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In this issue
- Opening word
- Results in September
- Volunteering opportunities for AFM Super Regional
- AFM Internal Competitions
- How to Qualify for JOs and SN
- Upcoming Competitions
- Adult Fencing
- USA Fencing Updated Athlete Book
- Consider Flu Shots and Boosters
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The days are finally getting shorter, and the weather is cooling off, and everyone is feeling the lull in activities while also balancing the pressures of academics. Though the holidays aren’t quite here yet, many of us are anxiously awaiting the coming of Halloween and all of the spooky fun that goes along with it!
In the meantime, the fencing season is slowly starting to ramp up. All of this together makes it the perfect time to refocus our fencing and propel ourselves into some great training. In fact, this is one of the best parts of the best times in the year to dive in and make the most of training is this one! October and the first half of November are a wonderful moment to realign your fencing goals and dive in with your coach to prepare for the bigger competitions in the run up to next year’s championships. Because the season has started, you have some gauge of where you are and what your mindset is, not to mention where your opponents are. With this good information, you can determine what direction you need to go and where the opportunities are, then you can pivot in those directions.
Fencing season is right here, right now. Don’t wait for tomorrow to get your fencing training right! An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure, and this is a great time to get that preparation in. There are a few weeks here that are golden time to improve your tactical understanding, to correct issues that have been holding you back, and to work on the detail in your fencing that you might not have time to adjust once things get busier. Take hold of these next few weeks to work through with your coach, especially ahead of the AFM Super Regional.
Speaking of the AFM Super Regional - coming up in the next few weeks, we at AFM are extremely excited to have our first mega event! As we work to bring more competitions right here to Silicon Valley, we ask for your support to volunteer to be a part of the process. If we work together to make this big event a success, together we will open new doors for bigger regional opportunities. The excitement is starting to build and we are ready to welcome the fencing world here into our own backyard.
Don’t forget that you can invite your friends and family to come watch! This is a fantastic chance to let people come and see what it is that you do. So often, we travel far away to these tournaments and those we love don’t always get to watch us. With this tournament so close, we can share our sport in a way that we aren’t always able to. It’s a wonderful moment to be fencing and part of this community!
Thank you to everyone for a great September, and know that we are excited for all of the ways that we will find success together as we move through this last quarter of 2022. And of course, Happy Halloween!
Sincerely yours,
Irina
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Competitions Results in September
Wow! It has been a whirlwind of a month in fencing for AFM. We have seen our fencers prove themselves as passionate and hardworking competitors who can take on huge challenges. This month, we saw our fencers travel to Minneapolis, Pasadena, Ontario, and also compete right here.
We are so proud of all of our fencers for their progress and their victories in the last month. Here are our competitive results! Congratulations!
Back to School RYC (Fremont)
Youth 10 Women's Epee
Congratulations to Julia Chen for winning Silver medal, Audrey Cayetano for 5th place medal and Nicole Wang for 8th place medal in Y10 Women’s Epee event in the Back to School RYC! Congratulations to the coaches and the parents too!
Youth 10 Men's Epee
Congratulations to Evan Tubaltsev for winning Bronze and Xuyao Liu for medalling with 8th place in the Y10 Men’s Epee event at the Back To School RYC in Fremont!
Youth 12 Women's Epee
Congratulations to Jessica Xu for winning. Rinse and Morgan Hankins for medaling with 5th place in Y12 Women’s Epee event at the Back to School RYC in Fremont! Congratulations to the coaches and the parents as well!
Youth 14 Women's Epee
Great results for our Y12 girls! Congratulations to Angel Mollinier and her coach Dima with a Silver medal, to Jingjing Liang and coach Zhanna with a Bronze medal, and to Morgan Hankins and coach Alexander on the 6th place medal. Congratulations, girls, parents and coaches! Great job to the whole coaching team! Way to go!
Youth 14 Men's Epee
Great fencing showed our Y14 boys! Bailey Chen - Silver medal, Kaid Anderson and Ethan Li - Bronze medal and Luca Loftus - 5th place medal! Congratulations fencers, their parents and coaches!
South Coast RJCC/ROC - Pasadena , CA
Junior Men’s Epee
Congratulations to Agniv Sarkar, coach Carmine and his family for winning Bronze medal! Also notable results by Chris Wright, Alex Ulinich and Daniel Chirashnya, who finished in top 16 out of 103 fencers. Good job, boys!
