Collegiate Fencing in Northern Nevada/California

[bwtatz99]

I am a competitor and defacto coach for the University of Nevada, Reno fencing club team. I've been fencing competitively for a few years now and I want to pass that experience on to the young people on my team. A few years ago the NCIFL was a great opportunity for kids to represent their school in our area. I don't know if I would have kept competing if I hadn't had the option of fencing in collegiate tournaments and not being thrown to the wolves at USFA tournaments like the Bay Cup etc.. What I'm looking for is members of the UC Davis, Berkeley, Chico, etc., clubs that are interested in organizing some tournaments so the new members of our teams can have the student athlete experience. It is a part of college that I know anyone who's been able to partake is definitely proud of.

[DangerMouse]

I've been in a similar situation at University of Oregon for a while now. You'll probably find that very few of the people you're trying to reach are on this site and that non-NCAA collegiate fencing is fairly insulated from the rest of the fencing community. If you really want to get in contact with them, find their club website (or club sports office) and contact the student coordinator or team captain (or whatever each school calls them). We finally managed to get enough interest for more than one or two collegiate tournaments in our region a couple years ago. It only took about 6 years of work...

[misha]

... not being thrown to the wolves at USFA tournaments like the Bay Cup etc..

Bay Cup has various C & under, D & under, etc. series specifically designed for beginners.
On the plus side you get better Refs than self refereeing beginners. It is quite a drive from Reno though.

Google is your friend
Berkeley http://fencing.berkeley.edu/ JJefferies on this board happens to be an assistant coach.
UC Davis http://sportclubs.ucdavis.edu/fencing/main.html

[indypacers]

B.

I wish you well in your forward step in expanding collegiate fencing opportunities, it appears that area of the country is underserved (as well as other areas) good luck and stay pro-active!

[jjefferies]

Best approach at Cal is to send an e-mail to the club president, Masaki Yamada.
Easiest way to do that is the e-mail link on the club's home page http://fencing.berkeley.edu/index2.php?club
and I sent a link to this thread to Masaki. Cal is just getting its season started, first training session this past Monday, so I'm not sure what the season's tournament schedule is looking like.

[SJCFU#2]

You may want to PM Wafath - he may be on the far side of the country however having overseen the establishment of a collegiate fencing club conference in the Baltimore-Washington area he may be able to provide some helpful advice.

[SenorEquis]

The NCIFL (Northern California Intercollegiate Fencing League) still exists and as far as I know, still holds the same number of events as it did in the past. Are you looking for your students to be more involved in the existing league or suggesting the creation of a new one?