Fencing in the News

[LongBlade]

Zulkoskey wins fencing award
The Star Phoenix
June 17, 2011

www.thestarphoenix.com/sports/Zulkoskey+wins+fencing+award/4962338/story.html

Saskatoon's Brian Zulkoskey has received the first ever President's Bulilders Award presented by the Canadian Fencing Federation.

During the past 31 years, Zulkoskey has contributed to the sport of fencing as both a coach, a position which he currently holds, and an athlete at both the provincial and national levels.

He has also spent many years as the President of the Saskatchewan Fencing Association.

Zulkoskey was presented with the award at the Canadian Fencing Federation's annual AGM held in Saskatoon last weekend.

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Gauthier Grumier wins gold medal for the third consecutive time: Fencing News
By: muhammadsheraz
Bettor.com
6/21/2011

blogs.bettor.com/Gauthier-Grumier-wins-gold-medal-for-the-third-consecutive-time-Fencing-News-a76906

The Frenchman, Gauthier Grumier, won for the third consecutive time another Epee World Cup that took place at Buenos Aires in Argentina from June 17 to June 19.

Grumier is the undisputed leader in Epee discipline. The victory in the World Cup circuits is always a gold standard of results for fencers. It is always the dream of a fencer to get victory in the World Cup. But a three-time win is merely an aspiration for many athletes and it was proven by Grumier who completed his third consecutive victory in Buenos Aires Epee World Cup. The French played with the same spirit and sport in the same way in the two previous seasons, by relegating two Germans to second place, Sven Schmid and Joerg Fiedler in 2008-09 and 2009-10, respectively.

By winning all the bouts in the pool matches, Grumier started with the table of 64 as the number one seed by getting an automatic bye from the table of 132. He defeated the Russian, Nikita Glazkov, in the table of 64 with 15-5 scores and qualified for the table of 32. He defeated the Korean, Hwa Seung Jung, and Czech’s Pavel Pitra in next tables to advance to the quarter-final round. Grumier’s opponent at quarter-final was another French, Alexandre Blaszyck, who lost his bout after a strong competition with a close score of 15-13 touches. In semi-finals, Grumier defeated Switzerland’s Fabian Kauter with a 15-12 score-line and qualified for the play-off.

Grumier took the event of the day by defeating the Korean, Won Jin Kim, in the final and took the third season victory’s gold medal. Kim was honoured with a silver medal and was ranked second in the tournament. Switzerland’s Kauter and French Ulrich Robeiri were placed third and fourth in the competitions with bronze medals. The Italian Paolo Pizzo and Alferdo Rota were eliminated in the quarter-final. Therefore, they were ranked at the fifth and sixth positions in the competition with no medals, respectively. The Russian Jeorg Fiedler could not make it to the quarter-final round, but he was successful in getting his place in top 10 fencers of the competition. Fiedler was ranked tenth in the competition.

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Class of 2011: Fencing Captain Appreciated the Diversity, Spirit of THS
A Snapshot of Graduating Seniors
By Jennifer Pinto
The Teaneck Patch
(Teaneck, N.J.)
June 21, 2011

teaneck.patch.com/articles/class-of-2011-fencing-captain-appreciated-the-diversity-spirit-of-ths

Name: Shani Pleasants
College Attending in the Fall: Rutgers, Visual Arts
Extracurricular Activities: National Honors Society, Fencing Captain, Hospital Volunteer

1.What did you enjoy most about your senior year? I enjoyed hearing back from all the colleges. Once all the acceptance letters started coming in, I was happy.

2.What will you miss most about Teaneck High School? The people, mostly. And also the spirit, unity and diversity of the school.

3.What advice do you have for next year’s seniors? Study hard and don’t get lazy. Apply to every college that you could possibly go to. And, apply for as many scholarships as you can. There were a lot of students in school that never applied for scholarships – even some of my friends. I asked them if they needed the money, and they said yes. They said they didn’t apply because they didn’t think they would get it. I applied to a lot, and I got some scholarships that I didn’t expect to get. So, don’t think you won’t get any scholarships –it doesn’t hurt to try.

4.What are you looking forward to most about college? I’m looking forward to learning what I need to do to get a career and what steps I have to take to get there.

5.What experience helped you to get where you’re at in life right now? Joining the fencing team my freshman year. I was really shy and didn’t know anyone. Joining a team helped me to open up and motivated me to do better in school and in fencing. The upperclassmen also helped me with advice. This year, as part of the National Honors Society, I tutored freshmen. They had a lot of questions for me about applying to college and what they needed to do to succeed in school. I was able to answer their questions and help them feel less worried about the future.

[LongBlade]

Fencer With Headscarf Is a Cut Above the Rest
By Aimee Berg
Wall Street Journal
6/24/2011

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304569504576404011992467534.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

When Ibtihaj Muhammad fastens her headscarf, or hijab, around her chin, one of its purposes is to deflect unwanted attention.

But when she wears a hijab in a sporting arena, it often has the opposite effect.



The New Jersey native is currently ranked 11th in the world in women's sabre, a discipline of fencing. Only one American ranks higher: Mariel Zagunis, the two-time Olympic and world champion.

Both women will compete this weekend at a World Cup fencing event at the New York Athletic Club to earn points toward qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee do not track athletes' religion, but if Muhammad makes the Olympic team, she would likely be the first practicing Muslim woman to represent the U.S. at the Games.

