College Club Dues

[MyrddinsPrecint]

* Gear -- which I disagree with Telk's assessment of. When I was with the team the team ordered all equipment from Uhlmann, masks were FIE, etc. There was a fair amount of legacy gear mixed in that was of -- let's be generous -- mixed and occasionally dubious quality, but the team had an on-going program to gradually replace and expand the inventory (several new Uhlmann lames of each type each year, several new FIE masks of each type each year, etc.). Most people ended up purchasing their own personal equipment (tagging along as part of one of two large orders to Germany each year), but there certainly was equipment available for those who needed or wanted to use what the club owned, as well as tons of equipment available for beginners (the club took over control of the inventory of the PE programs when UMass dissolved those offerings).

from what i know, and obviously Telk knows quite a bit more--

things like masks and jackets are fine, but weapons, the boxes, and the reels have taken a huge hit recently, and a lot of the equipment needs to be fixed. last semester, Telk put in a lot of hours to try to keep stuff working, but since he's not there this semester........

Umass brought a box from Noho (northampton fencing center) to New Englands this year. stuff was broken.... or something........


buying good equipment is great------- but if you have that many people using it, especially that many beginners using it.... you need to have people fixing it.

[telkanuru]

I destroyed 5 masks that failed horribly the punch test (grandfathered triplette), also.

[Greg]

$35 per semester. Full set of dry fencing equipment provided for each member who does not have gear. Practice is three days a week - one day of open fencing and two days of conditioning, footwork and blades work drills then open fencing. Two inter-club tournaments a year and two tournaments with another university club each year. Twenty current members. Foil and sabre.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Ripping off oiuyt's format:

Smith College (currently)

$100/year, $50 a semester (and some recreational fencers pay less)


* Gear -- both dry and electric (although electric is used only in competitions and the one practice a week where one squad will be at the center). It's all safe, although the electric stuff may or may not work, and may or may not be at the center at any given time. we're trying to create a policy of "if the gear breaks while you're using it, you're responsible for fixing it, learning how to fix it, or convincing someone else to fix it for you."

* Lodging, travel, and competition fees for collegiate competitions.

It should be noted, however, that Smith will drive all the way in the morning to tournaments that UMass will often find hosts to house their fencers the night before.

Events the years I've been here:

2004-2005
* the Big One
* 2 conference meet dates
* conference championships
* NIWFA championships
* Collegiate Club Nationals (Michigan)

2005-2006
* 4 College Scrimmage (UMass was invited and did not attend)
* the Big One
* 2 conference meet dates
* NIWFA Christmas Invitational
* Conference Championships
* NIWFA Championships
* Collegiate Club Nationals (South Carolina)
* 5 College Championships (at least i'll be going, assuming that there are very creepy people there this time)


* Coaching Staff: Last year, two almost-full time coaches first semester, second semester one full time coach. This semester we tried to hire an assistant coach, but that didn't work so well.


* 3 practices at smith, each 2-3 hours, and one practice a week at the local fencing club



Last year, the fencers going to nationals were asked for an extra $100 contribution, if they were able to give it, to help us getting there.


No food is included, and no USFA tournaments are included, even in part.


Of course, unlike at UMass, we don't have the alumnae support-- which is actually the college's fault, it seems. We are, as of this year, officially not allowed to ask alums for money. and there have been rumors that if they try to give money through the college, the college might tell them they can't give it to the team through the college. I'm not very clear on the second part....

[oiuyt]

a lot of the equipment needs to be fixed. last semester, Telk put in a lot of hours to try to keep stuff working

These two sentences explain a lot. :-D

Really though, large quantities of beginning fencers is hardly an excuse for managing to have five non-functional scoring machines. Nor is this something that can/should be blamed on having a volunteer student armorer take a semester off.

we're trying to create a policy of "if the gear breaks while you're using it, you're responsible for fixing it, learning how to fix it, or convincing someone else to fix it for you."

Mmmm, so assuming I'm ignorant initially, I can fulfill the requirement of this policy merely by becoming educated about how to fix equipment, but without said equipment actually regaining functional status. I think I see a flaw. :) Of course by the second occasion that I break the same piece of equipment that's a harder clause to fulfill (unless I can justifiably claim to have learned how to do the same thing multiple times, which, with enough elapsed time between occurances isn't TOO unreasonable).

