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

Masaki Yamada earns C07 in sabre!

2007-10-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Congratulations, Masaki Yamada, earning his C07 in sabre at the Mission Bay High School/San Diego tournament, Saturday, October 13.

October and November Schedule

2007-10-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 20 October Sam Signorelli will be at DFA

Saturday, 27 October DFA closed, tournament at SBVC

Sunday, 28 October Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade

Friday, 2 November DFA closed to set up for Palm Desert Open

Saturday, 3 November DFA closed, Palm Desert Open

Sunday, 4 November DFA closed, Palm Desert Open

Saturday, 10 November DFA closed, J.O. Quals at VVHS

Thursday, 22 November DFA closed, Thanksgiving

Friday, 23 November DFA closed

Saturday, 24 November DFA open

DFA Schedule - Oct, Nov, Dec

2007-10-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hi to everyone,
Here are confirmed dates for events:

Wednesday, October 10, DFA closed; I'm driving to Las Vegas to pick up gear for the Palm Desert Open.
Saturday, October 20, Sam Signorelli will be at DFA to sell gear and repair weapons
Saturday, October 27, fencing tournament at San Bernardino Valley College. Usual schedule. Sam will not be there.
Sunday, October 28, Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade. Let me know who wants to be in the parade.
Wednesday, October 31, Halloween, yes, we will have fencing until 5:00 p.m.
Friday, November 2, DFA closed so we can set up for the Palm Desert Open. Volunteers helping to set up the gym so report to COD gym at 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 3, Palm Desert Open at College of the Desert
Sunday, November 4, Palm Desert Open at College of the Desert
Saturday, November 10, Junior Olympics at Victor Valley High School; I'm working on the schedule.
Thursday, November 22, Thanksgiving, DFA closed
Friday, November 23, DFA closed
Saturday, November 24, DFA open
Saturday, December 15, tournament at San Bernardino Valley College, usual schedule


There it is,

- Leslie

October News

2007-09-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hi to all, October, 2007

And……..happy October to everyone. Here is October and November information for DFA members, families and friends.

OCTOBER:

October 10, Wednesday, DFA will be closed. Diane and I are driving to Las Vegas to the Red Rock Fencing Center which is home to the Pacific Coast Section Chair, Frank van Dyke, to pick up six electrical strips and six sets of Favero electrical scoring gear which will be used at the Palm Desert Open.

October 20, Saturday, division tournament will be held at Harvey Mudd College, located on the Claremont campus. Directions to this new venue are on the DFA and San Bernardino Division website. Our thanks to David Williams, who works at HMC, for coordinating with his superiors to make this new venue possible. (Note: Keep in mind that this is about a two hour drive for us desert residents so, plan your travel time accordingly).

October 28, Sunday, is the Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade. DFA is already signed up for this event. This year’s theme is “Trick or Treat…Palm Desert Style”. Our golf cart theme is “Zorro”. Our golf cart will be transformed into Zorro’s hat, the front of the golf cart will be masked and on the back of the golf cart will be the cape. Our DFA fencers are invited to sign up with me and come dressed as Zorro, or a Mexican soldier, or a la Catherine Zeta-Jones.
We had a lot of fun last year and took First Place. So come and join us again. It’s the only time we can dress as we want and carry swords on the streets of El Paseo!

November 3-4, Saturday and Sunday, are the dates for the Palm Desert Open, being held at College of the Desert. Entry forms and schedule of events can be found on the DFA website with link to the Palm Desert Open. There is pre-registration on AskFred, but entry forms must be given or mailed to me. The deadline for registration for the PDO is October 24.

We’ve been contacted by the Mexicali fencing team, indicating their interest in coming and competing and their participation will make our tournament an international competition.

November 2, Friday, there will be no fencing at DFA as we will be busy getting the venue set up. We need volunteers to help us set up Friday evening at COD at 6:00 p.m. We will be setting up 10-12 strips, six of which will be electric strips. It takes 5-6 people to lay one electric strip. The strips must be very flat and very taut. And it takes about forty minutes to lay one strip so……..we need at least twelve of our fencers, if not more, to help us. It’s the set up for any tournament that requires the most volunteers. Diane will be busy setting up the computers (we will be running two computers for this tournament), I’ll be busy coordinating people and answering questions, the armorers will be in setting up their work area. So, all this preparation takes place the night before so the event will run very smoothly. So, Friday, November 2 is not a date night for anyone other than making a date to be at COD and help set up the gym.

Also, we will need volunteers to help with check-in on Saturday and Sunday. Our check-in times are 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. on both days. We need four people to help with check-in.

We also need “runners”, volunteers who “get things” , i.e., water for the referees and armorers and bout committee.

Lastly, we need a someone, or two, to drive the shuttle bus on Saturday and Sunday mornings. We have shuttle bus drivers set for the late morning and into the evening, but we need drivers for 7 a.m. pick ups from the hotel to the venue.

November 10, Saturday, is the qualifier for the Junior Olympics at Victor Valley High School. We are currently working on the schedule, but the date and venue have been confirmed.

November 22-23, Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday, DFA will be closed those two days but will be open Saturday, November 24.

Yes, we have a very busy, but fun and exciting, October and November. December’s schedule will be just as busy, but we’ll save that for the next newsletter.

Wishing you all blissful fencing,

Sincerely,

Leslie Taft
Fencing Coach
Desert Fencing Academy

September 2007 Update

2007-09-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,

An information up date for everyone as we settle back to school and fencing.

Our first San Bernardino Division tournament will be Saturday, September 8 at College of the Desert. Close of check-in times are 9:00 a.m. for sabre, 10:00 a.m. for foil and 12 noon for epee. The entry fee remains $10 per weapon. We also have the USFA membership forms if you need to renew your membership.

Also on the horizon is the Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade on Sunday, October 28. DFA has already sent in the entry form. This year’s theme is “Trick or Treat, Palm Desert Style”. We are going to transform our golf cart into the black hat of Zorro, a black mask with slits for the eyes (so we can see where we are driving!) and a black cape. We invite our members to dress up as Zorro, or some such character, and be in the golf cart parade. Please let me know and I’ll put your name on the list. Last year we took first place for school spirit! Let’s see what we do this year.

We are again hosting the Palm Desert Open, November 3-4, 2007, at College of the Desert. This is a Pacific Coast Section tournament and we do expect a very large turnout this year since there is no longer the Long Beach Invitational in October.

We are anticipating approximately 150 fencers for the PDO this year and so, we are very much in need of volunteers to help us with check-in. The last two years we had the assistance of Pacific Coast Section Secretary, Midi Cox, and her son, Kip, to run the computer. This year, we will not have Midi. Diane Whan will run the computer and oversee most of the tournament,
I will also assist, but we will need volunteers on hand to act as “runners” for the bout committee and tournament officials. We will also need volunteers to drive the shuttle van. This Palm Desert Open will be totally and completely run by DFA, so, we need its fencers, and parents, to help, Diane and I cannot run it by ourselves. I will be emailing more information as we get closer to the tournament. Entry forms are already on the DFA website. The deadline date for entry forms is October 24.

And, the U.S. Olympic Pentathlon team is coming to Palm Desert December 8-9, 2007. DFA is a co-sponsor and the fencing will be held at College of the Desert. This is a time trial for the Olympic Pentathlon team, but the neat part is that the epee event will be open to all fencers!
That means, our DFA epee fencers, or anyone who wants to fence epee that day, may do so!
I’ll have more information on this event, with schedules and venues.

Please know that if your fencer is already competing, or we’re getting him/her ready for competition, that on Monday evenings from 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m., we invite our sabre fencers to come and fence electric during that time to hone their competition skills. We are offering the same opportunity for our epee fencers on Thursday evenings from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
And, of course, there is open fencing on Friday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

And, in case you are wondering, our fees remain the same; $30 monthly membership and $20 per lesson.

Welcoming everyone back to the 2007-2008 fencing season,

Wishing you all blissful fencing,

Sincerely,

Leslie Taft
Fencing Coach
Desert Fencing Academy

DFA and COD August Fencing Schedule

2007-08-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
Just a reminder, there will be fencing this Friday, August 24, at DFA at 7 p.m.
There will be fencing lessons on Saturday, August 25 at DFA from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Our Fall semester begins on Tuesday, August 28, 7 p.m. at COD. We'll do the usual demo and then fencing.
Then we'll fence on Friday, August 31 at DFA. Then we're back to our usual schedule.
Our first tournament is at COD on Saturday, September 8.

Blissful fencing everyone!

- Leslie

Register for Palm Desert Open today!

2007-07-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

Palm Desert Open is now accepting registration forms. Download the PDF form and follow the instructions.

We look forward to see you there!

Pacific Coast Section Schedule

2007-07-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

The dates for the Pacific Coast Section PCC's are now firm.

Please check the Section website for the schedule http://pcsfencing.com/schedule/

The Jr. PCC's will be combined with the Sr. PCC's this year due to scheduling issues left from the former Section officers in charge of scheduling these events. The Section will not be hosting the SYC this year thus the split in the Youth PCC's and the Jr. PCC's. We hope you all have a wonderful year and we look forward to seeing all of you this and every year.