When she competes, photographers often zoom in on the name Muhammad on the back of her fencing jacket. Her mother, Denise, recently saw such a photo and said, "I realized: my God, she's representing all of us.

"You feel the pride. Muslim women are struggling around the world. She's not on the front lines but when she stands up there, she's making her mark for them, for freedom, to have their voices heard."

To make the ultra-selective squad—a maximum of two women per country will compete in sabre in London—Muhammad has been training 30 hours per week at the Fencers Club on West 28th Street in Manhattan and another three to four hours a week with a conditioning coach near her home In Maplewood, N.J.

"I'm one of these people with tunnel vision," said Muhammad, 25. "I'm convinced that I can do anything with enough practice and enough work."

Playing sports was a given for the third of five children growing up in an athletic household, but Muhammad always wore long clothing under her volleyball and softball uniforms to conform with Islam's emphasis on modesty.

When Ibtijhaj was 13, her mother drove past the local high school and saw fencers in the cafeteria who were covered from head to toe. Her mother turned to her and said, "I don't know what that is, but when you get to high school, you're doing it."

Then, one day at practice, "Out of this mild young lady came a roar," said her Columbia High School fencing coach, Frank Mustilli. "She got hit, got mad, and under that calm façade was a very aggressive individual."



At 16, she dropped epée for the lightning-quick sabre discipline, which targets everything above the waist (except hands) and allows scoring with the edge of the blade as well as the tip.

As team captain, Muhammad helped her high school win two New Jersey state team titles. Later, her youngest sister, Faizah, became a two-time state individual champion in sabre. (Faizah, 19, will also compete at the New York World Cup.)

At Duke University, Muhammad was a three-time All-America and graduated in 2007 with a double major in international relations and African-American studies (and a minor in Arabic).

Two years later, she began to work with the 2000 U.S. Olympian Akhi Spencer-El in Manhattan.

"It completely changed my fencing," she said. "This is the first time I've ever been taught to fence tactically."

In 2009, Muhammad won the U.S. national title. A year later, she made her first quarterfinal at a World Cup event (losing to Zagunis, 15-8, in Brooklyn, N.Y.). And in November 2010, Muhammad finished 14th in her world championship debut in Paris. All the while, observing her Muslim faith.

Every day, Muhammad prays five times. The fourth prayer, Maghrib, usually coincides with training so she will say it at home later, or pray in a utility room.

Last year, during the holy month of Ramadan when eating and drinking are prohibited from sun-up to sundown, Muhammad woke up at 90-minute intervals in the middle of the night to hydrate during a high-altitude training camp in Colorado Springs. (In 2012, the entire London Olympics will occur within Ramadan.)

But what bothers Muhammad's mother most is the fencing etiquette that entails shaking hands with male referees and seeing her daughter travel without a male guardian.



At airports, fencers are always scrutinized because they carry on bulbous facemasks, metallic jackets and electrical wires. A hijab adds to the questioning. In Belgium this month, Muhammad was told to leave the airport if she did not remove her headscarf.

Her father Eugene, a retired cop, taught her, "The more you [protest], the more you have to take off." Diplomacy eventually prevailed. Usually, Muhammad speaks her mind. She used to be an emotional fencer. Now she is more controlled, but retains her trademark feistiness.

"On the strip, she'll fight for every single touch and not budge," Zagunis said.

But ultimately the referee decides who scored the first touch and, early on, Muhammad sometimes wondered if her minority status affected the outcome of her matches. If so, she figured it had more to do with being African-American than Muslim.

"I have a hard time imagining someone would treat me different based on my faith," she said. "So when I come across anyone being rude to me or anything of that nature, I attribute it to race. I guess that's my first instinct."

Six-time Olympian Peter Westbrook told her, "You cannot allow 'because I'm Muslim' or 'because I'm black' into play in fencing. The minute you put those in, you've lost."

"I have to remember my purpose," she said.

Very few Muslim women have earned Olympic medals since Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco ran to victory in the 400-meter hurdles in 1984 wearing shorts and a tank top. Muhammad hopes to add to that in hijab.

"I'd love for other minority women and religious minorities [in the U.S.] to believe they can excel in something outside the norm—not just sports, anything where they're breaking the barrier," she said, "and not be deterred by what the image is just because they fall outside that box."

[LongBlade]

Unlocking Your Success Equation
By Peter Bregman
Forbes.com
(Republished from Harvard Business Review)
June 23, 2011

blogs.forbes.com/peterbregman/2011/06/23/unlocking-your-success-equation/

Jim Wolfensohn was a second-year student at the University of Sydney when a friend of his and the captain of the fencing team, Rupert Bligh, asked if he wanted to go to Melbourne the next day to fence in the national university championships.

“You’ve got to be mad,” Jim said. “I’ve never fenced in my life.”

Rupert wasn’t mad, just desperate. A member of the team had fallen ill and they needed a replacement to qualify for the event.

It was a crazy thing to consider. Jim had no money for the trip to Melbourne and no chance of success.

But he said yes, borrowed the money from his parents, and learned what he could from his new teammates on the train to Melbourne.

What a wonderful story this would be if it ended with Jim uncovering a hidden, inborn talent and vanquishing all his opponents. But that’s not this story. Jim lost every bout and failed to score a single point.

