High School fencing increase

[sjkontos]

Soprano, Blue Devils, 1984 (1/10th of a point SUCKS!!)
Currently with Dream Sr. in Los Angeles (soprano for now, but trying to get my drum major position back)

BTW...there's a new Sr. corps in Cleveland caled North Coast Rock...just in case you wanna march...

I've always been a big Blue Devils fan. My high school band played the BD arrangement of "When a Man Loves a Woman" one year.

Anyway, I play the saxophone so drum corps is out of the question. I was also a drum major (3 years in high school) so I could always go that route.

[Purple Fencer]

I've always been a big Blue Devils fan. My high school band played the BD arrangement of "When a Man Loves a Woman" one year.

Anyway, I play the saxophone so drum corps is out of the question. I was also a drum major (3 years in high school) so I could always go that route.

Lears to play brass....one of the guys I marched with in Dream for the last 2 years marched 86-87 Spirit and 88 Cadets....but started out as a tenor sax man...

[govsecrets]

Now now....band's plenty athletic if you have a good program....drum corps even more so (been there....still doing it...I know)

ok, the only thing athletic in my band that we do is run around the track once for a warmup. half the kids walk anyway, so it doesn't really count.

but yes the blue devils are such a great group! i saw them last year when the came down to san diego and of course they won. it was the best field show i'd ever seen! such precision, it made me almost join the local marching group esperanza.

[Purple Fencer]

ok, the only thing athletic in my band that we do is run around the track once for a warmup. half the kids walk anyway, so it doesn't really count.

but yes the blue devils are such a great group! i saw them last year when the came down to san diego and of course they won. it was the best field show i'd ever seen! such precision, it made me almost join the local marching group esperanza.

Esperanza is VERY good for such a young group...and I;m SO glad to have a Div I corps in my hometown (considering I tried to start one there years back).

if you go to the San Diego show this year, go early and check out Dream...I'll be there somewhere.

'Course, you could always march with us....

[Purple Fencer]

There are two high school leagues in the Pittsburgh area because, like the W. PA division, one half of the fencers (in the case of the school league, fencer-adults) won't talk to or fence with the other half.

OK....in an effort to get this thread back on track (since it was my fault anyway)....that's just plain stupid. Can;t they play well with others??

[epeeisky]

This is kinda off topic. But what states actualy have a fencing programes in the schools. This is the only thing i miss, having a team with your peers and friends your close to.

Louisiana does not have one. Sport Fencing in Southern Louisiana is only now on the rise again. The LA division has a total of 5 clubs with 3 of those being in New Orleans, and all of those are adult fencing clubs. It is kind of sad that people dont even think of fencing as a sport down here.

As for high school teams there is only one in the entire state I believe, but is in the Ark-La-Miss division. In South LA there are a few club teams that use the adult clubs for coaching and pretty much everything. My school is the only club team in Baton Rouge but since there is no league we compete with the towns only fencing club. From other people that I talk to it seems to be that way in New Orleans with a few high schools.

[haroldbuck]

The figures are from the National Federation of State High School Associations and are for only interscholastic sports that are sponsored by state associations. The figures do not include athletes on club teams or other teams not sponsored by schools.

Fencing gets counted low here because few state high school athletic federations recognize fencing even when there is high school fencing taking place. There are 6-8 teams in Minnesota, but those don't figure in this count because the high school federation doesn't recognize fencing. Also, a lot of the coaches here don't want it because the state high school association rules would prohibit them from working with their fencers in the off-season.

[nahouw]

[QUOTE=Purple Fencer]
Soprano, Blue Devils, 1984 (1/10th of a point SUCKS!!)
Currently with Dream Sr. in Los Angeles (soprano for now, but trying to get my drum major position back)

[QUOTE]

Oohhhh I remember watching that... it sucked. But every tick counts....

(soprano w/ St James Saints, mellophone w/ Cranford Patriots, soprano w/ Sunrisers)

Great that you marched with Blue Devils at that time!!

[rsy]

HS fencing in NJ is very strong and growing. I believe that this past season 37 high schools fielded varsity teams and the 2005 Freshman/Sophmore Tournament where all the Freshman and Sophmores in the state compete, had over 800 fencers registered. In my son's high school there are as many kids on the fencing team (boys and girls) as on the football squads and a nearby school had over 100 freshman show up this year to fence. Most of the programs are well-funded and some of the booster clubs have funds on hand that a football coach would give his left tackle to gets his hands on. The small town we live in runs a rec dept program off-season in 10 week sessions for $45/session. This has also spurred a lot of USFA growth and within 15 mins of the town center we have 2 well-known clubs, a new club that just opened and Amanda's new shop.