My new e-mail address for section related e-mail is now sc@pcsfencing.com
Please update your records.

Thank you,

Frank Van Dyke
Section Chair
Pacific Coast Section

Fencing at COD

2007-07-21T08:26:00.001-07:00

Hi to everyone,
As we come down to the wire for summer fencing, here is our schedule for July and August.

Friday, July 20, DFA 7-9 pm
Tuesday, July 23, COD 7-9 pm
Friday, July 27, DFA 7-9 pm

Friday, August 3, COD 7-9 pm
Friday, August 10, COD 7-9 pm

DFA will be closed for two weeks and re-open on Monday, August 27.

First class meeting at COD is Tuesday, August 28.

First tournament is at COD, Saturday, September 8.
Palm Desert Open is November 3-4.

Thanks,

- Leslie

May 20th Tournament - SBVC

2007-05-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hi to everyone,
Yes, we have another fencing tournament this Sunday, May 20 at San Bernardino Valley College.
All close of check-in times remain the same.
This is our end-of-season awards tournament and ceremony.

I am tired, too, especially at PCC's in Las Vegas last weekend and now another tournament this weekend.
However, DFA and COD swept most of the awards in all weapons, men's and women's categories, and DFA is the overall club champion of the division. It would be nice to have the recipients of the awards there.

Also, just so you know, since our second tournament of the season, I have been the division officer running this division. The chair, vice-chair and secretary all "bailed" out after the second tournament, so I have been running the division with Diane Whan running the tournaments. So, I do understand tired and am looking
forward to the end of the season, but actually, that does not mean an end to work, just don't have to rush to get items done.

Also, a new trophy has been created and the recipient is a DFA fencer. I cannot tell you at this time what the trophy is for or to whom it is destined, but it would be nice to have the DFA fencers in attendance.

I will be sending to all of you an email regarding PCC's this year. It was really an awesome tournament and I have stories and insights I want to share with all of you. I should have it typed and ready to email by the end of this week.

Again, DFA swept the awards and is the #1 club in the division. This speaks highly of the fencers, the coach and the parents. My thanks to you for making this season so successful for all of us by your support.

- Leslie

DFA May 2007

2007-05-06T12:14:00.001-07:00

Hi…and Happy May and Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms and grandmoms.

This is our May newsletter with all the info you need for May through August.

CONGRATULATIONS:

To Linden Ballen who has been accepted to Embry-Riddle University in Arizona and Aaron Fagan who is going to Vassar, in New York. Good academics and a fencing background played their respective roles in the young men’s admission process.

Kudos to Linden Ballen and Mitchell Link who both earned their C2007 rating in epee at the April tournament held at College of the Desert. The epee tournament was a B1 event and Mitchell took second place and Linden took third.

Lots of kudos and congratulations to Nico Bergmann who swept all the awards at the Open Call Show held at the McCallum Theatre, April 28. Nico won the ASCAP award, the People’s

Popular Vote award and the Grand Prize award. Nico played Listz’s Hungarian Rhapsody and, this summer, Nico will be in Hungary studying at the Franz Listz music conservatory.

END-OF-SEASON AWARDS:

The trophies are being engraved and the results are as follows for the 2006-2007 tournament season of the San Bernardino Division.

Men’s Foil: 2^nd place, Mark Johnson, DFA

Men’s Sabre: 1^st place, Scott Pippin, DFA, 2^nd place, Costa Nichols

Men’s Sabre Team: 1^st place, DFA, 3^rd place, COD

Men’s Epee: 2^nd place, Josh Butler, DFA

Men’s Epee Team: 2nd place, DFA

Women’s Foil: 1^st place, Leslie Taft, COD

Women’s Foil Team: 3^rd place, COD

Women’s Sabre: 1^st place, Leslie Taft, COD, 2^nd place, Gretchen Bueermann, DFA, 3^rd place, Ellie Romig, COD

Women’s Sabre Team: 1^st place, COD, 2^nd place, DFA

Women’s Epee Team: 3^rd place, DFA

Women’s 3-Weapon: Leslie Taft, COD

Women’s Team 3-Weapon: COD

Men’s Team Club Overall: DFA

Overall Club Champion: DFA

Please visit the DFA website, or San Bernardino Division website, for the entire points listing for all individuals and teams.

The End-Of-Season Awards ceremony will be held Sunday, May 20, at San Bernardino Valley College. It is also a fencing competition open with the usual close of check-in times.

FENCING SCHEDULE:

Our rest of the season fencing schedule is as follows:

May 11-14, DFA will be closed as we are in Las Vegas for the Pacific Coast Championships

May 20, tournament and end-of-season award ceremony at San Bernardino Valley College

June 16, the Haake und Slasche tournament held at Victor Valley High School

June 18, DFA goes into its summer schedule (summer schedule posted on the DFA website)

July 4, DFA closed

July 28, DFA closes for the summer

August 27, DFA re-opens

Wishing everyone a happy summer and blissful fencing,

-Leslie Taft

Update on Haake und Slasche Tournament

2007-04-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

The tournament on March 17-18 was changed to May 19th in January of this
year. Of recent events and difficulties, the San Bernardino county division
changed the date again to June 16th and moved the awards ceremony to April
21st.

On June 16th, the schedule is

M. EPEE: 9AM
W. FOIL: 11AM
MIXED SABRE: NOON
M. FOIL: 1PM
W. EPEE: 3PM

The location is still at Victor Valley High School. Thank you for reading
this letter. If you have any questions, please reply to this email address
or if you need an immediate response, call 760-985-1916.

Sincerely,
Lauren Forbes and the Victor Valley Fencing Team

April 21 Tournament Results

2007-04-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,

Here are the tournament results

Results of the April 21, 2007 tournament held at College of the Desert

Mixed Epee, B1 Event:

1. Sergio Fernandez.....................................Fortune Fencing.....earned his B07

2. Mitchell Link........................................................DFA.....earned his C07

3T. Linden Ballen.....................................................DFA.....earned his C07

3T.Doug Cairns.........................................................SCFC.....earned his C07

5. Mark Segal...........................................................No Fear

6. Ken Huang.........................................................Fortune Fencing

7. Josh Butler.........................................................DFA

8. Costa Nichols....................................................COD

9. Kevin Long..........................................................BHFC

10. Mark Johnson....................................................DFA

11. Sang (Daniel) Lee............................................DFA

12. Ruben Quiroz.....................................................SBVC

13. Debbie Romig....................................................DFA

14. Emilia Warren....................................................DFA

15. Lucero Fernandez.............................................Fortune Fencing

Mixed Foil, E1 Event:

1. Brian King............................................................Swashbucklers

2. Reynaldo Navarro...............................................SCFC

3T. Alex Cheng..........................................................Unattached

3T. Ken Huang..........................................................Fortune Fencing

5. Kevin Lee..............................................................SCFC

6. Mark Johnson.......................................................DFA

7. Christina Knoppel................................................Fortune Fencing

8. Miguel Navarro......................................................SCFC

9. Leslie Taft..............................................................COD

10. Ruben Quiroz.......................................................SBVC

11. Hailee Wilson.......................................................SCFC

12. Lee Ernst...............................................................COD

13. Nicholas Wells.....................................................COD

Mixed Sabre, E1 Event:

1. Costa Nichols........................................................COD

2. Leslie Taft...............................................................COD

3T. Brian King.............................................................Swashbucklers

3T. Isaac Shirley.........................................................Aramis

5. Nathanial Talley....................................................SDFC

6T. Miles Rand............................................................Unattached

6T. Lee Ernst...............................................................COD

8. David Roberts........................................................DFA

DFA - OFA posting

2007-04-10T12:26:00.001-07:00

Hi to everyone,

While everything is fresh in my mind from my April trip to Portland to work with U.S. Olympic women's sabre coach, Ed Korfanty, here's all that's going on at Oregon Fencing Alliance.

Firstly, I hate to take a week off because there is no fencing at DFA, but the week spent with Ed, his assistant coaches Charles and Jacek and, of course, the OFA fencers, was time well invested, and at a good time, as Ed and some of the OFA
fencers are in Turkey this week for a Junior World Cup and when they return to Portland, the French, Italian and Russian national sabre teams will be coming to train with Ed and his fencers for up coming world cup tournaments and qualifiers for the Olympic games.

So here is a "typical" week at OFA (Oregon Fencing Alliance) while I was there. Ed's first lesson of the weekday starts at 7:00 a.m. High schooler Avery comes in every weekday morning at 7:00 a.m. to take a one hour lesson with Ed. Then, Avery comes back at 5:00 p.m. and works out, drills and fences electric with all the elite sabre fencers until 7:30 p.m.

Then, Ed has a 9:00 a.m. lesson with Christina Juliana, who moved from Tucson to Portland just so she could work with Ed. At 9:30 the lesson was with Becca Ward, 17 year old Junior World Champion, and at 10:00 a.m. Mariel Zagunis took her lesson.

Ed goes over technical and tactical aspects of the lesson with his fencers. There is a warm up, parry practice and then Ed goes into the items he wants to work on with his fencers for that lesson and then they spar to finish. up. Ed works his lessons slowly, methodically. Nothing is ever done fast. He knows his fencers are fast, he wants them to have control and accuracy. The only time the lesson is fast is when Ed spars with his student.

