-term goal, but it wasn't until we lost the Town Center building that we got the push to find a place."

Blake found the Faulkner Mills building in April and started working on the facility in September.

"Everyone in the club was working on it every weekend, putting in 12 to 14-hour days," he said. "We had general contractors do the work you needed a license to do, but we did most of the work."

Having a permanent home has its advantages.

"Before we had to carry everything in and out," said Blake. "We were limited in the number of hours and if somebody could pay more, they took priority and we got shut out. Here, we're open as much as we want to be and can also set up everything permanently. Now I can also use my car as a car instead of a cargo vehicle."

There is also twice as much floor space in the new facility, with enough room for 10 regulation fencing strips, as opposed to seven smaller stripes in the Bedford Town Center.

Prise de Fer currently has 120 members ranging in age from 7 to 80. Many go on to excel in national competition, including Robin Pernice of Carlisle, who recently won a gold medal at a national competition and her daughter Eva Jellison, a senior at Concord-Carlisle High School who competed against 2004 Olympic Gold medallist Mariel Zagunis last weekend and has also fenced internationally in Spain.

Another Prise de Fer fencer, CCHS graduate Henry Kennard, earned All-America honors at St. John's University last winter.

In addition to Blake and Klinkoff, who are both international level referees, the club's staff also includes Gamal Mahmoud of Egypt, who works with epee fencers.

Blake also encourages the more experienced fencers to help out the beginners.

"When our top people help the newer people, the beginners become stronger faster," said Blake. "The beginners aren't just relegated to a group of beginners. It's a friendly atmosphere."

And when the instructors put as much work into the sport as they do, it only inspires the newer fencers.

"[Blake] knows it so well," said Keith Lewis, who fences for CCHS and Prise de Fer. "You're never in a place where the circumstances are unfamiliar. He makes you feel like you wan to do your best because he puts so much into it."

[System Admin]

WOW, it's cool to see another fencing group successful. WOW..... Looks neat wish we had a full time place here. Maybe, someday we all will!

[LongBlade]

Senior helps the Huns in Win
Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
PACKETONLINE News
December 17, 2004

www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13573208&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=425696&rfi=6



Picture- Hun School senior co-captain Elizabeth Byrne helped the Raiders to a season-opening 14-13 win over Princeton Day School on Wednesday:
images.zwire.com/local/Z/ZWIRE1091/zwire/images/ZPPS-BYRNE861.jpg

At first, Natalie Taggart was unhappy about failing to make the Hun School tennis team when she tried out as a freshman and again as a sophomore.
But in the end, that disappointment proved to be fortuitous, as it led to her finding a new sport that she not only has become quite proficient in, but has become a leader in as well.
"It's a funny story how I got involved in the sport, actually," said Taggart, a senior at Hun who is one of the co-captains for the Raiders' fencing team this season. "I got cut from the tennis team my freshman and sophomore years. My sister (Roberta) was in the middle school at that time and she was sick one day. My mother came in to get her work and she saw Mr. (Eric) Wolarsky. He started talking to her about fencing and said that I should come out for the team. I did it my sophomore year and I really liked it. I've been doing it ever since."
Wolarsky is certainly glad that the message got back to Natalie to give the sport a shot. In three years she has continued to develop and this year is not only a co-captain, but a key member of the epee squad as well.
"She's a strong leader and really helps motivate the girls," said Wolarsky, Hun's co-coach along with Rey Gonzalez. "She and Elizabeth Byrne are doing a fine job as captains. Natalie has been going to the Medeo Fencing Club, which is one of the top clubs in New Jersey, since the summer. So she's working outside of the team and she has really improved a lot. She's putting a lot of time into her fencing and you can see that in her performance."
On Wednesday, Taggart picked up a pair of wins as the Hun girls opened the season with a 14-13 win at Princeton Day School. The Hun boys also opened with a win, getting past PDS, 15-12. Matt Maurice (epee), Tom Hsieh (foil) and Justin Nealis (sabre) all went undefeated in the meet for the Hun boys.
It was the season-opening meet for both Hun and Princeton Day.
"Somehow our girls always seem to find a way to win," Wolarsky said. "We were down, 13-10, and we won the last four bouts of the day. We swept the last three foil matches at the end.
"And the boys also had a nice win. I was concerned that we would lose that one. PDS has two very good foil fencers and I really thought they would get us. PDS led halfway through the meet, but then we started fencing better. David Mersky, one of our foil fencers, did very well. He's a four-year starter and this is his senior year."
For the girls, the win showed it might not be a rebuilding year after all. The Raiders lost several key fencers to graduation from last year's team, which was the school's best ever.
"We were down by four and came back to win it, which was very exciting," Taggart said. "We were able to pull it out and I think that will give us a lot of confidence for the future. It was a great way to start the season."
Taggart has stepped up this year and become a key fencer for the Raiders. Against PDS, she won two of her three bouts. Alex Connell and Jenn Geffner each went 3-0 for the Raiders.
"Last year was a little rough," said Taggart, a Princeton resident. "But I went to two different camps over the summer, so this year I came in feeling like I was fencing much better. Over the summer I met a coach at Medeo and we got along well. I started taking lessons with him in August and I've been going once a week, even during our season. I think it's helped me a lot."
And now she's not only a top fencer, but a co-captain as well, which is something she had never considered prior to this season.
"I never really thought about it," said Taggart, who will join Connell at the girls' Junior Olympic trails this weekend. "After last year I thought it would be Liz because she has the seniority and started out freshman year. She and I are co-captains and I think we really balance each other well. There are things in practice that I don't like and things that she doesn't like, but we get each other going to do those things. We push each other.
"I really like our team this year. We did lose a lot of good people who graduated. But we learned a lot from them and winning like we did against PDS gives us hope for the rest of the season. If we can come back like that, then we can do well against some of the other teams we'll face."
And Taggart will continue to do her part as a member of the epee team, a weapon she has come to enjoy.
"I think of it as the most intellectual weapon," Taggart said. "If you watch foil and sabre, everything happens so fast. In epee, you have a little more time to think because of the scoring. It's a lot of fun."
Fencing has turned out to be real fun for Taggart, who has made a nice career out a sport she was fortunate to find.

