5/14/12: Summer Class Schedule
The following schedule will go into effect on Friday, June 1. Please see our class descriptions for more information.
Monday
4:00 pm Youth Drills
5:30 pm Senior Drills
6:30 pm Senior Sparring (Intermediate)
Tuesday
4:00 pm Youth Sparring
5:30 pm Senior Sparring (Intermediate)
7:00 pm Senior Sparring (Advanced)
Wednesday
4:00 pm Youth Sparring
5:30 pm Senior Sparring (Intermediate)
6:30 pm Senior Drills
Thursday
4:00 pm Youth Drills
5:30 pm Senior Sparring (Intermediate)
7:00 pm Senior Sparring (Advanced)
Friday
4:00 pm Youth Sparring
5:30 pm Senior Sparring (Intermediate)
Saturday
10:00 am Footwork
11:00 am Senior Sparring (Intermediate)
5/14/12: Tournament Results, Posting Photos, and Annual Beach Party
The club hosted a tournament last Friday, May 11 -- one of our "Friday Night Fights." Those who participated, or just came to watch, surely got a treat from watching the champion, Filipo, in action. In case you are wondering, Filipo was once on the Italian Junior Team. He is here at UCSB finishing up some research in the College of Engineering. We were fortunate to have him fence with us (as he is amazing!) during his short stay. He leaves for Italy this weekend.
Highlights from this past Friday Night Fight include Timothy Stanton and Parker Muir earning their C-ratings, and Sean Strong and Jieh Meinhold earning their D ratings. Congratulations to all four of them!
Also, on Saturday, the Central Coast Youth Circuit held its fifth and final tournament of the season. Li Meinhold won the Youth 10 event, with Trevor English following a close second. Liam Strong finished with a bronze in the Youth 12. In the Youth 14, Steven Henderson won the gold, with Adam English and Jeremiah McElwee sharing the bronze.
Here are the overall circuit winners, who accumulated points throughout the season:
Youth 10
1st Trevor English (Presidio)
2nd Li Meinhold (Presidio)
3rd Torrie Ball (Points West)
Youth 12
1st Kevin Sheehan (Points West)
2nd Shaina Morris (Highlanders)
3rd Liam Strong (Presidio)
Youth 14
1st Steven Henderson (Presidio)
2nd Jermiah McElwee (Presidio)
3rd Jim Fisher (Highlanders)
And, although I forgot to mention it, Sean Strong finished with a third place in the Youth 14 epee at the Super Youth Circuit in Pasadena on May 5. This result qualified Sean to the Youth 14 Championships, as well as re-earned him a C rating, and ranked him on the National Circuit. Congratulations, Sean!
If you have pictures from any of these tournaments, please share them on our Facebook page. Look us up: Presidio Fencing Club. The Central Coast Fencing Foundation also has a Facebook page for those who only want to share photos from the Youth Circuits.
And finally, our annual beach party will be held on Saturday, June 23rd. Since this is also Solstice, we will be holding the festivities in the early afternoon, following the parade. As usual, the location will be Goleta Beach. We will have more information at the club soon. Sign up for the potluck, and come ready to have fun. And yes, Tom will bring the Hooverball!
4/30/12: Friday Night Fights are Trending
Friday Night Fights are officially a "thing." Look on ASKFRED and you'll see them all over the place. Our next installment of Friday Night Fights is an Open Foil on May 11. USFA Membership is required, and all safety rules will be strictly enforced. Registration is $10. We start promptly at 7:00 pm. Come and fence. It's looking like a good night of foil.
4/28/12: No Footwork next Saturday, May 5
The Salle will be closed on Saturday, May 5, due to the Super Youth Circuit in Pasadena. There will be no Footwork or Sparring, and all private lessons are cancelled for the day.
4/8/12: Results from the Okawa Open at UCLA
Congratulations are in order for Tom Pingel, who fenced in all three events at the Okawa Open yesterday at UCLA and walked away with the Iron Man Trophy. His results from competing in all three events in one day earned him more overall points than all other Iron Man contestants combined. Most notably, he finished with the Bronze medal in the 70-person mixed epee event. Great job, Tom! Also, congrats are in order for Sean Strong and Jieh Meinhold for their results in the epee tournament.
3/26/12: Results from the National Championships Qualifiers
We sent 14 athletes to the SoCal Division 2 National Qualifiers last weekend. The results were mixed, as many of our fencers ended up eliminating each other from the event. I think the highlight of the weekend was the Womens Foil, where Sophie Russo went undefeated all day long. Her gold-medal-finish earned her a D'2012 rating.
The official list of qualifiers will be posted this week to the SoCal Division website. Tentatively, I believe the following people qualified for National Championships:
- Randy Bublitz (Vet Mens Epee)
- Nick Cleland (Youth14 and Div3 Mens Foil)
- Harriet Eckstein (Vet Womens Foil)
- Isabella Franco (Div 3 Womens Foil)
- Jieh Meinhold (Div3 Mens Foil)
- Parker Muir (Div 2 & Div3 Mens Foil)
- Sophia Russo (Div2 & Div3 Womens Foil)
- Beatrix Salcher (Vet Womens Foil)
- Timothy Stanton (Div 2 & Div3 Mens Foil)
- Sam Wuebben (Vet Mens Foil)
Congratulations to everyone who competed!