This was very interesting. Both Becca and Mariel would arrive thirty minutes prior to their lesson to warm up and stretch and do footwork. After their lesson, both would stay another thirty minutes and just do advances and retreats up and down the strip. Becca is home schooled, so lesson time, fencing, and all those trips to tournaments are accommodated by her schedule. Mariel has taken the rest of this and next academic year off from Notre Dame to devote all her time to training and going to European tournaments. In fact, most of the fencers who attend university now and are planning on securing a spot on the U.S. Olympic team are taking time off from school so they can train and compete in the European circuit.

After the girls had their morning lesson, Ed and I would have time to talk over how to train and motivate fencers, how to give technical and tactical lessons, how to run a fencing club and then would give me a lesson. Two hours of pure fencing pleasure.

I'd be back at the club at 3:00 p.m. to watch Jacek and Charles give lessons to the beginning and intermediate fencers and then at 5:00 p.m. the elite fencers would come in and I would join in for the footwork and drill exercises. And I can't say enough about Mariel and how she took care of me at the club and made sure I met everyone and was included in all fencing exercises. And when we would have our warmup drills, Mariel asked me to be her warmup partner. And then it was time to spar and I got to spar with everyone, including current junior world champion Becca Ward. I didn't feel too bad about being beaten 10-6 by her.

Ed and his assistant coaches, Jacek and Charles, are tremendous coaches. They correct footwork, bladework and tactical errors as soon as they are committed. For the fencers who really want to apply themselves and work, Ed, Jacek and Charles are right there for them.

For the elite fencers, like Mariel, Becca, Avery and Christina, I marveled at their work and training ethic. Tremendous dedication is all I can say.

Ed was saying that when Mariel and some of the other collegiate fencers leave him and go back to their university team and then return to OFA, that he has to re-tool them. That they aren't as fast and as proficient. Ed is not that keen on some of the college fencing programs, or their coaches. Actually, according to Ed and the other coaches, right now, their top picks for collegiate fencing teams are Notre Dame and Penn State.

So what changes can our DFA fencers anticipate in their sabre lessons? Well, there will be minor changes for bladework and footwork, but most lessons will remain the same. I've been working with Ed for the past two summers and then this Spring training time with him, so his core lessons remain the same. It's more about correcting and perfecting footwork and bladwork and then working the tactical strategy for the fencer. One definite aim is to improve and increase our fencers' tactical expertise so that our fencers can "read" their opponent and make needed tactical changes while fencing.

As all the coaches at OFA said, and I echo with them, fencing is a lifetime sport, with something always needing correcting, perfecting, changing. And that's what makes it an exciting sport.

- Leslie
The Fencing Coach
Desert Fencing Academy

DFA's April Schedule

2007-03-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hi to everyone,

Just a reminder of DFA's April schedule.

DFA will be closed April 2-7, that is Monday through Saturday.
I will be in Portland, Oregon, working with Ed Korfanty, the US Olympic
sabre coach and his staff all that week.  Mariel Zagunis and Rebecca Ward
will be there, also, and I'll have the opportunity to work with them.

Ed is my coach and mentor and all that he, his staff and his fencers show me
while I'm there with them I can bring back to DFA and our fencers.

Our next tournament will be at COD on Saturday, April 21.

Also, congratulations to Nico Bergmann who participated in a piano competition this
month of March and took third place and received a cash prize!

Wishing everyone a happy end of March and a Happy April and Easter.

- Leslie

DFA March and April Schedule

2007-03-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,
Just want to keep everyone up to date with our schedule.

DFA will be closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 16, 17 and 18.
Our fencers will be in Pasadena competing in the Junior Pacific Coast
Championships at the Pasadena Convention Center.

DFA will be closed the week of April 2- 7. I will be in Portland, Oregon,
working with Ed Korfanty, the U.S. Olympic sabre coach. Ed and his coaching staff have been kind enough
to let me come and spend that week working out and training with them and their fencers. It's a
wonderful opportunity to work with the "Master" and bring back to DFA and our fencers the most current
teaching, training and coaching techniques and methods.

The next College of the Desert tournament will be Saturday, April 21.

February 16-19, the fencers, their parents and I were in Denver, Colorado for
the Junior Olympics.
There were 1,700 fencers! And the event was held in the Denver Convention
Center.
Scott Pippin, Masaki Yamada, Nico Bergmann and Gretchen Bueermann competed in
the sabre events and Linden Ballen competed in epee.

All the kids did a great job and finished higher than they had been seeded
before the tournament began.
There is no doubt that J.O.'s is a daunting and awesome competition, but the
kids handled themselves with calm and poise. It's a wonderful learning experience. My thanks and
praise to their parents who were there to support all the kids.

As always, my thanks to all of you, the parents, for all your support.

Have a wonderful Easter,

- Leslie

Final Results for Summer Nationals Qualifier Held at San Bernardino College

2007-03-05T11:44:00.000-08:00

Hi to all,

Here are the results.

Final Results for Summer Nationals Qualifier Held at San Bernardino College

March 3-4, 1007

Division III Senior Women's Foil:

1. Gloria Burke...................SBVC (qualified)

Division II/ III Senior Men's Foil:

1. Marcus Fraze.................LASD (qualified)

2. Judd Mateo....................LASD (qualified)

3. Gabriel Lira....................SBVC (qualified)

4. Ruben Quiroz.................SBVC

5. Marc Rosas...................SBVC

6. Kyle Williams................SBVC

Division III Senior Men's Sabre:

1. David Williams..............SBVC (qualified)

2. Gabriel Lira...................SBVC (qualified)

3. Ruben Quiroz................SBVC (qualified)

4. Jonathan Newby............SBVC

5. Marc Rosas..................SBVC

Division III Senior Women's Sabre:

1. Gloria Burke..................SBVC (qualified)

Division II/III Senior Women's Epee:

1. Gloria Burke..................SBVC (qualified)

2. Emilia Warren................DFA (qualified)

Division II/III Senior Men's Epee:

1. Jon Magner...................SBVC (qualified

2. Linden Ballen................DFA (qualified)

3. David Williams..............SBVC (qualified)

4. Kenneth Brazee............SBVC

5. Ruben Quiroz...............SBVC

6. Mark Olson..................Unatt

7. David Williamson..........SBVC

8. Kyle Williams...............SBVC

9. Ryan Williams..............SBVC

10. Jonathan Newby..........SBVC

U-16 Women's Sabre:

1. Gretchen Bueermann.....DFA (qualified)

U-16 Women's Foil:

1. Shanon Wedell.............LASD (qualified)

2. Jayla Watson...............LASD (qualified)

3. Amanda Nguyen...........LASD (qualified)

Senior Men's Epee Team:

1. Jailbirds.......................SBVC (qualified

(members: Gabriel Lira, Jon Magner, Ken Brazee, Ruben Quiroz)

February/March/April update

2007-02-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

Hi to all,

Here is a February/March/April update for everyone.

Firstly, this Saturday, February 24, DFA will be celebrating its 4th anniversary! (The coach will also be celebrating a birthday that day, but she's slightly older). There will be lessons and fencing from
9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and then coffee, cake and celebrating from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please stop by and join us.

Secondly, results from the Junior Olympics, held in Denver, Colorado, February 16-19, 2007.

There were 1,700 fencers competing in J.O.'s! We had Scot Pippin,
Nico Bergmann competing in Cadet and Junior Men's Sabre, Masaki Yamada competing in Cadet Men's Sabre and Gretchen Bueermann competing
in Cadet Women's Sabre. Each event had 169, 174 and 119 entries respectively. Linden Ballen competed in Junior Men's Epee and
there were 228 entries! They all did a great job, having been seeded near the bottom, but when the dust cleared and the D.E.'s were over,
everyone finished higher than they had been seeded.

My congratulations go to all the participants, and my thanks to the parents, for their emotional and financial support.

Thirdly, the next tournament is March 3 and 4 at San Bernardino Valley College. This is a qualifying tournament for the National Championships which will be held in Miami, Florida. This tournament
is not a "regular" division tournament with points, simply a qualifier. Diane Whan will be at SBVC to run the tournament. DFA will be open that Saturday for lessons and fencing. Our fencers are not quite ready for Nationals so, if there is another "open" tournament at Long Beach or San Diego, I would recommend our competitive fencers participate in that competition and not go to the March qualifier at SBVC. Only go to the qualifier if you plan on going to Nationals.

Fourthly, I would recommend to our competitive fencers to go to the Junior Pacific Coast Championships, being held in Pasadena, March 16-19. I am helping to run that tournament, so I will be there for coaching, among other duties. So, DFA will be closed that Friday and Saturday, March 16 and 17.

Go to the Pacific Coast Section website. All the info is there with entry forms. Entry deadline is March 1.

Fifthly, the next San Bernardino division tournament that will be held at College of the Desert will be Saturday, April 21.

Lastly, in addition to my guplet1@earthlink.net email address, would you please add this second address, which is guplet1@verizon.net.
I may be switching over to Verizon at some time, but if you get an email from guplet1 at either earthlink or verizon.net, you'll know it is an email from me.