©PACKETONLINE News Classifieds Entertainment Business - Princeton and Central New Jersey 2004

[LongBlade]

Fencing tourney set for today
Bridgeton News
December 18, 2004
By ERIC GOLDSTEIN
Sports Editor


www.nj.com/sports/bridgeton/index.ssf?/base/sports-2/1103365245291710.xml

Bill Olivero has experienced success while coaching individuals in fencing. Now the longtime coach and instructor plans to experience success while coaching teams in fencing.

After 38 years of teaching athletes the art of dueling with a sword, Olivero will captain the St. Augustine Prep fencing team in an invitational tournament today and in four matches next month.

Last year the Hermits competed as a club team. This year, their first as a varsity team, they have 35 members. Starters Zach Fanelli (from Millville), Stephen Smith (Bridgeton) and Bob Butner (Downe Township) are on the team.

"Everyone is really looking forward to the tournament," Olivero said.

Olivero hopes the tournament and the inaugural team at the Prep help spur interest in the sport throughout the county. He envisions possibly fencing teams at other schools one day.

The captains on the Hermits have written letters to OLMA and Sacred Heart inviting their students and parents to the tournament, which is at St. Augustine at 10 a.m.

"Who knows, if they come to the tournament maybe they will like what they see," Olivero said. "I hope they get jealous and want to have a team of their own."

While Olivero has taken on coaching, he hasn't left his enthusiasm for instructing individuals behind. Olivero, who is also a biology professor at Cumberland County College, holds a fencing night class in the fall and spring for middle school and high school students at CCC. His enrollment in the class this semester has been excellent, Olivero said.

Bridgeton senior Samantha Brewer, Cumberland Regional sophomore Chris Reed and Millville resident Ryan Panelli take lessons from Olivero. All three will compete today and are also invited to compete on an individual level in the other matches next month.

"I think all of them are going to do well," Olivero said. "They have experience that kids they will be facing don't, so they should have a good year."

The Hermits and Brewer, Reed and Panelli are learning from an instructor that has been fencing for nearly 40 years. Olivero was attracted to fencing while a freshman at New Jersey State College, which is now called New Jersey City University.

He learned from one of the best. Former U.S. Olympic Fencing coach Georgio Santelli's wife attended the college, and through her, Olivero and others were given free lessons.

Olivero spent four years on the varsity squad and came in second place in the Region in the NAIA championships in foil (a type of sword) his sophomore year. He moved to Cumberland County after graduating and helped start the South Jersey Division of U.S. Fencing Association, which is associated with the Olympic trials.

That was 38 years ago.

"I was the South Jersey champion in foil in the 1970s," Olivero said. "Then I started the club (at Cumberland County College) the same year the school opened. I am the last original person left that started here at the college when it opened."

