Fencing in the News

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Fencing Returns To Chattanooga
The Chattanoogan.com
April 11, 2005

www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_65259.asp

The United States Fencing Association will hold the last of its 2005 North American Cup series at the Chattanooga Convention Center on April 15-18.

Chattanooga also hosted the 1999 Junior Olympic Fencing Championships.

More than 1,100 participants will compete in men’s and women’s Division I (Elite), Youth and Wheelchair events in the three fencing weapons: foil, epee and saber.

It is estimated that the event will bring more than 2,700 visitors to the Chattanooga area.

The North American Cups are a series of national competitions held throughout the U.S. every year. High placements earn competitors spots on U.S. teams which compete at World Championships and other international events.

The Chattanooga Cup will be an important tournament for the selection of the teams which will compete at the World Championships in Leipzig, German in October 2005. Wheelchair athletes will be competing for spots on the 2006 World Wheelchair Fencing Championships in Torino, Italy. The U.S.'s top athletes will compete, including the following Olympians:

Sada and Emily Jacobson (22 and 19, Dunwoody, Ga.): sisters and 2004 Olympians. Sada Jacobson won the Women’s Saber bronze in Athens; Emily Jacobson was also the 2005 NCAA National Champion.

Men’s Saber Olympians Jason Rogers (22, Los Angeles, Calif.) and Keeth Smart (26, Brooklyn, N.Y.), two of the three members of the team which placed 4th at the Games

Jon Tiomkin (25, Hewlett, N.Y.), member of the 2004 Olympic Men’s Foil team which placed 4th

All three 2004 Olympic Men’s Epee fencers, including Soren Thompson (23, San Diego, Calif.), who finished 7th individually.

All Olympians will be competing in their respective Division I events.

Competition starts Friday, April 15. Fencing begins at 8:30 a.m. each day and will continue through the early evening. Local volunteers will be on hand to provide spectator information. The public is welcome.

The U.S. Fencing Association is the National Governing Body for the sport in the U.S., as recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee and international fencing federation. The USFA prepares athletes and selects teams for the Olympic Games, Pan American Games, World Championships and World University Games.

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Mohd Noor our best bet in fencing

thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/4/11/sports/10653334&sec=sports

TAIF: Malaysia's hope for a medal in fencing at the First Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia will rest on national champion Mohd Noor Iskandar Tauran.

Team manager Joherman Amir said that the 20-year-old Mohd Noor Iskandar, who won the national Open last year, was the better fencer of a team lacking in international experience.

“Actually our fencing team are very inexperienced at the international level,” he said yesterday.

“Most of our senior fencers have retired due to injuries.

“That's why we took in junior fencers to represent the country.”

Joherman added that Mohd Noor showed splendid performances, especially in local tournaments, winning in most of the local circuits.

The fencing competitions begin today at the King Fahd Sporting City here.

Copyright © 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)
Managed by I.Star

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2 fencing instructors earn certification
DesMoinesRegister.com
4/14/05

desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050414/SPORTS13/504140307/1023/SPORTS13

Two members of the Des Moines Fencing Club recently achieved the coaching certification of Moniteur through the United States Fencing Coaches Association.

Steven Behrends of West Des Moines and David Bell of Urbandale were evaluated by a fencing master for proficiency in teaching the basics of the foil, the epee and the saber.

The Moniteur is one of three levels of fencing coaches: Moniteur, Pervost and Maitre d'Arms (Fencing Master). The association is a national academy of the Academie d'Armes Internationale, the world organization of fencing masters.

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The Kiefers: In fencing they thrust
By SAMIEH SHALASH
TimesLeader.com
Knight Ridder Newspapers
April 17, 2005

www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/living/11416594.htm

Lee Kiefer is a 10-year-old adults don’t want to mess with.

She has beaten more than one on the fencing strip, and is ranked second in the United States in her age division.

Lee’s father, sister and brother also fence.

“The entire family has substantially raised the level of fencing in Kentucky,” said Frank Thomsizer, director of the Bluegrass Fencing Club.

Lee began fencing at age 7 after she and her sister saw a 13-year-old girl beat their dad at a tournament.