Cadet Men’s Epee
Congratulations to Daniel Chirashnya for winning Bronze medal and earning A rating and to Nathan Zhang for finishing in top 8 and earning B rating in Cadet Men’s Epee! Great job, boys! Congratulations, coach Slava!
Division 2 Men's Epee
Congratulations to Luke Castelly and coach Sergei, and to Nathan Zhang and coach Slava for winning Bronze medal in Division 2 ROC in SoCal RJCC/ROC in Pasadena! Luke also earned his E rating. Way to go!
Junior Women's Epee
Congratulaitons to Alica Lan and coach Slava for winning a Bronze medal in this event! Way to go!!!
Cadet Women's Epee
Congratulations to Alica Lan and coach Slava for winning the 6th place and Noya Chirashnya and coach Zhanna for winning the 7th place in this event. Good job!
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Volunteering opportunities for AFM Super Regional
We have lots of opportunities to volunteer with the AFM Super Regional tournament, which is coming up quickly on November 4-6. This is going to be three days with tons of fencing at the top level in the Santa Clara Convention Center.
To make this tournament come together, we need volunteers to help with setup and breakdown, to escort officials, to run the tables, and so much more. Though the tournament itself only lasts for three days, there is so much more that goes into the process. It’s a big event with a huge amount of preparation and work to be done.
We are most in need of volunteers during the setup, breakdown, and throughout the tournament weekend. Many hands make light work, and so the more we come together to support one another, the more enjoyable this whole experience will be.
Our goal in implementing this large-scale competition is to support our fencing families. Members can avoid the hassle and financial burden of expensive flights and long travel for high-level fencing if we bring it right here to the Bay Area. When you are looking at slots for volunteering, you can think of these hours as being in exchange for waiting at the airport or spending a few nights in a hotel.
Please have a look at our sign up sheet below to find a time that works for you. We are so thankful for your support!
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AFM Internal Competitions
Coming up on October 23rd, we will host the AFM Youth Epee Cup right here in Sunnyvale! This tournament is for youth fencers at the Y8, Y10, Y12, and Y14 competition levels.
This event is the first in a series that will conclude with cross-tournament winners in each category. We held a series of AFM tournaments like this last season, and we had a wonderful response. Competing in a tournament structure like this is a great way for fencers who are at the lower levels to practice qualification. They can see what it feels like to compete not only locally, but to build momentum across several competitions. It’s a whole different experience!
We have put together a competition that offers a friendly and supportive experience, but that is also rigorous and challenging for our young athletes. This is a perfect first competitive experience, and it’s also a wonderful way to prepare for the AFM Super Regional for our more advanced fencers.
AFM Cup #1 - October 23, 2022
https://askfred.net/Events/moreInfo.php?tournament_id=50903
AFM Cup #2 - December 18, 2022
https://askfred.net/Events/moreInfo.php?tournament_id=50904
AFM Cup #3 - April 16, 2023
https://askfred.net/Events/moreInfo.php?tournament_id=50905
AFM Cup #4 - June 4, 2023
https://askfred.net/Events/moreInfo.php?tournament_id=50906
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How to Qualify for JOs and SN
The fencing season is all about that bigger goal of qualifying for a national competition. It’s incredibly important for every fencer to know their possible paths and to create a plan, with support from their AFM coach, to get to that goal.
Everyone is slightly different, but there are some paths to the qualification that most of our fencers fall into.
There are two paths to qualification: regional and national. Look at both options, but also know that the regional path is the most straightforward way to qualify. This is why it’s so important to attend as many regional tournaments as possible. Regional tournaments are a great experience, especially for us in Region 4. Great fencers come from Southern California and Nevada, and which is why our regional competitions are a major qualification path towards the nationals.