Since then, Olivero has been a mentor for hundreds of fencers, many of whom stuck with the sport. One graduate fenced at West Point and then became the coach.

It is just one of the highlights of Olivero's individual coaching success. Now it's time for him to start adding team success.

"This is going to be a big year for us," Olivero said.

[LongBlade]

Would-be swashbucklers stay on guard in fencing class
Douglas Trattner
Special to The Plain Dealer
Friday, December 24, 2004

www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/friday/110379781540050.xml

Micah Wehrle, 10, thrusts his weapon deep into his father's torso. David Wehrle, the lad's father, returns fire with a clean shot to the ribs. Only then does Mark Porter step in to disengage the dueling duo.

No, this is not some holiday get-together gone hideously astray; it's the Beginning Fencing class at the Fairmount Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Russell Township.

The Wehrles both are dressed in protective fencing gear, which looks not unlike a beekeeper's outfit, and they are applying some of the skills they have collected over the course of the 10-week class. Father and son intend to continue their combat when the new season of classes begins Friday, Jan. 7.

Porter, the instructor, has been fencing for 25 years - ever since he took a class at the Fairmount center.

"Because I wasn't physically large enough to play football at the collegiate level," says Porter, "I looked for another sport that I could participate in at college." As he had planned, Porter competed on the fencing team while at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Children as young as 10 are encouraged to participate in the beginner's class. Porter believes the earlier, the better.

"I think kids should begin at the earliest age possible," he explains. "Like any sport, the earlier one starts, the better he or she will become over time."

Fencing is unique, adds Porter, in that physical size and strength aren't nearly as important as speed of footwork and hand-eye coordination. This makes his class particularly suitable for both boys and girls. Plus, the sport's relatively short learning curve ensures novices are up and "thrusting" after a few basic lessons.

West Geauga High School sophomore Kimberly Istok is the captain of her school's fencing club. She chose fencing in part because, as she puts it, "horseback riding is too girlie."

Currently, she practices four or five times a week. She has already qualified to participate in the upcoming Junior Olympic Fencing Championship in Arlington, Texas, but she has her sights set even further.

"I'm hoping to make it all the way to the Olympics," she says.

Istok is waiting for Porter's Advanced Fencing class to begin. Hesitantly, she admits that she has little difficulty making quick work of her classmates - both male and female. In fact, Istok believes women have an advantage over their male opponents.

"First of all, boys don't expect a certain level of aggression from a girl," she says. "Plus, girls are more focused on the details, whereas boys are more prone to just attack."

Participants in the Beginning Fencing class will start with the basics of the sport: movements such as thrusts, parries and lunges. Footwork will be practiced, defenses and counterattacks sharpened. In time, pupils will develop enhanced hand-eye coordination, superior balance and the ability to predict an opponent's maneuvers while making his or her own as unpredictable as possible.

And if all that isn't reason enough to get your child started with fencing, consider this:

"Fencing is very much an Ivy League sport," observes Porter. "For people who wish to go to Princeton, Harvard or Yale, fencing can be quite helpful in the application process."

[LongBlade]

www.coastalview.com/article_pics/041223_fencing.jpg
Photo: Instructor Dayna Canada; Photo by Michael Bradley

FENCING IT UP
by Lea Boy/[e-mail]

www.coastalview.com/center.asp?article=10662

The New Year brings a number of changes, and one of these is the arrival of fencing in Carpinteria.

On Tuesday, Jan. 4, Dayna Canada, a competitive fencer with 10 years of experience behind her blade, will begin teaching two classes, one for adults and one for kids, at the Carpinteria Boys and Girls Club.

Canada is excited about the prospect of “giving something different to the community that’s really beneficial, especially for kids.”<br>
The sport of fencing can take three forms: foil, sabre and epee (pronounced ep-pay).

Each specific type of fencing refers to the weapon used, and each is played with a series of distinct rules. In Carpinteria, Canada will introduce epee, the style of fencing that evolved directly from the medieval practice of dueling. In epee, the blade is about a yard long and weighs just over a pound and a half. The blade is blunt and will not cut into a player. Furthermore, slashing or hitting the opponents body with the sword edge is not the goal of epee. Instead, points are earned in a bout by making “touches” (touché in French) with the tip of the sword.

The sport has come a long way since its original use as a fighting technique that often resulted in death for the inferior swordsperson. In the 15th century, when guns started offering a more efficient means of killing one’s opponent in battle, sword fighting became a skill learned exclusively by the aristocracy. Rowdy and unrefined duels were fought to resolve matters of honor, with at least one fighter left bloodied or dead, and/or suffering from severely wounded pride.

