Watch the 2013 Pan American Fencing Championships via this live stream:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ODL6AMpco

Evening Schedule:

Watch live streaming of the 2013 Pan American Fencing Championships.

• 5:30 PM: Men’s Foil Semi-Finals
• 6:00 PM: Women’s Sabre Semi-Finals
• 6:40 PM: Men’s Foil Final
• 7:00 PM: Women’s Sabre Final

More videos from the 2013 Pan American and European Fencing Championships are on the FIE’s Youtube Channel

Post live results for your next fencing tournament.

Jae Sang of Z Fencing LA posted a great tutorial in the forums for using Fencing Time and Dropbox to post live results for your next fencing tournament.

Instructions for Publishing Live Fencing Tournament Results using Dropbox:

Using the live publishing feature of fencing time without having to ftp into your website, you can use dropbox

Installation and Set up:

• install dropbox on the same computer as fencingtime
• goto Dropbox folder on the computer
• create a folder called Public
• log into www.dropbox.com
• Enable public folder feature in your dropbox account by click on following link:https://www.dropbox.com/enable_public_folder

Set Up Fencing Time:

• start fencingtime
• from the Tools drop down menu, select “Publish Live Results to the Web”
• Check box “Enable live result publication” and check box each of the events to publish
• Select “1” minute for “Publish every …. minutes”
• Select Publish results to “File share or folder”
• Select Output path of the “<your user account>\Dropbox\Public” folder

Verify setup:
From Windows Explorer, go to your Dropbox\Public folder. If Fencing Time is correctly configured, you should see a number of html files with a very recent time stamp.

Find the index.html file, right click and select “Dropbox->Copy Public link”

Get the Long URL:

• Go to your web browser (he chose IE) and select the address bar.
• Right click and select “Paste” to paste the public address of the live results
• This website link is accessible by anyone (even without a Dropbox account)

Create a shareable URL:
Since the public dropbox link is often very long and hard to share with tournament attendees, it is advisable to create an alias address using tinyurl.com or bit.ly. (Instructions here for TinyURL.)

• goto www.tinyurl.com
• paste in the public dropbox address
• type in an optional text into the Custom Alias text box
• click “Make TinyURL!” and share the new address generated with your tournament attendees

Now you’re done and can publish the link to Facebook or tweet it out to tournament attendees.

If you are using the same computer for next tournament, you do not need to repeat any of the above instructions.

Read comments and download the pdf file of these instructions in the forum thread.

Do you have tips or guides like this? Post them in the forums or email webmaster@fencing.net.

Mariel Zagunis’ signed sabre was up for auction to benefit blood cancer research.

Mariel Zagunis is working to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Woman of the Year Campaign. She donated a signed sabre and posted to be auctioned on eBay with the proceeds going towards the LLS and blood cancer research.

The auction started out at $0.99 but on the last day of bidding raced from under $100 to $661 for the winning bid.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society‘s Man & Woman of the Year (MWOY) campaign is a fundraising competition in communities across the U.S. in which participants vie for the title of Man or Woman of the Year. They raise funds for blood cancer research in honor of local children who are blood cancer survivors, the Boy & Girl of the Year. The titles are awarded to the men and women in each community who raise the most funds during the ten-week campaign; the top local fundraisers in the country also win the national titles. Learn more here.

WADA has adjusted the levels of allowable THC

The following opinion is represented by The Fencing Coach and may not represent the opinions of Fencing.net and its ownership.

During the May Executive Committee meeting for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the committee made the decision to increase the threshold level for marijuana from 15 ng/l to 150 ng/l, creating a new victory for athletes who smoke pot.

As a coach, I have seen many fencers’ careers be tarnished by positive marijuana tests, a drug that has been shown to significantly impair both reaction time and motor speed. If the function of WADA is to prevent the permeation of “performance enhancing drugs” (PEDs) into sport, then a drug that amplifies your craving for funions, Taco Bell, and Phish music can hardly be considered a “performance enhancer.”

Fencing is a sport that remains largely unaffected by the PED scandals that have rocked sports like Track & Field, weight lifting, and the professional sports leagues. Save for a few French fencers and Italy’s Andrea Baldini in 2008, most of my referee colleagues speculate that the majority of failed drug tests in fencing have been related to marijuana usage.

