USA Fencing

USA Fencing announced a new training camp designated to be open to the top Y14 fencers in the country and named this the “Future Stars” camp.  The announcement produced a fairly large thread on the forums and lots of questions about the focus, nature, and direction of such a camp.

The USA Future Stars program is part of an overall vision for fencer and coaching development in the United States.  In the long term, the goal is to create a facility that can serve as a national training center to develop a US school of fencing that will attract fencers from other countries to come and do training camps here in the United States.

The first two parts of this program are the USA Future Stars training camp and a Coaches College program.  Both are to be held at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT).

According to Michael Marx, all of the national coaches are on board with the training camp and when approached for feedback, the coaches felt that the Y14 age group would be the best place to start.

The idea is to get the kids accustomed to working together.  Fencing in the USA is so spread out that a lot of the kids at the Cadet and Junior levels go to international events with their own coach, fence, then come home.  There’s not a whole lot of time to build camaraderie.

If there are more training opportunities where the top kids can all work together, then “even if you’re the #4 or #5 fencer, you know you helped earn that medal” said Marx.

The camp is being developed with not just fencing in mind, but also the whole athlete.  Recognizing that burn out is a concern, they want to bring in athletes to the camp that can be mentors for the kids – talking about how to deal with burn out and the pressures of international competition.

Why Y14?

Given that the results at the Cadet and Junior levels are already good, why focus on the Y14 age group?

Kevin Smith, working with Marx as a volunteer for US Fencing, answered that in building a program to be effective 4-8 years out, hitting the Y14 fencers now has the most promise to bear fruit.  He argued that starting with 17-19 year olds may not see quick results, but starting a program at Y14, then layering on additional programs for those athletes at the upper age groups will allow the program to build upon itself and expand.

When asked about the financial model for the camp, Smith responded that his directive from the national office was “to not lose money.”  The camp will most likely be in the 900-1000 range, which includes a day at Disney.

Coaches College?

When the discussion turned to coaches college, Marx reiterated that FIT had been showing a lot of support for fencing.  IF US Fencing can put on a good camp and coaching college session, then it shows FIT that [US Fencing] is serious.

Coaches College is set for two sessions in July after the Summer Nationals.  Not every coach can afford to take the additional time after Nationals off to go to a training camp, however.

Marx brought up that he wanted to start to bring coaching training out to more coaches to be more accessible so there will be four regional sessions, starting with one in Florida.  (US Fencing has announced the dates/locations for those in their latest newsletter.)

Marx also plans on holding coaching Q&A events at the NACs and Junior Olympics.

When asked about the mandate for these programs, Marx said that this is what he’s been hired to do (he was hired by USA Fencing in a coaching development role in November), and Smith stated that Jim Page and Greg Dilworth “have been the drivers behind this.”

If the domestic camps find success at FIT, then the idea of a home for training camps may find purchase.  The space at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado is extremely difficult to get so having space available and a school open to a partnership is attractive.  Plus, the prospect of coming to Florida to train and then hit the beach is sure to be attractive to some of the European fencing teams.

By Jeff Spear - International fencing gives a strange picture of the world. We spend weekends in suburbs of major cities and in towns most people have never heard of.

The Romanian countryside

Last week Avery, Ben, Daryl, Geof, James, Tim and I visited Izvorani, Romania, living, eating, and training within an area of a few hundred square meters, leaving only once on our day off.  It may seem like something of a confined existence, but for a week of intensive training it was phenomenal.

The fencing salle at the Bucharest training center

The facilities were basic but comprehensive – hotel and cafeteria, weight room, pool, sauna, internet (usually), and a fencing salle complete with ping-pong tables for a bit of cool down.  The training schedule involved alternating days of two practice and one practice, with Sunday off.  Even on days with two practices, however, we actually did less bouting than at most camps, and less even than a lot of my practice days at home.  But the bouts were intense and focused; and the training cycle, including cross-training, was well-timed so that we stayed strong and felt like we were working very efficiently.

In our down time we played ping-pong, watched episodes of ‘Archer’, and tried to convince the internet to work.  Avery kicked our butts at ping-pong and ran with the Romanians who spend quite a bit of time playing before and after practice, but James definitely has to get the most improved award, from barely hitting the table at the beginning of the week to hitting us with trick shots by the end.

