Thursday, January 25, 2007
January 2007 Newsletter
Hi to all and Happy New Year! This is our January 2007 newsletter with lots of info.
Firstly, and of great importance…..We took 1st place for “School Spirit” in the Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade! This was DFA’s fourth entry in the Golf Cart Parade. We took third place in 2003 and 2004, second place in 2005 and 2006 and first place this year.
The theme for this year’s Golf Cart Parade was “Take a Ride on the Wild Side” and so we transformed the golf cart into a pirate ship with the theme, “Take a Ride on the Wild Side with the Swashbucklers of Desert Fencing Academy”.
Thanks go to Gail Richards who let us borrow her golf cart, and oodles of thanks go to Diane Whan, who built the wood framework for the pirate ship, Shelly Cannon, for her designs and creation of the “wooden” skirt that made the hull of the ship, the rigging, crow’s nest and the cannon, and Debbie Romig, who made the two sails, pirate flag and pirate bandanas for all the kids. The float really looked like a ship, and when the parade began, the wind picked up and filled our sails so we looked like we were sailing up El Paseo!
Shelly, Diane and Debbie put in lots of hours to make our pirate ship a reality and I thank them very much. Also, thanks go out to Josh Cannon, Chanelle Guillaume and Max Barber, DFA fencers, who spent some evenings and Saturday afternoons helping to assemble the float.
We took many photos and will have them posted on the DFA website for your viewing pleasure.
February Info:
As of this writing, there is no USFA/San Bernardino Division fencing tournament scheduled for February. Most fencers and coaches will be in Denver, Colorado, for the Junior Olympics, February 16-19. Five DFA fencers will be going to J.O.’s: Scott Pippin, Nico Bergmann, Masaki Yamada, Gretchen Bueermann and Linden Ballen. I will be accompanying them as coach, so DFA will be closed February 15-19, with classes resuming on Tuesday, February 20.
DFA celebrates its fourth anniversary on Saturday, February 24! We will be holding a celebration with cake and coffee from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m., so please come and join us as we celebrate four years of fencing at DFA!
March Info:
The qualifier for the Summer National Championhips will be held at San Bernardino Valley College, Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4. The fencing schedule is on the DFA website and printed copies are at DFA.
If a fencer wishes to fence at Summer Nationals, which will be held in Miami, Florida, June 29-July 8, and fence in Division III and Division II events, that fencer should participate in the qualifier events.
Also in March, the Junior Pacific Coast Championships will be held March 16-18 in Pasadena. I would urge all our under 20 competitive fencers to consider participating in this event, especially since it is practically in our backyard. Please visit the Pacific Coast Section website and click on Junior Events. Midi Cox has created a wonderful website for Jr. PCC’s with lots of information. Entry forms, days, times, host hotel, churches, coffee shops, are all listed on the website. Entries must be postmarked by March 1.
I will be there as I have been asked to help with the tournament and supply the electrical scoring gear.
As always, my thanks to each one of you for all your support of DFA, the fencers, and me.
Wishing everyone blissful fencing,
Leslie Taft
The Coach
Firstly, and of great importance…..We took 1st place for “School Spirit” in the Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade! This was DFA’s fourth entry in the Golf Cart Parade. We took third place in 2003 and 2004, second place in 2005 and 2006 and first place this year.
The theme for this year’s Golf Cart Parade was “Take a Ride on the Wild Side” and so we transformed the golf cart into a pirate ship with the theme, “Take a Ride on the Wild Side with the Swashbucklers of Desert Fencing Academy”.
Thanks go to Gail Richards who let us borrow her golf cart, and oodles of thanks go to Diane Whan, who built the wood framework for the pirate ship, Shelly Cannon, for her designs and creation of the “wooden” skirt that made the hull of the ship, the rigging, crow’s nest and the cannon, and Debbie Romig, who made the two sails, pirate flag and pirate bandanas for all the kids. The float really looked like a ship, and when the parade began, the wind picked up and filled our sails so we looked like we were sailing up El Paseo!
Shelly, Diane and Debbie put in lots of hours to make our pirate ship a reality and I thank them very much. Also, thanks go out to Josh Cannon, Chanelle Guillaume and Max Barber, DFA fencers, who spent some evenings and Saturday afternoons helping to assemble the float.
We took many photos and will have them posted on the DFA website for your viewing pleasure.
February Info:
As of this writing, there is no USFA/San Bernardino Division fencing tournament scheduled for February. Most fencers and coaches will be in Denver, Colorado, for the Junior Olympics, February 16-19. Five DFA fencers will be going to J.O.’s: Scott Pippin, Nico Bergmann, Masaki Yamada, Gretchen Bueermann and Linden Ballen. I will be accompanying them as coach, so DFA will be closed February 15-19, with classes resuming on Tuesday, February 20.
DFA celebrates its fourth anniversary on Saturday, February 24! We will be holding a celebration with cake and coffee from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m., so please come and join us as we celebrate four years of fencing at DFA!
March Info:
The qualifier for the Summer National Championhips will be held at San Bernardino Valley College, Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4. The fencing schedule is on the DFA website and printed copies are at DFA.
If a fencer wishes to fence at Summer Nationals, which will be held in Miami, Florida, June 29-July 8, and fence in Division III and Division II events, that fencer should participate in the qualifier events.
Also in March, the Junior Pacific Coast Championships will be held March 16-18 in Pasadena. I would urge all our under 20 competitive fencers to consider participating in this event, especially since it is practically in our backyard. Please visit the Pacific Coast Section website and click on Junior Events. Midi Cox has created a wonderful website for Jr. PCC’s with lots of information. Entry forms, days, times, host hotel, churches, coffee shops, are all listed on the website. Entries must be postmarked by March 1.
I will be there as I have been asked to help with the tournament and supply the electrical scoring gear.
As always, my thanks to each one of you for all your support of DFA, the fencers, and me.
Wishing everyone blissful fencing,
Leslie Taft
The Coach
Labels: desert, fencing, January, tournament results
# posted by desertfencingacademy @ 6:58 PM 