Still, he writes in his well-worth-the-read memoir, A Global Life, “I tried to invent new ways to score points on the opponent…I could not remember having such a good time ever before.”

Even with his losses, the team won the championship. And Jim stuck with fencing for years, eventually fencing in the 1956 Olympics and becoming President of the World Bank, a position he held from 1995 to 2005.

What does Jim’s fencing experience have to do with his esteemed business and political career? Everything.

Every life story is complex, with an infinite number of factors contributing to a person’s fate. And yet, there are patterns, ways in which we habitually interact with our experiences. Over time, those patterns become our destinies.

For most of us, our patterns can be seen early in our lives. Jim’s patterns — the ones that led him to great personal, business, and political success — were already clear in his failed fencing bouts.

First, some disclosure: I’ve known Jim most of my life and have always admired him, not just for his accomplishments, but also for his integrity as a person and as a leader. He’s always been on my short list of people I want to be like when I grow up. I’m still working on it.

So what’s the pattern behind Jim’s success?

Psychologists might focus on his upbringing. He grew up poor and developed the dynamic combination of insecurity and ambition that underlies so many stories of achievement.

Life coaches might point to his willingness to agree to opportunities that are larger than he can could handle — often without even really knowing what he was getting into — and then to work tirelessly to succeed, accepting help wherever he could find it.

Sure, consultants might offer, that’s part of it. But the real source of his success is his analytical mind and the disciplined way he solves problems. He enters a situation and assesses it, seeking to understand the system and figure out what’s getting in the way. He identifies the smallest number of actions that will have the biggest impact, and he follows through.

It’s his optimism, positive psychologists would likely suggest. How else could he say, after losing every bout, “I could not remember having such a good time ever before.” And his relationships gave him opportunities, as well. He never would have fenced if not for Rupert offering him a place on the team.

Yes, but he would not have been able to achieve anything if he were not capable, his professors at Harvard would argue. Jim is smart and skilled. He works hard. And he never stops learning. The story of his fencing trip to Melbourne is dramatic, but his success as a fencer — and as a business and world leader — is hidden in the long stretch between that bout and the Olympics. He spent years working hard, honing his skills, and increasing his talent.

Maybe Jim’s pattern is really an equation: Jim = integrity + insecurity + ambition + saying yes + asking for help + problem solving + optimism + relationships + capability. Like I said, every life story is complex.

But the more I think about Jim, the more clearly I see simplicity in his success. A single underlying force drove his decision-making. It’s the key that unlocked his equation. Without it, his tremendous talent would have lain dormant.

That key is a question.

Most people, when they explore an opportunity, next step, or decision, ask: “Will I succeed?”

But Jim asks a different question: “Is it worth the risk?”

The difference in those questions is the difference between never fencing at all and fencing in the Olympics. When Rupert asked Jim to fence in the championships, there’s no chance he could have succeeded. Failure was the inevitable outcome. But was it worth the risk? For Jim, it certainly was.

Jim’s approach to life is to take a risk, learn from it, and take his new knowledge and understanding to the next risk. Failure is an essential part of his strategy.

Really taking risks requires failing. You have to fear failure enough to work hard to make the risks pan out successfully, but not so much that you don’t take the risks in the first place. Viewed through the lens of learning, failure is at least as beneficial as success. Working only on things you’re pretty sure will work significantly limits what you can achieve. Instead, take risks. And then see what happens.

After serving as President of the World Bank, Jim was asked by President George W. Bush to be the Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement for the Middle East. If he had asked, “Will it work?” he would never have agreed to such a task. Instead, he asked the only question that matters — “Is it worth the risk?” — and took the job.

[LongBlade]

Maplewood Boy Wins Fencing Medal in Mexico
9-year-old Jack Woods wins bronze at Pan American Youth Tournament in Mexico.
The Maplewood Patch
(Maplewood, N.J.)
June 23, 2011

maplewood.patch.com/articles/maplewood-boy-wins-fencing-medal-in-mexico

Maplewood’s 9 year old fencing star, Jack Woods, returned from his first International tournament in Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo, Mexico, with a bronze medal.

The 2011 Pan American Youth Championships were held from May 28-30, 2011. Top competitors from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Peru came to compete in the event.

Woods had been selected to compete for the U.S. in both the Youth 10 and under and Youth 12 and under age groups in the foil events.

Woods emerged from the initial pool bouts, in the Y10 Men’s foil event with an undefeated record, before going on to win the bronze medal for U.S.A. Woods fought hard to place fifth, in the Y12 Men’s foil event, against older and stronger competitors from eight different countries.

Head Coach of the New Jersey Fencing Alliance Frank Mustillo said, “There was a real high at the club on the day Jack won the Bronze medal in Mexico. It really motivated our fencers to perform well at the tournament which was held at the same time. Jack proves he is a force to be reckoned with, even though he was the only fencer without his private coach present at the International Tournament.”

In the past month Jack has won a number of Y10 and Y12 foil events in regional tournaments, and on Saturday June 4, 2011, Woods won the Y10 Mixed Foil event at the Mr. Mar Cup inurlington, NJ. He also came third at this same tournament in the Y12 men’s foil event competing against 57 top fencers and beating the 4th ranked Y12 fencer in the U.S.