On our day off, the Romanian team took us to a rather intense mall in Bucharest, which featured a skating rink, a playground, laser tag, girls dancing to American music including, which made me laugh, ‘Appalachian Spring,’ and a train that drove through the hallways upstairs.

James Williams chats it up with one of the locals.

After we all got lunch, Yury, James, and I did what we do best and went out to see the ‘sights’ in the local residential neighborhood. All of us have given up on traditional sightseeing when we travel, but, in our own ways, we still like to get out and see the country.  For me, this often takes the form of a walk.  I hit the streets and just spend an hour or two wandering through the local city, a tradition that makes me feel like I have, in some small way, experienced the places to which I travel.  This time, we found an Orthodox church with a beautiful mosaic and some local dogs.

Probably the best part of these camps for me, however, is living with and interacting with the fencers from other countries.  First, it is always interesting to see the kind of system in which they train.  The Romanians spend almost all of their time at the training center, and don’t really train when they do go home.  But, as I mentioned before, their practices felt like part of an overarching plan that falls together nicely, and seems to work for them, since they are currently one of the top teams in the world.

Even better than watching other training systems is interacting with the fencers themselves, and sharing views, feelings, and stories about fencing.  Perhaps the most eye-opening for me on this trip was an expression of confusion from one of the Romanian fencers about why we feel pressure at competitions.

American fencing represents something special that most top countries can never match.

He figured that if we love fencing enough to do it in addition to holding down jobs, paying for most if not all of it ourselves, and putting our lives on hold, rather than fencing for our livelihood, we must love it enough just to lose ourselves in fencing when we get on strip, without any pressure.  He is wrong, of course; I do feel pressure.  But he is right about how much we love the sport.  For that, American fencing represents something special that most top countries can never match.  And that is why, for all of the excitement of our strange vision of the world, I am glad to be home.  Briefly, anyway.

US Men's Saber Fencers in Romania

Jeff Spear is a member of the US Men’s Saber Team and is competing for a spot on the 2012 Olympic Team.  He was part of the Men’s Saber contingent that went to a training camp in Romania prior to the world cup event in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Shot of the Day from Doha: Bas Verwijlen

Bas Verwijlen took 3rd at the Grand Prix event in Doha to claim the top spot in the FIE World Rankings and 2nd in the Adjusted Olympic Rankings (AOR).  By winning the Grand Prix Kyoung Doo Park (KOR) jumped from 7th in the AOR to 3rd and all but qualifying himself for the Olympics.

The tournament was worth 1.5 times the normal world cup points and is one of the last 3 events in the qualifying window.

Most fencers have maxed out their 7 slots with points and are looking to trade up to move into one of the hotly contested qualification spots.  Fencers for this event count the World Championships, Zonal Championships and the best 5 World Cup results for their point totals.

The top-6 in the AOR (Adjusted Olympic Rankings) seem to be safe, but there is a lot of room to move in the lower half of the “Top 12″ ranks and the Zonal spots.

Silvio Fernandez (VEN) proved in Doha that none of the lower slots are safe from contention. With his 2nd place finish, he moved from not being in the top-25 to 17th in the AOR (Adjusted Olympic Ranking) and the 1st Americas zonal spot. Fernandez is at 89 points now and the last “Top 12″ spot clocks in at 97 points. Given that 5 of the top 12 failed to make the 16 in Doha, the door is open for another outlier result to jumble the rankings.

The move by Fernandez dropped Seth Kelsey (USA) down to the 2nd qualifying spot in the Americas zone. He still holds a double-digit lead over Canada’s Hugues Boisvert-Simard but Kelsey has proved to be more consistent down the stretch.

The top rankings that are calling out to me are the final couple of spots in the top-12 and the battle for the European Zonal spots.

The last three of the top-12 spots are at 99, 99, and 97 points. The top 3 zonal representatives hold point totals of 95, 91, and 90 points. One of the current qualifiers going out early coupled with a top-16 result from someone with a zonal bid will shake things up.