WADA’s decision to raise the marijuana threshold is a sensible one. In the same way that having a few drinks before a competition can be detrimental to a fencer’s performance, the same is true of regular usage of marijuana—yet, it’s hardly worth banning an athlete for using because of its self-imposed impairment.

Despite the raising of the threshold, I encourage fencers to continue refraining from marijuana usage, as it will hinder performance on the strip both from a cognitive standpoint and a physical standpoint. Regardless, it’s nice to see WADA acting in a way that will focus on policing athletes for PEDs, not DTMYTPIAGBs (Drugs That Make You Think Phish is a Good Band).

Do you agree with WADA’s decision to raise the THC threshold? Sound off in the comments below.

Trying out some more graphic work. We collected some inspirational quotes around sports and training. This quote comes from the Arnold:

“What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.”

Photo by Serge Timacheff, manipulated by C.Harkins.

Full size here: http://shop.fencing.net/Articles.asp?ID=266

embed code: <div style=”clear:both”><a href=”http://shop.fencing.net/Articles.asp?ID=266“><img src=”http://www.fencing.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Fencing-Inspiration-We-Are-Stronger.jpg” title=”Fencing – We Are Stronger” alt=”Fencing: We are stronger. Photo by S.Timacheff, edited by C.Harkins” width=”1000″ height=”716″ border=”0″ /></a></div><div>Courtesy of: <a href=”http://www.fencingequipment.com/”>Fencing Equipment from Fencing.Net</a></div>

Ana Maria Branza claimed gold in Havana. (http://sptfm.ro/)

Ana Branza Claims Gold, Szasz Upsets for Silver

Ana Maria Branza (ROU) earned her second individual gold medal this weekend while also edging past Yujie Sun (CHN) to claim the top spot in world rankings to close up the season. Sun drops down to 2nd after a 9th place finish, while Shin A Lam (KOR) remains 3rd after her 10th place finish.

Branza came in to the Copa Villa La Habana Grand Prix ranked 2nd in initial seeding. She faced off against the only Team USA member in attendance, Amanda Sirico, in the table of 64, starting off the competition with a strong 15-5 victory. Branza then matched up against Francesca Quondamcarlo (ITA) in her table of 32, winning by a closer 15-11 margin. Branza’s winning streak continued with a slight easier bout against Lyubov Shutova (RUS) in the table of 16 with a 15-9 victory.

Things got a little sticky in the quarter finals for the Romanian when she was almost upset by 24th seeded Beate Christmann (GER), but came through with a 10-9 victory. Anna Sivkova (RUS) was matched up against Mingfang Yin (CHN) in her quarter final match and came away with a smooth 15-6 victory as well as a guaranteed spot on the podium. Her entrance to the finals was blocked though by Branza, who won their semifinal bout 15-10.

13th seeded Emese Szasz (HUN) created an upset in the table of 16 when she won her bout against 3rd seeded Shin A Lam 15-9. Her luck continued against Tiffany Geroudet (SUI), winning their quarter final match 14-12. At the same time, 47th seeded Simona Pop (ROU) made an even bigger upset when she won her bout over top seeded Yujie Sun 15-12 in her table of 16. Her luck ran out though in the quarter finals against Tatyana Andryushina (RUS), with the Russian out-touching her in a close 15-14 match.

This set Szasz up against Andryushina in the semifinals, with Szasz continuing her incredible win streak with a 15-8 victory. Szasz was finally shut down in the finals by Branza, who won their gold medal match 15-10. Szasz’s 2nd place finish brought the Hungarian up to 8th in world rankings, while Branza’s title inched her ahead of Sun to become the top women’s epeeist of the season.

Zagunis (USA) v Kim J (KOR)-Semi-Tianjin 2013 Women’s Sabre Grand Prix. Photo S.Timacheff

This past weekend was full of heated fencing competition, and the Coupe du Monde Women’s Sabre Grand Prix in Tianjin and Jockey Club Argentino Men’s Epee World Cup in Buenos Aires were no exception, especially as the last Team USA qualifying events of the season. Mariel Zagunis (USA) claimed her sixth individual medal of the season, while Ruben Limardo Gascon (VEN) won gold and bumped Max Heinzer (SUI) from the top spot in the Men’s Epee world rankings. 

