Desert Fencing Academy

New Blog and Newsletter Location

2009-08-23T15:03:00.001-07:00

Hello DFA Members,

We have updated the DFA site to include the blog and newsletters internally, so we will not be using the Blogspot location anymore. We will keep our information here as an archive.

Please visit desertfencingacademy.com to view the latest news.

All the best,

Josh Butler
Webmaster

Augst News 2009 Blast

2009-08-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Hi to everyone.
Yes, I’m currently working on the latest newsletter, but in the interim wanted you to know that Sam Signorelli, HOM Fencing Supply, will be coming to DFA on Saturday, August 29 from 10 am to 3 pm.

If you wish to purchase any gear, or have equipment repaired, Sam’s your man.

If there’s any gear you are interested in trying on or purchasing, i.e., gloves, masks, jackets, etc., please let me know, and the size, and I can relay that information to Sam so he can have the item on hand.

Thanks,

-Leslie

June News 2009 Blast

2009-06-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

This is a news blast for June.

Firstly, the 2009 Pentathlon National Championships, held in Palm Springs June 5-7, went smoothly.

There were 80 participants from the US, Canada, Panama, Guatemala and Mexico. Margaux Isaksen, Eli Bremer and Sam Sacksen, pentathletes on the 2008 Olympic pentathlon team were there and it was exciting to watch them fence. Actually, it was exciting watching all the men, women and kids compete. Our very own Devon Cavaliere and Jo Ragland, all ten years old, were competing in the youth event on Friday.

I want to thank Sam Signorelli for being on hand all four days as our armorer and Josh Butler, Chasen Chapman, Max Barber and Ann Barber for refereeing.

Pentathlon one-touch epee is a different kind of fencing from our five-touch bouts and 15-touch direct eliminations (DE’s). Our referees had to be on their toes, watching for toe shots and in-bound/out-of-bound fleches. It was fun and quite the worthwhile experience for our DFA members.

Our Summer Program starts Monday, June 15. Monday through Friday, fencing will begin at 1:30 pm. Closing times remain unchanged. And fencing on Saturday remains the same, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.

As everyone prepares for vacation, please let me know day(s) and time(s) your fencer would like to come and fence during the summer.

Also, please let me know when you will be gone for vacation so I can put a fencer into a vacated fencing slot.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO MISS A LESSON, PLEASE CALL ME, 218-1343, AND LET ME KNOW.

Wishing everyone a great Summer!

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

June News 2009

2009-05-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hi to Everyone,

This is an end of May beginning of June 2009 news blast from DFA.

Firstly, congratulations and well wishes go out to our high school seniors who are graduating this June. Scott Pippin is off to Air Force Academy, Kevin Park and
Hunter Scalise are off to Chapman University and Masaki Yamada is going to Berkeley. We wish them all the best in their university careers!

END-OF-SEASON TOURNAMENT AND POINTS WINNERS:

Our last tournament for the season will be Saturday, May 30 at College of the Desert.
Sabre begins at 9:30 am, foil at 10:30 am and epee at 12:30 pm. Fencing will be held in the Wright Gymnasium.

This is our end-of-season tournament and we will be presenting trophies to the top teams and individual men and women fencers.

You can see the results on the San Bernardino Division website, but here are the point winners for 2008-2009.

Men’s Sabre: 1st place Scott Pippin, 3rd place Masaki Yamada
Women’s Sabre: 1st place Leslie Taft, 2nd place Gretchen Bueermann
Men’s Team Sabre: 1st Desert Fencing Academy
Women’s Team Sabre: 1st College of the Desert, 2nd Desert Fencing Academy

Men’s Foil: 1st Russell Holtz, 2nd Mark Johnson
Women’s Foil: 1st Leslie Taft
Men’s Team Foil: Tie for 1st with Desert Fencing Academy and Haake und Slasche
Women’s Team Foil: College of the Desert

Men’s Epee: 1st Max Barber, 2nd Josh Butler, 3rd, Russell Holtz
Women’s Epee: 1st Ann Barber, 2nd Leslie Taft, Debbie Romig
Men’s Team Epee: Desert Fencing Academy
Women’s Team Epee: Desert Fencing Academy, 2nd College of the Desert

Women’s 3-Weapon: 1st Leslie Taft

Men’s Overall Team: Desert Fencing Academy

Women’s Overall Team: 1st College of the Desert, 2nd Desert Fencing Academy

Overall Division Club Champion: Desert Fencing Academy

As you can see, DFA had a very good competitive season!

EXCITING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY:

The 2009 USA Pentathlon Nationals, NORCECA Men’s and Women’s Championships and Open will be held June 5- 7, 2009, (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

This is a qualifying point tournament for the 2012 Olympics. There are approximately sixty athletes coming to the desert to compete, including athletes from Great Britain, Panama, Guatemala and Canada. The competitors range in age from 10 to 40 plus.

I am involved with the fencing. The fencing will be held at the Pavilion in Palm Springs, next to the Palm Springs Library and Swimming Pool. It is a large and beautiful venue.

I have attached a copy of the events schedule. This will be quite exciting to watch and Margaux Isaksen and Sam Sacksen, who were on the 2008 Olympic Pentathlon team, will also be competing.

