Rebecca Ward's three "S" - School, Saber, Sincerity

[BrianH]

Terrific interview with a charming, intelligent, dedicated and appreciative young woman. I wish her all success, and congratulate her on her accomplishments in fencing and in life.

[Phincer]

Originally Posted by Wingate85

Ms. Ward should be applauded for her accomplishments. Too bad, however, that there is so little credit given to Ed Korfanty in this interview. He is a proven commodity in US fencing having developed Ms. Zagunis who brought us the 1st ever fencing gold medal at the Olympic Games.

That's because the interview was about Becca, not the Ed and Mariel Show. She credited her coaches quite nicely I thought.

[Warrior Princess]

Originally Posted by Phincer

That's because the interview was about Becca, not the Ed and Mariel Show. She credited her coaches quite nicely I thought.

Yes she did. I also really liked that she said about coaches in general.

[Inquartata]

I cannot read the interview, since the library's not-so-Smart Filter objects to the link for some reason.

However, I must note that she forgot to mention one "S" in which she famously excels...

[piste off]

Originally Posted by the doc

how much would she have to pull in through sponsorship to make up for this loss?

This goes for everybody:

The trick to making a small fortune in American fencing... is to start with a large one.

Rick

[Wizardly]

Originally Posted by Wingate85

Ms. Ward should be applauded for her accomplishments. Too bad, however, that there is so little credit given to Ed Korfanty in this interview. He is a proven commodity in US fencing having developed Ms. Zagunis who brought us the 1st ever fencing gold medal at the Olympic Games.

Are you implying that Ms. Ward should give credit to Ed Kofantry for being the coach of someone else when they won the gold medal four years ago in an event in which she could not compete?

[KD5MDK]

Originally Posted by the doc

as someone from outside the states who doesn't understand the ncaa, what difference will it make to her if she does not fence ncaa?

if she did win the gold medal in beijing and went on a binge of siging advertising deals, what would she stand to lose from her loss of ncaa status?

how much would she have to pull in through sponsorship to make up for this loss?

She would need about $300,000 over 4 years to replace a full athletic scholarship and to pay for the travel to tournaments, etc that a NCAA team could provide. Plus coaching, etc. In addition, she would not be able to compete in NCAA tournaments or probably with NCAA practices, etc if she left. Also, the available schools where she could fence people near her level would be pretty small, but honestly that was already the case.

[Mo]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

She would need about $300,000 over 4 years to replace a full athletic scholarship and to pay for the travel to tournaments, etc that a NCAA team could provide. Plus coaching, etc. In addition, she would not be able to compete in NCAA tournaments or probably with NCAA practices, etc if she left. Also, the available schools where she could fence people near her level would be pretty small, but honestly that was already the case.

As it is now she has a four year amazing Fencing scholarship to Duke. Coach Alex Beguinet is a wonderful human being and has a great reputation of taking care of his fences. He offered the max at the beginning and didn't pull any punches. It was so refreshing to deal with such an honorable man.
After all the shenanigans we have put up with over the years, Alex and Elizabeth his wife were a breath of fresh air.
We couldn't be more happy or confident about our kid's future.
The Momster

[oso97]

Originally Posted by Mo

As it is now she has a four year amazing Fencing scholarship to Duke. Coach Alex Beguinet is a wonderful human being and has a great reputation of taking care of his fences. He offered the max at the beginning and didn't pull any punches. It was so refreshing to deal with such an honorable man.
After all the shenanigans we have put up with over the years, Alex and Elizabeth his wife were a breath of fresh air.
We couldn't be more happy or confident about our kid's future.
The Momster

Alex truely is a class act. I've known many people who were quite happy with his program!

[D'Art]

I'm gonna chime in here, even though I'm drunk and don't claim to begin to understand the way you guys work.

It seems to me that Bunbury's comments were made jokingly, albeit poorly. That is one of the drawbacks of the written word, unfortunately.

