Coaches College 2009

[MdA]

.... In 2007, the date announcement was also severely delayed, finally happening on April 1. But dates were announced, Coaches College did happen, and life went on. Yes, the delay impacted attendance plans for many potential attendees .....

I hope you are correct, for the sake of many young coaches like catwood.

[catwood1]

If dates are not provided soon, it is very likely that the CC will not happen again this summer. That will make 2 years without any USFA sponsored coaches education. If I had to guess, with the current budget crisis....I don't think this is very high up on the priority list. My advice is to take advantage of the USFCA scheduled clinics. These supplement the USFA sponsored training like CC ...and this might be a good year to take advantage of that....there is one coming up in a few weeks April 3-5...

May 16-17 Mr. Ma Fencing Center, Fairfield NJ
May 29-31 Gold Blade Fencing Center, Southlake TX.
July 24-26 National Conference, Escondido, CA.

I do intend on attending the one in NJ. Other than that, none of these are financially feasible for me. Thats one great thing about coaches college. Its really not expensive at all considering what your getting. Comparing spending 1000 for a 3 day weekend clinic, versus 1300 on a 3 week clinic, theres just no comparison.

[MdA]

I do intend on attending the one in NJ. Other than that, none of these are financially feasible for me. Thats one great thing about coaches college. Its really not expensive at all considering what your getting. Comparing spending 1000 for a 3 day weekend clinic, versus 1300 on a 3 week clinic, theres just no comparison.

There is no doubt that you get the most bang for their buck at the Coaches College. That is why it is so important the dates get scheduled and communicated ASAP.

However, after you have attended CC for two to three years, you may want to try something else. The USFCA also found that the weekend format works better for some coaches who are working a day job and can’t get away for two or three weeks in the summer…or they don’t want to burn all their limited vacation time on coaching education….or they can’t leave their private club that long because they either can’t pay a substitute or can’t afford the lost income. Summer camps are a large source of income for private clubs. This comes into direct conflict with the dates for CC.

The weekend format also let’s us specialize the clinics…like beginning level foil coach or intermediate level saber. We can also concentrate on a particular guest instructor like Gia Kvaratshelia at the April 3-5, 2009 Intermediate Foil Coaches Clinic

The beginning level clinics are also great for clubs that need to get coaches trained during the season and can’t wait until the summer CC sessions.

[catwood1]

If it ends up happening that there is no CC this year, when might we have any idea? I know no one will have an accurate answer, I just mean rough guesses. I'd hope it won't be like June and I just hear "surprise! no CC!"

It seems like eventually we would reach a point of either having to know, or just canceling it...

[epeeslasher]

From usfencing.org:

Update about Coaches College from Alex Beguinet: We are still awaiting our space and date award from the OTC and as soon as we have information about the dates and sessions we will let everyone know.


Knowing Alex & Elizabeth I am sure they are doing everything in their power to get things rolling. The information is going to be out late, but I believe very much that coaches college will happen again this year.

MdA, do you know something we don't? Planting the seeds of doubt in our minds seems like a risky tactic (to me at least) to pimp out USFCA clinics.

[catwood1]

From usfencing.org:

Update about Coaches College from Alex Beguinet: We are still awaiting our space and date award from the OTC and as soon as we have information about the dates and sessions we will let everyone know.


Knowing Alex & Elizabeth I am sure they are doing everything in their power to get things rolling. The information is going to be out late, but I believe very much that coaches college will happen again this year.

MdA, do you know something we don't? Planting the seeds of doubt in our minds seems like a risky tactic (to me at least) to pimp out USFCA clinics.

Oh yea. Nothing against Alex or Elizabeth, I'm sure its out of their hands at the moment. I just don't know whats going on in the OTC end of things with all the USOC crazyness.

[tbryan]

If it ends up happening that there is no CC this year, when might we have any idea? I know no one will have an accurate answer, I just mean rough guesses. I'd hope it won't be like June and I just hear "surprise! no CC!"

It seems like eventually we would reach a point of either having to know, or just canceling it...

Historically, I believe that they try to get the dates before JOs. In 2007, I remember that the OTC was late in confirming the dates, and they finally posted them in mid-March.

[epeeslasher]

Yeah, April 1st as vorpalcat mentioned earlier in the thread.

[oiuyt]

I spoke with Alex and Elizabeth about it last week at NCAAs. They still have not received a bed count from the USOC. Without that nothing further can happen.

It was around now that they heard last time (2007). At that point they'd already begun exploring non-OTC housing options. I don't know if any such plans are being examined this time around.

-B

[MdA]

......
MdA, do you know something we don't? Planting the seeds of doubt in our minds seems like a risky tactic (to me at least) to pimp out USFCA clinics.