I think that just about covers all the news for now. Please email me if you have any questions.

Leslie

Tournament Results January 13th 2007

2007-02-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

Hi to all,

Here are the results for Saturday's tournament.

Results for January 13, 2007 San Bernardino Division tournament at Victor Valley High School

Mixed Open Epee, A2 Event:

1. Chris Pinkowski Unattached Earned his A07

2. Josh Butler DFA

3. Deric Clarke BHFC

3. Jeff Cordner Fortune Earned his B07

5. Jordan Sandler UCLA Earned his C07

6. Gabriel Lira SBVC

7. Doug Thisthlethwaite Unattached

8. Maxwell Kleeman Fortune Earned hisC07

9. Bill Gelnaw Aramis

10. Mark Olson Unattached Earned his D07

11. Eugene Park H & S

12. Jon Magner SBVC

13. Camille Gallardo BHFC

14. Liz Olivas H & S

15. Mitchell Link DFA

16. Lauren Forbes H & S

17. Ocean Boisson BHFC

18. Rikki Tremblay H & S

19. Kenneth Brazee SBVC

20. Edith Van Winkle UCLA

21. George Crosby H & S

22. Gloria Burke SBVC

23. Cassandra Abasta H & S

24. Ashley Crosby H & S

25. Andrea Gory Unattached

26. Fabian Rodriguez H & S

27. Lee Ernst COD

28. Linden Ballen DFA

29. Ruben Quiroz SBVC

30. Jeanette Ridge H & S

31. Tsai, Meng-Hsien H & S

Open Mixed Foil, C1 Event:

1. Bill Gelnaw Aramis Earned his C07

2. Alex Tangkilisan BHFC Earned his D07

3. Leith Hathout LAIFC Earned his D07

3. Reynaldo Navarro SCFC

5. Gabriel Lira SBVC Earned his E07

6. Eugene Park H & S Earned his E07

7. Daniel Baik SCFC Earned his E07

8. Rommel de Jesus H & S Earned his E07

9. Lisa Crosby H & S

10. Ashley Crosby H & S

11. George Crosby H & S

12. Jalonda Watson LASD

13. Judd Mateo LASD

14. Shannon Wedell LASD

15. Eric Hall Salle Guerra

16. Laura Glass Fortune

17. Seth Kasparian LASD

18. Amanda Nguyen LASD

19. Ruben Quiroz SBVC

Open Mixed Sabre, E1 Event:

1. Scott Pippin DFA Earned his E07

2. Nathaniel Talley Unattached

3. Lucas Dobrzinski Salle Guerra

3. Alex Tangkilisan BHFC

5. Masaki Yamada DFA

6. Laura Rangel-Friedman SCFC

7. David Roberts DFA

8. Gretchen Bueermann DFA

February 2007 Schedule

2007-02-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

Hi to all,

Just a reminder for the month of February......DFA will be closed February 15-19 as I will be in Denver, Colorado, for the Junior Olympics. DFA will resume classes on Tuesday, February 20.

Competing at J.O.'s are Scott Pippin, Nico Bergmann, Masaki Yamada, Gretchen Bueermann in sabre and Linden Ballen in epee.

Saturday, February 24, DFA celebrates its 4th birthday! We will have a birthday party on that Saturday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. with cake and coffee, and everyone is invited to come.

For March......Junior Pacific Coast Championships are being held March 16-18 in Pasadena.

It is an open event and all registration forms are on the Pacific Coast Section website. I would recommend this competition to all our competition fencers, especially since it is a junior event and in our backyard, so to speak. I have been asked to help with that tournament, so I will be there. That does mean that DFA will be closed Friday and Saturday, March 16 and 17.

- Leslie

January 2007 Newsletter

2007-01-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

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

San Bernardino Division Newsletter - January 2007

2007-01-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hi to all and Happy New Year!

This is to give you dates for up-coming tournaments in the San Bernardino Division.

All the times listed are close of check-in.

January 13, 2007:

Victorvalley High School

9:00 a.m. Sabre 10:00 a.m. Foil 12:00 p.m. Mixed Epee

THERE IS NO FEBRUARY TOURNAMENT

March 3 , 2007:

San Bernardino Valley College

Division Qualifiers

9:00 a.m. Men's Sabre

9:00 a.m. Women's Foil

10:00 a.m. Women's Sabre

10:00 a.m. Men's Foil

11:00 a.m. U-19 Men's Sabre

11:00 a.m. U-19 Women's Foil

12:00 p.m. U-19 Women's Sabre

12:00 p.m. U-19 Men's Foil

12:00 p.m. U-16 Men's Sabre

12:00 p.m. U-16 Women's Foil

1:00 p.m. U-16 Women's Sabre

1:00 p.m. U-16 Men's Foil

1:00 p.m. Team Sabre

1:00 p.m. Team Foil

March 4, 2007:

San Bernardino Valley College

Division Qualifiers

9:00 a.m. Men's Epee

9:00 a.m. Women's Epee

11:00 a.m. U-19 Men's Epee

11:00 a.m. U-16 women's Epee

12:00 p.m. U-19 Women's Epee

12:00 p.m. U-16 Men's Epee

1:00 p.m. Team Epee

The March Haake und Slasche tournament will be re-scheduled

April 21, 2007:

College of the Desert

9:00 a.m. Sabre 10:00 a.m. Foil 12:00 p.m. Epee

June 16, 2007:

Victorvalley High School

End of Season Awards

9:00 a.m. Sabre 10:00 a.m. Foil 12:00 p.m. Epee

January - April 2007 Fencing Schedule

2007-01-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

Hi to all and Happy New Year!

Our next tournament will be Saturday, January 13 at Victorville High School.

There is no February San Bernardino Division tournament. We have the Junior Olympics in Denver, Colorado, February 16-19 and most of the fencers and coaches in our division are

going, so no division tournament.

I believe the qualifier for Summer Nationals at San Bernardino Valley College is March 3-4, but I will be checking on the date this week.

The Junior Pacific Coast Championships will be in Pasadena and those dates are March 16-19. For more information on Jr. PCC's visit www.pcsfencing.com.

The April tournament is set for College of the Desert, Saturday, April 21.

On another subject, the Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade is Sunday, January 14. If any of your

fencers want to participate, please let me know. They can come as fencers or dressed as pirates.

- Leslie

Results from the San Bernardino Valley College Tournament

2006-12-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Open Mixed Foil, E1 Event:

1st Alex Cheng...............Swashbucklers.........Earned his E06

2nd Judd Mateo...............LASD

3rd Laura Glass..............Fortune

3rd Ruben Quiroz............SBVC

5th Seth Kasparian..........LASD

6th Jalonda Watson.........LASD

7th Amanda Nguyen........LASD

8th Jayla Watson............LASD

9th Michael Wells...........COD

10th Nicholas Wells.........COD

Open Mixed Sabre, E1 Event:

1st Scott Pippin.....................DFA

2nd Dillon Fuller......................Aramis

3rd Masaki Yamada...............DFA

3rd Troy Richardson...............Couturier

5th Leslie Taft........................COD

6th Jamie Dorren....................Aramis

7th Isaac Shirley....................Aramis

8th Gabriel Lira......................SBVC

9th Nathanial Talley................Unatt.

10th Lauren Rangel-Friedman...SCFC

11th David Roberts..................DFA

12th Gretchen Bueermann.......DFA

13th Jeff Gerbl........................Aramis

Open Mixed Epee, B1 Event:

1st Jeff Cordner.................Fortune

2nd Patrick Burton.............Fortune

3rd Gabriel Lira.................SBVC

3rd Jordan Sandler............UCLA

5th Jon Magner.................SBVC.....Earned his D06

6th Chris Conow...............Fortune

7th Josh Butler.................DFA

8th Edith Van Winkle........UCLA......Earned her E06

9th Linden Ballen..............DFA

10th Jason Saenz..............SBVC

11th Ryan Williams............SBVC

12th Kenneth Brazee..........SBVC

13th Mark Olson.................Unatt.

14th Gloria Burke................SBVC

15th Ruben Quiroz..............SBVC

16th Leslie Taft...................COD

17th Kyle Williams..............SBVC

18th David Williamson.........Unatt.

Tournament Results for Saturday, November 4, 2006 at Victor Valley High School

2006-11-29T10:55:00.000-08:00

Open Mixed Foil, E1 Event:

1. Gabriel Lira..................SBVC

2. Quentin Lightbourn.......Unatt

3. Leslie Taft....................COD

3. Mark Johnson..............DFA

5. John Lusby..................Armadillo Fencing

6. Rommel De Jesus........Haake und Slasche

7. Alex Cheng..................Swashbucklers

8. George Crosby.............Haake und Slasche

9. Ashley Crosby..............Haake und Slasche

10. Sierra Qualles..............Haake und Slasche

11. Jasmine Rojo...............Haake und Slasche

Open Mixed Sabre:

1. Leslie Taft....................COD

2. Isaac Shirley................Aramis

3. Nathanial Talley............Aramis

Open Mixed Epee:

1. Gabriel Lira..................SBVC

2. Quentin Lightbourn.......Unatt

3. Josh Butler..................DFA

3. Elizabeth Olivas...........Haake und Slasche

5. Jason Spear................Haake und Slasche

6. Rikki Tremblay.............Haake und Slasche

7. Jason Saenz................SBVC

8. Eugene Park................Haake und Slasche

9. Ryan Williams..............SBVC

10. Jon Magner..................SBVC

11. Sang Lee.....................DFA

12. Danny Torres................DFA

13. Avi Frankl.....................LAIFC

14. Mark Johnson...............DFA

15. George Crosby.............Haake und Slasche

16. Kyle Williams...............SBVC

17. Jonathan Newby...........SBVC

18. Ashley Crosby..............Haake und Slasche

19. Jeanette Ridge..............Haake und Slasche

20. Tsai Meng-Hsien...........Haake und Slasche

21. Lauren Forbes..............Haake und Slasche

November Newsletter

2006-11-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

Hi….and Happy November, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. There’s lots of news to share about all the activities going on at DFA.