[LongBlade]

After seven decades of fencing, he's still sharp
Newsworks.org
WHYY News (Philadelphia)
By Shai Ben-Yaacov
June 23, 2011

www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/22020

I met Dick Johnson when I was a scrawny, unathletic 12-year-old. I had just started taking a fencing class--that's the modern sport of sword fighting--and Dick was already the senior member of the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia. And I do mean senior. He must have been about 70 at the time, but to my adolescent eyes, he may as well have been 100. And that's what immediately impressed me about Dick.

Here was a guy with little left in the way of flexibility who routinely beat up on even experienced fencers. He showed up at the club three days a week. Nearly 20 years later, he's still at it.

Watch the Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UWNQSwEyIBs#at=43

"As a kid I read a lot of swashbuckling books. You know, knights and swords and stuff. And when I went to Northeast High in 1938, they had a fencing club, and immediately I had to join it. And the physics professor was a fencing coach, and we basically taught ourselves to fence," says Dick. "And we had a lot of fun."

Needless to say, fencing is not the most widely known sport in America. It probably falls somewhere between croquet and jai alai in popularity. But it's been steadily gaining steam, and there are probably more places to take part in fencing now than ever. And that's what makes Dick's story even more incredible. Throughout his life, there were very few places to fence, and plenty of opportunities for him to fall out of the sport. Somehow, though, he always found his way back.

A sporadic start
"I graduated in '41, and for a couple years, I worked in a defense plant. And I didn't do much--well--I fenced wherever I could. Here and there. There was a church in Philly at around 10th and Market, and I fenced there a few times, and wherever. But then I went in the Army, and I was in the Army for three years," he says.

"Then I went to Ursinus College. Now at Ursinus College, there was no formal fencing, but there were two other guys that fenced there, and we used to meet down at the gym a couple days a week and have at it," he says.

Dick is a burly man with a full head of white hair. He's still stronger than many other fencers at the club. His feet move more slowly now, but his hand is still quick.

If I'm not careful and am moving too fast, I'm apt to impale myself on his point. He's also still mentally sharp. He never forgets the score. Wish I could say the same for myself.

Every Tuesday, Dick drives from his home near Downingtown to his sister's house in Philadelphia, leaving his wife behind. He stays with his sister through Friday morning, all so he can fence Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights.

"I'll be 88 in August. I attribute one of the reasons for my longevity to the fencing. And I have fenced pretty consistently now, three nights a week, since 1988. You do the arithmetic," he says. "But I was off for a couple of months."

That couple of months was due to a car accident in 2008. He broke four ribs, his sternum and a bone in his right hand, his fencing hand. He says it didn't bother him.

All challengers welcome
Dick will fence anybody, from the lowliest greenhorns to world champions. He's just happy to be out on the floor moving around and stabbing people. Here's the catch, though--he has a rule: "I have a little device known as good news, bad news. I go up to somebody like Shai and I say, 'The good news is you get to fence me. The bad news is we're going to 15 and you're 10 behind.' "

Spotting himself 10 points does a decent job of evening us out. I don't go any easier on Dick than on anyone else. Frankly, he's still too good for me to do that.

When not fencing, he's a powerful, if sometimes cantankerous, presence in the club. He keeps the rest of us in line. If someone's waiting for another fencer, Dick will yell out "Fella needs a playmate!"

And while Dick is just happy to be fencing at nearly 88, he's had competitive success in the veterans' category.

"My first nationals were '90 in Salt Lake City. And I came back with two golds," he says.

Dick has a simple explanation for his lifelong interest in fencing.

"It's fun," he says. "I could talk all day, but the fact of the matter is, it's fun."

[LongBlade]

Fencing families salute Sam
by Brian Karlovsky
Fairfield Advance
Fairfield, AU
24 June 11

fairfield-advance.whereilive.com.au/news/story/fencing-families-salute-sam/

For the past six years Cabramatta resident Sam Salemi has been putting smiles on the faces of children at Marconi Fencing Academy.

Although the beaming grins are sometimes hard to make out through the dark mesh of the protective fencing helmets while he referees bouts, runs fitness training and maintains club equipment, he thinks it’s well worth the effort.

Mt Vernon resident Carla Ciccarelli, whose children train with the academy, said Mr Salemi was an integral part of the smooth running of the academy.

“Sam is a dedicated volunteer of many years with the Marconi Fencing Academy at Bossley Park,” she said. “Every week at training, Sam supports the professional coaching staff by assisting with the juniors - all with a smile on his face and a friendly word for everyone.

“He has a wealth of knowledge and is much loved, respected and appreciated by everyone at the academy.”

Mr Salemi, who also volunteers for Fairfield Lions Soccer Club and Fairfield/Cabramatta PCYC, is this week’s nominee for the Fairfield Advance Service to Junior Sport Award (sponsored by Rebel and Mounties). “I am humbled to be nominated, but I don’t really deserve it,” he said.

“There are people out there that do a lot more than me.”

Mr Salemi, who volunteers about 10 hours a week, said he took a liking to fencing after his son, who is a former state champion fencer, took up the sport.

“It gives the children the opportunity to do something different,” he said. “I love helping the kids and if it keeps them off the streets it’s a good thing for all of us.

“Its very pleasing to see all the parents being involved and being satisfied with their kids doing something different and doing well at it. But I would not be there if it wasn’t for the parents and the families giving so much help and support.”