Tagliariol vs. Boczko

Right now, the battle for the last European Zonal slot is between Matteo Tagliariol (ITA) and Gabor Boczko (HUN). Tagliariol (ITA) and Boczko (HUN) are tied at 90 points. Right now, Tagliariol gets the edge with the FIE World Ranking of 11th vs. Boczko’s WR of 16.

If it comes down to a tie in points, the official tie break is who had the best finish in world cup competition. (The # of 1st place then # of second place, etc.)

Here are Tagliariol’s top-8 finishes in Olympic Qualifying:

3rd – Heidenheim
5th – Legnano
6th – Sheffield

His 1st place in Paris won’t count since it is from March 2011.

Here are Boczko’s top-8 finishes:

5th – Stockholm
6th – Heidenheim
6th – Legnano

Based on these results, Tagliariol wins the tie break. Boczko needs to have one more top-16 than Tagliariol in the final 2 tournaments.

The lowest point result being counted for Boczko or Tagliariol is a 5 from World Championships. Those points stay since you cannot replace the Worlds result.  Boczko’s next lowest result is 12 points and Tagliariol’s is 6.  Tagliariol could improve with a top-16 result but Boczko will need a top-8 to add to his total.

Is anyone safe?

Looking at the math, the final two events are worth 32 points each for a 1st place. That puts the maximum swing to 64 points added for a fencer. Based on that, it’s possible for anyone to come out of nowhere to win 2 events and get 128 points to qualify. (We’ll accept that such an event would be highly unlikely.)

Allex Gruman from SwordSport has stated that he feels 115 points puts a fencer into the “safe zone” for qualifying. That would make the top 6 fencers in the current AOR standings safe.

Here are the current Olympic Qualification Rankings as calculated by taking the top 7 points results during the qualification period. We’re showing the top-12 and then the top 2 from each zone. After qualifying there will be separate zonal tournaments to fill out the final few spots for the Olympics. You can see the full spreadsheet and check the formulas here.

Picture from a class at Sword Fight London

This post came out of one of the forum threads and I thought it made for a somewhat decent overview of some of the different takes on sword combat and fencing that exist.  If you’re going to start talking about some of the other sword arts, it’s a good idea to have an idea where they fit:

If you just want to read the thread or the post itself, here’s the link.  Where there is a governing body or organization available I’ve also linked to it.
==========
First some terms (I’ve tried to give examples from a wide swath of the community, these groups are not monolithic):

Classical Fencing:

SCA Fencing/SCA Rapier:

SCA Heavy

HEMA/Historical Fencing – (Linking to ARMA)

While there is some overlap (like me) these four groups are largely separate. Your average Classical fencer is not a HEMA guy, nor does he play in the SCA as well and so forth. As a result combining all of these groups into one huge “Classical fencing” doesn’t really make a lot of sense.

For example:

SCA fencers are by and large untrained (or self trained). I would argue that approx 75% would not know a good lunge if walked up an hit them in the face. That top 25% or so can be formidable, many of them train seriously, mixing gym time with up to 5 days of fencing per week. In some areas there are tournaments every weekend during the spring and summer, so there is a strong tournament circuit for these fencers. While there are no official rankings, there are fencers who are consistently at the top level during the tournaments at larger pan-SCA events like Pennsic.

HEMA guys are more complicated. HEMA is growing rapidly, and the Europeans have been hosting large international tournaments. The national coaching organizations in Germany, Italy and the UK have started coaching training programs for HEMA. The major fencing suppliers (Negrini, Allstar/Uhlmann, Leon Paul) already have HEMA equipment for sale. Closer to home, Absolute Fencing is coming out with an entire line of HEMA equipment in the next few months.
There, however, significant divisions within the HEMA “crowd.” Broadly there are those who are more into the history and rediscovery parts of HEMA, and those who are more into tournaments and competition. There is space for both groups.

Further, it’s easy to forget as modern fencers with a international governing body that all of these groups are highly regional, and not at all homogeneous. The Polish and Swedish are putting out really cool HEMA tournament fighters, the US less so. The SCA in CA will be completely different from the SCA in Washington.

Now back to Classical Fencing.