I will need some volunteer help. I could use help on Thursday night. Sam Signorelli and I are doing the weapons check, but we could use two more volunteers, and the same on Friday night.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we could use volunteer help timing and scorekeeping and running scores to the Bout Committee. If you are an adult, and an epee fencer, we could use you to help referee the bouts. Sunday, after the fencing, we could use volunteers to help with the tear down and clean up.

This is a great opportunity to be involved in such high level fencing and watch some great epee fencing, and also attend the other events.

Call or email me if you can help out. The schedule is attached. Also, for current information, go to the Pentathlon website, which is www.pentathlon.teamusa.org.

Lastly, DFA will go into its Summer schedule starting June 15. DFA will close for its Summer break on July 25 and re-open on September 2.

Wishing everyone a great June and blissful fencing,

- Leslie

April DFA News Blast

2009-04-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hi to all Friday and Saturday fencers, and all weekday fencers!

April is our biggest competition month and we’re away a goodly portion of the Fridays and Saturdays of this month. I thank all you Friday and Saturday fencers for being patient with our April tournament schedule; one day, you will be the one at the tournament!

So, to finish up this month and give you the May competition schedule.

DFA is closed on Good Friday, April 10

There will be fencing on Saturday April 11 and 18

DFA is closed on Saturday, April 25 as we are at Hemet High School for a tournament
(Traditionally, there is no open fencing the Friday night before a tournament)

DFA will be closed on Saturday, May 30 as we are at College of the Desert for our end-of-season tournament and awards ceremony.

We will go into our Summer Schedule starting June 15 through July 25 and then close for the remainder of the month of July and the month of August. The Summer Schedule will be posted to the DFA website.

DFA will re-open on Wednesday, September 2, 2009.

Wishing everyone a blessed Passover and Easter,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

April News 2009

2009-03-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Hi… and Happy Spring and Happy Easter!

This is a DFA news blast for April.

CONGRATULATIONS to Josh Butler earning his A09 in epee and Russell Holtz earning his B09 in epee!

FENCING/TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:

DFA will be CLOSED : April 3, 4 and 5 (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
The fencers will be at Cal State Long Beach for the Pacific Coast Championships.

DFA will be CLOSED : Good Friday, April 10

DFA will be OPEN : Saturday, April 11

DFA will be CLOSED : Saturday, April 25
We will be at Hemet High School for the last San Bernardino Division point tournament of the season.

Our last tournament for the season will be Saturday, May 30, at College of the Desert where we will have our end-of season awards ceremony.

Wishing everyone a happy April and blissful fencing.

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

DFA Epee Club Standings

2009-03-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

We just starting keeping track of practice performance.

Take a look at the stats here.

Enjoy,

DFA

March News 2009

2009-03-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

Hi to everyone…Happy March and Happy St.Patrick’s Day.

This is a DFA news flash for everyone with up-coming tournament schedules.

San Bernardino Division Qualifier is Saturday, March 7, DFA will be closed.
Please check AskFred.net or go to our division website, www.usfasb.org to see the tournament schedule. Check-in times are different from our regular division schedule as we will have approximately 21 events to run, so please check the websites to know when you need to check-in for your event(s).

Pacific Coast Championships are April 4 and 5 at Cal State Long Beach.
DFA will be closed April 3-5.

Good Friday, April 10, DFA is closed, but will be open on Saturday, April 11.

Hemet High School Tournament is Saturday, April 25, DFA will be closed.

College of the Desert Tournament is Saturday, May 30. This is our end-of-season and awards tournament. DFA will be closed.

DFA Summer Schedule will begin on Monday, June 15.

Congratulations to Max Barber who finished in 11th place out of 203 and earned his B’09 rating in epee at the Junior Olympics!

Finally, I will again be running in the Women Running Wild 5k on Sunday, March 29.
This is a fundraiser for the Jody Klein Breast Cancer Fund. If anyone would care to donate, $5 would be great, please make your check payable to Women Running Wild and you can bring your check to DFA and I’ll get it to the event organizer the day of the run.

Have a great March everyone!

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

Sixth Anniversary Party - Feb 28, 2009

2009-03-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

February News 2009 -Update-

2009-02-12T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hi to All,

This is a quick news flash to all fencers and their families as February is a short, and busy, month.

Saturday, February 14, Close at 1:00 p.m.
So, I’m asking all my sabre fencers to please come from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. for fencing and their lesson and for my afternoon fencers, mostly epee fencers, to please come from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for their lesson, then I’ll close at 1:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 21, No Fencing at DFA.
On Saturday, February 21, we have a USFA/San Bernardino Division tournament at College of the Desert. Sabre fencing begins at 9:30 a.m., foil at 10:30 a.m. and epee at 12:30 p.m.

On Saturday, February 28, DFA will celebrate its sixth anniversary!
We will have our anniversary party, (there will be cake and coffee) from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. We’ll finish up the fencing early so we can have time to socialize and eat cake and not worry about blades swooshing around us!

-Leslie

February News 2009

2009-02-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hi….and happy February, Happy Valentine’s Day, and Happy 6th Anniversary DFA!!!

