Going for gold

March is the last month for fencers to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Fencing competitions in Beijing. Fencing.net has a story that helps put things into perspective for those of us who do not avidly follow international competitions. Most of the team spots were set by mid-March, but there is still time for individual seeding to change. In fact, individual qualifications are the only way the U.S. is going to have any representation in Men's Epee because our men's team totally bombed this year.

Here's the lowdown on team qualifications.

[Eight] teams will compete in the following fencing disciplines at the Beijing Olympics: Men's and Women's Sabre, Women's Foil, and Men's Epee. The teams qualify being in the top 4 in the world rankings as of April 1st and then the next 4 slots go to the next highest ranked team in each of the Olympic regions (Americas, Europe, Asia/Oceana, Africa.)

The practical upshot is that some very good European teams will not be able to compete in the Olympics and some really bad teams will be in for the sake of geographic representation.

The U.S. has one of the best Women's Sabre teams in the world. Arguably, they are the best although France is currently ranked higher. The U.S. Women's Sabre team has already qualified for the 2008 Olympics, and I'll be surprised if they don't medal. France, Russia and Korea will probably be their stiffest competition, although China might put up a good fight, too.

The U.S. Men's Sabre team will compete because they are the highest ranked team in our Olympic region. In other words, they're only getting in because they're doing better than Canada right now.

The U.S. Women's Foil team is only fencing because they got in ahead of Venezuela. The top four teams are European, and probably Russia, Poland or Italy will bring home the gold. I don't really follow international fencing, so I can't give you more than that.

The less said about U.S. Men's Epee, the better. They did not qualify to fence as a team, so they are going to try to get a team member into an individual event. Venezuela will be representing the Americas. If I were a betting person, I'd put my money on France or Hungary for the gold.

Fencers in the News: Rebecca Ward

Rebecca Ward, 16, is one of the youngest FIE-ranked saber fencers in the world. Since October 2006, Rebecca has been one of the top two women's saber fencers and one of the top five junior women's saber fencers.

On Feb. 29, 2008, Ella Loescher from SchermaOnline interviewed Rebecca. SchermaOnline is an Italian fencing site, so most of the site is not in English. In fact, Rebecca's interview is the only thing I've seen so far that is not in Italian!

Rebecca's currently getting ready for the 2008 Olympics, but she took some time out to talk about her school work, training and life. While much of what she said doesn't apply to SSH, some of it is very interesting. I especially enjoyed this quote about being a team:

[W]e try our best to kill each other in the individual meet, and then, the very next day, we're asked to put all that aside and make sure we're there for our teammates. The hardest time is when one or more of us has not fenced very well in the individual competition and are not feeling confident about fencing in the team meet. As a team, we have to do everything we can to get everyone ready to fence their best.

Fencing is not usually a team sport, and even in team fencing, the bouts are always one-on-one. Sometimes it is hard to remember to support your teammates because fencing, even team fencing, is such an individual sport.

Feel free to read and enjoy Rebecca's interview, which is linked above. A lot of it refers to her competitions back in 2006, but it is not all old news!

Good Friday club meeting and other news

The university is supposed to be closed on Good Friday, but the Rec Sports office is going to be open. However, instead of having regular practice, we will meet at Ed's for dinner, weapon repairs and possibly a movie. It starts at 4 p.m., but we won't eat until 6. Nate's working the desk at Rec Sports, so we're waiting until he gets off. I don't know what the movie will be, or what Ed is providing, but I'm making a lasagna.

This semester's Saturday at Sam is on March 29. I'm trying to get a booth for us at the Organizations fair. Let me know if you'd like to help out. Nate is supposed to make a flyer for us and Corey will bring weapons and gear to show off.

I have contact information for the people in charge of SWIFA, the Southwest Intercollegiate Fencing Association. I don't have time to do the paperwork to get us in, so somebody (I'm looking at you, Jacob) who does have the time should let me know.

New links: I've added Fencing.net to our blog (it's on the left). It's one of the best sites for USFA and international fencing news. I've also put up a link to FRED, the best way to look for upcoming tournaments.

I think that's it for today. I'll see you-all tomorrow night at Ed's! Contact him over the Facebook group if you don't know how to get there.

Howdy

Welcome to the Swords of Sam Houston fencing club's official blog! In case you couldn't tell, SSH is the fencing club at Sam Houston State University. My name is Dorothy, and I used to be the club treasurer. I have, thankfully, passed that responsibility on to someone else, so now I mostly hang out.

We meet Mondays at 6 p.m. and Fridays at 4 p.m. in the HKC. Meetings usually last two hours. Contact me if you're interested in attending. Our club is open to all SHSU students and staff members.

I'm planning on keeping this up-to-date with the latest club news, but if I get any good tidbits from the USFA or from local fencers, I'll add those, too.