Fencing

[GeneChing]

I prefer to meet over beer and nachos, but whatev. In all honestly, DJ, I haven't fenced in years. And I wasn't much of a foil man. Being a chronic counterattacker, I never quite got the hang of right-of-way. I understand it theoretically, but when pressed, I'll usually counterattack instead of parry-riposte, and any foil player worth his or her salt can capitalize upon that foible. I thought I was going to be into saber, but all the dao & kendo training made me too heavy-handed, and that also has right-of-way. It was all about epee for me.

Lucas, when you start, be sure to get your gear at Victory Fencing Gear. Ask for Maestro Harkness. Tell him you want a foil with a square ninja guard. This will probably be followed by an icy silence. Then tell him I sent you and he'll take good care of you.

[sanjuro_ronin]

When I was at the University of Toronto I used to train with the UofT guys, just for fun mind you.
Very few sports develop the skillset that fencing does.

[Lucas]

lol will do gene. just out of curiosity, did he provide the square ninja guard foil for you? cuz that would be dope.

[pazman]

3 vs 50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgKg0Hc7YIA

Really impressive, even if it's a little contrived.

[MasterKiller]

[GeneChing]

1 point to pazman for being first and posting on this OT thread.
1 point to MK for knowing how to embed a vid.

Tie score. In fencing, we call that la belle.

[pazman]

For normal fencing matches its difficult for me to how much skills goes into it when the two people are evenly matched.

This video its very easy to see just how much better the experts are over a crowd of less skilled opponents.

[GeneChing]

I wish I had planned my weekend better and could attend this. Alexander Massialas is the son of Greg Massialas, one of my former NCAA teammates. Actually, he was on the SJSU team a few years prior to me, but he'd come by every once in a while and whup all our butts, just to show us who's still boss. I've not spoken with Greg in years so he probably doesn't remember me (I was an epeeist, not a foilist) and I've never met Alexander.

Men’s Foil World Cup Comes to San Francisco This Weekend

(San Francisco, Calif.) – The 2014-15 Senior World Cup season kick off this weekend with the San Francisco Men’s Foil World Cup at Kezar Pavilion.

Nearly 200 of the world’s best foil fencers from more than 35 nations will compete in the three-day tournament that begins on Friday and concludes on Sunday.

Preliminary individual competition will take place on Friday and will be followed by direct elimination and final round action for the top 64 fencers on Saturday. The semifinal and final rounds will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night. Team competition will take place on Sunday.

Click here for the complete schedule.

Tickets start at $20 per session. Click the following links to purchase:

Individual Tickets
Two-Day Pass
Three-Day Pass
Three-Day VIP Pass

The U.S. delegation will feature approximately 30 fencers, including all four members of the squad that placed fourth at the 2012 Olympic Games and won silver at the 2013 Senior World Championships.

For San Francisco natives Gerek Meinhardt and Alexander Massialas, the World Cup will be a rare opportunity to fence in front of a home crowd as U.S. athletes travel to an average of 10 countries each year.

Both Meinhardt, a two-time Olympian who won bronze at the 2010 Senior World Championships, and Massialas, his London Olympic teammate, grew up fencing in San Francisco and competed in regional events at the historic Kezar Pavilion during their youth fencing days.

A graduate student at Notre Dame, Meinhardt is now ranked No. 4 in the world after winning two individual medals on the World Cup circuit last season. Ranked seventh in the world, Massialas is a junior at Stanford who also won two individual World Cup medals this year and placed second behind Meinhardt at the Pan American Championships in June.

Meinhardt and Massialas’s teammates, 2012 Olympians Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.), will be among the top candidates for podium finishes in San Francisco.

Ranked 10th in the world, Imboden finished third at the 2014 Tokyo Grand Prix as part of a 1-2-3 U.S. finish with Meinhardt and Massialas and won the silver medal at the Seoul World Cup in May.

Chamley-Watson made history in 2013 as the first U.S. man to win an individual Senior World Championship title in fencing and took silver that same year with Meinhardt, Massialas and Imboden in the team event.

In the team event, the Americans were ranked No. 1 in the world earlier this year and are hoping to build on a season that included three podium appearances last spring.

The international field features the top foil fencers in the world, including:

2014 Senior World Individual Champion Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS)
2013 Senior World Individual Champion Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)
2012 Olympic Individual Champion Sheng Lei (CHN)
2014 Senior World Team Champions Enzo Lefort (FRA), Erwann Le Pechoux (FRA), Julien Mertine (FRA) and Vincent Simon (FRA)
2013 Senior World and 2012 Olympic Champions Giorgio Avola (ITA), Andrea Baldini (ITA) and Andrea Cassara (ITA)

Click here to view the entrants list.