I want to make it clear that there is no one definition for Classical Fencing. The community is rather balkenized into a few camps. There is the Evangalista/Crown camp, the Martinez camp, and the SJSU FMP Camp (Gaulger camp)

I belong to camp 3. I too don’t like the strange big actions favored by Crown and Evangalista. (Crown even banned me from his forum). I’m not a big fan of the very pretty, but tempo challenged fencing I’ve seen from the Martinez students I’ve encountered (with a few exceptions). And I think that classical fencers should be able to fence with modern fencers and not do too badly. I’m equally annoyed when classical fencers talk smack about modern fencing, as when modern fencers talk smack about classical/historical fencing, especially when neither side has done both.

I have a friend who recently moved to Atlanta. He’s a SJ FMP Maestro, his exam was 7 hours long and had a board of 7 maestros. It’s about classical fencing, not modern fencing. As there are virtually no classical fencers in Atlanta, he’s picked up modern foil. He’s new to it, unrated, fenced his second tournament last weekend, and he’s having fun. He still hasn’t told anyone about his classical fencing cert, because it shouldn’t matter and because he’s afraid of the backlash.

What do I want you to take away from this rant? (I can’t sleep and am writing this at 3AM)

WE’RE NOT ALL CRAZY! Please don’t assume that the more antagonistic classical fencers represent the whole community, they’re just the people who won’t shut up.

also,

Classical Fencing is not Rapier/Longsword/Fill in the blank The groups may seem similar, but they are very different communities. Lumping them in together makes it very hard to make valid conclusions about the activities.

=============

That’s a decent overview to me.  I’d love to get some comments on this also.  (Editor’s note: We tried to find a place locally that would teach stage combat and couldn’t find anything nor could we find anything like HEMA in the area but would love to give it a go.  I’ve done kendo in the past and it’s great fun – plus seeing the similarities and differences in the different sports is a good exercise.)

Fencing Masters is back for 2012

NEW YORK — En garde!  New York City is getting ready to host the largest U.S. spectator fencing tournament leading up to the Olympic Games this summer in London. Fencing Masters: Kick-Off to London 2012 will feature some of the sport’s biggest names including two-time Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis and World bronze medalist Lee Kiefer, as they take on top contenders from around the world in a tune-up event for London.

Tickets go on sale today and can be purchased at www.fencingmastersnyc.com.

Fencing Masters, the only regularly televised fencing competition in the United States, will be held June 26 in the Hammerstein Ballroom. The inaugural Fencing Masters attracted more than 1,800 spectators and was televised on SportsNet NY. Sponsorship dollars and ticket sales provided direct support for U.S. Olympic hopefuls.

The event will be done in complete New York style, featuring several amazing innovations to bring a night of enjoyment for those who are familiar to sport as well as for newcomers. Among the special features of the event are: large-screen instant replay, mask cams to bring the crowd inside the action, specially designed uniforms and a stage created by a Broadway set designer.

An initial six-weapon team has been announced, representing all three disciples of fencing: foil, epee and saber, with both the men and women competing together. A second U.S. team of London-bound American athletes will be announced in the coming months.

Among the headliners is Mariel Zagunis, a two-time Olympic Champion in women’s saber who is certain to be among America’s top medal hopes again this summer in London.

“The Fencing Masters is a great chance for us to show the spirit and skill of the U.S. team on our own soil before we leave for the London Games,” Zagunis said. “I’m really looking forward to competing with some of the world’s best fencers. Hopefully people from all around the country will support us and join in our enthusiasm for fencing!”

In women’s foil, Lee Kiefer will compete in the foil discipline, as will British-born U.S. citizen and New York City resident Miles Chamley-Watson, who achieved a No. 2 world ranking at the age of 20. Rounding out the initial team are New York Native saber-fencer Daryl Homer, who placed 15th at the 2010 World Championships, U.S. National women’s Epee Champion Courtney Hurley and 2004 Olympian Soren Thompson.

The format will be a team points relay with two U.S. teams of London bound athletes competing, along with an additional US team of Future Stars who will earn their spots in qualifying tournaments from around the country.   Two international squads of all-stars, whose line-ups will be announced in the coming months, will challenge the US teams for the Fencing Masters trophy.