Yes, DFA celebrates its sixth anniversary! DFA opened on February 24, (my birthday), 2003 (not my birth year!). We now have sixty-one active fencing members in our club! It makes me very proud and my thanks to all of you for your support these past six years.

And yes, there will be a celebration on Saturday, February 28, from 12 noon to 3 pm. And yes, there will be cake and coffee. So please come by and celebrate with us.

TOURNAMENT INFO AND DATES:

February 14, Valentine’s Day, I have to close at 1:00 pm. So I invite all sabre fencers to come and get a lesson and spar from 9:00 am to 11:30 am and all epee fencers to come in from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm.

February 21, we have a division tournament at College of the Desert.

February 28, DFA 6th anniversary party from 12 noon to 3 pm.

March 7, Division Quals for Summer Nationals will be held at Harvey Mudd College.
Schedule will be posted on the San Bernardino Division and DFA websites.

March 14, Victor Valley High School Haake und Slasche tournament.
Schedule is posted on the San Bernardino Division website.

April 25, division tournament at Hemet High School.

May 30, end of season award tournament at College of the Desert.

HAPPENINGS:

December 26-January 2, DFA was the site for the youth and junior pentathlon camp with the actual pentathlon fencing competition held at College of the Desert, January 3.

There were twenty participants ranging in ages from 9 to 18 and it was also an international event as we had participants from Britain, Canada and Panama.
As an extra treat, on the day of the competition, we had 2008 Olympic Pentathlete Sam Sacksen come and participate!
My thanks to Russell Holtz, Ann Barber and Josh Butler who came and sparred with the pentathletes every day of the camp and gave them tactical and strategy pointers, and Sam Signorelli who was the armorer.

Please visit the Southern California Pentathlon (SCP) website for stories, photos and results.

Modern Pentathlon is an Olympic event of five disciplines: Fencing, Swimming, Riding, Running and Shooting. Currently, it is growing in interest amongst the middle school and high school age athlete. Obviously, with five sports, it takes a great deal of commitment on the part of the athlete, and parents, to train and pursue this particular discipline. More camps, clinics, and competitions are being scheduled and DFA will be there to help with the fencing.

We still have some DFA tee shirts left. Smalls are gone, but we have plenty of medium and large size tee shirts with five extra large tee shirts remaining. The colors are white, ash, red, pink, gold and teal. I’d like to sell the remaining tee shirts and put in another order. If you are interested in purchasing a tee shirt, I’m selling them for ten dollars.

I’m also thinking about having some custom fencing gloves made. Black palms and various top colors, with the DFA logo if possible. If you are interested in one of these custom gloves, please give me your glove size, left or right handed, and color preferred.
The gloves would be selling for $20.

Wishing everyone a happy February and blissful fencing,

Leslie Taft
The fencing coach

January News 2009

2009-01-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

Hi…and Happy New Year! I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday time.

A quick update on activities going on a DFA for the month of January.

Junior Pentathlon Camp and Tournament:

Twenty junior pentathletes, ranging in age from 9-18, have been training here in the desert during the holiday break, December 26-January 2. The older pentathletes have participated in several World Cups and will be competing Saturday, January 3 in a UIPM sanctioned Junior Pentathlon. This is very exciting! Our own Cassie Bullock and Leah Price will be competing. This is also an international competition as we have fencers from Canada, Panama, and Great Britain.

They have been swimming at the Palm Springs Municipal pool, riding and shooting at Michael Cintas’ Equestrian Riding Center, and fencing at DFA.

Please know that you are all invited to come and watch the competition on January 3.

Competition Times and Venues:

8:00 a.m. to 11:00 am, fencing at College of the Desert

12 noon, swimming at Palm Springs Municipal Pool

2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, the run/shoot at the Equestrian Center, Rancho Mirage

5:00 pm to 5:30 pm, the equestrian ride at the Equestrian Center, Rancho Mirage

In addition to coming and watching the fencing at COD, and the other events, we could use some volunteer help in setting up the gym at COD for the event. We’ll start set up at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night and it will probably take us four hours as we are laying down two copper strips. On Saturday, we could use help with timing, scorekeeping and those ever important “gopher” activities and help with clean up after the fencing. We always need volunteer help to set up these kinds of tournaments, but it would be nice for as many of our fencers as possible to come and watch. Representatives of West Coast Pentathlon will be here, as well as some officials from the UIPM (the national governing body for the International Pentathlon).
It’s always impressive then the hometown club is on hand and in force.

My thanks to Russell Holtz, Christian Jiminez and Ann Barber for helping out all week and sparring with the pentathletes. They helped make the fencing portion of the camp be a great success.

Upcoming Tournaments:

Our next San Bernardino Division tournament will be Saturday, January 24 at Harvey Mudd College.

Wishing everyone, health, happiness, peace, prosperity and blissful fencing in the new year.

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

December News 2008

2008-12-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hi… and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

DFA will be closed December 22 and re-open January 5.

My thanks to all our fencers and their families who fenced with us and supported us this year and all the past years. My thanks and welcome to the new fencers and families who started fencing with us in the last few months.

Even though we are taking a Christmas Break, there will be fencing going on at DFA and I invite all our fencers, especially the epee fencers, and their families to get in on the excitement if your holiday schedule permits.