3/25/12: Schedule changes coming in June
Please bare with us as we are updating our class schedule for summer. The schedule to the right reflects our current list of classes. However, if you visit our class descriptions page, then you will see classes of a different name. Effective in June 2012, all of our Youth Classes will begin at 4 pm, Monday through Friday. All of our Senior classes will begin at 5:30 pm. We are waiting until June to change our schedule because we know that many families have fixed after school routines.
3/18/12: Results from the Fourth Central Coast Youth Circuit Event
Thank you to everyone who participated in today's event. We had a great showing, with 16 people in the Youth 12 event, 9 in the Youth 14, and 6 in the Youth 10. Thank you to all of the fencers; thank you to the parents for providing snacks. And the tournament was run very smoothly, thanks in no small part to the high school students who helped with reffing and/or coaching: Sophie Russo, Sean Strong, Jieh Meinhold, Parker Muir, Oliver Bublitz, Nick Cleland, Matt Schmidt, and Spencer Mullanix. The results of the tournament are listed below. I guarantee that we will be discussing this tournament at length over the next couple of weeks.
Check the centralcoastfencing.org in the next few days to see who leads the season in overall points.
Also, I've decided to join the 21st Century, and have asked Christiana Lyman to put together a Facebook presence for the club. Look for it, if you have a Facebook account, and join the group. Perhaps you have comments about today's tournament. Perhaps you took some photos and want to share them. Perhaps you want to know more about the beach party and Hooverball-sports-athon we'll have on June 23rd. Either way, you can look to the Facebook page as another source for information. I look forward to seeing everyone at our next practice.
Youth 10 Foil
1. Li Meinhold, PFC
2. Victoria Ball, PointsWest
3T. Trevor English, PFC
3T. Sebastien Ricard, PFC
5. Luna Kuttner, PFC
6. Thomas Vargas, PointsWest
Youth 12 Foil
1. Carter Block, PFC
2. Kevin Sheehan, PointsWest
3T. Shaina Morris, SLH
3T. Olie Roerich, PointsWest
5. Liam Strong, PFC
6. Logan Avery, PFC
7. Nathan Beverage, PFC
8. Wesley Gerard-Ozer, PointsWest
9. Cynthia Lebermann, PointsWest
10. Theo Brown, PFC
11. Colby Gonzalez
12. Christopher Vargas, PointsWest
13. Viva Kuttner, PFC
14. Michael Shove, PFC
15. Cyrus Mase, SLH
16. Timothy Vargas, PointsWest
Youth 14
1. Steven Henderson, PFC
2. Jean-Michel Ricard, PFC
3T. Charlie Moore, SLH (Cadet)
3T. Jeremiah McElwee, PFC
5. Timna Some, PFC
6. Adam English, PFC
7. Steven Mooy, PFC
8. Thomas Kahn, SLH
9. Max Mayrock, PFC
3/05/12: Veterans and Vines... an instant hit!
The inaugural Veterans and Vines tournament, held at Presidio Fencing Club in Santa Barbara, was an instant hit! The tournament was comprised of four separate events for competitive fencers aged 40+, with the prizes being -- not medals! -- but wine. And to sweeten the deal, the fencing ended with a reception featuring tastings of some of the area's best wines. How could a fencer be upset about losing a match when he or she has a glass of wine waiting at the other end of the room? Thank you to everyone who participated. We can't wait to hold the 2013 Veterans and Vines Tournament. How about in Summer 2013?
2/11/12: Qualifiers to Summer Nationals
The dates and venues for the Div II/III Summer National Quals have been posted on ASKFRED:
http://askfred.net/Events/whoIsComing.php?tournament_id=17781
Mark your calendars, clean your tips, and fix your body cords. With Nationals being in Anaheim, I am expecting a good-sized turnout at the quals. Veterans who fence in a Div II qualifier automatically qualify to the Veterans event.
And for those of you who are Div I, your next chance to qualify is the ROC in April. But then, you probably already knew that.
Oh, and congratulations to Jieh Meinhold, who took the title at last night's Epee Fight. He defeated Sean Strong in a grueling match to earn his D rating. Hopefully this puts Mr. Meinhold in the right mindset for the Junior Olympics in Salt Lake City next weekend. And maybe there will be a little more epee fenced at the club in the future.
12/5/11: Dos Pueblos Wins Double Gold at the High School Scholastic Tournament
Dos Pueblos High School fielded three Varsity Teams at the Southern California Scholastic Team Tournament, hosted at Chaminade High School last weekend. The DPHS team of Parker Muir (sophomore), Jieh Meinhold (sophomore), and Sean Strong (freshman) defeated Victor Valley High School in 5 matches to win the Varsity A Division. DP freshmen Nick Cleland and Matt Schmidt, along with sophomore Timothy Stanton, then went on to win the Varsity B Division later in the day. Sophia Russo and Isabella Franco, along with clubmate Christiana Lyman, composed a Womens Varsity B team after certain eligibility rules kept them from Varsity A. They finished 2nd place in their division. Of note, Stanton and Lyman, although homeschooled, were allowed to fence on the DPHS team.