“One of the goals I set after our Olympic team’s success play in Beijing was to help grow fencing in the United States while supporting our athletes and bringing the sport into the mainstream.  The sport is amazing to watch and I’m excited that more people in the US will be able to experience its beauty, grace and athleticism before London,” said Fencing Masters founder and 2008 Olympic silver medalist Tim Morehouse, who is vying for a spot on the U.S. team in London.

Proceeds from the event will support the Fencing-in-the-Schools program, which also was created by Morehouse to help start fencing programs in disadvantaged communities and which will be launched in the 2012-2013 calendar school year. In addition, proceeds also will be used to provide grants to help support the Olympic dreams of the U.S team going to London. The inaugural Fencing Masters provided $25,000 in grants to Olympic hopefuls.

The event is being produced by WCMG Events in partnership with the sport’s national governing body USA Fencing. Nike Fencing was named as an initial sponsor for the event with additional sponsor-related announcements coming in the upcoming months.

Drinking more H20 can improve your performance.

Water is a wonderful performance enhancer. When a star U Conn basketball player took the advice of his sports nutritionist Nancy Rodriguez RD and started drinking enough to consistently void a light-colored urine, he was amazed at how much better he felt all day. Unfortunately, too many athletes overlook the power of this essential nutrient.  Perhaps it’s your turn to give water a try? This article offers droplets of information to enhance your water IQ, optimize your water balance, and help you feel & perform better.

• You don’t have to drink plain water to get adequate water into your body. All fluids count, as do foods that have a high water. For example, oatmeal is 84% water; low fat milk, 90%; coffee, 99.5%; lettuce, 96%; tomato, 95%; broccoli, 89%; low fat vanilla yogurt, 79%; and ice cream, 60% water.

• Water is the solvent for biochemical reactions. Your body cannot function without sufficient water, as noted by the fact that athletes die from dehydration.

• Your body needs water to moisten food (saliva), digest food (gastric secretions), transport nutrients to and from cells (blood), discard waste (urine), and dissipate heat (sweat). Water is a major component of the cells in muscles and organs; about 60% of a young male’s body weight is water, as is about 50% of a young woman’s body weight.

• Different body parts have different water contents. For example, blood is approximately 93% water, muscle is about 73% water, and body fat is about 10% water. Water constantly moves between the inside and the outside of cells. About 4% to 10% of your body-water gets replaced every day with “fresh” water.

• Note: Bioelectrical impedance (BIA) methods of measuring body fat actually measure body water. From that, a formula estimates the ratio of water to muscle and fat. Hence, if you use a Tanita Scale or Omron device, be sure to maintain adequate hydration. If you are dehydrated, you’ll end up with an inaccurate (higher) estimate of body fatness.

•Your body produces about 8 to 16 oz. (250-500 ml) water per day during normal metabolic processes. During a marathon, a runner’s muscles can produce that much water over 2 to 3 hours. When muscles burn glycogen, they simultaneously release about 2.5 units water for each one unit of muscle glycogen; this helps protect against dehydration.

• Coffee is a popular source of water. Although once thought to have a diuretic effect, current research indicates coffee (in amounts normally consumed) hydrates as well as water over a 24-hour period. That is, after drinking coffee, you may urinate sooner, but you will not urinate more than you consume. Army research on caffeine and dehydration confirms coffee is an acceptable source of fluids for athletes, even during exercise in the heat. Hence, coffee and other caffeinated beverages such as tea or cola count towards your water intake.

• An increased concentration of particles in your blood triggers the sensation of thirst. If you are a 150-pound athlete, you’ll start to feel thirsty once you’ve lost about 1.5 to 3 pounds of sweat (1% to 2% of your body weight). Sweat loss of more than 10% body weight is life threatening.

• Body water absorbs heat from the working muscles and sweat dissipates the heat. That is, the evaporation of a liter (about 36 ounces) of sweat from the skin represents loss of about 580 calories. Sweat keeps you from overheating during exercise and in hot environments.

• To determine how much water you lose when you sweat, weigh yourself (with little or no clothing) before and after an hour of hard exercise with no fluid intake. The change in body weight reflects water (sweat) loss. A one-pound drop in weight equates to loss of 16 ounces of sweat. A two-pound drop equates to 32 ounces—that’s one quart. Drink accordingly during your workouts to prevent that loss!