SCP (Southern California Pentathlon) is hosting a winter junior pentathlon training camp, December 27-January 2, culminating in a junior pentathlon competition Saturday, January 3.

What started out as a small winter training camp has grown into an international, UIPM (the national governing body of the U.S. Pentathlon), competition with twenty competitors from the U. S., Canada, Panama and England!

DFA will be the host site for the training and sparring sessions December 27-January 2 and COD is the host venue for the fencing competition on Saturday, January 3.

Epee fencers, if you would be interested in training, sparring and helping out with the training camp, let me know. I know the visiting fencers would enjoy fencing with as many different epee fencers as possible.

Also, on Friday, January 2, we could use help in setting up the gym. We’ll be at COD at 8:00 pm to set up the two grounded strips, electrical scoring equipment, registration and bout committee, along with the area for the armorers. During the competition we’ll need scorekeepers and runners, referees and, of course, folks to help us with the tear down and clean up after the fencing.

The schedule of events for January 3 is as follows:

Fencing 8 a.m. College of the Desert
Swimming noon Palm Springs Pool
Run/Shoot 2 p.m. Equestrian Center, Rancho Mirage
Jumping 4 p.m. Equestrian Center, Rancho Mirage

Local athletes and DFA fencers participating in this event include Cassie Bullock and Leah Price, both students at Palm Desert High School.

If you are a sabre or foil fencer, I invite you to come and watch, and help out. The more the merrier, and we will need volunteer help.

For more information on Southern California Pentathlon which, by the way, was started by Mary Jo Bullock (Cassie’s mom) and Lorraine Price (Leah’s mom), visit the website at www.modernpent.com. The website for the World Cup is www.usopenpentathlonworldcup.org.

So, we’ll have an exciting end of year and beginning of the new year at DFA, and everyone is invited to participate!

Wishing everyone happy holidays and a happy and prosperous new year.

Sincerely,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach
Desert Fencing Academy

November News 2008 -Update-

2008-11-10T10:41:00.000-08:00

Hi Fencers.

I have lots of information to share with you all.

We are fencing this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at DFA, Nov. 6, 7 and 8.

There is no fencing at COD Tuesday, Nov. 11 as it is Veterans Day and COD is closed.

We will fence Thursday, Nov. 13 at DFA, but not Friday night, Nov. 14 as we have J.O. quals at Harvey Mudd College Saturday, Nov. 15.

We will be closed on Thanksgiving, Nov. 27 and closed on Friday, Nov. 28, but if you want to fence Friday night let me know and we can fence and we will be open on Saturday, Nov. 29

For December, we’ll close early on Friday, December 5 because we have a Saturday tournament at Harvey Mudd on December 6.

For the Christmas holiday, DFA will be closed December 22-January 5.

Now, here is the exciting news. SCP (Southern California Pentathlon) is putting on a pentathlon camp for junior pentathletes. It’s Mary Jo Bullock and Lorraine Price who are organizing this event, the riding will be at Michael Cintas’ equestrian center in Rancho Mirage and the fencing will be done at DFA December 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and January 2 starting at 1:30 p.m. If any one wants to help with this, please let me know.

So, it’s more than likely, if you are an epee fencer and want lessons and want to fence, you may do so during this camp.

On Saturday, December 3, we are holding a Junior Pentathlon competition and the fencing event will be at COD. It will be run much like what we did for the junior pentathlon event in June at COD. I’ll need help with this one, like with the event in June. We’ll need referees and scorekeepers. We may use two grounded strips for this. If we do go with grounded strips, we will have to lay the strips in the gym at COD on Friday night and then take them up after fencing on Saturday. So, I can use everyone’s help with this event in December/January. I will send you all update info emails on this as I get them.

Thanks,

-Leslie

November News 2008

2008-11-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hi…and happy November 2008.

September/October News:

Congratulations to Gretchen Bueermann and Hunter Scalise who both earned their
E08 rating in saber at the September tournament held at College of the Desert and Scott Pippin who earned his D08 and Costa Nichols who earned his C08 in sabre.

We welcome Hemet High School to our fencing family as our new fencing venue. Hemet High School fencing coach, David Powell, offered the use of his gym to the division for consideration. Well, if someone offers a gym, that’s a most generous offer and we’re delighted David offered, we took him up on it, and that it is such a nice venue.

So the three venues in the San Bernardino Division are College of the Desert, Harvey Mudd College in Claremont and Hemet High School.

Cindy Runyon, the fencing coach at San Bernardino Valley College, retired her fencing program at the end of the 2007-2008 season. Cindy, and SBVC, had been a part of our division for sixteen years!

Tournament Dates:

Our November tournament will be held at Harvey Mudd , Saturday, November 15. This is the qualifier for the Junior Olympics. The events are Cadet and Junior men’s and women’s foil, saber and epee. There is no open tournament, just the qualifier, which is only for San Bernardino Division members.

Close of check-in is posted on the San Bernardino Division website, www.usfasb.org.
Desert Fencing Academy website, www.desertfencingacademy.com and on AskFred.net.

We are asking fencers to pre-register on AskFred (there is no pre-payment due) just so we can get a count of who will be participating in which events. The entry fee per event is $10.