The art of fencing evolved when dueling was banned in Europe and the United States. In response, schools of fencing sprang up and the new sport was born.

Now, epee combines history with modernity. The blades are electronically wired so that when a touch is made, a button at the sword’s tip is pushed and a light is triggered on a nearby box to indicate a scored point. Bouts generally last up to six minutes, during which time the winner must touch her/his opponent five times. The one-on-one battle takes place on a fencing strip two meters by 14 meters.

Canada chose to focus her training on epee for the “fewer rules” involved than in sabre or foil. In epee, the whole body is the target, and points are earned by making a touch in any spot from head to toe. Unlike the other forms, there are no rules about points qualifying only in certain defensive or offensive situations. In epee, each touch counts.

“It’s just like dueling,” Canada links the current sport to its ancestor. “If you both get hit, you’re both dead.” Or, in this case, both lights flash on, and both players earn a point.

When Canada first picked up an epee ten years ago, she was drawn to the sport’s gracefulness, rhythm and timing. Soon, however, she became most enthralled by the mental aspect of fencing, the tactics and quick thinking necessary to stay a step ahead of one’s opponent. She likens the sport to a game of “physical chess.”<br>
Now this mentally and physically thrilling sport will be available to Carpinterians every Tuesday night. Canada teaches through Swords Fencing Studio, which is based in Burbank and run by fencer Tigran Shaginian. Space at the club will be rented, but Canada hopes to eventually open a nearby studio (a salle in fencing terms) exclusively for fencing.

For now, Canada will teach a class beginning Tuesday, Jan. 4 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for kids eight to 14-years old. Fencing is specifically beneficial for kids, Canada pointed out, because it teaches self-control, discipline and quick thinking. Teaching fencing to girls is Canada’s particular favorite because the young women increase their sense of power and boost their self-esteem.

“You see the growth in them, and it’s really satisfying,” Canada says regarding her young students.

Following the kids’ class, a 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. class will be held for anyone 15 or older. For each class, a one time $35 fee is required for the use of the studio’s equipment, including jackets, swords and masks. Classes cost $65 each month and registration forms are available at the Carpinteria Boys & Girls Club, 4849 Foothill Rd, or at the first class.

For more information on the upcoming fencing classes, call Tigran at [phone].

[LongBlade]

For Mariel, golden days and grim, too
John Canzano
The Oregonian
December 31, 2004

www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf?/base/sports/110449823659160.xml

Someone told me the other day on an airplane that the two most significant sports stories of 2004 were: A) baseball's steroid issue and B) that ugly NBA brawl in Detroit.

And since we're just about out of time, I figured I would take a vote on the final day of the year and decide which one is the most significant story of the year.

But I can't.

Not before I tell you about Mariel.

She's 19. She's lived most of her life in Beaverton. Earlier this year, Mariel's parents separated. Then, they got a divorce, which became official only on Thursday.

"This year has had its ups and downs," said Cathy, Mariel's mother.

Now, you'd be right to wonder what a divorce has to do with sport. But while you're at it, ask yourself what steroids and punching people who are in the stands really have to do with sport, too.

But first, back to Mariel.

She's a freshman at Notre Dame, undecided on a major. She has two brothers. And if it's sport you require, just know that her parents were Olympic rowers in 1976.

So when I saw Mariel for the first time this summer, maybe I was just seeing the reflection of two people who fell in love, got married, raised a family and had all of that fall apart as things sometimes do. Life can be like that.

Except, the first time I saw Mariel, she was holding a 3-foot sword.

Then, she was being tossed in the air by a group of smiling men.

Then, she had a gold medal placed around her neck.

"The whole thing with my parents went down right at the height of all that Olympic stuff," Mariel said. "I just kept telling myself that everyone goes through hard times and life wasn't going so good. And I kept telling myself that things would get better."

Mariel was not supposed to win a gold medal in Athens. No American woman had ever won any medal in fencing, let alone a gold one. And a few months before the Olympics, Mariel was the team alternate. In fact, the U.S. Olympic Committee took two team photographs; one with Mariel, one without.

"I still remember when they asked me to step out of the photograph," she said. "That was difficult to hear."

Mariel, if you don't already know, is Mariel Zagunis. You probably remember her. It was that wonderful photograph of Mariel, her clutching the American flag as she was tossed into the air by the U.S. men's fencing team, that became one of the most memorable images of the Olympics.