This year Marconi Fencing Academy students have won nine titles

[LongBlade]

Fencing runs in the Kiefer family
By Mark Maloney
Lexington Herald-Leader
June 26, 2011

www.kentucky.com/2011/06/26/1789265/blades-of-glory.html

Tucked in the corner of a Lexington strip mall, between a pizza place and a karate dojo, the Bluegrass Fencers' Club is more spartan than special.

What is special, though, is the talent inside.

Specifically, siblings Alex, Lee and Axel Kiefer.



Siblings Axel (far left), 14, Lee, 16, and Alex, 18, Kiefer have competed in fencing competitions around the globe. Photo by Hannah Potes

All use the foil, one of fencing's three weapons.

Alex (short for Alexandra), who recently completed her freshman year at Harvard, is reigning NCAA champion.

Lee, entering her senior year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High, is a leading candidate for next year's U.S. Olympic team.

Axel, an incoming freshman at Dunbar, has his eye on the Olympics of 2016 or beyond.

"It's great to have this family," said Amgad Khazbak, a former international competitor and coach in his native Egypt who now serves as Bluegrass maestro.

Foiled again
In foil, the Kiefers are following the course taken by their father, Steven.

A neurosurgeon, he is an Erlanger native and a graduate of Dixie Heights High School. He captained the team at Duke, where he graduated in 1985.

Dad saw fencing as a natural sport for his children.

"It's a sport that one can be good at despite one's physical size, and my wife (Teresa) is Filipino. So if you average us out, I don't think we're going to have too many NBA players out of my family size-wise," he said. "It's something that people can be competitive at despite height or physical strength."

Alex, who turned 19 Saturday, stands 5-foot-3, 100 pounds. Lee, who turned 17 earlier this month, is 5-4, 105. Axel, 14, is 5-5, 115.

Alex was 9, Lee 7, when together they first tried the sport. Axel followed at 7.

A foil has a blunt point at the end of a flexible, rectangular blade. A touch — how points are scored — is made with the point on the torso, between collar and hipbones.

Fencing's other weapons are the épée and sabre.

The épée has a rigid triangular blade, and touches may be made on any body part.

The sabre is a flexible triangular blade. Both the blunt point and cutting edges can be used to score anywhere above the waist.

Khazbak dismisses the notion of having the Kiefers try épée or sabre.

"High level, it is not good to be in more than one weapon," he said. "Medium level, OK, you can. But high level, never. ... It's different tactic. Some technique is different, too. And the personality is totally different."

Khazbak, who has a shot to be the U.S. Olympic coach, has been mentoring the Kiefers since arriving in Lexington seven years ago. Alex and Lee first studied in Louisville under Les Stawicki, former Polish national coach.

Steven Kiefer recalls talking with Frank Thomiszer, a fencing enthusiast who had moved from Atlanta, about the need to have a coach in Lexington. Thomiszer's coach in Atlanta, also an Egyptian, recommended Khazbak, who at the time was coaching in Houston.

The Kiefer siblings say that it took time for the sport to grow on them.

"It was a lot of traveling because we went to Louisville, and it was kind of a bummer to wake up Saturday morning and go fence," Alex said. "Then there was a time period when we all really wanted to quit because we were just tired of it. But our parents made us keep fencing, and it turned out OK."

Plus, Lee said, "no one who starts fencing is automatically good at fencing, and it takes, I would say, at least two or three years when you're little to become decent. So after we became good, we started to like it. But for a while, no way!"

Steven Kiefer says that success "to the point where they are now has floored me."

It came with a lot of work, though, from Stawicki to Khazbak, and with a lot of dad in between.

"We worked at home a lot," Steven said of the Louisville training years. "I was sort of the ... fencing Nazi. I was the footwork enforcer. I was the guy that worked on the not-fun stuff at home. Footwork is the most important part of the game, but it's not the most fun part of the game."

World traveler
Lee, ranked No. 1 in the Senior World Team rankings, recalls a gradual realization rather than a defining moment that she became a "good" fencer.

"There's always a struggle when you're little," she said. "You lose more than you win, and then when you start winning more you're like, 'Oh, this is awesome.' "

The winning progressed from regional to national and, finally, international levels.

In the last three months alone, in addition to national competitions, Lee has competed in Jordan, China, South Korea and Russia.

Including team competition at Amman, Jordan, she won three silver medals in the Cadet (16-under) and Junior (19-under) World Championships, "which is good and bad. ... I mean, it's great getting a medal. But it's sad if you get silver-place in every single event."

Although London serves as motivation, Lee doesn't talk much about the Olympics. Team USA is in line to qualify three individual women, plus a fourth for team competition.

"It stresses me out when other people talk about it, but I do think about it on occasion," she said. "Like 'what do I have to do, where am I at this point?' "

A lady and a scholar
Alex, though, says she's past the stress now that she has an NCAA title in her pocket. Ranked No. 9 in the national senior rankings, she says her focus is on building the team rather than more individual honors.

A Dunbar graduate, she is studying in pre-med, considering a major in human evolutionary biology.

But she chose Harvard primarily because of fencing.

"They're like a really close team," she said, "and the coach (Peter Brand) is awesome."

An NCAA title surpassed her own expectations, even though her résumé includes a second-place finish in a French World Cup competition.