The December tournament will be held at Harvey Mudd on Saturday, December 6. This is a 3-weapon open.

The January tournament will be held at Harvey Mudd on Saturday, January 24. This is a 3-weapon open.

Holiday Fencing Schedule:

DFA’s holiday fencing schedule is as follows:

Closed Saturday, November 15 for J.O. Quals at Harvey Mudd
Closed Thursday, November 27 for Thanksgiving
Closed Friday, November 28 for day after Thanksgiving and shopping

Open Saturday, November 29 for lessons and sparring

Closed Saturday, December 6 for tournament at Harvey Mudd

DFA will take a long Christmas break this year. We will close on Monday, December 22 and reopen on Monday, January 5

Upcoming Big Events:

We have some upcoming big events.

December 27- January 2 DFA is hosting a fencing training camp for U.S. junior pentathletes. We’ll be working with beginning to elite junior pentathlon epee fencers to culminate in a junior pentathlon event on Saturday, January 3. Venues are still to be selected, but College of the Desert will be the host for the fencing.

DFA epee fencers are welcome to come to the training sessions to work with the athletes and spar with them. We’ll also need our fencers’ help with volunteering to direct, time and score keep during the pentathlon event. As we get more information, we’ll share that information with our members.

Our next major event is our involvement in the Pentathlon World Cup, which will be held in Palm Desert March 20, 21 and 22, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This is a bona fide World Cup with twenty-five countries expected to participate. At this time, the run, shoot and fencing will be held at College of the Desert. The ride will be at the Equestrian Center International (ECI). The swimming venue is to be determined.

This will be very exciting as pentathletes from around the world will be in Palm Desert for this World Cup. For the fencing, the College of the Desert gym is the venue. The International Pentathlon Committee will provide the international referees. We will have ten grounded strips in the gym. Obviously, all DFA fencers, especially the epee fencers are asked to get involved in this event and you will be needed, I can assure you of that!

So, we are winding down an exciting 2008 fencing season and obviously gearing up for a very exciting 2009! I’m looking forward to it and that we’ll all be together sharing it!
Wishing everyone happy holidays, a wonderful new year and blissful fencing,

Leslie

August 2008 Update

2008-08-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hi to all…..and happy almost end of August 2008.

This is our end of Summer, beginning of September newsletter.

Summer Nationals News:

This summer, Nationals were held in San Jose, California, so many of our fencers took advantage of participating. We had first timers Ann Barber and Debbie Romig both competing in veteran women’s epee, and Debbie competing in division 2 and 3 women’s epee. We also made up the women’s epee team. We went in seeded 20th and finished up 20th!

Scott Pippin fenced in division 2 and 3 mens’ sabre and Hunter Scalise, competing in his first Nationals, fenced division 3 men’s sabre.

Seventy-something Frank Campellone fenced in veteran men’s epee and foil.

The San Jose Convention Center was the perfect venue being huge, well air-conditioned and having an excellent sound system. Sixty fencing strips, an adjacent ballroom where fencers could stow their gear and warm up and just about all the vendors were there. It was like being in fencing heaven.

And what made it all the more special is that our DFA fencers, with their families, would always make it to the sidelines to cheer on a DFA fencer or team,

And everyone’s favorite fencing tee shirt saying was, “I’m the reason you play pingpong”.

Scott Pippin was also at Ed Korfanty’s June and late July sabre camps. Ed is the U.S. Olympic women’s sabre coach and our sabre kids have spent a couple summers at Ed’s sabre camps and have fenced with Mariel Zagunis and Becca Ward. Scott told me that both Mariel and Becca were at the July camp and that he had the opportunity to fence with both girls, and then gave Mariel a good bye hug. Little did he know that he was hugging the future women’s sabre gold medalist, for the second time!

Former DFA sabre fencer, Aaron Fagan, was spending his summer break from Vassar with his mom and dad. Aaron and dad stopped by to say hello and Aaron described what it was like to fence for an ivy league school.

Linden Ballen, epee fencer, spent a couple weeks fencing with us before going off to the Air Force Academy for his freshman year.

Chasen Chapman, epee fencer, will be going to Cornell for his freshman year, studying restaurant and hotel management, and getting in a little fencing.

2008-2009 San Bernardino Tournament Schedule

Tournament dates are on the DFA website, San Bernardino Division website, www.usfasb.org and also on AskFred.net with a few TBA events as we wait for confirmation from Harvey Mudd College.

Our first two tournaments are:

Saturday, September 20 at COD, 3-weapon open

Saturday, October 11 at Hemet High School, 3-weapon open

Also on the Division website are the gold medal D.E.’s from the May tournament at COD.

DFA TEE SHIRTS

I’m ordering new DFA tee shirts, with the DFA logo. If you want one, or more, give me your shirt size. The tee shirts will be $15 for one and $25 for two. They are Hanes 50/50, adult size tee shirts, small 34-36, medium 38-40, large 42-44, X-large 46-48.

The colors are:

White

Ash (a swirl of white and gray together, very nice)

Light pink

Light blue

Teal/Sapphire (more blue than green)

Gold (which is a bit on the orange side)

Other Business

DFA will re-open on Tuesday, September 2. Our fencing schedule remains the same and is posted on the DFA website. Please let me know if you are keeping to your lesson schedule from last season or wish to make changes so I can get it in my lesson planner.