Along with Zagunis, Dagmara Wozniak and Ibtihaj Muhammad had already secured their positions on the 2013 Senior World Team before coming into the Grand Prix individual event. The final fourth spot remained up for contention between three eligible American fencers.

Eliza Stone was ranked fourth in the U.S. Team Point Standings at the start of the tournament, but could be passed by Sage Palmedo if she posted a top 16 result. Monica Aksamit would require a gold medal to pass both and join Team USA at Senior Worlds. Palmedo was dropped from contention after a rough 1-4 result in pools on Friday that eliminated her from Saturday’s events. In the table of 64 Stone upset the 5^th seeded Aleksandra Socha (POL) 15-11, and Aksamit defeated Xin Zhang (CHN) 15-9.

Stone fenced Sabina Mikina (AZE) in the table of 32 and won 15-5, but lost to Jisu Yoon (KOR) 15-13 in the table of 16, finishing 16^th overall.  Aksamit was matched against Dina Galiakbarova (RUS) in the table of 32 lost in a close 15-14 match, finishing 29^th overall and leaving only Stone to claim the open Team USA spot. Galiakbarova continued on against Irene Vecchi (ITA) in the table of 16, winning another close 15-14 bout.

The story of the weekend was Zagunis’ 15-0 victory.

Initially seeded 2^nd, Zagunis began Saturday with a close 15-14 bout against Jaeyeun You (KOR) in the table of 64. She recouped and won her bout 15-9 against Elizaveta Kiryanova (RUS) in the table of 32 and went on to the table of 16 to beat Huixian Liang (CHN) 15-6.

The American was on fire, and her win streak continued into the quarter finals by surprising everyone with a 15-0 victory over Galiakbarova.  She cooled off some in the semifinals, but overcame Jiyeon Kim (KOR) 15-13.

Ultimately Ekaterina Dyachenko (RUS) upset the American, claiming gold with a 15-11 win.

Meanwhile, in Argentina

At the start of competition day, Soren Thompson was the only men’s epeeist who had secured a position on Team USA’s Senior Worlds team. Five other eligible fencers joined him at the World Cup in Buenos Aires to claim the other three spots up for contention.

Alexander Tsinis, who held the 2^nd highest position in U.S. point standings, made it through preliminary pools and his first DE but lost the second to Yuval Shalom Freilich (ISR). His Team USA spot depended now on how the others preformed on Saturday.

To break into the top 4 spot, Samuel Freiman would need a silver medal finish.  He upset Thompson in a close 15-14 match in the table of 64 but finished 31^st after a 15-14 loss to Alexey Tikhomriov (RUS), falling out of contention. Jonathan Yergler required a top 32 finish to acquire a spot on Team USA, but lost to Dmitriy Karuchenko (UKR) 15-11 in the table of 64.

Their losses meant that Tsinis, Jason Pryor, and Adam Watson would retain their 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th rankings and join Thompson at the Senior Worlds and Pan Am games.

Watson and Pryor were eliminated in the table of 64. Watson lost 15-13 to Radoslaw Zawrotniak (POL) while Pryor lost to Sergey Khodos (RUS), also 15-13.

Khodos went on to fence Heinzer, losing 15-8 in the table of 32. Heinzer then went up against Anton Avdeev (RUS) and won 15-6. He then faced a major upset in the quarter finals, losing to 45^th seed Norman Ackermann (GER) 15-11. Ackermann lost in the semifinals in a close 12-10 match to Jiri Beran (CZE). Zawrotniak’s winning streak took him from Watson to the semifinals, where he lost to Ruben Limardo Gascon 15-12.

Gascon defeated Beran in the finals in a nail-biting 15-14 finish, the gold medal granting him the top spot in world rankings for the season’s close.

FIE Results: Tianjin Women’s Sabre

FIE Results: Buenos Aires Men’s Epee

Race Imboden and Nzingha Prescod topped the podiums this past weekends in individual competitions.