During HS fencing season, each week the Newark Star Ledger names a boy and a girl fencers of the week and does a profile on them, and at the end of the season the paper names a boy and a girl fencers of the year. The paper also names an all-state team as does the NJIFA.

Our cups runneth over.

-r

[Purple Fencer]

[QUOTE=nahouw][QUOTE=Purple Fencer]
Soprano, Blue Devils, 1984 (1/10th of a point SUCKS!!)
Currently with Dream Sr. in Los Angeles (soprano for now, but trying to get my drum major position back)

Oohhhh I remember watching that... it sucked. But every tick counts....

Heh...if we'd been on the tick system we probably would've won...even the Cadets themselves thought they'd lost the show. 84 was the first year for the build-up system in all captions.

(soprano w/ St James Saints, mellophone w/ Cranford Patriots, soprano w/ Sunrisers)

Great that you marched with Blue Devils at that time!!

Thanks! It was probably the defining year of my life.

And I see you CAN'T march Dream since you're probably marching Sun! Heh. You guys took DCA in 87 when I was marching Empire Statesmen (ahhh yes...rain so torrential that prelims became finals...)

[Purple Fencer]

HS fencing in NJ is very strong and growing. I believe that this past season 37 high schools fielded varsity teams and the 2005 Freshman/Sophmore Tournament where all the Freshman and Sophmores in the state compete, had over 800 fencers registered. In my son's high school there are as many kids on the fencing team (boys and girls) as on the football squads and a nearby school had over 100 freshman show up this year to fence. Most of the programs are well-funded and some of the booster clubs have funds on hand that a football coach would give his left tackle to gets his hands on. The small town we live in runs a rec dept program off-season in 10 week sessions for $45/session. This has also spurred a lot of USFA growth and within 15 mins of the town center we have 2 well-known clubs, a new club that just opened and Amanda's new shop.

During HS fencing season, each week the Newark Star Ledger names a boy and a girl fencers of the week and does a profile on them, and at the end of the season the paper names a boy and a girl fencers of the year. The paper also names an all-state team as does the NJIFA.

Our cups runneth over.

-r

I'd have to check and see how many kids fence in the SoCal league...all I know is I set up an hour before the close of check in (9am usually) and often don't start packing until 6pm...LOTS o' people!

[nahouw]

Thanks! It was probably the defining year of my life.

And I see you CAN'T march Dream since you're probably marching Sun! Heh. You guys took DCA in 87 when I was marching Empire Statesmen (ahhh yes...rain so torrential that prelims became finals...)

Yes, excellent result for you -- definitely memorable!!! My best results were my Junior results with Saints -- we always won FASNY (Firemens Association of the State of New York) -- we were a fire department drum corps... best memories beside winning was the firemen's carnivals....and also a couple of top 3 DCE results.

To get that good a result is the TOTAL commitment and cooperation from the corps. Blue Devils has such a great, strong organization -- one of my favorites (of course, the Bayonne Bridgemen and the Phantom Regiment being my other favorites).

I aged out of the Saints in 1982; wound up joining the Patriots for one season in 1983-1984 through a college classmate -- Patriots needed a mellophone, and I was glad to join -- with Saints, I was the lead second soprano, so Saints wouldn't let me switch to mellophone (I LOVE mellophone...) but with Patriots, since I was new, I only marched parades.

In 1991, my mom met a woman at work whose son was in Sunrisers, and that's how I got sucked back in -- marched with them for 2 seasons, doing mostly Jets' half-time shows. I quit after one particular work weekend -- it brought back memories of Junior corps were people weren't cooperating -- you can't have a good show unless you have TOTAL commitment and cooperation, and I like to participate with people who are all committed to the big picture. I think organizationally speaking, in the time after 1987, they made too many changes in the organization, biggest one replacing the M&M director.

I can't march Dream, because I'm an East-coaster; I'm not marching with Sunrisers anymore (although they try periodically to get me drawn back in). I don't even know if I have the time anymore, but then again, I think since you brought these nice memories up, maybe I'll take the trip to Allentown this year to watch DCE's.