It was a good story because she beat China's Tan Xue 15-9. It was a good story because Mariel was an unknown and a team alternate. It was a good story because her sport changed because of it. And maybe, too, some little girl back in the United States or some other part of the world was watching and thinking, "That might be me someday."

I was at the Super Bowl to see the Patriots win. I watched the Red Sox celebrate during the World Series. I saw UConn win the NCAA men's basketball championship. I saw the Detroit Pistons win and Smarty Jones lose.

So remember steroids or that brawl if you want. Me? I'll take that day in Athens. And that sport, which I knew very little about before Mariel.

Because when you think about it, her victory had as much to do with sport as it did humanity.

Said Mariel: "This year has been the very highest of my life and the very lowest. I just kept hoping things would get better."

[LongBlade]

Rise from injury stifled in close loss (Women's fencing)
By Patrick Dorsey
The Daily Northwestern
January 11, 2005

www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/11/41e394ece0c17

media.dailynorthwestern.com/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/s-41e394ece0c17-11-1.jpg
[/img]

Tough going early, improvement late -- but not quite enough to bring back Junior Olympic status.

For Northwestern freshman walk-on epeeist Gabby Aiuto, the Junior Olympics qualifier at Patten Gymnasium on Saturday was a microcosm of her fencing struggles since she injured her knee last January.

Aiuto, who competed in the Junior Olympics in 2002 and 2003, overcame a 1-5 record in pool play to come within one touch of going to the vaunted national event in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 18-21. But she couldn't come up with the deciding touch.

(Go to the link above for the full story)

[LongBlade]

Toto, I think we're back in Kansas...

Foldi returns to Kansas, where she first fenced in U.S.
By Patrick Dorsey Daily Northwestern
Evanston, IL (U-WIRE)

Full story: www.collegesports.com/sports/c-fenc/uwire/011405aaa.html

Last fall, Fox returned to the O.C.

This weekend, Northwestern senior fencer Julia Földi goes back to the O.P.

Overland Park, Kan., that is.

Földi, a foilist and captain, is one of several Wildcats making the trip to this weekend's United States Fencing Association North American Cup in a suburb of Kansas City, Kan. But this is more than just another national event to Földi, who lived in eastern Kansas for a year.

"It's pretty personal," she said.

Földi, a native of Budapest, Hungary, spent her senior year of high school as an exchange student in the nearly 2,600-person town of Louisburg, Kan. She fenced at the Kansas City Fencing Center in Overland Park, about thirty minutes away from her adopted home -- where she will be staying Saturday night.

It was with the Kansas City Fencing Center that she became interested in attending college in the United States.

[LongBlade]

Jellison rolls for C-C fencing team
The Concord Journal
By Stephen Tobey
January 13, 2005

Full story: www2.townonline.com/concord/schoolSports/view.bg?articleid=163052

The Concord-Carlisle girls fencing team swept a weekend series in New Haven, Conn., defeating Riverdale (N.Y.), 17-10, Mamaronek (N.Y.), 18-9 and Hopkins (Conn.), 19-8.

Eva Jellison led the Patriots in the saber, winning all nine bouts, while Allie Keller scored seven victories and lost twice. Brooke Cantone won three of her bouts.

Jellison, who will be fencing at Stanford University next year, did not give up a single touch in any of her bouts.

Emily Larson won all nine of her epee bouts, while Kate Schaefer and Sarah Myers were 4-4 and 7-2 respectively. Laura Scholten, who switched from foil to epee, was 1-1.

[LongBlade]

Fencing Club finds a home
By Stephen Tobey/ Staff Writer
Thursday, January 13, 2005

Full story: www2.townonline.com/littleton/schoolSports/view.bg?articleid=162164

The Prise de Fer Fencing Club began the same way many clubs do, with two people sharing their knowledge and passion for the sport.

David Blake and his wife Ariana Klinkoff taught fencing to students of all ages in town recreation centers, dance studios and school gyms for seven years.

"I just started teaching fencing in recreation department classes," said Blake, who fenced for Concord-Carlisle High School in the mid-'80s and has coached the Patriots boys team to back-to-back state championships. "I was competing and going to tournaments and it kind of grew."

Now his club has a permanent home.

[bamboy]

cool thats cool well i wants to say congrats to yall good job

[ittanibra]

fencing in the news where at

[justin]

what is fencing in the news

[Coach Hite]

Fencing in the news is for anytime the media picks up on fencing and shows it to the public. examples: newspaper, tv, magazine, internet article.