[MSFC] Mid-South?Mid-Summer
It’s half-way through summer and we’ve been busy! We still have six more summer camps to go…
Over the July 4th holiday Mid-South Fencers’ Club members and staff spent 10 grueling days competing against top clubs across our nation. How did our fencers fare with club across the country?
Top 8 Individual Results
BRONZE – Tammy JACKSON – Vet-60 Women’s Foil
BRONZE – Carl BADGER – Vet-60 Men’s Sabre
5th – Jeff KALLIO – Vet-40 Men’s Sabre
6th – Stephen PASHBY – Vet-40 Men’s Sabre
7th – Tom BRYAN – Vet-40 Men’s Foil
Top 16 Individual Results
10th – Sky MILLER – Junior Women’s Sabre
14th – Iman TUCKER – Cadet Women’s Sabre
16th – Krish MEHTA – Youth 12 Men’s Sabre
Top 32 Individual Results
17th – Marcus LANG – Vet-50 Men’s Epee
17th – Stephen PASHBY – Vet-40 Men’s Foil
20th – Kevin ZHOU – Division III Men’s Sabre
21st – Tammy JACKSON – Vet-60 Women’s Epee
22nd – Lauren DUNSEATH – Division II Women’s Epee
26th – Connor WOODWARD – Youth 12 Men’s Sabre
Individual Breakout Results
Spencer Hill in Youth 10 Men’s Sabre finished 10th out of pools in a field of 108 fencers and 33rd overall at his first National Championships. Phoebe Todd, also attending her first championships, finished 59th out of 201 fencers in Youth 14 Women’s Sabre and 115th in Cadet Women’s Sabre. Kevin ZHOU was our overall standout fencer competing in six events with solid results across the board: 118th in Juniors, 111th in Cadets, 66th in Youth 14, 20th in Division III and 52nd in Division II. Iman Tucker completed the tournament with her highest finish to date earning her first Cadet National Points with a 14th place finish. No one can come away from this summer nationals without talking about Krish Mehta. During epic direct elimination bouts Mehta finished his first national championships with a 16th place finish. He just kept adapting and winning, it was quite extraordinary to witness! Tammy Jackson earned her “C” rating in women’s foil with her bronze finish, barely missing the World Championship Team.
Other Tournament Victories
Anna Schikore after just missing the cut for direct eliminate rounds two events in a row came out 42nd in her last event out of pools, not only making the direct elimination round, but finishing 65th overall in Division 3 Women’s Sabre. The entire Youth 12 Men’s Sabre team showed their depth and hard work over the season: Krish Metha 16th, Connor Woodward 26th, Ari Etin 44th, Kushal Hiremath 112th, Guillaume Preud’Homme 191st. Many watching parents and coaches were tearing up as they witnessed their children strive and thrive in difficult and new situations. (You just can’t help it!)
Team Results
Always entertaining, our Veteran Sabre Team “The Marauders” and “Marauders Part Deux” finished 5th and 6th respectively in a field of 10 teams. Our Veteran Foil Team (with Doug Griswold from Apex Fencing Academy) finished 9th in a field of 13 teams. Sky Miller’s Senior Women’s Sabre Team “East Coach SWAG” won the National Championship title with decisive victories all day out of 14 teams. Lauren Dunseath (Senior Women’s Epee), Marcus Lang (Veteran Men’s Epee), and Tammy Jackson (Veteran Women’s Epee) also contributed to composite teams, finishing 15th out of 18 teams, 6th out of 15 teams, and 5th out of 16 teams respectively.
Special Congratulations to Ari Etin – Winner of the Connor Porter Memorial Scholarship
I come to practice one day,
The world’s puppet, I am
Tired, wanting everyone to keep away.
Carelessly, I fight, I might win, then
I have hurt someone today
I come to practice again,
Sorry for my actions, I sneak away
Hide in a den
I fight but don’t think, I lose
An opportunity to grow today
I come to a clinic just after brunch.
Want to recoup the time I have lost
Cut out all emotion, realizing it cost too much,
So I worked… no, I toiled, in my sweat
Very little bloomed
I come now with all I the joy I can bring,
Going to help others who suffered from me.
For myself I might not do much,
I work with others,
Helping them and such
And we laugh,
And we learn,
And before I am done,
We have gone from a stumble,
To an advance lunge
I look forwards,
To practice again,
And to work with more people.
And as I help them improve
They help me too.
Ari’s reflections:
This poem, though not exactly a recounting of any specific event, is a combination of a few experiences that I have had during my time fencing. Specifically, it describes the ones that highlight my attitude and how it has affected those I have interacted with. I chose the mode of a poem because it best reflected the progression of my emotional growth. When I started fencing, I was quite hard on myself and, as I didn’t control my emotions well, often let out my negativity on others. As I progressed, my coaches helped me work on channeling my emotions in a positive direction. Eventually, I figured out that by helping others with their fencing, I could achieve this goal while improving my own fencing. Below is an example of one such recent experience.
A couple of months ago, our club had a new, middle-aged gentleman join. He had a grasp of the basics (advancing, retreating, and lunging), and was working on putting them together. He was eager to learn and I was just as ready to work with him. When bouting time came around, I chose to partner with him. We worked on keeping the hand moving forwards and on the advance lunge – in the box basics. By the end of the night he had a solid grip on both techniques. A few weeks later, he brought his son in, and I worked with him too. Now they both feel welcome in the club and have a strong enthusiasm for fencing. From experiences like this, I have developed a more positive and cooperative attitude in all aspects of my life.
Congratulations Ari!
Thank You and Well Done!
Mid-South Fencers’ staff would like to congratulate all of the fencers who competed and highlight the first time competitors for this event. These are the people who helped make our participation the largest yet with thirty Mid-South fencers competing:
Anna Schikore |
Eric Huang |
Lauren Dunseath |
Markus Lang |
Neila Huang |
Spencer Hill |
Doya Wunnava |
Elina Wunnava |
Ari Etin |
Krish Mehta |
Kushal Hiremath |
Phoebe Todd |
David Fort |
Thank you team for creating wonderful memories for us to conclude this season. Fans, we appreciate you! Check out our weekly updated Summer 2019 Facebook Album here for more photos.
Jeff, Stephen, Chris, Mike and Jen
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