IMPORTANT DATES AND SCHEDULES:

Saturday, November 4, USFA/San Bernardino fencing tournament at Victor Valley High School
Sunday, November 5, Junior Olympics Qualifiers at Victor Valley High School
Saturday, November 11, Palm Desert Open fencing tournament at College of the Desert
Sunday, November 12, Palm Desert Open fencing tournament at College of the Desert
Saturday, November 18 and Sunday, November 19, I am at a conference in Riverside and DFA will be closed.
DFA will be closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23, and Friday, November 24
DFA will be open on Saturday, November 25
Saturday, December 9, I am at a conference in Riverside, but DFA will be open
Saturday, December 16, USFA/San Bernardino fencing tournament at San Bernardino Valley College
DFA will be closed on Monday, Christmas, December 25 and Tuesday, December 26
DFA will be closed on Saturday, December 30, Sunday, December 31, Monday, January 1 and Tuesday, January 2nd.
Saturday, January 13, USFA/San Bernardino fencing tournament at Victor Valley High School
Sunday, January 14, Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade

COME TO THE THEATRE:

La Quinta High School will be presenting “Cyrano de Bergerac” November 30, December 1, 2, 3.
Aaron Fagan has the lead role of “Cyrano” and I have choreographed the fight scenes. Come spend an enjoyable evening at the theatre.

EXPANSION:

DFA will be expanding its days and hours of operation! Starting Monday, November 20, we will be staying open until 7:00 p.m. and starting Thursday, December 7, we will stay open until 7:00 p.m. This will accommodate all our new students and open up more lesson times.

Also, DFA is open on Wednesday afternoons for sparring. All my lesson slots are taken with lessons for our younger fencers, but any team fencers may come in to spar, and perhaps spar with the younger fencers to give them a taste of what it’s all about.

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS:

We need volunteers for the Palm Desert Open, November 11-12, Saturday and Sunday.
From what we see from pre-registration, we will have a good turnout for the tournament, but we need volunteers to help with registration, giving out tee shirts, helping in the hospitality lounge for the referees and someone who would like to help with driving the shuttle bus.

We need volunteers to help with registration starting at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. If your child is fencing in an event, consider coming and helping out with registering the fencers for that event and giving out tee shirts, and then watch the fencing.

If you like driving, we need a shuttle bus driver (the tournament is providing the van) to drive fencers and officials to and from the venue and, perhaps, some runs to the airport. If you are interested in driving, please let me know so we can get you put on the insurance.

The Bout Committee is made up of Midi Cox, the Pacific Coast Section Secretary, Diane Whan and myself……so, you can see we do need volunteers to help make the tournament successful and a pleasant experience for all the fencers and officials.

Just so you know, the Palm Desert Open is a fund-raiser for DFA. So what money is left over after all the expenses are paid goes directly to DFA and is used to purchase new fencing equipment for our club.

We’re winding up this fencing season with a bang, and the 2007 fencing season looks to be just as exciting and action-packed.

Wishing everyone happy holidays and blissful fencing,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

Palm Desert Open

2006-10-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,

Just a reminder, we are again putting on the Palm Desert Open, November 11-12, 2006, Saturday and Sunday, at College of the Desert, in the Wright Gymnasium.

If your child is going to fence in the event, please go to our website, www.desertfencingacademy.com and click on Palm Desert Open to print out an entry form.
The entry form and payment goes to Midi Cox in San Diego.
The deadline for the entry form is November 6.
Our website also has days and times for the event.

Also, we will be setting up the gym on Friday, November 10, starting around 6:00 p.m.
If and of your kids would like to help, that would be a big help as we have to set up 10 strips,
all the electrical gear, we will have one dedicated copper strip, and we need to set up for registration. The set up should take us two hours with help.

Also, I will need volunteers to help with registration check in and giving out tee shirts at registration and some volunteer help in the referee lounge.

Also, we have a shuttle van and if someone would like to volunteer to do some driving from the hotel to the venue and airport to hotel and venue, let me know and we'll get you set up for that.

The tournament committee is made up of myself, Diane Whan and Pacific Coast Secretary, Midi Cox, so we will need volunteer help for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

If you have any questions, either email or call me, 218-1343.

Thank you,

- Leslie

Armory Clinic - 1pm - Saturday, September 16th, 2006

2006-09-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,
Just want you to know that Sam Signorelli will be at DFA on Saturday, September 16 to present an armory clinic and to repair weapons, body cords and mask clips, and he'll have fencing gear and clothing, as well, for sale.

If you need to purchase any gear or clothing, or get your weapons repaired and in good working order for the upcoming season, plan to come to DFA on Saturday, September 16. The armory clinic will begin at 1:00 p.m.

- Leslie

August 2006 Newsletter

2006-08-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,

Well, I guess most of us are back in the desert by now. Mitchell Link and Chasen Chapman were in Oregon working with epee Olympian Michael Marx. Scott Pippin, Nico Bergman, Masaki Yamada and Gretchen Bueermann were in Beaverton, Oregon, participating in the elite sabre camp conducted by gold medal Olympic sabre coach Ed Korfanty. Aaron Fagan was in Paris, France, taking theatre courses, and I was again at the Olympic Training Center working with sabre paralympian Mario Rodriguez with wheelchair fencing, Junior National Epee coach, Gary Copeland, and then in Oregon working with Ed Korfanty, taking his clinic for sabre coaches.

It is quite an edifying display of the level of commitment to the sport when so many fencers from the same club go to these camps to learn new methods and techniques of fencing. Plus, the experience of being in new surroundings, with new and different fencers and coaches.

Probably a highlight for the sabre kids at Korfanty’s camp was the fact that Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis was there, as well as Rebecca Ward, 16 years old, and a world sabre champion! On Friday, the last day of the camp, a round-robin fencing tournament was held. Scott, Nico and Masaki were in the same pool and they came up to me and said, “Guess who’s in our pool……Mariel Zagunis!” Only Scott managed to score three points on Mariel. (By the way, Mariel went on to win the tournament).

Now that we’re back, you probably all are aware that Nancy Scott, the owner of My Gym, was successful in re-negotiating a 5-year contract with our current landlord so, we are staying in our current location. Nancy has had a lot of refurbishing done at My Gym, and our dance room area is scheduled to be spruced up, too.

I am planning on holding a parent meeting on Thursday, September 14, at 10:00 a.m. at My Gym. I’ll have general information updates, San Bernardino Division tournament schedule, USFA National and Junior Olympic tournament schedules. I like to get together with the parents at the beginning of every season to answer questions and keep everyone informed.
If you’re not able to attend this meeting, I can always set up another one at another time and you can also get together with me one-on-one, call me or email me.

Regarding tournaments, College of the Desert will host the following tournaments: Saturday, September 23, Saturday, October 14, and the Palm Desert Open, Saturday and Sunday, November 11-12. Please note that for the Palm Desert Open, Mixed and Women’s sabre events have been added. The registration form for this tournament is already on our DFA website. I’ll keep you apprised of other San Bernardino tournament dates.

So, welcome back, everyone, and welcome to our 2006-2007 fencing season.

Sincerely,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach
College of the Desert
Desert Fencing Academy

Olympic Training Center

2006-08-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hi to Everyone,

Today is Sunday and we are starting up our last week of training.

Last week was awesome with wheelchair fencing. Our coach/instructor was three-time paralympian Mario Rodgriquez. The fire engine red wheelchairs we used were donated to us by the Republic of China. The wheelchair frames were U.S. made and we assembled those frames before Dan DeChaine and his armorers got to them!

If you think "able-bodied" fencing is fast, you should be in the wheelchair for wheelchair fencing. Speed increases 500%! It was really fun and we learned how
to come en garde, advance, lunge, half-retreat and full retreat in the wheelchair with our torso. Foil is fun, but I have to say that sabre and epee were very exciting to fence and so fast. The referees really have to be on their game to see the action and call it.

Our training day was twelve hours. We'd begin at 9:00 a.m. and finish at 9:00 p.m. We put in eight hours at the gym, the other times covered breakfast, lunch and dinner breaks and time for seminars. After 9 p.m., we were all studying the wheelchair rule book and working on our practicum. There were eight of us in the class; four men and four women, all of us with many years of fencing, so we adapted quickly and easily to the cueing and teaching.