Prices remain the same: $30 monthly membership and $20 per lesson. Last season we tried a new payment program of running a tab and billing at the end of the month.
That was a disaster, so it has been discontinued. We’re back to either pay for the entire month at the beginning of the month or pay per lesson.
If a lesson is missed, it can either be made up in the same month or “roll into” the next month. The monthly membership fee is due every month, (except for August when we are closed). It’s the monthly membership fee that supports DFA.

If you will be unable to keep your lesson, please call to let me know so I can accommodate another fencer who wishes a lesson.

Wishing everyone blissful fencing,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

Olympics Pictures from Yahoo Sports

2008-08-18T12:42:00.001-07:00

Check out these pictures from Yahoo Sports.

Enjoy...

June News

2008-06-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hi …and Happy June and Summer 2008 to all!

Congratulations are in order for our DFA fencers graduating from Palm Desert High School this June. Chasen Chapman will be going to Cornell University and Mitchell Link will be traveling to Russia, Latvia, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Both boys have been fencing at DFA since 2003. Chasen has a D06 in epee and Mitchell has a C07.

Linden Ballen finished up his freshman year at Emery-Riddle College in Arizona and has been accepted into the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Linden has been fencing with us in the evenings and taking flying lessons during the day. He’ll be off to the Air Force Academy the 25th of this month to begin his basic training and, yes, Linden will be on the Air Force fencing team.

Scott Pippin will be at the Air Force Academy, kayak camp, Ed Korfanty’s saber camp and competing at Nationals in San Jose.

Masaki Yamada will be in Japan studying the language and culture.

Epee fencer Cassie Bullock, has been elected Senior Class President at Palm Desert High School, will participate in a mini-pentathlon competition June 7 and 8 here in Palm Desert, and then off to New Mexico and Ireland for pentathlon competition and training.

New DFA member, Leah Price, is also a pentathlete , fencing at DFA and getting ready to join her friend, Cassie, in competitions this summer.

And speaking of Pentathlon competitions, there will be a mini-pentathlon this June 7 and 8, with the fencing at College of the Desert, in the Wright Gymnasium, starting at 1:30 p.m., on Sunday, June 8. Everyone is welcome to come and watch.

DFA Summer Schedule:

DFA will go into its summer schedule starting Monday, June 16.
Weekday classes begin at 1:30 p.m.
Our Saturday schedule remains the same.
DFA will be closed Friday, July 4.
DFA will also be closed July 5-9 as we will be in San Jose for the Nationals.
DFA will re-open on Thursday, July 10 and we’ll keep to our schedule until we officially close for the summer which is Monday, July 28.
DFA will re-open on Tuesday, September 2.

Other DFA Updates:

For any fencers for whom we run a tab and send an email invoice at the end of the month, before you head out of town this June or July, please settle up your fencing tab. Our fiscal year is September through July and my accountant has made it very clear to me that he does not want any outstanding payments going into September. If you need to mail in a payment, the mailing address is 72-600 Fred Waring Drive, #701, Palm Desert, CA 92260.

A reminder, especially to our new members, your monthly membership fee covers all of DFA’s expenses…..rent, utilities, buying new equipment and gear, washing, cleaning, maintaining, repairing equipment, our website. DFA is truly member supported.

This competitive year, September 2007 to June 2008, DFA has purchased new electric sabers and epees, body cords, saber mask clips, saber masks and lames, saber and epee blades and just this month of June, brand new right handed gloves from H.O.M. Fencing Supply (Sam) to the tune of $400.

So, as my creditors appreciate, and expect, prompt payment, I rely on my members to do the same so we can keep the flow going.

Wishing everyone a great summer and blissful fencing,

Leslie

May News

2008-05-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hi…and happy May and Mother’s Day! Here is information for the month of May.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:

DFA will be closed May 9-11, Friday-Sunday. We will be in Pasadena for the Pacific Coast Championships. If you are interested in fencing in PCC’s, go to the Pacific Coast Section website and click on tournament registration which will take you to AskFred. The deadline for registration is May 2. After that, the registration fee is double and triple at the door.

DFA will be closed Saturday, May 17, for our end-of-season tournament and awards ceremony. Please visit the San Bernardino Division website, www.usfasb.org, to view the Division Points Winners.

Congratulations to Max Barber who earned his C08 rating in epee at the April 19 tournament at Harvey Mudd College.

We have lots of fencing going on:

Monday evenings from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., electric sabre fencing
Thursday evenings from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., electric epee fencing
Friday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. open electric fencing
Saturdays from noon to 2:00 p.m. electric epee fencing

On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., if fencers want to come in to do footwork, drills or spar, please feel welcome to come on in and workout on those days which may not be your regular lesson day. It’s your club and everyone is most welcome to come in and practice footwork, etc., or make a “date” with another fencer to come in and get in some extra sparring practice. Wednesday is turning into a good day for our junior sabre fencers to come and get in some extra sparring practice.

We will be going into our summer schedule starting Monday, June 16 and will close for our summer vacation on Monday, July 28. DFA will re-open on Tuesday, September 2.

