*Really* veteran fencers

[Juan C. Gil]

My foil coach, Zulfikar El-Kashef, is 79 years old.
He was part of the Egypt fencing team at the first
Mediterranean Games held in Alexandria (Egypt) back
in 1951, that was 54 years ago!

You can see a recent photo of him at the bottom of
http://estadium.ya.com/melpomenia/cuerpotecnico.html

I wonder whether this is common; do you know or
'really veteran' fencers (say above 70) still
coaching/practicing?

Juan Carlos---

[Harald Kirschner]

> I wonder whether this is common; do you know or
> 'really veteran' fencers (say above 70) still
> coaching/practicing?

Hi!

Look at:

Mag. Stanislaw Krucinsky, born 11th of May 1933

http://www.fechten-wien.at/index.php?fechten=1804

known as Polnish National Coach 1966-1973

known as Mexican National Coach 1973-1975

lots of other fencing coach work

still head and active (very active!) coach of the Wiener Fechtclub (Vienna's
Fencing Club)

72 years old, by best health

CU

Harald (being coached in fencing epee by Stanislaw)

[Neil Gendzwill]

Juan C. Gil wrote:

> I wonder whether this is common; do you know or
> 'really veteran' fencers (say above 70) still
> coaching/practicing?

There's a ton of kendo instructors still going well into their 70s and
even 80s. Tadatoshi Haga kicked my ass when he was 76, came back to
visit four years later and kicked it again for good measure.

Neil

[Harold Buck]

In article <1118239718.333689.32770@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups. com>,
"Juan C. Gil" <jgil@gmv.es> wrote:

> My foil coach, Zulfikar El-Kashef, is 79 years old.
> He was part of the Egypt fencing team at the first
> Mediterranean Games held in Alexandria (Egypt) back
> in 1951, that was 54 years ago!
>
> You can see a recent photo of him at the bottom of
> http://estadium.ya.com/melpomenia/cuerpotecnico.html
>
> I wonder whether this is common; do you know or
> 'really veteran' fencers (say above 70) still
> coaching/practicing?

I don't know how old Mastro Ed Richards is, but he's got to be at least
60 and maybe older:

http://www.redrocktrainingcenter.com/Fencing/staff.html


--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

[Piet Wauters]

I think this is not so unusal.
My coach Marcel Minnen, is still active and somewhere in his seventies,
http://www.schekul-parcival.be/

"Juan C. Gil" <jgil@gmv.es> schreef in bericht
news:1118239718.333689.32770@f14g2000cwb.googlegro ups.com...
> My foil coach, Zulfikar El-Kashef, is 79 years old.
> He was part of the Egypt fencing team at the first
> Mediterranean Games held in Alexandria (Egypt) back
> in 1951, that was 54 years ago!
>
> You can see a recent photo of him at the bottom of
> http://estadium.ya.com/melpomenia/cuerpotecnico.html
>
> I wonder whether this is common; do you know or
> 'really veteran' fencers (say above 70) still
> coaching/practicing?
>
> Juan Carlos---
>

[David B. Redmond]

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 12:06:22 -0500, Harold Buck
<no_one_knows@comcast.net> wrote:


>
>I don't know how old Mastro Ed Richards is, but he's got to be at least
>60 and maybe older:
>
He was already an 'old' guy when I knew him in 1963-1967!!

[Doug White]

Keywords:
In article <1118239718.333689.32770@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups. com>, "Juan C. Gil" <jgil@gmv.es> wrote:
>My foil coach, Zulfikar El-Kashef, is 79 years old.
>He was part of the Egypt fencing team at the first
>Mediterranean Games held in Alexandria (Egypt) back
>in 1951, that was 54 years ago!
>
>You can see a recent photo of him at the bottom of
>http://estadium.ya.com/melpomenia/cuerpotecnico.html
>
>I wonder whether this is common; do you know or
>'really veteran' fencers (say above 70) still
>coaching/practicing?

Not at the moment, but when I was taking classes in California, both my
instructors were over 70. I may be a bit off on the exact dates, but
I believe one had been captain of the MIT fencing team (Class of 1940).
The other instructor was close to 80, and had been the 1936 Hungarian
national saber champion.

Very old fencers are not at all uncommon. The really good ones are very
fit, and last a long time. They also have a long standing passion for
the sport, and will keep it up as long as they are able, in one capacity
or another.

Doug White

[mrbiggs]

A fencer used to come to my club from time to time who, I was told, is over 80. He competed in the Olympics some 40 or 50 years ago.

He stopped coming to the club, and I've heard it's because he cut off his dominant thumb with a chain saw. (Accidentally.)

Anyway, it was very interesting to watch him fence, because not only did he use older moves, but he also had to make up for his age. He did not have the strength or reflexes of most of the kids he was fencing, so he had to use intelligence and finesse to make up for it. It was really interesting to see him block a complex attack, and several remises, with a single well-placed parry.

[fencerbill]

Bill Goering, who just passed away, was about 71. Ralph Spinella and Dan Marmer from Connecticut are about 80. Jim Campoli, who is running the Tampa Vets World Championships in September, is in his mid 70s.

[mrbiggs]

Ralph Spinella

Yes, that's who I was thinking of.

[Peach]

Dick Johnson, at our club (FAP), is 80 and going strong. He's an initiation rite in foil, epee, and sabre for the beginning fencers--once you finally manage to beat him, it's official that you know what you're doing. Dick doesn't move a whole lot and he looks like a big target, but that's a false impression.

[Dirk Goldgar]

"Peach" <Peach.1qujq5@timelimit.fencing101.com> wrote in message
news:Peach.1qujq5@timelimit.fencing101.com
> Dick Johnson, at our club (FAP), is 80 and going strong. He's an
> initiation rite in foil, epee, and sabre for the beginning
> fencers--once you finally manage to beat him, it's official that you
> know what you're doing. Dick doesn't move a whole lot and he looks
> like a big target, but that's a false impression.

And he has a chapter in one of your books named for him, which must be
quite a distinction!

--

Dirk Goldgar

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