Today, I begin level 3 epee with national epee coach Gary Copeland, who lives and has his club in Boulder, Colorado.

Wishing you, and all the DFA fencers attending fencing camps this summer, happy times and lots of learning fun!

- Leslie
The Fencing Coach
Desert Fencing Academy

Summer 2006 - Coach Training and Fencing Camps

2006-07-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hello fencers,

I’ll be at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs from July 27 to August 13. I’ll be taking Level 3 Epee with the U. S. National Epee coach Gary Copeland and then a new course the USFA is offering – wheelchair fencing for foil, sabre and epee. August 16-20 I’ll be in Portland, Oregon, again working with U.S. Olympic Women’s Sabre coach Ed Korfanty.

Mitchell Link and Chasen Chapman will also be in Portland, working with eight-time men’s epee Olympian, Michael Marx. Gretchen Bueermann, Nico Bergmann, Masaki Yamada and Scott Pippin will be in Oregon, also, participating in the sabre camp run by Ed Korfanty.

DFA will re-open on Tuesday, September 5, 2006. The schedule will soon be posted on the DFA website and remains the same.

Wishing everyone a happy summer,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

Summer 2006 Newsletter

2006-06-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hi to all and happy Summer!

DFA is not quite ready to close down for the summer yet, even though our competition season is over. And we had an exceptional competition season.

Trophies went to Scott Pippin for Men’s Sabre; Mark Johnson for Men’s Foil; Josh Butler for Men’s Epee; Leslie Taft for Women’s Foil, Sabre and Epee. DFA won Men’s Team Sabre, Foil and Epee. DFA won the Men’s Overall Club trophy. So it was pretty much a DFA sweep in the San Bernardino Division this season.

And our fencers competed in many out-of-division tournaments this 2005-2006 season.
Masaki Yamada competed in sabre at the Long Beach Invitational in October 2005, held at Cal State Long Beach and at the Beverly Hills Sabre Invitational where he competed in three events and won a gold medal! Chasen Chapman competed in many NAC’s this season and will be going to the National Championships being held in Atlanta, Georgia, this summer. Also, with his Level 3 Armorer’s certification, Chasen has been an armorer at these competitions and will armor with U.S. Olympic Armorer, Dan DeChaine, at Nationals.

Scott Pippin and Gretchen Bueermann were in Hartford, Connecticut, for the Junior Olympics in February. They fenced sabre in the Cadet and Junior categories. And then all our foil and epee fencers participated in the Palm Desert Open, held at College of the Desert in April. Chasen Chapman, Mark Johnson, Cassie Bullock, Daniel Lee, Mitchell Link, Josh Butler, Danny Torres, Brian Murphy and Lee Ernst were there competing.

Our five-week summer fencing program will begin on Monday, June 19 and finish on Saturday, July 22. We will have fencing, Monday through Friday from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

DFA will take its summer break starting July 23 and will re-open on Tuesday, September 5. Please visit our website at www.desertfencingacademy.com for all schedules.

I will be at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for two weeks in August and then in Portland to work with Ed Korfanty again. Ed is the U.S. Women’s Olympic Sabre Coach.

Aaron Fagan, Gretechen Bueermann, Nico Bergmann, Masaki Yamada and Scott Pippin will be attending Korfanty’s sabre camp and Chasen Chapman and Mitchell Link will also be in Portland, working with 8-time epee Olympian Michael Marx.

Regarding our up-coming move. There is no current word at this time. The property managers where we are presently located have had many conversations with Nancy Scott, the owner of My Gym. As her 10-year lease ends this summer, the property managers want to increase her monthly rent by $2,000, and that increase is financially out of everyone’s ballpark. Nancy has found a new location, still here in Palm Desert, on Gerald Ford, just off of Cook Street (heading east). The location space is smaller by about 1,200 square feet, but the rent is affordable, it’s just off the Cook Street entrance, and it’s in the same area as University Park, so we will be surrounded by shops, restaurants and cinemas. If we do move, it will probably be the Labor Day weekend. I will keep all of you informed as I receive information.

My congratulations to all our fencers. They are doing a great job in their fencing, training and competing. Currently, we have an up-and-coming group of 9, 10 , 11 and 12 year olds. They are just awesome. My thanks, too, go out to all you parents and grandparents, for all your support. Without you, DFA could not do what it does.

Wishing a good summer and blissful fencing to all,

Sincerely,

Leslie Taft
The Coach

May Update

2006-05-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,

Just a reminder to all: our last division fencing tournament of the season is Saturday, May 6 at College of the Desert. There is fencing, but no points awarded and we present the end of season tournament trophies.

A note: I will not be at this tournament as I am the confirmation sponsor for Mitchell Link who is being confirmed on Saturday, May 6, at St. Theresa's in Palm Springs. The ceremony is at 10:00 a.m. I plan on being at the tournament later in the afternoon. David Rasmussen and Diane Whan will be running the tournament.

DFA will be closed on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, May 12, 13, 14, as most of us will be in Las Vegas for the Pacific Coast Championships

PCC's is our last competition for the season. DFA will be open Monday through Saturday for lessons and fencing. Our summer fencing schedule begins June 17 and runs through July 22, then we close for the last week of July and all of August. DFA will re-open in September.

Please visit our website, www.desertfencingacademy.com. We have lots of wonderful information on the website and Josh and Danny have made a link to the DFA blog, which is
very good.

One last note: If any one has a computer printer they are no longer using, DFA could use it.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and grandmothers!

- Leslie

Easter Update

2006-04-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hi to all....and Happy Easter,

We have a fencing tournament at College of the Desert this Saturday, April 15.
It is the last point tournament of the season.
After this tournament, our schedule resumes back to "normal" for the remainder of this month of April.

We have a fencing tournament on Saturday, May 6, (so we will be at COD to set up Friday night May 5), and then we have the Pacific Coast Championships in Las Vegas May 13-14. DFA will be closed on Friday, May 12....transportation day to Las Vegas.

After PCC's, all our tournaments are done and we will have fencing until July 22 when we close for the summer.

Our Summer schedule will begin on June 19 with fencing beginning at 1:30 p.m. for beginning fencers and then 2:30 p.m. for our advanced fencers going until 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and our regular schedule of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Please visit our website from time to time with updated information, podcasts by Josh and Danny and our Summer schedule.

- Leslie

Palm Desert Open was a Success!

2006-04-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,

Well, the first Palm Desert Open was a success! We had 62 fencers participate, and it was an international event with fencers from Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. We had a total of 12 "A" rated fencers, which made our events A1 and A2 events.

We had the top referees here to direct and Midi Cox, the Pacific Coast Section Secretary, was indispensible in helping me organize and run the event.

We have been asked to host again, hopefully November of this year, and sabre will be included!

Many of you are probably in some form of Spring Break and our schedule at DFA is somewhat modified. This Friday, April 14, being Good Friday, DFA will be closed, so there is no fencing
this Friday, but we will be at COD setting up the gym as we have a division tournament this Saturday at COD. This will be the last point tournament of the season. So, there will be no
fencing at DFA this Saturday either.

We should be back to "normal" starting April 17.

Our last tournament of the season is Saturday, May 6, at COD, the end of season tournament where we give out the Perpetual Trophies.

Also, the Pacific Coast Championships are May 13-14, 2006 (Mother's Day weekend).
The deadline for sending in your entry is April 28. If anyone is interested in the team events, please let me know as the team event form can be submitted with your individual entry form. I have both individual and team entry forms.

- Leslie

End of Season Tournament Date Changed

2006-04-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hello Fencers,

The end of season tournament date has changed to May 6th, 2006.

Check the schedule at the San Bernardino Division or at the Desert Fencing Academy websites.

See you there!

“Why Do I Pay A Monthly Membership Fee?”

2006-03-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

This is a question I am asked on occasion, and it is a very valid question.

Desert Fencing Academy was created to promote and teach the sport of fencing, a pursuit it has been accomplishing since 2003.

As a club, DFA is here to serve the fencer and is completely supported by its members. The monthly membership fee is what keeps DFA in operation.

So what does your monthly membership cover? Your monthly membership covers the rental fee for the space, utilities, liability insurance, club membership in the USFA, membership in the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce, advertising, involvement in community events, i.e., the Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade, purchase of all the fencing gear – masks, jackets, gloves, foil lames, sabre lames, dry and electrical fencing weapons, electrical scoring equipment, the washing of jackets and gloves, clothing repairs, i.e., replacing zippers and buttons, repairing and replacing electrical gear and scoring equipment, maintaining a website.

As a member, the monthly membership provides access to the club and all the fencing equipment. So, a member can come and fence when the club is open and use the fencing gear. Electrical fencing gear is also provided to the member for use in the club or when needed for a fencing tournament.

Another item the monthly membership fee covers is the travel expenses for the coach when the coach travels to tournaments. When DFA fencers are going to major tournaments, i.e., an NAC, Junior Nationals, Junior Olympics, Pacific Coast Championships and National Championships, they want the coach to be there. Most of these tournaments involve air travel, lodging and food (plus the time the club is closed when the coach is gone).