“They saw this girl taking their father to task,” Steve Kiefer said. “It used to be I would humor them, but now I have to fence them seriously.”<br>
Lee and her sister Alex, 12, and brother Axel, 8, have won more than 80 medals combined.

All three compete along with their dad, a neurosurgeon who has been fencing since college.

Their mother, Teresa Kiefer, a psychiatrist, took fencing lessons in college but said the family vetoed her starting up again. “I’m a chauffeur, a cook and a referee,” she said.

The Kiefers travel nationally to participate in tournaments and camps.

Before fencing was available in Lexington, they trained twice a week at the Louisville Fencing Center. Now, they are coached primarily by Amgad Khazbak, the former coach for the Egyptian national team.

“It’s been a big sacrifice to drive back and forth to Louisville for three years,” Steve Kiefer said. “The kids get picked up from school, we drive an hour and a half, fence until eight, have dinner with Grandma and get home around midnight.”<br>
The siblings spend about 10 hours each week fencing, although Axel said it feels more like 800 million hours.

“It’s a constant dynamic trying to figure out priorities,” Steve Kiefer said. “School is first and fencing is second, but we try to do more when tournaments are coming up.”<br>
Lee and Alex sometimes have to fence each other at tournaments.

Because the girls know each other so well, Steve Kiefer said, fencing turns into a slugfest.

“Whenever we practice, Lee will start hitting me over and over and she’ll whack me in the leg,” Alex laughed. “Axel cries because he thinks we’re going to hurt each other.”<br>
Axel protested. “Actually, they fence each other a lot, and the loser cries,” he said.

Steve Kiefer said his daughters have advanced together since they began fencing three years ago.

“They learn perseverance,” he said. “When you get on the fencing strip, you learn how to lose, how to win and how to keep working at something.”<br>
Thomsizer said he wouldn’t be surprised if they end up on the U.S. National team.

“The Kiefer sisters are rising stars and a model for other young fencers,” he said. “It’s likely they could both get scholarships to major universities where fencing is a sport.”<br>
For now, both aspire to join Duke University’s fencing team, where their father was captain for three years as an undergraduate.

“I think I’ll keep fencing through college,” Alex said.

Lee is planning farther ahead: “I think I’ll keep fencing till I’m dead.”

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I've read this a dozen times or so now... and I think I know what it means... I think? Maybe?

Governor's cup fencing
E-Pao.net - Manipur,India
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 18, 2005

www.mapsofindia.com/maps/manipur/imphal.htm

The 1st Governor's Cup State Level Fencing Championships for Soraisam Ronika Devi Memorial Running trophy for sub-junior (boys & girls), Laishram Manaobi Singh Memorial Running trophy for cadets (boys & girls), Wakambam Nodia Memorial Running trophy for junior (boys & girls) and Hijam Jugeshor Singh memorial running trophy for senior (men and women) will be held at Indoor Stadium, Khuman Lampak under the aegis of Manipur Fencing Association from May 9 to 14.

Entry forms and details can be had from S Pritamkumar Singh, hony secretary MFA at Indoor Hall Khuman Lampak between 6.30 am to 8 am daily.

Interested affiliated clubs, units are urged to participate in the championships through their district associations.

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First fencing medals
Young swordsman takes two bronze medals at provincials
By SCOTT SEYMOUR
Herald-Tribune sports editor

www.dailyheraldtribune.com/Z02_00afirst0413.lasso

Jean-François Gaboury is one of the few kids who can hit his mom with a sword - repeatedly - and get away with it.

The 13-year-old Grande Prairie resident competes in the sport of fencing and his mother, Andrea, will often suit up in armour as his practice partner.

"I get to be his target," says Andrea.

To which her son replies, with a chuckle, "She's found out that the (armour) isn't as thick and well-protected as it could be."

Last weekend at the provincial fencing championships, Gaboury was even harder on his opponents, however.

He won bronze medals in the Under-15 mixed category and Under-17 men's group at the Alberta Fencing Association championship in Calgary Saturday.

Not bad, considering it was only his third competition of the season.