Our summer schedule will be posted to our website on May 1.

Wishing everyone a merry month of May and blissful fencing.

April 2008

2008-04-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hi…and happy April to everyone.

Information on up coming tournaments and general information for our members but, first, I would like to thank everyone who sponsored me in the 5K Women’s Running Wild event held this past Sunday, March 31, at Ruth Hardy Park in Palm Springs. The 5K event is to raise money for the Jody Klein Breast Cancer Fund. One hundred twenty-three men and 244 women participated. I held true to my goal of a ten minute mile and ran the 5K (3.1 miles) in 31 minutes. The most moving part of the event is the balloon release. Watching all those pink balloons rise up into the blue sky becomes quite emotional for everyone and you’ll see women, and men, with tears in their eyes as they watch their balloon being lifted up as they remember their loved one. So, to all of you who supported me and made a donation, my deep, deep thanks. All together, we raised $700! Awesome! Thank you.

Tournament Information:

Our next tournament is the Haake und Slasche, Saturday, April 5 at Victor Valley High School. Close of check-in times are 9 a.m. for men’s epee, 11 a.m. for mixed sabre, 12 noon for women’s foil, 1 p.m. for women’s epee, 2 p.m. for women’s foil. Event fee is $10 per weapon. This is a fundraiser for Victor Valley High School and is a division-sanctioned event, but not a division point event. DFA will be open on this Saturday.

Saturday, April 19, our division tournament will be held at Harvey Mudd College. The usual division check-in times, $10 entry fee. DFA will be closed.

PCC’s, Pacific Coast Championships will be held May 10-11, Mother’s Day weekend, in Pasadena at the Pasadena Center. You may register on AskFred; pre-registration closes on May 6. All information and start times are on the Pacific Coast Section website. DFA will be closed.

May 17 is our end-of-season awards tournament held at College of the Desert. DFA will be closed.

Summer Nationals will be held in San Jose, July 1-10. Many of our fencers will be participating in Summer Nationals, as will I. DFA will be closed, but I don’t know the exact dates yet.

Other News:

As we get ready for PCC’s and Nationals, and a summer break, DFA will close July 28-September 2, I want to extend the invitation to all sparring DFA members to come to DFA on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after school to simply take advantage of some extra time to work on footwork and to spar with other fencers.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, all I have are lessons scheduled, so if a fencer, who is already at least sparring, wants to come and work out or get together with other fencers to spar, please come on in and do so. It’s your club, so take advantage of Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons to come in and do some fencing and training.

Also, we currently have 52 DFA members (yippee!). I have everyone’s lesson schedule in my planner. If you are not able to make your fencing lesson, please let me know. I am constantly getting requests for extra lesson days and times, so if you can’t make a lesson, let me know so I can accommodate another fencer who could take that time slot.

Last item, for those members for whom I run a monthly fencing tab, before you take off for summer vacation, please settle up with me before you go.

Wishing everyone a great April and blissful fencing to all,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

March 2008 Update

2008-03-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hi to all…and happy March, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter.
Just an info update for everyone.

The division qualifier for the National Championships will be held at San Bernardino Valley College on Saturday, March 15. The schedule has been posted to the San Bernardino, DFA and AskFred websites. If you are planning on fencing at Nationals, you must qualify through our division qualifier. Nationals will be held in San Jose, July 1-10.

I know many of you may be taking some vacation time during Spring Break. If you are going to be away, please let me know so I can make the notation in my lesson planner. Traditionally, DFA closes for Good Friday, March 22, but DFA will be open Saturday, March 23.

On Sunday, March 30, I will be running in the Women Running Wild 5K which benefits the Jody Klein Breast Cancer Fund. As DFA celebrated its fifth anniversary this past February and this will be my fifth year running in this event, I felt it only fitting to have our club support this cause. I want to thank all the DFA families who are supporting me and have made a donation to the fund. There is still time if anyone would like to make a donation. If you do, please make your check payable to the Jody Klein Breast Cancer Fund.

The April 5 Haake und Slasche will be held at Vicor Valley High School. We are waiting to receive their event schedule and will post it to the San Bernardino and DFA websites.
The April 19 division tournament will be held at Harvey Mudd College. The schedule has been posted to the San Bernardino and DFA websites.

A reminder, if you need to cancel a fencing lesson, please call me, 218-1343, and let me know.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Spring,

Leslie

February 2008 Newsletter

2008-02-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

Hi to all,

And happy Valentine’s Day!

Firstly, so everyone knows, the next fencing tournament is Saturday, February 16, at Harvey Mudd College. Map and directions are on the DFA website.

During the Christmas holidays, Aaron Fagan came back home from Vassar and fenced with us as did Linden Ballen, who is currently at Embry-Riddle in Prescott, Arizona. It was great to see both young men again, hear about their adventures in college, and have them fence with us. Linden drove back to the desert from Prescott to fence in the COD tournament on January 19 and took 8^th place! And, Linden has been accepted to the Air Force Academy and will begin his academic career there in September!