In particular, to qualify for Junior Olympics (JO's) or Summer Nationals (SN) via the regional path, we expect the vast majority of fencers from AFM to need to do one of the following based on their age category:
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RJCC Points - Cadets and Juniors need to get enough points from their two best results in their respective RJCC’s
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RYC results - Youth ages will have their best three RYC results summed up, with the top-ranking fencers qualifying for SN
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ROC finishes - Div2/3/1A will need a top 40% finish in one of their respective ROC’s
Speak to your coach if you have any questions about what your specific qualification path looks like.
https://academyoffencingmasters.com/blog/qualification-update-fencing-summer-nationals-2022/
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Upcoming Competitions
We recommend that you go to as many local tournaments as possible, as these build your fencing and help to support your competitive development. This includes local RYC’s and ROC’s especially!
We also recommend the following:
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At least 1 SYC for intermediate to advanced, 2 for competitive level fencers
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At least 2 RJCC’s for Cadets/Juniors prior to JO's and at least 1 RJCC's after the JO's
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At least 2 NAC's based on age for Competitive fencers, 1 NAC for Advanced fencers, and others should consult with your coach
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If you qualify for Championships (Cadet/Juniors - JO's, Div1 - April, Youth, Senior Divisions - Summer Nationals) - plan to attend them! Put them on your calendar early in case you do.
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All Divisional Qualifying Tournaments if not qualified via national or regional path
And of course, we highly recommend that everyone attend AFM competitions!
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Adult Fencing
Are you a grown adult with lots of responsibilities? Do you know that you should be spending more time on yourself, but you keep putting it off?
Fencing is a perfect way to invest in yourself. It’s not just for kids and teenagers! In fact, adult fencing is a way to keep your body and mind in the best shape. We have seen so many fencers come into this sport in adulthood who found that it enriched their lives, both physically and mentally.
What does fencing do for adults? Here are a few of the major benefits:
AFM offers private lessons as well as open fencing for adults. Private lessons can fit into your schedule, and they’re a wonderful way to build mentorship and to face any limitations you’re concerned about. Fencing lets you enjoy the freedom and fast-paced excitement of fencing against opponents, all with low pressure and lots of support.
Contact the office and we can set you up with private fencing lessons at a time that works for you. Open fencing sessions are on Tuesday 7 - 9:30pm and Sunday 10 am - 12 pm.
Come on out to try a lesson! You might find that you have a new passion!
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USA Fencing Updated Athlete Book
USA Fencing has updated its handbook with the newest and most important information. You can find tons of things you need to know, and lots of things you didn’t even know you needed to know, right here at this link.
eep in mind that USA Fencing updates their social media channels and website with the latest information, especially in regards to things like changes in venues and events. The handbook is the official word on rules and regulations, competition practices, national points parameters, and all of the minute details that we all pour over, especially as the competitive season heats up.
Here are some sections to highlight:
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Chapter 1 has details on USA Fencing membership
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Chapter 2 is a deep dive on domestic competitions - find your area and read on it specifically
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Chapter 3 covers points - how to get them and what they mean
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Chapters 4 & 11 are about international competition - interesting for information and aspiration, but not applicable for most fencers (right now at least!)
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Chapters 5 & 8 are Men’s & Women’s Epee - short sections that are definitely worth looking over
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Chapter 13-15 details the code of conduct, disciplinary issues, rules and regulations, and SafeSport.
All of these sections are a few paragraphs to a few pages, and it’s definitely worthwhile to at least familiarize yourself. Great way to spend a little downtime at competition, while traveling, or while scrolling through your social media.
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Consider Flu Shots and Boosters
While we aren’t health experts, we are passionate about following the guidelines of those who are.
Medical guidelines are clear that the flu shot can help keep people from getting sick, and that’s something we all want to do. What many people don’t realize is that the time to get the flu shot is before flu season gets going! Right now, in the fall of the year, is a perfect moment to get your flu shot and help keep everyone healthy. We encourage you all to talk with your doctor and consider getting vaccinated.
It’s easy to put something as simple as getting the flu shot on the backburner because you feel as though you’re healthy and you don’t need it. We definitely understand this! Especially for kids, who can sometimes seem invincible. Remember that, as with so many things, getting your flu shot is a way to help prevent others from getting sick, even if you are in good health. Besides, why get even a little sick if you can help it?
Once again it is a time when we all need to come together to support each other. This simple act can really help us to get through a winter where we don’t know what will happen. COVID has calmed down, and the pandemic is definitely in the rearview, but who knows? A flu shot is a small way to have some big control in the world.
It’s nice to be able to take an easy action to help others right now!
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