"It was good, but I was very exhausted," said Gaboury. "It was an eight-hour drive to get there, then you competed and they finally presented the medals at 11 o'clock at night, so I'd been up all day standing around."

Standing around has been something that Gaboury hasn't been able to do much of since taking up the sport.

He was nine when Andrea signed him up for an introductory fencing course during a sports show at GPRC. He ended up joining the Grande Prairie Fencing Club.

"I'd wanted to do it for a very long time," he said. "My mom took me to a clinic one day but I had no idea, it was sort of like a surprise for me."

One of the world's oldest sports, fencing has its roots in medieval combat but was reintroduced to the modern Olympics in 1896.

There are three types of fencing based on the three types of swords - epee, foil and sabre. All have the same basic set of rules (making it easy to switch between the three), but each weapon has its own subset of rules that affect a match's speed, duration and style.

Gaboury fences with a sabre - a discipline in which competitors are allowed to slash and whack opponents rather than just poking them with the point of an epee or foil.

All competitors wear thick cotton armour that withstands the constant contact with the metal blades. At higher levels, the armour consists of more rigid Kevlar material.

Gaboury has stuck with fencing as the local club membership ebbed and flowed (it now has around 15 members) and moved its practice venues.

A big part of his perseverance came after an important meeting in November 2003.

Serghey Kazimirski, a fencing master and former world champion from Belarus who had moved to Edmonton a few years ago, came to Grande Prairie on a Saturday that month to put on a fencing clinic for kids.

There were only about five kids in the local club at the time and Gaboury was the only one able to attend the clinic.

Nursing a sprained foot, he nonetheless displayed enough natural ability to impress Kazimirski, who insisted Gaboury come down to Edmonton for private tutoring - every weekend, if possible.

"My mom said, 'Uh, no. Every weekend is a bit expensive," Gaboury said with a chuckle. "She said, 'How about every two weeks?'"

And so, every other Saturday morning, Gaboury and his family drive down to Edmonton, where he has an afternoon lesson one-on-one with Kazimirski, another on Sunday morning and a group lesson Sunday afternoon.

The travel costs alone amount to about $300 a weekend plus the lesson fees. To help pay for them, Gaboury has received grants from the 1995 Canada Games Pursuit of Excellence Fund and the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation. He also cashes in pop bottles donated by local Tim Hortons shops.

At home, Gaboury practises an hour each day, reading from a big book of notes Andrea takes during his lessons in Edmonton.

Some of it involves practising his footwork in front of a mirror and some of it also involves whacking his mother with his practice sabre.

His first big competition was a little more than a year ago at the 2004 Alberta Winter Games in Peace River, where he finished eighth.

Since then, he's had to skip some competitions due to icy roads during the winter, so he only managed to make it to two this year - at Red Deer last month and Edmonton in November.

"I didn't do too well in the first two, but I did well at the provincials and that's the one that matters," said Gaboury, whose next big event will be nationals May 18 in Edmonton.

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The Bachelor Season 7: Episode 4
TVSquad Blog
Posted Apr 19, 2005, 1:35 AM ET by Deidre Woollard

www.tvsquad.com/2005/04/19/the-bachelor-season-7-episode-4/

As much as I hate the stereotype of the cat fight, it at least livens up the proceedings on this lackluster season. Charlie takes Sarah B. horseback riding and proves just how chivalrous he is by depositing a horse-shy Sarah on a fence while he goes off to ride. Sarah B. interprets this action as Charlie being sensitive to her needs. Krisily and Sarah W. skirmish at the nail salon and Sarah W. goes on the offensive calling Krisily a "nightmare" saying that she is not fun or "anything great." Back on the date, Sarah B. talks about her ex-fiance and Charlie confesses that a girl he used to date is still calling and has gone online and said they are dating. After Charlie's confession, Sarah B. gets a rose and then opens up about the fact that Sarah W. said she was going home. There's no kiss for little Sarah B. but Charlie says he's waiting for the right moment. Sarah B. arrives back at the cat house and gushes about the date, seemingly oblivious to the glares of her housemates.