• When you sweat, you lose water from both inside and outside the cells. The water outside the cells is rich in sodium, an electrolyte that works in balance with potassium, an electrolyte inside the cells. Sweat contains about 7 times more sodium than potassium; hence sodium is the more important electrolyte to replace during extended exercise.

• Most athletes who lose more than 2% of their body weight  (3 lbs for a 150-pound athlete) lose both their mental edge and their ability to perform optimally in hot weather. Yet, during cold weather, you are less likely to experience reduced performance, even at 3% dehydration. Three to 5% dehydration does not seem to affect muscle strength or performance during short intense bouts of anaerobic exercise, such as weight lifting.  But distance runners slow their pace by ~2% for each percent body weight lost by dehydration. That means, if you weigh 150 pounds and lose 3 pounds sweat (2% dehydration), your 8-minute mile slows to an 8:19 pace. That’s preventable!

• Adequate fluid intake can reduce problems with constipation and urinary tract infections. There is no scientific validation of theories that excessive water intake will improve weight loss, remove toxins, or improve skin tone.

• Should you plan to drink “eight glasses of water a day”? No scientific evidence supports that rule, so you can simply drink in response to thirst. You can also monitor the volume of your urine. If your urine is scanty, dark, and smelly, you should drink more! If you have not urinated during your work or school day (8:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.), you are severely underhydrated.

• Is bottled water better for you than tap water? Doubtful. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, nearly half of bottled waters come from municipal water supplies—not from the mountain streams pictured on the labels. This suggests standard municipal tap water is high quality.

Rather than spend money on bottled water, turn on your tap! This will help stop the flood of 95 million plastic water bottles that get discarded each day, of which only 20% get recycled. Drink plenty of water—but think “green.”

Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD (Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) counsels both casual and competitive athletes at her office in Newton, MA (617-795-1875). Her Sports Nutrition Guidebook and food guides for new runners, marathoners, and soccer players offer additional information. They are available at www.nancyclarkrd.com and www.sportsnutritionworkshop.com.

References:

Armstrong, L., A. Pumerantz, M. Roti, et al. 2005. Fluid, electrolyte, and renal indices of hydration during 11 days of controlled caffeine consumption. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 15:252-265

Koslo, J. “Water, hydration and health: What dietetics practitioners need to know” in SCAN’s Pulse, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2012 31:1 (Winter)

National Academy of Sciences. Institute of Medicine. Food and Nutrition Board.

Dietary Reference Intakes for Water. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/DRI//DRI_Water/73-185.pdf

Wilmore, J and D. Costill. Physiology of Sport and Exercise, Human Kinetics, 1994.

Cool picture of James Williams shot by Nigel Barker

After the Portland NAC we caught up with James Williams.  Unfortunately, the interview failed to get published in a timeline manner, so here it is a little late.

James and the rest of the US Men’s Saber fencers are off to Plovdiv this weekend for a Grand Prix event.  The US team is 20 points ahead of Canada for the zonal spot in Olympic Team Qualification.

Although #2 Aldo Montano is not fencing in this event, the Italian team should prove strong and the US fencers will all have to fence out of pools as the top US fencer is 18th ranked Daryl Homer.  James Williams is currently ranked 24th.

On Monday, we’ll update the Olympic qualification rankings based on the weekend’s World Cup events.  In the meantime, enjoy this interview with James.

Congratulations on winning the Portland North American Cup – How does it feel?

I feel really excited. It is always an honor to win such a large competition. It was a step, albeit a small one, closer to qualification. I hope it will give me confidence as we head into the World Cup season and the final leg of our Olympic qualification.

What were the keys to your victory in Portland?

This is always a tough question for me, especially since I haven’t watched the video tape yet.  Without some luck nothing is possible, but we must discount it and analyze that which we can control.

I can say that Yury has been working very intensely with the guys and me.  I’ve also been concentrating on my footwork and working to improve my lunge. After 16 years of fencing i found my lunge still needed work.

There were a lot of upsets at this competition amongst the Olympic contenders, notably, Tim Morehouse, Daryl Homer, Luther Clement and Ben Igoe all were out in early rounds and you also struggled in your round of 32 match trailing 7-1 and 12-9. How do you explain the outcomes?