Also I'm not sure that my definition of "full time coach" is quite the same as yours. :)

Of note is that UMass has considerable institutional support (including financial) that the vast majority of collegiate sports clubs (and even fewer collegiate fencing clubs) do not. UMass Crew received more financial assistance than Fencing, but Fencing was the #2 sport club (and by a reasonably good margin over #3, although dwarfed by Crew). Does make a significant difference in areas such as budget available for coaching.

-B

[telkanuru]

Really though, large quantities of beginning fencers is hardly an excuse for managing to have five non-functional scoring machines. Nor is this something that can/should be blamed on having a volunteer student armorer take a semester off.

5 machines, 2 with new timings (officer's decision), 1 of which is broken

The real problem is, however, reels.

[larkmaj]

Of course, unlike at UMass, we don't have the alumnae support-- which is actually the college's fault, it seems. We are, as of this year, officially not allowed to ask alums for money. and there have been rumors that if they try to give money through the college, the college might tell them they can't give it to the team through the college. I'm not very clear on the second part....

Even though we don't have much alumni support, if we get any money the Union takes half. We've found a way around that though, have them donate equipment instead of money, there's a better chance the school won't have a problem with that.

[KD5MDK]

You know, I think I'll assemble a list of stupid things like that for my old club's officers to read when they complain about RecSports...

[Beowulfman6]

My club is very small and recieves decent funding from the school, so we don't charge any fees at all. You get:

2 practices a week (you get what you pay for)
We host 2 tournaments and an intercoligiate team meet each semester with no entry fees for members.
Unlimited use of club gear, which isn't great, but isn't bad either (although we encourage everyone to buy their own as soon as they can).
Can check out gear for tournaments.

What you don't get is travel/tournament expenses, although we would probably reimburse for gas if a small group carpooled to a tournament.

We have benefitted in the past from rated reffs willing to volunteer their services in the spirit of helping a new club get on it's feet.

[Loranth]

Club dues at UCLA are $55 a quarter (so $165 per year). That covers equipment use and coaching. We practice 3 times a week. We do get a bit of money from the school, but not much.

There's also a class for beginers that is $15 for the quarter

[oiuyt]

5 machines, 2 with new timings (officer's decision), 1 of which is broken

So the semi-coherent phone call that I had a few weeks ago that specified that somewhere between several and all of the machines were "broken" (with absolutely no ability to answer questions on what that term meant) and had been for a considerable time (also not quantifiable when questioned) was perhaps not completely reliable?

On a (very peripherally) related note (that clearly belongs in a thread other than this one), anyone know whether Eclipse is offerring the upgrade chips gratis now that the FIE has made the timing changes official? Might help with getting the officers to upgrade the other two machines.

Any research done on cost for upgrading the LP machine?

-B

[KShan5[PrFC]]

So the semi-coherent phone call that I had a few weeks ago that specified that somewhere between several and all of the machines were "broken" (with absolutely no ability to answer questions on what that term meant) and had been for a considerable time (also not quantifiable when questioned) was perhaps not completely reliable?

On a (very peripherally) related note (that clearly belongs in a thread other than this one), anyone know whether Eclipse is offerring the upgrade chips gratis now that the FIE has made the timing changes official? Might help with getting the officers to upgrade the other two machines.

Any research done on cost for upgrading the LP machine?

-B

Only the Leon Paul, old timing machine works right now, the others where sent out to be fixed two weeks ago.

To answer your second question from the thread: 2005A Machines...

Eigertek has adopted a wait-and-see stance because there have been several official and unofficial changes to the timings (which affect foil mostly), and we assume that most people do not want to upgrade their scoring machines every year.

In the meantime, a few manufacturers have created versions of the official FIE T2005 "Leipzig" timings intended to circumvent the problems created by the new timings, but they do not conform to FIE specifications.

Be warned however that there are rumors of additional changes--that Mr. Roche will continue to change foil in the hope of television coverage, followed by changes to epee for the same reason.

The current situation is that the T2005 "experimental" timings have been extended for another season. If and when the FIE makes these or some other timings official, Eigertek will provide owners of Eclipses with a one-time, free chip upgrade.

Until then, hang on to your hats!

Dieter
Eigertek

[oiuyt]

To answer your second question from the thread: 2005A Machines...

And later in that thread Dieter learns that the changes have been made permanent, which makes his statement about the temporary nature outdated.... Anyone know whether or not Eigertek has changed their policy to reflect this changed status?

-B

[keropie]

Also that was about the T2005A timings (that incorporate the idea of 'microbreaks') as opposed to the T2005 timings (FIE standard).