Next up the girls go fencing. Krisily tells Charlie that Sarah W. is a big liar. Charlie talks to Sarah W. and she says that she's dealt with this type of jealousy before. The girls are forced to fence for a chance for a date with Charlie. Krisily is scared to wear the fencing mask because she is claustrophobic but Sarah W. thinks she is faking it. Anitra is chosen to have the solo date and there is no rose on the line this time. It was an extremely uncomfortable date in which Charlie got slurry drunk. Even then Anitra was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. What does this guy have to do, pee into a shotglass, before a girl says that maybe it wasn't her dream date?

Charlie shows up at the cat house for breakfast. Krisily pulls Charlie aside for a talk while Sarah hurries to put on her "Charlie face." The grim reaper (the host) shows up and announces that the rose ceremony is happening and the make-up free, pajama-clad girls are aghast. Kim gets a rose. Sarah W. gets a rose and is ridiculously giddy to the point where Charlies has to tell her to settle down. Krisily also gets a rose and Sarah W. grimaces. Anitra and Kendall get sent home. Sarah W. says that Krisily is a horrible match for Charlie and that she is the best girl in the whole world for him. Charlie says he hopes he's "pretty good with parents." I hope he manages not to hit the bottle too hard.

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New York Fencing Clubs: Lions' Biggest Draw
by Ben Mills
Spectator Senior Staff Writer
April 20, 2005

www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/04/20/4265d2aba033f

Despite the perennial power of Columbia’s fencing teams, Morningside Heights is not the fencing capital of New York City. Far from it, in fact.

The New York Fencers Club and the New York Athletic Club stand as pillars of the fencing world, and together make New York one of the fencing capitals of North America. For decades, the two clubs have attracted some of the best fencers and coaches in the world, producing national, international, and Olympic champions.

The Columbia fencing program has a long history with the two clubs, working with them both to recruit and to develop top fencers, resulting in fencing teams that were the envy of the Ivy League.

However, while in the past Columbia has been able to use the two clubs as a selling point, the rest of the league is now slowly catching up to the Lions in recruiting strength. While New York remains a fencing mecca in the United States, Columbia may soon need to adjust the way it uses the two clubs to its advantage.

Attracting Fencers

The New York Fencers Club and New York Athletic Club provide many, if not most, of the fencers on the US teams in international and Olympic fencing competition In the ’80s and ’90s, which added to their allure for prospective Columbians.

“[Those clubs] were the powerhouse for the national team,” said Co-Head Coach Aladar Kogler. “That’s the reason promising good fencers want to be in those clubs, and Columbia is here, so they go to Columbia.”<br>
Kogler, who was hired as a coach at both clubs when he moved to New York in 1983, has also been able to bring students of his at the two clubs into the Columbia fencing program.

“Our champions, I introduced them,” he said. “They started in the club, so they were 10 years, 5 years old when I started with them, and they came [to Columbia].”<br>
“New York has the best saber fencing around—other Ivies don’t have a place like this,” said junior saber fencer Emma Baratta, who practices at the New York Fencers Club. “What makes the New York scene unique is that we have good coaches and a good talent pool ... You can get really good coaching and really good bouting in.”<br>
With the access to top coaches and sparring partners that the two New York Clubs offer, fencers get the chance to move into the ranks of the elite, an opportunity that no other Ivy League school can match.

“Those who chose to go out, to Princeton, Harvard and so forth, only can maintain their level if they take a year off,” Kogler said. “The best epée fencer from Princeton [2004 Olympian Soren Thompson], he took two years off, otherwise he would not be able to reach this level.”<br>
Indeed, for many top fencers, New York and its illustrious clubs pave the road to Olympic competition. But a recent change in the Olympic qualifying process has made it more difficult for Columbia to convince recruits to join the Manhattan fencing world.

Under the old system, the five top-ranked fencers in each weapon were automatically named Olympians. Now there are only three available slots, as well as a more complicated qualifying process that does not guarantee the three top-ranked fencers a trip to the Olympics. The rule change has led many prospective Ivy League fencers to think twice about coming to New York and pursuing what now seems like an unattainable dream.