"At the beginning of the year, I didn't know how I would do, just because the college scene is different than the national scene," she said. "After the first tournament of the year, when I won at the Penn State Open, then I was starting to get excited about it, and I was practicing harder with the team, I think. Then, for NCAAs, I think my goal was to get top three maybe, so I was real excited when I won."

Great expectations
Considering what his sisters have done and how it affects him, Axel said: "A lot of expectations."

He says he feels the pressure "a lot, actually."

Not that he backs away.

"Hopefully, I'll go to the Olympics and go to a good school like Alex, maybe get a scholarship," said Axel, a recent graduate of The Lexington School. "I don't know — it's still a long ways from college, but I guess my goal is to go to the Olympics."

Already he has competed in France and Hungary, and was ranked No. 1 in the country as a 12-and-under. Khazbak says Axel has a shot to be in next year's 17-under World Championships at Moscow.

Making the grade
On her way to Harvard, Alex scored a perfect ACT.

Lee posted straight A's this year, "but it's definitely been a struggle. Hardest year yet. Next year will be better."

Axel doesn't shy from academic challenges, either.

"At (The Lexington) School, the teachers helped a lot because they cut me a lot of slack, and it wouldn't matter that I missed school as long as I got the work done," he said. "It will be a lot different now that I go to Dunbar, which is a public school, but I think I can manage it. Lee managed, so hopefully I'll be OK."

Although most fellow students find fencing as foreign as the Kiefer travel log, the siblings get plenty of support. Even if that support sometimes seems annoying.

"The worst question (from a student) is, like, 'did you win?' Because there are lots of different levels, and it's complicated to me," Lee said. "Even if you did really well, like the best you've ever done, they'll be disappointed if you don't say 'yes.'

"And then, 'did you kill people?' You're just like 'sure, of course I did.' "

Touché.

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Video: Chad Silber and Erika Tallan Learn About Fencing — First News Nebraska

gamutnews.com/20110627/38077/video-chad-silber-and-erika-tallan-learn-about-fencing-first-news-nebraska.html

LINCOLN & HASTINGS-KRNY
June 27, 2011

This Local News video “Chad Silber and Erika Tallan Learn About Fencing — First News Nebraska” is copyright by KOLN – Lincoln, NE and brought to you by Gamut News. Feel free to share or embed this video but this video may not be broadcast, redistributed or rewritten in whole or part without express written permission. Gamut News is a leader in providing critical news to readers, media outlets, researchers, businesses, and governments worldwide.

[LongBlade]

Fencing club gets new home
By CAROL SOUTH
Traverse City Record-Eagle (Michigan)
June 20, 2011

record-eagle.com/features/x1521798252/Fencing-club-gets-new-home

With a permanent home, the Three Swords Fencing Club is poised for the next step.

The club leased and modified space this spring in Traverse City. The 2,400-square-foot facility now has a shock-absorbing floor painted with four fencing strips, two of which have an overhead electronic scoring system.

The Cass Road facility also has an armory room to store club equipment and protective gear. The inventory has slowly accumulated since Three Swords Fencing Club officially launched in 2009.

Renting dedicated space while continuing to offer classes through Northwestern Michigan College will give the classic sport staying power.

To keep interest alive during the summer break, the club is offering weekly open practice sessions. In addition, club members are teaching two, four-week courses through the college's Extended Education Services: Youth Beginning Fencing on Sundays and Youth Intermediate Fencing starting this Thursday.

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HOW DARTH VADER HELPED ME REACH FOR THE STARS ...
By By Julian Bennetts
Express.co.uk
July 3, 2011

www.express.co.uk/posts/view/256519/How-Darth-Vader-helped-me-reach-for-the-stars-

ZIEMEK WOJCIECHOWSKI doesn’t look like a character from a Cold War spy drama.

But as a generation of British athletes and coaches gear up for their ultimate examination at next summer’s Olympic Games, the Polish fencer’s biggest test of nerve came 33 years ago, on September 7, 1978, when he defected to the West.

Like the hero of a John Le Carre thriller, Wojciechowski drove calmly through both the Polish and then the East German border checkpoints, claiming he was going abroad to fence.

Instead, he was on the run to London to become Britain’s fencing coach – a decision which ensured he did not see his family for over a decade, and which put him in the position of being ‘stateless’ for over six years.

Today he is part of the furniture at British fencing’s base at the Lansdowne Club in central London.

There are high hopes that both the men’s foil team and their top two individuals, Richard Kruse and Laurence Halsted, will win medals in the Olympics. If they succeed, they will be indebted to the genial Wojciechowski, 62.

Three-time Polish national champion and a competitor in the 1976 Olympics, Wojciechowski knew he would defect from the moment he first came into contact with capitalism on a trip to Duisburg in West Germany.

“When the train went across the border it was like going from darkness into the light,” said Wojciechowski.

“I saw the shops, the goods they were selling and the wonderful cars. I had never seen such things and it was a shock. It was miserable in the East.”

Wojciechowski endured frustration until he struck up a friendship with Nick Halsted, who fenced for Britain in the 1968 Olympics.

The Pole told him of his plan to defect after the 1980 Olympics, though the date was brought forward by, astonishingly, Star Wars.