Nzingha Prescod made U.S. Fencing history this past Saturday when she won the Marseille Foil Grand Prix, becoming the first U.S. women’s foil fencer to do so at a Grand Prix event. Joining her in the top 8 was her teammate Lee Kiefer, finishing 6^th. Meanwhile Race Imboden returned to his first podium spot since the 2012 Pan Ams with a 1^st place finish at the Havana Foil World Cup. Race’s victory is the first for a US Men’s Foilist since Cliff Bayer in 2000.

Initially seeded 10^th in the tournament, Prescod was exempted from the pools and preliminary tables on Friday and opened strong Saturday with a 15-7 victory over 2013 Junior World Champion Camilla Mancini (ITA) in the table of 64. In the table of 32 she defeated Viktoria Kozyreva (RUS) 15-11, and then edged Ysaora Thibus (FRA) 15-14 to continue on to the quarter-finals.

Standing between Prescod and advancement to the semi-finals and a possible podium finish was 2^nd world ranked fencer Inna Deriglazova (RUS, who has had four 1^st place finishes this season. The American managed a 15-12 win and went on to fence Corinne Maitrejean (FRA) in the semifinals, claiming a close 15-14 victory. Now guaranteed a podium finish, she is the first U.S. female foil fencer to do so since Iris Zimmermann in 2004.

Meanwhile, her teammate Lee Kiefer won both her bouts 15-8 in the table of 64 and table of 32 against Flora Tran (FRA) and Saskia Loretta Van Erven Garcia (COL), respectively. Moving on to the table of 16, she defeated Hee Sook Jeon (KOR) 15-11. Her win streak ended in the table of 8 against Carolina Erba (ITA), where she lost 15-9. Erba went on to fence Carolin Golubytskyi (GER) in the semifinals, losing a close bout 15-14.

Prescod went on to the gold medal bout against Golubytskyi, where she came away with a 15-12 win. Nzingha Prescod is the first U.S. women’s foil fencer ever to win gold at a Grand Prix event. The finish moved her up to the 8^th place spot in world rankings.

Across the pond, Imboden was reminding everyone just why he was 4^th in world rankings last year. He had been unable to break through the table of 16 the past seven events on the World Cup circuit this year. This weekend he finished his rough season with a gold medal at the Havana Foil World Cup.

Beginning the tournament with a 7^th initial seeding, Imboden was matched up against his Team USA teammate Michael Dudey in the table of 64. After a solid 15-6 win, Imboden inched his way into the quarter-finals after two close 15-14 bouts against Minkyu Kim (KOR) and Jun Heo (KOR) in the table of 32 and table of 16, respectively.

Meanwhile his teammate Gerek Meinhardt (initially seeded 1^st in the tournament) began with a smooth 15-5 victory over Joao Antonio Souza (BRA) in the table of 64. After a 15-6 win in the table of 32 over Vincent Simon (FRA), Meinhardt lost to Ryo Miyake (JPN) 15-10 in the table of 16 and placed ninth. Miyake went on to fence Imboden in the quarter finals, with the American squeezing by with another 15-14 victory. Things got a little easier for Imboden in the semifinals with a 15-8 win against Alexey Khovanskiy (RUS) that secured him a podium spot and ticket into the finals.

In the gold medal match, he went up against Giorgio Avola (ITA). Avola led most of the bout, nearly securing victory when the score became 14-10. But Imboden bounced back to win 15-14 with five nail-biting touches, earning him the top spot on the podium and a break into the top 10 world rankings.

With this weekend wrapped up, the future is currently looking bright for the U.S. Men’s Foil Team. Three of the four members hold top 10 world rankings: Gerek Meinhardt (4^th), Alexander Massialas (8^th), and Race Imboden (9^th). Miles Chamley-Watson, the fourth member, is ranked 19^th. Collectively they have earned six individual medals for the U.S. this season, and look to be back on the podium at the Senior Worlds and the Pan Am games.

Inside the Games discusses fencing’s place in the Olympic Games.

On Sunday’s “Inside the Games” blog, fencing’s future in the Olympic Games was the subject of the article.

David Owen makes a point long known to fencing – that a long history with the Games doesn’t guarantee continued inclusion in the Olympics. He also goes on to point out some of the things that fencing has done over the years.