“It was a realistic ambition to be an Olympic fencer [before the rule change],” Kogler said. “It is much more difficult to make the Olympic teams [now]. So those fencers who thought about it realistically, that it would demand too much effort and less chance, they simply considered this as a factor and made other choices. That’s why for example, Harvard gets so many [top recruits].”<br>
Training in New York

Once the recruiting process is over, Columbia makes ample use of the clubs as de facto practice sites for a team that is far too large to fit into Columbia’s tiny, subterranean fencing room.

“I’m not exaggerating, this is the worst fencing room in all the Ivy schools,” Kogler said. “But we settle for it, why? ... Because basically the training process and the lessons are in those clubs. That’s why we survived.”<br>
Thanks to the presence of these clubs, Columbia fencers practice individually or with their squads, and are able to do so with some of the top sparring partners in the country. Emphasis is placed more on individual than team advancement.

“I practice almost exclusively at the Fencers Club,” Baratta said. “Sometimes we do team practices together, like mental preparation ... In the beginning of the year, you’re more friends with your squad. Once meets start the team comes together.”<br>
But as with recruiting, there are signs that it is becoming harder for Columbia to take full advantage of the two New York clubs for training and practice.

“The clubs are crowded. The best fencers, they have a chance to fence. Those who are not, they don’t have this chance,” Kogler said.

Kogler at times brings fencers up from the clubs to Columbia’s fencing room to give the rest of the team a chance to spar with top competitors. Even that is difficult, given the small size of the fencing room.

The New York fencing world and Columbia’s program have gone hand in hand for years, and will continue to do so for years to come. But there are some signs that Columbia will have to make an effort to maintain the advantage it gains from being in one of the nation’s fencing capitals.

“The situation has changed,” Kogler said. “We have to adjust.”

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Doctor wins fencing title
Lexington Herald-Leader
Apr. 20, 2005

www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/living/community/11409822.htm

Dr. Daniel A Ewen, an ophthalmologist in Winchester, won the senior men's championship in the foil fencing competition at the Kentucky Divisional Championship in Louisville on April 2. Ewen qualified for the national competition in Sacramento in July. Ewen learned to fence at the University of Kentucky as an undergraduate and has won various fencing titles, including several at the Bluegrass State Games. Ewen's coach,-Amgad Khazbak, who recently moved to Kentucky, previously coached the Egyptian Olympic fencing team.

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"Thank you, Lord, for this fencing class and for our abilities to be here today."

Pointed lessons
Former U.S. World Cup member Herman Bonner brings fencing to gym classes at St. Jude Catholic School

BY LORI O'TOOLE BUSELT
The Wichita Kansas Eagle
April 21, 2005

www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/living/education/11444970.htm

Seventh-grader Kelsie Johanek became a different girl when she stood en garde with her weapon extended. Gone was the big grin she wore only moments before when she stood among a gaggle of giggling girls.

Kelsie, 12, stood poised in a white oxford shirt and blue and gray plaid skirt -- her uniform at St. Jude School -- awaiting the next command.

Head up, face serious, she and a dozen other girls were spread across the school gym's basketball court baseline.

Herman Bonner, a native Wichitan and former U.S. World Cup member, faced them.

For a few weeks this month, he is teaching them the basics of fencing, an Olympic sport that combines weapons, agility and quickness.

The students use "foils," a 35-inch flexible steel sword with a red rubber tip.

"Extend, step and back," he said, demonstrating.

They also learn blocks, movements over and down that would allow the foil to block an opponent's attack.

Kelsie and the other students imitated with ballet-like grace, arms zipping in quick, controlled movements.

They lunged and stepped, making advances and returning to their original stance.

"Perfect! You girls are great," Bonner said.

"I know," one retorted, sending the girls back into peels of laughter.

Fencing is not quite the typical physical education unit for students in grades six through eight.

That's the point, said Skip McCaulley, the school's physical education teacher.

He arranged the crash course in the hope that the youths learn from the sport's etiquette, among other things.

Competitive bouts must begin and end, for example, with each fencer saluting their opponent, referee and spectators, according to the U.S. Fencing Association rule book.

Failure to do so is a punishable offense.