After Ouiyt's post ( I had no idea who Mo was before I'd read this thread, other than the parent of an international fencer), I totally understand that she's had more than enough of those *****y comments that occur when people are jealous. From what I know of Mo (which is reading her posts on here) I can tell she is just a normal parent who is rightly proud of her daughter (and who wouldn't be?) and her quite frankly amazing acheivements. Mo has proved to be a great source of information in the past, and I'm quite sure will continue to be. Long may that continue.

I've read the interview, albeit very briefly, and it seems to me to be a very good interview (and more credit to Gladius for pointing it out), and one that has come from a well rounded individual. More power to Mo and her husband (and the in-laws, too) for doing such a great job.

Any chance of adopting a lefty foilist piss-head?

[D'Art]

Name me one fencer who isn't a sarky git, and I'll show you a lying bastard...

[bunbury]

Originally Posted by D'Art

Name me one fencer who isn't a sarky git, and I'll show you a lying bastard...

And people get all wound up about my comment and I think this guy is serious...

I want to see an interview done with Ward in 2 years to see how college culture has effected her.


Edit: Nevermind, he's drunk.

[jjefferies]

Quote:
Originally Originally Posted by veeco
Come again, what "police state" were you referring to?

Originally Posted by Soberin

China. You really had to ask?

Not a defender of China but in the interest of simple truths, I've recently heard that the United States has the largest in terms of total numbers as well as percentage of its population in prison of all nations in the world. I have read that China even with its vastly larger population is a distant 2nd in terms of both total population and percentage of its population in prison.

Don't think I want to go throwing no stones. My recollection is that the stats came from the New York Times.

[bunbury]

Originally Posted by jjefferies

Quote:
Originally Originally Posted by veeco
Come again, what "police state" were you referring to?

Not a defender of China but in the interest of simple truths, I've recently heard that the United States has the largest in terms of total numbers as well as percentage of its population in prison of all nations in the world. I have read that China even with its vastly larger population is a distant 2nd in terms of both total population and percentage of its population in prison.

Don't think I want to go throwing no stones. My recollection is that the stats came from the New York Times.

Statistic is correct, although the numbers of prisoners in China is highly disputed.

20% of all prisoners are there for drugs (source: DOJ) and that definitely contributes to the ridiculously inflated numbers... in my state, a pinch of cocaine carries a possible 2 year jail sentence. I've sat in traffic court and seen people go to jail for a month because they can't pay the $2500 fine for playing their music to loudly.

[Dev]

Originally Posted by jjefferies

Not a defender of China but in the interest of simple truths, I've recently heard that the United States has the largest in terms of total numbers as well as percentage of its population in prison of all nations in the world. I have read that China even with its vastly larger population is a distant 2nd in terms of both total population and percentage of its population in prison.

Don't think I want to go throwing no stones. My recollection is that the stats came from the New York Times.

Is this including or not including the large number of prisoners that were shot whilst still in the van that drove them away from their trial?

Just asking. In the interest of simple truths.

[Timberwolf_CY]

China probably doens't have as many prisoners because they probably execute far more people there than we do in the states.

I don't know about China, but...

In Taiwan, when I signed the form to get my visa to come here, there was a very specific warning at the end of the application. It stated basically that any drug trafficking was subject to the death penalty. So basically I could have brought an ounce of marijauna off the plane, got to Taiwan, the drug dog sniffs it, I go to court, I get the death penalty, I'm dead a week later. Now that's a first world, democratic country, whose culture is heavily influenced by the West. They deal with their extremely minor drug problem by imposing the death penalty. If China is similar, it would certainly explain why they have so many fewer people in jail.

And then of course there is the wanton bribing of public officials, from police to courts...

[kmak_577]

would be quite intrested to here more about this part of the training, maybe steal a few ideas hehe being British we do that alot

"at a facility called Velocity Sports where we work on conditioning, speed and quickness"

[Hobbes]

hold it, I live relatively close to Duke, maybe she will sign a poster for me

[dcmdale]

Just got a chance to actually read the article... excellent interview! Congrads to Becca (and Mo).

[journalmom]

Originally Posted by Hobbes