Team USA’s entrant list is as follows (Note: additional athletes may be added on Thursday afternoon to complete pools):

San Francisco Men’s Foil World Cup U.S. Entrants

Aaron Ahn (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Aiden Ahn (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Max Blitzer (Staten Island, N.Y.)
Matthew Branman (Villanova, Pa.)
Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.)
Turner Caldwell (San Francisco, Calif.)
Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)
Jerry Chang (Mountain View, Calif.)
Raymond Chen (Dallas, Texas)
Kurt Getz (New York City, N.Y.)
Jarred Gou (Saratoga, Calif.)
David Hadler (San Francisco, Calif.)
George Haglund (Califon, N.J.)
Brian Howard (Petaluma, Calif.)
Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Brian Kaneshige (Maplewood, N.J.)
Axel Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
Julian Knodt (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.)
Michael Li (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Jan Maceczek (Marlboro, N.J.)
Stephen Mageras (Darien, Conn.)
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Adam Mathieu (Union City, N.Y.)
Darren Mei (Redwood City, Calif.)
Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
Samuel Moelis (Hewlett, N.Y.)
Lucas Orts (Burlingame, Calif.)
James Sands (New York, N.Y.)
Nolen Scruggs (Ozone Park, N.Y.)
Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.)
William Upbin (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
David Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)
Michael Woo (Wayne, N.J.)

[GeneChing]

Tragic story.

Kamara James Dies At 29: ‘Mental Illness’ Was Her ‘Most Unrelenting Adversary’



Olympic fencer Kamara James has died at the age of 29, according to a report released by The Grio.

According to the report, the former Team USA Olympic athlete passed away in Modesto, California. A story from the Modesto Bee reveals her death was reported on September 20.

Don Anthony, president of USA Fencing, released a statement on the organization’s official website in response to the confirmed announcement of her death.

“Kamara James was one of the brightest, precocious, self-assured young people I ever met. From her time as a very young fencer at the Peter Westbrook Foundation to her years at Princeton as an accomplished Olympian she remained warm, caring and confident. Kamara’s untimely passing leaves our fencing community very saddened and her spirit, charm and wit will be dearly missed.”

As of right now, it is still not clear as to how Kamara James died. However, a report released by Eric Rosenberg with Fencing.net confirmed that Kamara battled with “mental illness” as her “most unrelenting adversary.”

“Unfortunately, mental illness proved Kamara’s most unrelenting adversary. Still, just prior to her death, she had resumed a stable drug regimen, was living comfortably and had begun thinking about the future.”

At the young age of 19, Kamara James was a member of Team USA at the 2004 Olympic Games. James was the only women’s epee fencer from the United States that qualified for the event.

Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Kamara James moved with her family to Queens, NY at the age of 10. Even with such a difficult transition at such a young age, James thrived academically in school – receiving a full scholarship to The Dwight School. Her high grades and SAT scores also earned Kamara a scholarship to attend Princeton University.

Even though she did not have the financial backing and support of many of her Olympic competitors when it came to training for the Games, Kamara James did not allow that to stop her from reaching her goal of competing. According to USA Fencing, James developed a business plan and generated over $50,000 in donations that allowed her to turn her dream into a reality.

Keeth Smart, 2009 Olympic silver medalist, competed against Kamara James in Athens but also trained alongside her for more than ten years when they studied together at the Peter Westbrook Foundation. In a recent statement, Keeth stated that Kamara James was “one of the smartest people” he knew, especially when it came to developing that business plan.

“She was really grounded in terms of knowing how to take the steps she would need to reach any goal… Bar none, Kamara was one of the smartest people I’ve ever come across. Sometimes the strongest and fastest win, but to have a great career in fencing, you have to be one of the smartest and she definitely was it.”

As of now, no announcement has been made in regards to a memorial service for Kamara James.

[Vajramusti]

Tragic story.

That is sad.

[mawali]

Fencing, once a martial enterprise, is now a martial sport.
I once met the great Peter Westbrook many years ago and a link below showcases his teaching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTbe3XWYWS8

[GeneChing]

[Oso]

Nice. I've actually thought about this sport...I 'retired' from MA in 2009 due to shoulders and hips degrading at a quick pace, and now the broken ankle from my sojourn in Hawaii...but, I think I might be able to fence...prolly have to unlearn a lot of 'bad' habits that wouldn't be applicable to the venue but that could be fun too.

[boxerbilly]

Gene, you made outstanding and brilliant comments in this thread in regards to old and new in respect to Western arts. Then crossing over relation into traditional Asian arts. Great stuff.

Thanks.

[Oso]

you can't tell Gene stuff like that, man...it just goes to his head