Desert Fencing Academy

Hi to All…Happy November…Happy Thanksgiving!

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS:

November 6, 2011, J.O. Quals to be held at College of the Desert.

Close of check-in times have been posted to AskFred.net.  Please pre-register.

December 3, 2011, 3-weapon tournament at College of the Desert 

Close of check-in 9:00 a.m. sabre, 10:00 a.m. foil and 12 noon epee.  Please pre-register on AskFred.net.

NEWSY NEWS:

We had an exciting October.  We participated in the Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade.  The theme was “Circus Carnival”.  We decorated the cart with a clown face and a big top on the roof of the cart.  BIG thanks go to Mark Johnson, who built the frame for the big top and Diane Whan who did all the cart decorations.

The kids wore their fencing uniform with big clown ties and had red clown noses on their masks.  Our “clowns” included:  John Phillips, Ellis DeVoe, Danny King, Nick Richardson, Chandler Pollett, Claudia Bueermann, Arturo Perez-Hunt, Chris Espejo, Sara Rosenblum, Devin Shaw, Isobelle Mendoza and Angel Garcia.

Our other adventure of the month was our trip to the Marine Base at 29 Palms.  Dr. Col. Joyce Teters invited me to again come and participate in their Health & Fitness day.  Lucky for me this trip, and for the Marines, I had three DFA helpers with me:  Seth Howell, Ellis DeVoe and Arturo-Perez Hunt (R2).

We were with the Marines from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.  We all took various groups of Marines, gave them an introduction lesson and let them spar.  All total, we worked with about seventy-five Marines!

But the prize of the day went to R2.  At one point, R2 had lined up in front of him, at attention, seven Marines!  I think he was the shortest drill instructor they ever had!  And they certainly remained at attention and did everything R2 asked them to do.  If a Marine came up and asked to spar, R2 would inquire if they had had their intro lesson.  If not, R2 would escort them to his teaching area and begin the lesson!

DFA NEWS:

We have lost Harvey Mudd as a venue.  David Powell at Hemet High School has made arrangements with his school to help us out and host our division tournaments.

Well, everyone knows Max is back, and that is a big fencing boon to our epee fencers.  Russell, too, has returned for a few months, and that has made Thursday night epee fencing extra exciting and competitive!

We have a new, visiting saber fencer, Aaron Villasenor, from the Mexicali National team!  He is fun, he is fast and he’ll be with us for several months.

J.O. QUALS CLOSE OF CHECK-IN TIMES:

  9:00 a.m.          Junior Men’s & Women’s Epee

10:00 a.m.          Junior Men’s & Women’s Foil

11:00 a.m.          Junior Men’s & Women’s Saber

12:00 p.m.          Cadet Men’s & Women’s Epee

  1:00 p.m.          Cadet Men’s & Women’s Foil

  2:00 p.m.          Cadet Men’s & Women’s Saber

Wishing everyone a happy and blessed Thanksgiving and, as always, blissful fencing.

Leslie Taft

The Fencing Coach

This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2011 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.