With all our members supporting DFA by their monthly membership dues, all members, from the beginning fencer to the elite competitor, can enjoy and take advantage of the fencing opportunities DFA offers.

*******
Leslie Taft is the Head Coach of the Desert Fencing Academy. You can contact her at 760.218.1343 for any questions about the fencing program.

Fencing Update Podcasts now online!

2006-03-20T19:24:00.000-08:00

Check out the Fencing Update podcast here. So far there are two episodes. Check them out and comment on the Fencing Update blog.

Fencing Update

Keep Training - It pays

2006-03-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I thought I would share my view on training for fencing tournaments. I've seen that some fencers go to their first five tournaments and don't win any medals and give up because they think this sport is not for them. Those are people that didn't understand what it takes to be a fencer. Fencing is a lifetime sport, so it takes a lifetime of training.

You should not expect to take home a medal in your first year of competative fencing. If you do, you are exceptional, but don't beat yourself up if you don't. Each tournament is rich with lessons that are not available at practice. You've got to realize that most of the high level fencers have been fencing for at least 5 years if not ten. Then there are those fencers that have been fencing for 20 years or more consistently competative. Don't expect to beat them quite yet. There is much learning to be done.

When you are starting out, start with reachable goals such as scoring a touch on every fencer. It doesn't mean beating them, but it means getting a nice, clean touch that was undeniably yours.

Also when you are at practice, don't focus on beating everyone else, focus on your form. Don't take shortcuts, practice proper footwork, and use it on strip. Don't justify sloppy form by saying it is your style. Sloppy form means no style. So, practice your proper footwork and proper handwork. Get a partner to practice your parry riposte, fleshe, counter-fleshe. If you are a sabre fencer, do the flunge.

Use tournaments as lessons to help you know where you need your training. Don't let your ego get involved because it will blind you. Be honest with yourself, and you will get better.

If you have any comments lets here 'em! You can click on the comments button below and let us know what you think. Also if you have some training tips, let's have 'em too!

*************************
Josh Butler has been an epee fencer since 2002, and a foil fencer since 1991. Josh fences at The Desert Fencing Academy in Palm Desert, California with Head Coach Leslie Taft.

Hollywood Needs Fencing Lessons

2006-02-06T12:08:00.000-08:00

Did you know that actors need fencing lessons if they are going to play a part with swordfighting? Actors don't just pick up a sword and start flailing away. They learn how to stand correctly, how to move their feet, and how to hold and maneuver a blade.

SwordPlay Fencing Studio teaches theatrical fencing to Hollywood actors, and to anyone that wants to know how. Check out their website.

I have fenced some of their students, and I have to say they must have some good coaches. I have witnessed that they maintain good form and conditioning with their students. I'm glad to see their club represented at tournaments because I know I'll have a day of good fencing if I meet up with them.

*************************
Josh Butler has been an epee fencer since 2002, and a foil fencer since 1991. Josh fences at The Desert Fencing Academy in Palm Desert, California with Head Coach Leslie Taft.

February Schedule

2006-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi to all, and happy February!

Here are some dates to jot down for fencing and events at DFA this February.

February 11, fencing tournament at San Bernardino Valley College

February 16-20, DFA will be closed as I will be in Hartford, Connecticut, with some of our fencers for the Junior Olympics

February 25, DFA 3rd year anniversary party from noon to 3:00 p.m. Join us for cake and coffee

Congratulations to Daniel Lee on winning a gold medal in the Mixed Epee event at College of the Desert, January 21, and earning his C’06 rating in epee…all in his very first tournament!

Please know that I try to make up fencing lessons for students who will miss a lesson because we are closed for a tournament. So, a fencer may come any Monday through Friday for a make up lesson. Just give me a call ahead of time and I will schedule the lesson in my calendar.

Leslie
The Fencing Coach

Fencing for Life

2006-01-15T14:05:00.000-08:00

Fencing is a sport that can be pursued for life. Fencing is a lot like golf and tennis in that you can keep doing it well into your "mature" years. I really enjoy fencing the older fencers because they bring their own style and attitude and amazing skills.

People that have been fencing longer than my life time have developed amazing skills in timing and point control. Their reflexes are finely tuned and efficient. They have learned to just use what they need exactly when they need it, and not a bit more. This way the veteran fencers are able to maintain their stamina longer than someone younger that uses a lot of superfluous movements.

Veteran fencers are hard to fool. They will watch what counts, your weapon hand and your lead foot. They can see both simultaneously and will be able to determine what action is appropriate based on the order of movement of the weapon hand and lead foot. If you start with your weapon hand they will know to step back and parry riposte. If you start with your foot, they will know to attack in preparation.

You can learn a lot from veteran fencers.

There are 3 secrets to being a great sword fighter...

2005-12-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

Yes that is correct. People still sword fight. It is called fencing and it is an Olympic sport. It has been an Olympic sport since the first modern Olympics.

I have been fencing since 1991 and have just recently earned my "A" rating in epee. It took me a long time, longer that some, to earn my "A" status. Some people have natural talent that bursts through the ranks of the beginning fencers and they become rated very quickly. That was not the case for me. I went from 1991 to 2002 without being a rated fencer. I was compative for only about five of the years in that time frame.

Some people get rated in their weapon (foil, epee, saber) within their first year of fencing. Not me. I was young and inexperieced. After learning the hard way I found out that experience counts more than speed and technique in fencing.

The three secrets that I have discovered for myself are the following:

1. Training:
You need to train to be good. Fencing requires specialized movements that people don't normally perform on a day to day basis. There are muscles used in fencing that are not used for anything else. You will feel where these muscles are once you start. Training those special muscle groups will help you to be a better sword fighter (fencer).

I would suggest a minimum of training twice per week for 2 hours at a time if you would like to become competitive within your first year of fencing. If you want to step it up, and you have the extra time, go for 4 times per weeks at 2 hours each.

If you are only training 2 times per week you will also need to add some additional short home training exercises that I will review in later articles.

2. Finding the Right Coach:
You need to find a coach with a track record of being competitive. Nothing beats experience. Coaches that remain competitive will know how to keep you up to date on the latest strategies and footwork. You also need to find a coach that helps you to understand the entire sport, including armory (so you can fix your own stuff in a pinch) and etiquette (so you don't act like a newbie).

3. Have Fun!
I've seen plenty of fencers that have fun, and some that don't. If you are not having a blast you shouldn't be fencing. I continue fencing because it is the most fun activity for me. I would rather go to a fencing tournament than go to Disneyland!

Fencing tournaments are full of interesting people, and full of competitive drama! I try to keep it low key, but when I win I can't help having a huge grin.

When I lose, I do my best to learn from my mistakes and understand the sequence of events that led up to my loss. There are so many factors that affect the outcome of the tournament.

I also enjoy seeing my fellow fencers become better! I discuss with my team mates and opponents the strategies that I was using, and ask about what worked for them. On the most part fencers are very open about how they win, because they want to learn how to be better too.

If you want to learn how to sword fight (Olympic Style) go to the USFA website HERE and find a fencing club near you.

*************************
Josh Butler has been an epee fencer since 2002, and a foil fencer since 1991. Josh fences at The Desert Fencing Academy in Palm Desert, California with Head Coach Leslie Taft.

Winter 2005

2005-11-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, and Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all!

LATEST NEWS:
The fencers have been busy since their return to DFA this Fall. The men’s sabre and epee teams continue to come on strong this 2005-2006 season. And we currently have quite a field of nine and ten year old epee and sabre fencers. You can see them in action on Saturday mornings.

Linden Ballen earned his eagle in Eagle Scouts in October; Nico Bergmann participated in a major piano competition in November; Chasen Chapman competed in the Junior and Cadet NAC in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Scott Pippin, Aaron Fagan, Gretchen Bueermann, and Chasen Chapman qualified for the Junior Olympics at the J.O. Qualifier, held at San Bernardino Valley College, November 19; Josh Butler earned his A-05 rating in epee at the CSU Long Beach Tournament, December 4; and Costa Nichols will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, fencing both epee and sabre in the Division I and Veterans NAC events, December 9-11.

Cassie Bullock will be attending an after Christmas pentathlon training week at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, while Chasen Chapman works with epee Olympian, Michael Marx, in Oregon.

HOLIDAY FENCING SCHEDULE:
DFA will be closed on the following days:

Friday, December 23
Saturday, December 24
Sunday, December 25
Friday, December 30
Saturday, December 31
Sunday, January 1

If any fencer is interested in coming to DFA on Wednesdays from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for open fencing, you are welcome to do so.

The week of December 19 and December 26, we will hold a holiday fencing camp on Mondays through Thursdays from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

For DFA competitive members, you are invited to come to College of the Desert on Tuesday evenings, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., during the months of December and January, and work out with the COD fencers. Fencing will be electric.

UPCOMING EXCITING EVENTS:
We will again participate in the Palm Desert Golf Cart parade, Sunday, January 8, 2006. Our thanks to Leni Roberts, David’s grandmother, for allowing us to use her golf cart. If any fencer is interested in participating in the golf cart parade, please let me know. This is your yearly opportunity to (legally) fence in the street! You can come dressed as a pirate or in any period costume and, of course, dressed as a fencer. I’m looking for someone(s) I can spar with for the entire length of the parade route!