I would first say that while everyone was shocked to see so many upsets, these young fencers deserve a lot of credit.  I saw most of them at the National Training Camp last month and can vouch for the strong work ethic that Eli Dershewitz and Jonah Shainberg and a lot of these young guys have.  I fenced Rhys Douglas (who defeated Daryl Homer in the round of 32) at the end of 2010 and he and his brother Ewan have improved drastically as well.  This is a very strong group of fencers and we were all happy to see how hungry they are and how hard they fight for touches.

On the other side of the coin, I think we were all very nervous at this competition and put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform.  I was personally very nervous when I saw the direct elimination tableau and started worrying about whom I was fencing instead of how I was going to fence and that impaired my fencing in the early rounds.  While you can’t put yourself on the team with NAC results, you can certainly knock yourself off.  On any given day, anyone can beat anyone else. If the higher seeded fencer always won, there would be no need to fence the tournament!

We train very hard but our training is more geared towards world cup competitions than NACs and I think that can be a challenge as well, but at the end of the day, we still need to overcome this to make the Olympic team.  Tim and Daryl know that they are responsible for not performing to their potential at this tournament.  This is a valuable lesson and will motivate them to perform better at future competitions.

What’s next in the men’s saber Olympic Qualification process?

In 10 days we leave for a week long training camp in Romania and go from there to our first world cup in Bulgaria.  We have 3 more world cups after that, at which point the team will probably be decided.

Any advice for young fencers with Olympic dreams?

I would tell them to keep at it and to avoid getting too low when its bad and too high when its good.

Paris proved great for the US.

The top 4 qualifying teams remained in the top 4, but an early loss by Japan gives Germany hope.

In the Olympic team foil event, the top-4 teams qualify directly to the Olympics followed by the top team in each Olympic zone (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe).  Great Britain is allowed a spot due to being the host nation.

The top 4 spots were resorted with Italy climbing to #1 and China falling to 2nd.  Russia’s 3rd place result in Paris puts them within 4 points of Japan for the 4th automatic qualification spot.  As the top European team not already qualified, that doesn’t help Russia directly, but does benefit Germany.

If Russia earns another top-4 result and Japan finishes out of the top-4 in the next event, then Russia would be tied with Japan for the 4th spot.  Russia has the slightly better record in world cup competition at this point.

Assuming Russia moves up to 4th, that puts Japan as the Asia qualifier, knocking Korea out.  Germany then gains entry as the top European team not already qualified.

The United States and Egypt remain qualified from their zones and no other nation is close enough to do anything to their spots.

At this point, we’re closing the books on Poland.  They just don’t have a shot being 50 points behind Germany.

In short:

• Germany should be cheering on Russia.
• Korea should be cheering on Japan.
• Poland can still work to ruin someone’s day.

Fencers from Korea, and Germany are going to have to start looking more at their individual results to be able to gain entry for the individual event should their teams get frozen out of the team event.  The individual event is filled first by the top 3 fencers from the team entries, then by the top ranked individuals from countries not already qualified.

Here are the current teams qualified for Men’s Team Foil in the Olympic Rankings.  I’ve included Germany and Poland and their points to illustrate where they are in the hunt:

Next events:

• La Coruña – Spain – February 19th
• Bonn – Germany – March 18th

The full spreadsheet is available here.

Despite flat performances, most of the top qualifiers remained in place.

The top seeds this weekend came out flat and did nothing to solidify their spots while two fencers on the outs made big moves to displace their countrymen.  Ulrich Robieri (FRA) makes an appearance taking 2nd at the event.  Does he even have a shot at qualification?

What else is going on with the qualification slots?

There was a shuffling of the order for the top-12 in the men’s epee qualifications and some flip-flopping among the French and Italian teams.  Other than two spots, all of the current qualification standings held, including the zonal qualification slots.

Paulo Pizzo (ITA) retains the top seed in Olympic qualifying at 29 points ahead of Kauter and Heinzer who are tied at 123 points.  All of this despite 5 of the top 9 going out in the round of 64.  In fact, only 3 fencers in the top 20 in Olympic qualification made the top-8!