Ann Barber, (Max’s mom), competed in her first tournament on January 19 at COD! Ann started fencing in September and her weapon is epee. She takes lessons twice a week and is at DFA and COD to spar whenever her work schedule permits. It’s fun to watch her fence, especially when she’s fencing against son Max.

And another parent, Mike Lindley, is taking epee lessons on Saturdays, while son Jackson takes sabre lessons.

Our Junior Olympians, Masaki Yamada and Gretchen Bueermann, sabre, and Max Barber, epee, will be in Charlotte, North Carolina, February 15-18. This will be Masaki’s and Gretchen’s third J.O.’s and the first for Max.

DESERT FENCING ACADEMY

CELEBRATES ITS

FIFTH ANNIVERSARY

That’s right, DFA is celebrating its five year anniversary!!! I am so pleased, proud and excited!

My thanks to all you parents and fencers. It’s thanks to you all and your support that DFA has been in business these past five years and bringing fencing to our desert community.

We’ll have a birthday party for DFA on Saturday, February 23, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Join us for cake, coffee and reminiscing.

December Newsletter - Happy Holidays!

2007-12-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

Do you all feel like this year has flown by?! I certainly do.

Here is the December/January schedule for Desert Fencing Academy.

Saturday, December 15, fencing tournament and J.O. quals at San Bernardino Valley College.

If your fencer is going to compete in the J.O. qualifier, please pre-register on AskFred.net so we can have an advance count on the number of fencers coming and it enables us to input the list of fencers into the tournament computer which streamlines our check-in process.

DFA will be closed December 24, 25 and 26, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

DFA will be open December 27, 28, and 29, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

DFA will be closed December 31, January 1 and 2, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with all classes resuming on Thursday, January 3.

Saturday, January 19, the fencing tournament will be at College of the Desert.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS:

DFA currently has 51 members! This is very exciting. It also makes scheduling very interesting. If your fencer is unable to make his/her lesson, I would appreciate it if you could call me to cancel their lesson appointment. I do get calls from fencers (or parents) requesting a fencing lesson time and if I know there will be a cancellation, I can accommodate the fencer asking for a lesson. If I don’t know that a scheduled lesson will not show, then I lose both the fencer scheduled for that lesson time and the fencer who could have come for a lesson.

Please know that I “save” the lesson day and time your fencer comes. But if your fencer is going to be away, I can put another fencer in that lesson time for the period it is available.

ONE OTHER ITEM:

Having many members is a plus, especially when so many members keep our prices constant. All our costs went up significantly this September when we re-opened. Rent, equipment, repair of equipment, all these costs increased. And with an increase in members, we purchase more fencing gear, i.e., masks, jackets, gloves, weapons, (both electric and non-electric), and we repair weapons and body cords and maintain the gloves, jackets and lames by washing them. We also purchased additional electric sabre lames and electric sabre masks this month.

With this in mind, I would like to ask all those fencers for whom I run an end-of-month tab to please pay their fencing tab by the 10th of the new month. I’m fine with running a tab and I’m working to get a financial rhythm going and this should do it.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday time,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all,

Sincerely,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach
Desert Fencing Academy

November Update

2007-11-05T13:28:00.000-08:00

Hi to all,

Well, our third Palm Desert Open, held November 3 and 4 at College of the Desert, was a big success. We grew from 68 fencers our first tournament, to 97 fencers our second tournament to 116 fencers this tournament! Our epee events were A2 events and we had many fencers from Arizona and Nevada come and participate. Results will be posted to AskFred.

I have to give tremendous thanks to our volunteers, without whom the tournament would never have flowed so smoothly.

Tournament Committee: Diane Whan and Ann Barber, working the computers

Check- in People: Cammie Link, Cindy Ibba, Roman Ibba, Carrie DeVoe, Ellis DeVoe

Runners: Chanelle Guillaume and Natalie Salagean

Set-up & Tear Down: Max Barber, Kevin & Jody Short, Josh & Kyoko Butler, Danny Torres, Brian Murray, Costa Nichols, Debbie Romig, Cindy Ibba

Please forgive me if I’ve forgotten anyone.

Congratulations, also, to Costa Nichols, 8^th place mixed sabre, Sang Yun (Daniel) Lee, 7^th place mixed epee, Leslie Taft, 3^rd place, women’s sabre.

Congratulations also, to Grant Boatman, who made his fencing debut in mixed epee and kudos to Hunter Scalise who won his first bout, in his first tournament, at the PDO, in mixed sabre.

Tournament Schedule Change:

The November 10 J.O. qualifier at Victor Valley High School has been canceled due to double-booking of the gym.

J.O. quals will be held at San Bernardino Valley College on Saturday, December 15. We will also run, concurrently, a USFA/San Bernardino Division open competition.

DFA will be open for classes on Saturday, November 10.

DFA will be closed on Thanksgiving day, Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23.

DFA will be open for classes on Saturday, November 24.

Happy Thanksgiving and Blissful Fencing to All,

Leslie

October 27th Tournament Cancelled due to poor air quality

2007-10-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Hi to everyone,
Please get the word out, we have cancelled the Saturday, October 27 tournament at San Bernardino Valley College, due to the fire, bad air conditions, and the school has been closed. This info will be put on the San Bernardino Division website DFA website and AskFred.net.

Thanks,
- Leslie