"It's a great activity in sportsmanship," McCaulley said.

He said he also wants to introduce his students to sports -- including lesser-known ones like fencing -- that they can play for the rest of their lives to stay healthy.

Bonner agreed. "Not everyone fits in a football, baseball or basketball mold.

"It's a lifetime sport, too," he said, and is better than being stuck on a treadmill. Bonner is the program director at Wichita Fencing Academy, 122 N. St. Francis.

The fencing lesson gave the students a workout.

"I'm sweatin' already!" one eighth-grade girl hollered after her class worked for a few minutes.

Bonner shook his head and laughed.

He was about the students' age when he started fencing.

For him, part of the lure was to be like Robin Hood and the knights of King Arthur -- heroes who dashed and dazzled with their sword work.

"When you're 11, the imagination kind of makes that jump a lot easier," he said.

In competition, fencers score a point when they touch the tip of their weapon to their opponent's torso.

On this day, the students' only opponents were mats, at which they thrust their weapons in a series of approaches: lunges, steps or a combination of both.

In groups of three to five, each jabbed the mats at least 40 times, their foils bending at contact.

The girls counted off sets of 10 in unison.

"Oh, my gosh, that's tiring," 12-year-old Ashley Gonzalez said. "It hurts."

The boys in each class take part, too, rehearsing with Bonner as a group before or after the girls.

John Goetz, 12, smiled as he called out the counts while he and two classmates lunged toward a green foam mat.

Later, when the students sat in the center of the gym floor for their routine prayer, John led the group: "Thank you, Lord, for this fencing class and for our abilities to be here today."

McCaulley said he plans to make fencing part of the school's curriculum.

To him, he said, it is poetry and physical fitness combined.

And as his seventh-grade students filed out of the gym, he smiled and said, "These are the types of things the kids will remember and take with them."

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Courierarea Sports Shorts
Madison Courier Sports Staff
April 22, 2005

www.madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=18&SubSectionID=289&ArticleID=23509&TM=58231.96

Eight members of the Madison Blades Fencing Club competed in the Louisville Fencing Center Challenge over the weekend in the club’s first major competition.

Sam Campbell and Ben Campbell each pulled off third place finishes while Chase Garrett was fourth, Xavier Craft was fifth, Aaron May was sixth, Emma Campbell ninth, Maggie Campbell 10th and Liam Thomas 11th.

Fencing classes are offered at the Lide White Boys & Girls Club on Tuesdays from 6-8 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8-10 a.m. For more information, contact the Club at 265-5811.

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ALICE COOPER And BRUCE DICKINSON Among Top Sporting Rock Stars
Blabbermouth.net
Apr. 24, 2005

www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=35853

Alice Cooper and IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson were named two of the Top 10 Sporting Rock Stars by the U.K.'s The Sunday Times newspaper. A explanation for each musician's inclusion reads as follows:

Alice Cooper: "Having spent most of the Seventies in thrall to drugs and drink, Alice Cooper sobered up and in 1982 announced he was addicted to golf: 'For a year straight I played 36 holes a day. My wife says I traded a bad habit for a worse one. I think she's kidding.' He plays off four, and plans tours and records around his golf schedule of playing every weekday even when in Britain: 'Brits are so proper. They actually think golf is a sport. They don't have carts, they want you to walk. I don't get that. I'm not doing this to get healthy."

Bruce Dickinson: "It's not all drinking the blood of virgins on planet heavy metal, then. In 1989 public schoolboy and IRON MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson represented Britain in fencing's European championships. 'Fencing is physical, mental and spiritual. It devours you,' he says. In 1972 bassist and centre-forward Steve Harris had trials at West Ham."

The Top 10 Sporting Rock Stars, according to The Sunday Times:

01. Rod Stewart
02. Simon Le Bon
03. Robbie Williams
04. Elton John
05. Mick Hucknall
06. Kenney Jones
07. Alice Cooper
08. The Gallagher brothers
09. Mick Jagger
10. Bruce Dickinson

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Fencing: Willis can do it
Paul Connorton
Manchester Evening News
manchesteronline.com
April 28, 2005

www.manchesteronline.co.uk/sport/s/156/156574_fencing_willis_can_do_it.html

STOCKPORT-based fencer Jonathan Willis won't have trouble asking his bosses for time off as he begins his bid for Olympic success.

