Canadians in the Individual Epee???

[cornflower]

http://www.fencing101.com/content/view/286/2/

I was looking at this link, and I noticed that there were no Canadians... what are your thoughts on this?

[dunastor]

No thoughts. Apparently they didn't qualify. Better luck next Olympics.

[kalivor]

http://www.fencing101.com/content/view/286/2/

I was looking at this link, and I noticed that there were no Canadians... what are your thoughts on this?

I'm completely unsurprised, since no Canadians qualified. The top Canadian individual is ranked 55th, well below Ayana who is the lowest ranked American zone epeeist on the list -- Ayana was another ten spots higher at the cut-off date for determining who would be going to Athens.

Team-wise, Canada isn't too far behind the U.S. for the team spot. They were eliminated from the Olympics in the Vancouver World Cup, however -- they needed to place significantly higher than the U.S. to get in, and they finished last.

It's been pretty sure for a while that Canada wouldn't be sending anybody in men's epee.

[cornflower]

What about foil and sabre, for the individual competitions?

[kalivor]

What about foil and sabre, for the individual competitions?

Josh McGuire will be fencing foil, Michel Boulos will be fencing sabre ... no women foilists or sabreurs.

[cornflower]

Josh McGuire will be fencing foil, Michel Boulos will be fencing sabre ... no women foilists or sabreurs.

Oh man, I was hoping Laurie Shong would be fencing.

[whtouche]

http://www.fencing101.com/content/view/286/2/

I was looking at this link, and I noticed that there were no Canadians... what are your thoughts on this?

That the canadians should probably get better if they want to qualify for the olympics?

[Grasshopper]

That the canadians should probably get better if they want to qualify for the olympics?

Canada lost a lot of steam after about 1996 in all weapons. The Mousketaire club in Montreal had a mass exodus of excellent mens foil and epee fencers, the mens foilists of the Edmonton Fencing Club also moved on, and the Vancouver epeeists, while strong in the 80's and 90's started to fade away. Many attribute the biggest loss to Canadian fencing the departure of Jean Pierre Lecoz, the national epee and foil coach and Mousketaire's long time coach. While fencing in the US has gained a lot of steam, Canada has lagged behind recently. The answer in an nutshell is lack of quality coaching and financial support.

[cornflower]

Canada lost a lot of steam after about 1996 in all weapons. The Mousketaire club in Montreal had a mass exodus of excellent mens foil and epee fencers, the mens foilists of the Edmonton Fencing Club also moved on, and the Vancouver epeeists, while strong in the 80's and 90's started to fade away. Many attribute the biggest loss to Canadian fencing the departure of Jean Pierre Lecoz, the national epee and foil coach and Mousketaire's long time coach. While fencing in the US has gained a lot of steam, Canada has lagged behind recently. The answer in an nutshell is lack of quality coaching and financial support.

That blows! How disappointing. Well, I guess we should all try harder, then!

[Grasshopper]

That blows! How disappointing. Well, I guess we should all try harder, then!

Yeah, we should. The first thing to do is to find a quality coach and a core of dedicated fencers to train with. Although fencing is an individual sport, you can't excel without a group of athletes and a smart coach. Canada can rise again, but it will take a lot of hard work. The usual pattern is 1: excellent coach makes strong fencers 2: fencers perform well 3: Canadian fencing gets a bit of recognition 4: CFF gets more funding 5: fencers and coaches get more financing. 6: Canadian fencing thrives.

Unfortunately, this all breaks down when you lose a good coach. Athletes get discouraged and quit, new athletes don't excel, fencing loses recognition, CFF gets less funding, Canadian fencing drops.

The answer is coaches coaches coaches. Now that the US is a world power in fencing, there is no excuse for Canada not to follow suit. Geographically, it is now possible to compete with world class athletes without spending a fortune going to Europe. The time has never been better for Canada to bloom.

[cornflower]

Exactly how do we improve our coaching situation? How do we attract GOOD coaches? Do you have any examples?

[Grasshopper]

Exactly how do we improve our coaching situation? How do we attract GOOD coaches? Do you have any examples?