“Two things happened,” says Wojciechowski. “The first was that I fell out with the new fencing coaches in Poland and I didn’t think I would be picked for the Olympics.

“Then Nick came to Warsaw on business and told me there was a vacancy as coach of the British fencing team. Bob Anderson, who had the job, quit because he was offered the role of Darth Vader in all the fight scenes in Star Wars! So I decided the time was right to go.”

Wojciechowski made his plan carefully. He convinced the Polish foreign office he was going on holiday and then persuaded a friend – who later forged Wojciechowski’s signature to fool the authorities – to live in his Warsaw apartment, so as not to advertise the fact he had disappeared. Then he packed up his car and drove towards the border.

“It was so nerve-wracking,” he recalls. “You have all these terrible thoughts about what might happen. The border police asked about my kit and I just told them I was going to fence.

“I had to go first into East Germany and then into the West. When I started driving into West Germany, it suddenly hit me – I’m a free man.

“I immediately drove to London. I had a job coaching fencing and a small wage – but to me I was suddenly rich!”

Yet there were still problems. Wojciechowski had his passport confiscated by the British authorities, and although he was allowed to remain he was officially stateless. For six years he was allowed to travel with the British team but not risked in Eastern Europe. And then there was the issue of having left his parents and siblings behind in Warsaw.

“I missed the 1980 Olympics because my safety could not be guaranteed in Moscow as I was a defector,” he explained. “I fought a battle every time I went abroad, but I was granted a British passport after six years and I got a new Polish passport after communism ended.”

Wojciechowski has now been British coach for 32 years, but he feels that next summer will be the first time his charges have a genuine chance of winning medals.

His great friend Nick Halsted died in 2007, but his son Laurence maintains the family link as British No2.

Wojciechowski has coached both Halsted and Kruse, the world No14, since they were children but he believes the whole team will shine on the world stage.

“I’m very hopeful we can win a medal in London,” he said. “There’s not much difference between us and the other countries. We have the European Championships coming up in Sheffield. If we can win a medal there, it would mean a lot going into the Olympics.”

But if a British fencer triumphs in London, it would surely mean more to Wojciechowski than any other coach.

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Subtle art of the sword at Fioretto Fencing in Oakleigh
Waverley Leader
Melbourne, AU
July 3, 2011

waverley-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/subtle-art-of-the-sword-at-fioretto-fencing/

JUNIORS at Fioretto Fencing Club are cutting through the competition.

The Oakleigh East club is the defending champion of prestigious Fencing Victoria titles - the John Feathers Golden Foil and Victorian Club Challenge — with membership rapidly on the rise.

“We’ve got 79 members now and two-thirds are under 20 so it’s good to see the juniors really getting enthusiastic,” head coach and vice- president Brook Dunstan said.

Mr Dunstan said romantic notions of swordfighting and adventure were often the reason young people approached the club and that the physical and mental challenges of the discipline were why they stayed.

“Fencing sucks the whole of you into it,” Mr Dunstan said.

“There are tactics and technique and so much history to learn, so when it’s sport that’s also stimulating intellectually that’s definitely addictive.”

A key focus of the club is changing the misconception that the sport encourages violence.

“It sounds like a strange concept but it really is fighting without any
violence."

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Area fencing students stay on point during offseason
By Jaclyn Shambaugh
The Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, N.C.
July 6, 2011

fayobserver.com/articles/2011/07/07/1105705?sac=Sports

On a weekday evening in downtown Fayetteville, fencing instructor Gerhard Guevarra is counting his students.

Each student in turn takes his or her foil, the weapon of focus at this class at the All-American Fencing Academy, and balances the point in the palm of the hand, keeping the sword upright for as long as possible before the handle falls and the blade comes crashing down, skidding across the wooden planks of the floor.

A pair of students tie for the win, each keeping his weapon aloft for 20 seconds. The game marks the end of the lesson, a bit of fun to wrap up the night for the seven students who turned up for the evening class.

After all, its summer at AAFA, a time when the class size shrinks and individual attention grows, giving Guevarra a chance to have a little fun with the students. It's a break for the academy, which having grown from humble beginnings has flourished to see its class rosters swell.

In the offseason, a good three to four months without a tournament stretching from the beginning of June through the middle of September, Guevarra loses about half his students. His usual enrollment of around 45 dwindles close to 20 as school ends and family vacations begin.

"People go out of town," Guevarra said. "We don't compete during the summer, so that's fine. School starts back Aug. 25. And we'll see students coming back through September."

The smaller classes have advantages.

"We're not gearing up for a tournament," Guevarra said. "We get to do more drills, more one-on-one lessons. Every student gets time on the strip."

No time for slacking
While the summer might be a bit more relaxed than the nine-month tournament season, it's far from carefree.

It's a time for students to work on technique and fundamentals, for the academy to host camps, both at its downtown studio and on Fort Bragg through the SKIES Unlimited program. And it's a time for Guevarra to work out whatever problems might crop up.

Right now he has one of the best problems possible: he needs coaches.

His academy has grown to the point that, at full strength, class size is becoming a bit overwhelming for Guevarra and his only other full-time coach, John Page. It's a long way from the fencing club's humble start at Pine Forest Recreation Center in 2001, when Guevarra, then the center's director, began a small fencing class for five students.