Willis, who works for B&Q, has been given a helping hand by his employers, who have formed a partnership with the British Olympic Association to support the nation's athletes in the build-up to the 2008 Olympics.

Under the scheme, 15 aspiring Olympians will be working in B&Q stores from next year.

The company says the athletes will enjoy the benefits and support of full-time employment, while getting the flexibility to work part-time hours around their rigorous training and competition schedules.

Willis, 24, said: "It's such a relief to be part of a scheme that understands the commitment I have to give to training and competitions.

"Now, I don't dread asking for time off."

B&Q has also brought on board a number of Olympic stars, who will act as mentors for the Games hopefuls, including double gold medallist Kelly Holmes.

The move to involve Kelly and seven other Olympic medallists was made shortly after the Athens games.

Badminton silver medallist Gail Emms, and individual cycling pursuit gold medallist Bradley Wiggins are also involved in the programme taking place around the country.

Andy Ling, B&Q Stockport store manager, said: "It's been fantastic for our staff to learn and be inspired by Jonathan.

"With nearly 40,000 B&Q staff across the country, Jonathan will soon build up a huge fan base to cheer him on in competitions."

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Peter H. Gingras
August 3, 1926 - April 25, 2005
Hood County News
Wednesday, April 27, 2005

www.hcnews.com/news/get-news.asp?id=9997&catid=4&cpg=get-news.asp

A memorial service for Peter H. Gingras, 78, of Granbury is set at 3 p.m. today (Thursday, April 28, 2005) at Wiley Funeral Home in Granbury.
The U.S. Navy veteran of World War II died Monday, April 25, 2005 in Granbury.
Born Aug. 3, 1926 in Detroit, Mich., Mr. Gingras was a graduate of the University of Miami and was captain of the fencing team. A private pilot, he retired from Lockheed Martin in 1992 after 25 years of service.
Survivors are his wife, Jean Beverly Gingras of Granbury; sons, David Gingras of Benbrook, Michael Gingras and wife, Sue of Fort Worth, Kenneth Gingras and wife, Lita and Steven Gingras and wife, Susan, all of Keller; a daughter, Bonnie Davis and husband, Jim of Bedford; 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are by Wiley Funeral Home of Granbury.

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Cornerstone hosts amateur fencing tournament
Friday, April 29, 2005
By Kelly Hill
The Grand Rapids Press

www.mlive.com/sports/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-3/1114787838314840.xml

GRAND RAPIDS -- For the first time, a United States Fencing Association sectional championship will be decided in Grand Rapids.

"A few active parents of fencers formed the non-profit Michigan Amateur Fencing Association and petitioned the section to have the tournament here," said Fiona Williams, who was one of those parents and who, now, is the president of the MAFA. Each year a different division hosts the tournament, but it has never been in West Michigan."

The Great Lakes Section includes the Michigan, Columbus (Ohio), Northern Ohio, Southwest Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky divisions. The last time the Michigan division hosted the sectional championship it was held in Livonia.

Among the fencers expected to compete is Mike Cho, a Detroit resident who is the top-ranked fencer in Michigan. Fourteen-year-old Dayana Sarkisov of Grand Rapids, who ranked No. 1 in the 14-and-under division, also will compete.

"This is an open tournament, so everyone can fence," Williams said. "There will be unrated fencers and A-rated fencers at this tournament." The top 25 percent in each event this weekend will qualify for the USFA Summer Nationals which are scheduled for July, in Sacramento. Because she already has earned enough points to qualify for the national event, Caledonia High School senior Samantha Nemecek will not be competing at Cornerstone this weekend.

"The men's epee will be a strong tournament," Williams predicted. "There will be at least three A-rated fencers in that tournament and the men's foil will have at least two A-rated fencers."

Action is scheduled to commence at 8:30 a.m. each day. The men's epee tournament is expected to run most of the day Saturday while the men's foil event is expected to run throughout most of Sunday's other action.