There are actually some good coaches already in Canada who are capable of growing Olympic quality athletes. For foil, Glenn Sampson now in Calgary is a perfect example - he is a fencing master and has brought up world class athletes in the past. Jerzy K. (won't even try to spell the last name) in Vancouver is an Epee master and brought up Laury Shong. Alan Nelson of Brooks Alberta brought up Sherrain Schalm, our only medal hopeful this time. She was also coached by Manuel Guittet of Ottawa, who is also a fencing genius. Craig Bowlsby of Vancouver is a master foilist and if he ever starting coaching, his athletes would do very well. David Waller of Ottawa could also bring up champions in foil if he wanted to.

INHO, the above names could bring up a Canadian National Champion, but to actually be a power on the world stage, that same athlete would have to train for at least a short time in Europe.

[cornflower]

Oh I know Jerzy Kajrenius... I fenced at Vanguard under Jerzy and Laurie. Very nice men. What about Master Bac Tau?

[nahouw]

No thoughts. Apparently they didn't qualify. Better luck next Olympics.

Under the Canadian system, they have instituted qualifying standards (much the same that exist for track and field and swimming on an IGB level). When the Candian team did not qualify, no individual Canadian had reached the qualifying standard that is in place to enable them to send a fencer to the zonal qualifying competition.

It is such a shame, because when I saw Tarsch Bakos fencing in Puerto Rico, he was fencing very well -- but under the Candianian system, they denied him the opportunity to compete in the zonal, a competition in which he could have won, and he would be going to the Olympics.

[Grasshopper]

Oh I know Jerzy Kajrenius... I fenced at Vanguard under Jerzy and Laurie. Very nice men. What about Master Bac Tau?

Don't know Mr Tau...

[Grasshopper]

Under the Canadian system, they have instituted qualifying standards (much the same that exist for track and field and swimming on an IGB level). When the Candian team did not qualify, no individual Canadian had reached the qualifying standard that is in place to enable them to send a fencer to the zonal qualifying competition.

It is such a shame, because when I saw Tarsch Bakos fencing in Puerto Rico, he was fencing very well -- but under the Candianian system, they denied him the opportunity to compete in the zonal, a competition in which he could have won, and he would be going to the Olympics.

That is a shame when the athletes are not even given a chance to fence at a zonal qualifier...these are the kind of things that cause good coaches to get frustrated and quit.

[cornflower]

Don't know Mr Tau...

Master Bac's web address is: www.fencingmaster.com

[Gav]

I saw his book - "Fencing" I think it's called. It looked like a virtual encyclopedia! LP had a couple of copies but they sold very fast. When I contact Mr Bac I never go an answer. Have you seem his books? Are they any good? Does he have nay more copies?

[cornflower]

I saw his book - "Fencing" I think it's called. It looked like a virtual encyclopedia! LP had a couple of copies but they sold very fast. When I contact Mr Bac I never go an answer. Have you seem his books? Are they any good? Does he have nay more copies?

No idea. I haven't seen his books, yet. I only met him once, and chatted with him about fencing in his club in October. He's a very nice man.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Yeah, we should. The first thing to do is to find a quality coach and a core of dedicated fencers to train with. Although fencing is an individual sport, you can't excel without a group of athletes and a smart coach. Canada can rise again, but it will take a lot of hard work. The usual pattern is 1: excellent coach makes strong fencers 2: fencers perform well 3: Canadian fencing gets a bit of recognition 4: CFF gets more funding 5: fencers and coaches get more financing. 6: Canadian fencing thrives.

Unfortunately, this all breaks down when you lose a good coach. Athletes get discouraged and quit, new athletes don't excel, fencing loses recognition, CFF gets less funding, Canadian fencing drops.

The answer is coaches coaches coaches. Now that the US is a world power in fencing, there is no excuse for Canada not to follow suit. Geographically, it is now possible to compete with world class athletes without spending a fortune going to Europe. The time has never been better for Canada to bloom.

I'm not sure if its about coaches, or athletes. After-all, the coach encourages the athlete to train, do footwork, run in the morning, stuff like that. But the athlete is already capable of doing these things, so the coach is just pushing the athlete to new limits, but the athlete can do that without a coach, if he has the will. It would be interesting to see if someone could get to a very high level of fencing without a coach if they had the will.