a word to the wise

[KC]

Here is a little FYI... In case you find yourself being interviewed by your local paper aobut your new fencing club and the reported decides to snap a few photos for the story. Make sure you don't let him take a shot of you attempting a passata-sota (sp). And if you DO, make sure he knows what it is and that it is NOT you falling to your knees while your opponent takes a wide open shot at you... (Ohh the shame!) <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Maybe I should write a letter to the editor

On the good side I have already recieved 6 new students for out next beginners class. Taking it up to 20 which will double our numbers...

[Sciurus Rex]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial">Originally posted by KC:
<strong>On the good side I have already recieved 6 new students for out next beginners class. Taking it up to 20 which will double our numbers.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial">(Forgive me. I can't help myself...)

If the addition of 6 fencers brings the total to 20, then you must have had 14 before. But 14 doubled is not 20.

I'm horribly confused. I feel like someone just tried to explain which competitor won a saber touch.

[D'Artagnan1673]

KC,

I am sure that you didn't quite mean what you said about your size, or you left out a small bit of info which would have made that make more sense to us. Ignore Scurious, that sarcastic outburst is quite common with him and shouldn't be taken terribly hard.

As far as your reporter goes, I would definately say something. That was a terribly ignorant (note I didn't say stupid) mistake of his. He should have showed you the pictures that they were using and had you describe the action. Also, never interview PERIOD with a newspaper person. They like to take your words and thoughts out of contex to make you look and sound different from what you meant.

[Mo]

&lt;&lt;On the good side I have already recieved 6 new students for out next beginners class. Taking it up to 20 which will double our numbers... &gt;&gt;&gt;

I thought this was some kind of algebra problem!! Solve for X.

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial">Originally posted by KC:
<strong>...On the good side I have already recieved 6 new students for out next beginners class. Taking it up to 20 which will double our numbers... </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial">It is my understanding that there are 6 new students.
Taking it up to 20 which will double our numbers. This means either
1. There are 20 people in the beginning class. Double of 20 is 40 members in total, meaning there are 14 old beginners and 6 new beginners in the beginning class.
or
2. 20 is the total number of members. Double of 10 is 20 members. So, there would be 10 people in the beginning class, 6 of them being new and 4 of them being old.
or
3. KC is a bumbling idiot.

[KC]

Sorry for the confusion it was late last night... We have a total of 20 new members signed up for the next beginners class. We currently have 20 fencers in the club. This new 20 will double the old 20.

I didn't realize this was a math forum as well.

[Fencing Mom]

You all have too much time on your hands.

[HilandDoug]

It's all about control. My students and I have been interviewed, most recently when one of our fencers was travelling to JO's and the local paper wanted to do a feature on him. Knowing that the reporter would not know a whit about fencing, we were careful what we spoke about and what we did for the photographer. When the photographer asked us to do some things that he thought would look good in the newspaper, we declined and explained why it didn't represent our sport. We had rehearsed a few phrases of my student attacking me in various ways, so when the photographer asked us to fence so he could take pictures, we were ready with a few "poses". He was unaware that we had rehearsed these phrases to look good on film. Consequently, we had a great article, there were no mis-quotes, and the photos were really beautiful.

So remember the mantra: Remain in Control of the Situation.

...that's my 2 cents worth.

[three_hundred_fifty_five]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial">Originally posted by HilandDoug:
<strong>It's all about control. My students and I have been interviewed, most recently when one of our fencers was travelling to JO's and the local paper wanted to do a feature on him. Knowing that the reporter would not know a whit about fencing, we were careful what we spoke about and what we did for the photographer. When the photographer asked us to do some things that he thought would look good in the newspaper, we declined and explained why it didn't represent our sport. We had rehearsed a few phrases of my student attacking me in various ways, so when the photographer asked us to fence so he could take pictures, we were ready with a few "poses". He was unaware that we had rehearsed these phrases to look good on film. Consequently, we had a great article, there were no mis-quotes, and the photos were really beautiful.

So remember the mantra: Remain in Control of the Situation.

...that's my 2 cents worth.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial">So basically, what you are telling us is that you were posing at the helm of a sailboat with your orange pirate outfit while everyone else bowed down at your feet.

[Crash55]

We have had a few stories done in local papers over teh past several years. None of them (to my knowledge) have had any serious misquotes or mistakes. Like Doug said you have to be careful what you tell them.

For the last article the photographer took pictures of two of us free fencing for about 30 min and of all those shots only one made it in. While fencing we did keep to pretty standard moves and didn't do anything that would look foolish on film. Though we did try to exaggerate things a bit to make it easier to see. The other two shots were a posed shot of our coach, his coach, and our assistant coach; and one of our assistant coach coaching two students.

I am not sure if our club president approved the photos or not. However the large one on the first page (we were the mian story on the Life and Leisure section) had her centered, almost head on, in the shot attacking me, while all that was visible of me was the back of my arm and part of my back as I parried her blade. Was probably just because she was the club president and actually still a student.

One thing I would suggest is to try and have a woman fencing in at least one of the photos. It can't hurt to show the public that both genders participate in the sport. We at least always have a hard time recruiting and keepng women.

[Kodiak Kid]

I think that what Doug is doing is demonstrating that you can have quality results and that he is capable of communicating that fact in an open and positive manner... (here it comes babies..) So, I INSIST that EVERYONE, ALWAYS do it like this and NEVER do it any other way, because that happened to me once and so it's going to happen to everyone else every single time.
-Rant completed.