Kendall-Jackson International Foil Tournament

[edew]

The Kendall-Jackson (of the wine fame) International Foil Tournament is scheduled for Saturday, October 2, 2004 at Sonoma State University with bronze and gold medal bouts held at the Kendall-Jackson winery.

International fencers scheduled to attend (and this is for sure) are:
* Franck Boidin
* Simone Vanni
* Adeline Wuilleme
* Margherita Grambassi
others.

Winner will receive $1500, second place will receive $1000, third place receive $500 (or equivalent in prizes for these three spots).

This year, there is a separate men's foil and women's foil event. Entry is open to all fencers with international FIE points (in foil), top-15 point holders in the USFA ranking list, and the first 20 entrants with a B-classification or higher. Sign up now by going to the Sonoma Fencing Academy website and contacting the folks there (info@sonomafencing.com is a possible contact point).

Hope to see you there!

[fluidfencer]

Eric,

Could you tell us a little about how this event was organized? How did you get Kendall-Jackson to sponsor it? How is it structured financially? Is there a financial benefit to you or your club? Do the fencers get to sample (*hiccup*)? Any details would be helpful.

[rdinap]

The Kendall-Jackson Tournament is now in its 3rd or 4th year. It is arranged (to the best of my knowledge) by the Sonoma Fencing Academy and at first was at the conclusion of a week-long French-American Fencing camp. I don't think Eric has anything to do with it financially other than to pay the entrance fee to compete. The first one a couple of years ago was a simple unsanctioned tournament in a grammer school gym where the final four competed at a fundraising dinner at the winery later that evening. Apparently it has improved substantially in the last year in attracting some international fencing stars. Michael Pacheco deserves congratulations for this coup.

[edew]

Rdinap's comments are pretty spot on. Michael Pacheco, head coach of Sonoma Fencing Academy is the person who pulled this all together. It's his baby and if he's a bit more computer literate, he'll sing the praises here himself.

Since I'm a big supporter of all things that help fencing, I unabashedly promote this event. This is the third year of this event. I only competed in the first year, when it was so-so. Last year, Richard Breutner from Germany and several other top fencers showed up. I refereed (got paid, so that's my financial motive, I guess) and helped schmooze the guests at the K-J dinner. Had a nice talk with John Lasseter, big guy at Pixar (director of Toy Story, etc.). He was there to help support the event with a nice 3-liter bottle of wine in a Finding Nemo bottle.

I do get a nice dinner out of it, as it's one of the best meals I've ever had. Then we party till dawn.

[edew]

Updating the list of euro fencers:

Franck Boidin (as mentioned before)
Simone Vanni
Marco Vannini
Antoine Mercier
Tomer Or
Gioia Marcozza (as a guest, she's not going to be fencing)
Cedric Anen (ok, he's quasi-euro fencer, given that he's been in the US for the past 4 years or so).

The US Olympic foil team squad of Dan, Jed, and Jon have been invited to attend as well.

Other than those slouches, maybe you can join in the festivities. $50 entry fee (no reg fee, so it's comparable to most sectional level competition) gets you a chance to bang your blade against the bests of the world. Contact info@sonomafencing.com to sign up or to get more information.

[veeco]

Originally Posted by edew

Gioia Marcozza (as a guest, she's not going to be fencing)

Marzocca :-)

[edew]

Hey, at least I didn't spell it Marcazzo.