We will be in Hartford, Connecticut, February 16-20, for the Junior Olympics.

February 24 marks our third anniversary! We will hold a birthday celebration party on Saturday, February 25, from noon to 3:00 p.m. at DFA.

Desert Fencing Academy and the Pacific Coast Section will be sponsoring the Palm Desert Open, April 8 and 9, 2006, in the Wright Gymnasium on the College of the Desert campus. This is a women’s and mixed foil/epee Pacific Coast tournament. We are expecting a large turnout for this event and encourage our DFA foil and epee fencers to participate and certainly encourage all DFA fencers, and parents, to volunteer and help us run this event. Holiday Inn Express is the host hotel and we are inviting the top foil and epee referees to direct the bouts. For more information on this tournament and to download a copy of the entry form, please visit either www.desertfencingacademy.com/palmdesertopen or www.pcsfencing.com.

The new year will be a busy and exciting year for DFA and its fencers. My thanks to all the parents and grandparents who have supported us these past two years. We look forward to another year of fencing, fun, adventure and friendship.

Wishing each and every one of you all the best in the new year….and blissful fencing,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

Fall 2005

2005-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi and welcome to the Fall 2005 newsletter. We trust that all our fencers, their parents and grandparents had a wonderful summer.

SUMMER NEWS:
Aaron Fagan, Nico Bergmann, Scott Pippin, David Roberts, Linden Ballen, Mitchell Link and Chasen Chapman were at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs participating in the fencing camp the AFA puts on each summer.

Chasen, Julie Austin and Leslie Taft participated in the Armorer's Clinic held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, most ably taught by U.S. Olympic Team Armorer, Dan DeChaine. Who would have thought that studying foil and epee tips, screws, springs and wires would be interesting, but Dan made it so exciting that we didn't want to stop for breaks and even gave up a free evening just to repair and rewire weapons! And, Julie aced the written exam by scoring 100%, the second person to do so in the five year history of Dan teaching the class. All three are now Level 3 Armorers.

Lee Ernst was at the OTC taking the Level 1 Foil class while Leslie earned her Level 2 certificate in sabre.

Leslie also went to Portland, Oregon, to work with U.S. womens' Olympic sabre coach, Ed Korfanty, at his coaches camp. Coinciding with the coaches camp was the elite sabre fencers camp with 2004 Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis in attendance. It was poetry in motion, watching Ed give Mariel a sabre lesson.

FALL NEWS:
DFA officially re-opens on Tuesday, September 6. The fencing schedule is on the website, www.desertfencingacademy.com with some minor schedule changes for Saturday.

It seems that Saturday morning comes early for some fencers so, to optimize lesson time, I've slated 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. for individual lessons, and 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon for a beginners class. From noon to 3:00 p.m., the schedule remains the same with individual lessons and open electric fencing. A fencer could make a day of it at DFA on Saturday and even fit in a coffee break at Starbucks!

Our Division fencing schedule is up with the first tournament scheduled for September 17 at Victor Valley High School, October 8 at College of the Desert, November 5 at VVHS, November 19, Junior Olympic Quals at San Bernardino Valley College and December 17 at SBVC. Close of check in for sabre is 9:00 a.m, 10 a.m. for foil and 12 noon for epee. The entry fee is $10 per weapon.

DFA UPDATE:
Our two electric scoring boxes have been updated with the new timing for foil and sabre.

We now have DFA patches! Our new patches, with the male and female fencers, look great and are available for purchase at $5.

I am also working on DFA warm-up jackets, an off-white satin finish coaches' jacket that front zips with elastic waistband, cuffs and neckband, pockets, DFA crest logo on the front and large DFA male and female fencers on the back in black. The purchase price of the jackets will be $40. I will be taking orders for these in September so I can give an accurate count of sizes to the manufacturer.

The 8-week beginning fencing classes seemed to stretch on forever so, I've revamped it to a 6-week format. The student will learn just as much only a little bit faster. The fee for the six week classes is $120 and these are one hour classes.

Also trying something new・or those fencers who only come on Saturday, and usually miss a Saturday a month due to our being away for tournaments, on the Saturday we will be gone for a tournament, I'll offer fencing classes on that Wednesday from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

DFA is entering into its third fencing season. DFA is doing well financially. All fees will remain the same. The $30 monthly membership fee and $20 lesson fee remain unchanged. You may pay per lesson, or pay for a series of four, six or ten lessons.

I'd like to tell all the DFA junior competitive fencers how proud I am of you and of your fencing accomplishments this past season. You are strong, seasoned fencers and I'm looking forward to another wonderful fencing season with you. And my thanks to the parents and grandparents who make it all possible for us to fence.

Wishing Blissful Fencing to All,

Leslie Taft
The Fencing Coach

Summer 2005

2005-06-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi, and happy Summer to everyone.

Good News:
The last tournament of the 2004-2005 season was held at College of the Desert in April with the awards presentation held at San Bernardino Valley College May 7th. Here are the end-of-season results for Desert Fencing Academy:

DFA Men's Foil Club
DFA Men's Sabre Club
DFA Men's 3-Weapon Club
Mark Johnson DFA Men's Foil Champion

And, earning ratings this year:
SABRE
E05 Scott Pippin
E05 Masaki Yamada

EPEE
C05 Leslie Taft
D05 Chasen Chapman
E05 Linden Ballen
E05 Mitchell Link

Congratulations to DFA, and all the fencers, on all their remarkable accomplishments this season!

And, at the Pacific Coast Championships, held in Las Vegas, May 14 and 15, Costa Nichols, Frank Campellone, Mark Johnson and Leslie Taft were there competing.

Congratulations to Leslie who took 3rd place in Womens' Sabre!

SUMMER SCHEDULE:
Beginning Monday, June 6 and continuing to July 18, we will have evening fencing at DFA starting at 7:30 p.m. Open fencing and lessons.

Beginning Monday, June 20 through Saturday, July 23, DFA will be open for fencing, Monday through Saturday. All beginning classes will begin at 1:00 p.m. and intermediate and advanced/competition classes will begin at 3:00 p.m.

As we leave behind the 2004-2005 fencing season and move into a slower time of summer, which is the best time to train and hone those fencing skills, I'd like to thank all the parents, grandparents, fencers and friends who have encouraged and supported DFA, and me, this past season. DFA is in its third year of operation and moving forward.

Fencing fees at DFA will remain unchanged for summer and the 2005-2006 fencing season.

And just what are those fees?

DFA Fee Schedule
$160 for 8-week beginning fencers classes
$30 monthly membership fee
$20 per lesson fee

SUMMER SCHOOL FOR FENCERS
The following DFA fencers will be at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs for a week of fencing training:
Sabre
Scott Pippin
Nico Bergman
David Roberts
Aaron Fagan
Epee
Mitchell Link
Chasen Chapman
Foil
Linden Ballen

And the following fencers will be attending classes at the Olympic Training Center:

Armorers' College
Julie Austin
Chasen Chapman
Leslie Taft
Level I Foil
Lee Ernst
Level II Sabre
Leslie Taft

So, even though it is summer time, the fencers are busy, staying on the cutting edge so to speak!

DFA will close for the summer on July 25 and re-open on September 6.

Happy Summer and blissful fencing to all!

April 2005

2005-04-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi to all,

A Spring newsletter with lots of summer news.

Firstly, the new tee shirts are in! They look really sharp (no pun intended) and are $15. Choose from Desert Fencing Academy or Corps-a-Corps, Sin of the Fleche

The tee shirts are a Vegas gold with black graphics.

We now have a website! Log on to www.desertfencingacademy.com.

Lots of info and links to the USFA, colleges and universities that have NCAA fencing, our DFA fencing schedules and newsletters and much more. Our thanks to Josh Butler for designing the website and being the webmaster.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE AND IMPORTANT DATES

Sat., April 16, Tournament at C.O.D.
(no fencing at DFA)
Sat., May 7, Tournament at SBVC
(no fencing at DFA)
May 13, 14, 15, Pacific Coast Championships,
Las Vegas
(no fencing at DFA)

Please note that whenever DFA closes due to fencing tournaments, I am more than happy to re-schedule fencing lessons.

Our Summer Schedule will begin on Monday, June 20 and end Saturday, July 23.

Please visit our website for the complete summer schedule of classes.

DFA will close the last week in July and re-open Tuesday, September 6.

GENERAL NEWS:
Many of our fencers will be attending fencing camp this summer.

Nico Bergmann
Scott Pippin
David Roberts
Aaron Fagan
Linden Ballen
Mitchell Link

Chasen Chapman will be at the Air Force Academy for a week.

Chasen, Julie Austin and I will be at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for Armourers' College and Lee Ernst and I will also attend Coaches College・ Lee will be taking Level I Foil and I will take Level II Sabre.

You may wonder what some of us fencers do other than fencing. Well, we like to run, so Gary Daniels (our pentathlete), Julie Austin and myself participated in the Women Running Wild 5k on March 20. And we run pretty fast. Gary ran the 3.1 mile course in 19:52, Julie in 33:44 and me in 29:06.

Wishing blissful fencing to all,
Leslie Taft