Not surprisingly, the two fencers that made the most out of the flatness of the field were the two who needed it most.  Matteo Tagliariol used his top-8 finish to edge ahead of Alfredo Rota for the 2nd Italian qualifying slot.  Rota went out in the 32 and now sits just one point behind Tagliariol for the 12th and final Olympic qualifying spot.

Yannick Borel (FRA) also displaced his countryman by taking 3rd place.  He was 15th in qualifying and jumped up to 10th, sitting 10 points ahead Ronan Gustin.

Coming out of nowhere in this event was Robieri.  He took 2nd at the event, but has only 57 qualifying points.  In order to qualify, he would need a minimum of 103 points (assuming that the lower half of the current qualifiers all lose their T-64 matches in the next 3 world cups.)  That means he has to turn in continual podium finishes, the top half of qualifiers have to do well and the bottom half have to lose in the 64 or 32.  Not a great formula for success.

The zonal spots in the Americas and Asia actually look a bit more open to competition now than they did before.  Neither Buisvert-Simard (CAN) nor Fernandez (VEN) did anything of note in the event, which leaves only 8 points between them for the 2nd American zonal spot.  One top-16 result in the next 2 events can decide that race.

Soren Thompson and Seth Kelsey are both on track to qualify, but are close enough to the edge that they really need to make sure they’re keeping pace with the pack.  Soren is still top-16 in the FIE rankings, so gets a bye to the 64 and guaranteed points.  If either can make the 16 in Doha, that should secure their spots.

A similar situation exists in the Asia zone.  Alimzhanov (KAZ) earned no points at this event and will have to fight out of pools going forward, while Jung (KOR) is 16th, so gets a bye to the 64 at the next event, guaranteeing him 3 points.  That leaves the door open for Goujie Li (CHN) who is sitting at 68 points.  It’s an 11 point gap, but a 32 at Doha would put him on pace to steal the zonal slot from Alimzhanov.

Here are the current qualifiers as of Legnano:

Next events:

Doha Grand Prix (1.5 x points) – Feb 10th
Tallin World Cup (1 x points) – March 2nd
Paris World Cup (1 x points) – March 16th

The Olympic selection will become a little clearer this weekend.

The final leg of Olympic qualification for Men’s Epee begins this weekend in Legnano, Italy with a World Cup event.  This event provides standard points, with 32 points to the winner down to 2 points for a 33-64 finish.

US fencers Soren Thompson and Seth Kelsey look to keep their bids alive with strong finishes.  Soren will enter the event ranked 10th in the world, and will receive a bye to the top-64.  Kelsey, ranked 18th, will have to fight his way through pools.

Unless Thompson and Ruben Limardo (VEN) have very bad showings, the bids should remain secure for the top Americans.

More important to watch is the battle within the Italian and French teams for qualification slots.  Because Men’s Epee is only an individual event at the 2012 Games, each country is allowed a maximum of 2 fencers.  This ruling currently has Italy’s Matteo Tagliariol (9th in the world) and Yannick Borel (FRA), ranked 14th, on the outs to their higher ranked compatriats.

Alfredo Rota is the Italian in Tagliariol’s sights.  Rota is ranked 17th in the FIE rankings, but has more Olympic qualifying points at the moment.  Rota’s lead is also 9 points, so it could take this and the Doha Grand Prix result to solidify the standings.

On the French side, Borel is 20 points behind Gauthier Grumier so unless Borel fences magnificently AND Grumier has a meltdown in the 64, don’t expect that to change.

Fencers on the bubble include Nikolai Novosjolov (EST), Jin Sun Jung (KOR) and Gabor Boczko (HUN).  They are all qualified via the zonal process at the moment but could see their fortunes change with a bad first round.

Once the results are in, we’ll provide an update on the qualification standings as well as some thoughts on the rest of the qualifying season.  For a look at the current rankings and selection process, check out the live spreadsheet we’re keeping of the Olympic qualification points.

Current World Rank – Used for Seeding into the World Cup events.

AOR stands for the Adjusted Olympic Rank.  AOR measures the world cup points earned during the Olympic qualification period.  The FIE ranking is the rolling point total for the past year.  For an explanation of the Olympic qualification process, please refer to our primer: The Long and Winding Road to London 2012.