Every organization has challenges with scheduling and management of events from time to time. This appears to be one of those times. Dont' forget to take advantage of other options.

You can still make it to the Gia Foil Clinic in San Antonio this weekend April 3-5, 2009....but then your epeeslasher.

There is an updated list of other clinics at www.usfca.org.

[Rockstar44]

I spoke with Alex and Elizabeth about it last week at NCAAs. They still have not received a bed count from the USOC. Without that nothing further can happen.

It was around now that they heard last time (2007). At that point they'd already begun exploring non-OTC housing options. I don't know if any such plans are being examined this time around.

-B

Anything new to tell us now? It's getting late....

If anybody has any updated info on this please let us know.

[DesertFencer]

I e-mailed back and forth with Alex Begunet a couple of weeks ago asking about the online first aid training. He said that they weren't sure if there was going to be a coaches college this year.

[catwood1]

I e-mailed back and forth with Alex Begunet a couple of weeks ago asking about the online first aid training. He said that they weren't sure if there was going to be a coaches college this year.

Well, I would hope that there would be some decision point. Eventually they will need to decide that they can't wait any longer, and it should be officially canceled. Keeping everyone in the dark just makes summer planning extraordinarily difficult.

[Allen Evans]

As you yourself pointed out, the USOC is in a state of flux right now, and its probably semi-paralyzed in its own decision making process.

I think you can be certain that Alex is still trying to negotiate things with the USOTC in Colorado Springs. If he knew that there was no chance of holding Coaches College this year, he would have made an announcement already. The fact that he hasn't makes me think that there is still a chance that CC can go forward.

[Rockstar44]

Just a post to get this thread back up to the top.

Any news, anybody?

[MdA]

Alex and Elizabeth have done a wonderful job conducting the Coaches College (CC). I don’t want to be critical of their efforts. I really hope they can pull it off this summer.

However, I would like to use this opportunity to plug (not pimp for) the USFCA. This situation is an example of why young American coaches should support the USFCA.

Epeeslasher asked me in a recent post if I know something he didn’t about the CC. I don’t know any more than the rest of you and I have not been in contact with Alex or the USFA about this topic.

However, my experience over the years, with the USFA and the USFCA tells me that coaching education may not be at the top of the USOC/USFA priority list right now. The fantastic results by our athletes at the recent Olympics and the Junior World Championships may, in fact, distract from the current need for coaching education and the CC. Everything may seem just fine in terms of coaching right now at the USOC/USFA….just look at the results we are achieving internationally.

There is a very good chance that nobody from the USFA is pushing the USOC too hard for the rooms for the CC this summer. So what about the pipeline for young American coaches? Where do they go for training this year? What if we go another year without CC?

I have learned, from my experience, that American fencing coaches (and fencing coaches in all countries) need to have an independent organization, like the USFCA, dedicated to supporting their needs…especially in the years when something like this may happen.

The USFCA elects its own officers, has its own By-Laws and Constitution, and we are financially independent from the USFA/USOC. We provide training, education, and certification, we represent fencing coaches, and we are a fraternal organization….in other words, we support each other. USFA VP Jerry Benson is a USFCA member. USFCA President Abdel Salem is on the USFA Coaching Committee. My advice to young coaches is to keep your options open. You can support both organizations. In times like these, I think, it is a good idea. $35 associate membership is not that much. www.usfca.org

[K O'N]

Sadly, now the USFCA has cancelled the Texas clinic. So I have to fly to Jersey or somewhere godforsaken like that to go to a three weapons clinic, 2/3 of which I'm not interested in? Sheesh. If there's no USFA CC this year you'd think the USFCA would have *more* clinics, not fewer, and would think about extending some sign up dates; the deadline for the Dallas clinic at the end of May was several weeks ago. I tried to register in the middle of April and it was too late.

K O'N

[darius]

Which weapons are you interested in? I can tell you that we're going to do coach development work at the NWFC Advanced Foil and Epee camps. Contact me privately if you're interested / have any questions.

darius

[K O'N]

Hi

Thanks for the offer. I'm in Texas, so epee, naturally. I think either coast is probably beyond my travel range at the moment. Maybe I'll get to something this summer, or maybe I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

K O'N

[MdA]

Hi

Thanks for the offer. I'm in Texas, so epee, naturally. I think either coast is probably beyond my travel range at the moment. Maybe I'll get to something this summer, or maybe I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

K O'N

Apparently, the Dallas clinic was cancelled for lack of interest. Give me some specific feedback. Was it the location, course material ...or instructors?

I suggest you go to the USFCA annual conference, July 24-26, 2009, in San Diego.

Besides Ed Korfanty and Mike Pederson...I hear that Greg Massialas may be a guest instructor.

Here is a link

http://usfca.org/Default.aspx?tabid=135