"I've got the students," Guevarra said. "I don't go out recruiting for students anymore. We can afford to pay our coaches and pay our bills. The class fees haven't changed. We need another instructor to get class sizes down."

Guevarra and Page are accomplished fencers and coaches in their own right. Both have years of fencing experience at the national and international levels. But with Guevarra working with the beginning classes, and Page handling the intermediate and advanced students, the instructor-to-student ratio is getting a bit large.

"I could handle maybe three or four more students in my class, but beyond that ...," Page says with a shrug. "The real concern is for the students who have moved through the intermediate classes. They've been fencing for a few months. They really know how to fence and just need to improve. What do you do with those students?"

AAFA has had three instructors at times. Megan Connell used to teach sabre classes before she moved, and guest instructors John Charles and Paul Uyleman, neither of whom reside in Fayetteville, have volunteered their time intermittently.

"We've had good coaches," Guevarra said. "We love having them come in to help, and we'd love to have them coach here full-time. They just don't live here."

Seeking sabre specialist
While accomplished, the coaching duo of Guevarra and Page leaves a void in sabre instruction at the academy. Guevarra can teach the weapon, but he's tied up with foil and epee, and the academy really needs a specialist to handle the class.

Dale Dingle has been training at AAFA for 3 1/2years. The Fayetteville resident practices twice a week at the academy, but has to travel to Durham's Mid-South Fencer's Club for sabre instruction.

"I go to Durham twice a month to learn sabre," Dingle said. "I'd love to be able to learn it here and not have to travel out of town for it."

Finding a coach is no easy task. Guevarra says most fencers with enough experience to coach are either already working at a club or not interested in instructing, leaving Guevarra to shrug when asked if he'll have to curb new memberships at AAFA, even temporarily, until another coach can be found.

"I might have to cut off the beginner's classes at a certain point," Guevarra said. "But I think we're far off from that. I don't know. It's something to consider."

But it's summer, and Guevarra has time to figure out a solution for the coaching situation before his academy is again full.

[LongBlade]

Pan American Zonal: Fencers work toward Olympic spots in Reno
by Emerson Marcus
Reno Gazette-Journal
July 8, 2011

www.rgj.com/article/20110708/SPORTS/107080325/Pan-American-Zonal-Fencers-work-toward-Olympic-spots-Reno?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports

Mariel Zagunis knows what it's like to walk a tightrope of uncertainty before claiming gold.

In 2004, Zagunas, who is from Beaverton, Ore., backed into the Summer Olympics in Athens after a Nigerian fencer withdrew from competition.

Zagunis, a freshman at Notre Dame at the time, swept through the competition to claim gold in saber.

It was the United States' first gold in fencing since 1904.


Mariel Zagunis, left, relaxes between competitions Thursday with teammates, from left, Daria Schnieder, Danmara Wozniak, and Ibtihaj Muhammad. / Kelly Lafferty/RGJ

Zagunis, who also won gold in 2008 at Beijing, will be pegged as the favorite to win again in 2012.

She won the women's saber fencing championship Monday in the Pan American Zonal Fencing Championships, which concludes Saturday at the Reno Sparks Convention Center.

"This is a big tournament for me," she said. "It's huge when it comes to Olympic qualification points."

The win doesn't automatically send Zagunis, or other fencers, to the 2012 Olympics in London, but it does give 48 qualification points (38 for second and 30 for third) to winners in each event. Fencers qualify based on points gained during seven tournaments leading up to the Olympics. The Pan American championships this week in Reno offer more qualification points than any tournament except the world championships, Oct. 8-16 in Catania, Italy.

More than 3,500 fencers are competing this week. Nearly 2,500 of them are in the USA Fencing National Championships and North American Cup F, international tournaments for youth and veteran fencers. The rest are athletes from 19 nations in North and South America vying for Olympic positions in the Pan American tournament.

"Reno is ideal for this event because the facility here in the convention center is perfect and the surrounding area gives visitors plenty of things to do for fun," USA Fencing Executive Director Greg Dilworth said.

Men's saber fencer Tim Morehouse and the men's foil team are on the outside looking in at the 2012 Olympics and must overtake Canada to qualify. A win in the men's team foil competition at noon today would go a long way toward clinching a trip to London in 2012.

"(The Olympics are) difficult to describe," said Morehouse, a silver medalist in 2008 at Beijing. "It's like a fantasy land or something from the movie 'Chronicles of Narnia.'"

Fencing has 10 medal opportunities in the 2012 Olympics. Three are for each discipline -- épée, foil and saber -- for men and women and the other four are team championships.

"This is what I've trained for the past few months," said foil fencer Doris Willette, of Lafayette, Calif.

Willette was an alternate at the 2008 Olympics, but did not compete.

Willette and the U.S. foil team will look to gain qualification points in the women's team foil competition at 9 a.m. Saturday, the final day of the tournament. The top team in the zone and top four in the world qualify for the Olympics.

As a foil fencer, Willette scores points by striking the opponent's torso with the end point of the sword. For épée, points are gained with tip strikes on the entire body. Saber, a quicker style, also awards points with hits to the entire body, but it is the only style that gives points for swiping with the side of the sword.

Competitions include three rounds, each of three minutes in length. The first fencer to 15 touches -- strikes to scoring areas -- or the fencer with the most touches after three rounds, wins the event. Each touch is calculated by an electronic sensor on the sword.