FIE General Secretary Frédéric Pietruszka was quoted saying: “While we must not forget the 100 years that have passed, we must concern ourselves more with the next 100.”

What was most interesting were the changes being thought about for Rio 2016 and beyond.

A purely cosmetic change would be adding more colors to the uniform. We already saw positive reactions from Team USA’s fencing masks at the 2012 Games, so expanding from just decorated masks to a full uniform isn’t much of a stretch, plus it fits the FIE’s stated goal of making changes to the sport “evolutionary.”

A more interesting statement, however, was this one by Pietruszka: “we have noticed that the third and final leg of a match is often the most active” followed up by:

“We may cut the length of each leg from three minutes to two.”

In order to make the 2016 Games, a rules change would need to be implemented during the 2013-14 fencing season.

As of now, the rules change is purely speculation, but look for a discussion of these rules to come up during the next FIE Congress.

What do you think of those potential changes to fencing? Would a 2 minute DE period speed up the bout enough to put off stalling in the first two periods for foil and epee?

In 2010, at a national-level tournament, I had a student fencing in Cadet Men’s Epee to make top eight. At 14-14, he came forward with a huge advance and grandiose preparation and was hit for a single light to lose 15-14.

A coach not only gives advice, but provides emotional grounding during a bout. Photo:S.Timacheff/FencingPhotos

Dejected and angered from his close loss, he spiked his mask, hard. The referee stared him down, waved him over and proceeded to explain why he should give a black card, but wouldn’t  My student looked like a dog with his tail between the legs, but I didn’t think this “almost punishment” was sufficient. At the time, I could have let the incident go, but I was truly ashamed in that moment to be his coach. I thanked the referee and asked him if he would be in the venue the next day. He said he would.

I approached my student.

“Hey Darin,” I said.

“Yeah?” he sheepishly replied.

“I want a five page handwritten note to be turned into your referee apologizing for spiking your mask. Explain to him why this is not a reflection of your behavior or your club. I want it in his hand before the first events start tomorrow.”

“But…” he objected,

“No buts. And I don’t want to see you in the club for a week. I don’t tolerate that kind of behavior.”
I turned and walked away, perhaps adding insult to his injury. I never saw “Darin” have another outburst, and he became increasingly friendly to referees. It was a lesson that had to be learned. In a game of chivalry like fencing, sportsmanship is equally important to ability.

“Darin’s” case was an opportunity to nip the behavior in the bud, and we succeeded. But what happens when we as coaches, parents, and athletes stop stressing the importance of sportsmanship? What happens when the win becomes the only thing of importance? These issues came to light in a recent discussion had among some of my fencing friends in response to the tragic, untimely death of Soccer referee Ricardo Portillo.

It is unfathomable to think that a fencer would ever resort to assaulting a referee as Ricardo Portillo was; yet, throughout our discussion, my referee friends ruefully recounted a series of anecdotes that indicated that such behavior in fact COULD be possible. One told a story of a NJ high school event where a losing fencer screamed in anger and broke a blade over his own head. I told a story of a man who was black carded for telling a ref to “[expletive] himself” and refused to leave the strip for 20 minutes. Another told the tale of a losing fencer who threateningly made gun gestures at her following a loss. And most unfortunately, all agreed that the recent Super Youth Circuit (SYC) in New York was chock full of fencers AND parents who disrespected the officials and exuded prima donna behavior.

Virtuous behavior must remain commonplace in fencing, or we stand to lose our values that have made our sport great. Charles Astudillo, a longtime and well-respected referee summed it up best: “We are human after all, but there needs to be a change in thought. It’s a difficult leap to make. Not just in our sport either, we need to teach sportsmanship again. I watched too many bouts at this most recent SYC where the losing fencer lost it right along with the bout. We need to teach sportsmanship at the clubs, and we need most of all to enforce it locally and nationally.”

Parents, coaches, and athletes, I implore you: winning isn’t everything. Teach your child/student to conduct himself/herself as a sportsman, and it will go a long way both on and off the strip. The decades long friendships we form in fencing are forged through the bonds of mutual respect in competition, familiarity with the same faces and opponents over the years, and through the joy of fencing itself. Take that away, and we’re a bunch of barbarians wielding swords.