RDFC Pre-Season Invitational Tournament 2014

The Harrison Fencing Club has been invited by the Lowell High School Red Devil Fencing club to compete in the RDFC Pre-Season Invitational on Saturday, November 8. The tournament will be held at the Lowell Middle School Gym in Lowell, Indiana, and events start at 8:00 am.

Given the relatively short distance for travel and small field of competition, this event is ideal for beginning fencers who want to a “taste” of what competitive fencing is like. Yet, it will still be a challenge for returning fencers. The schools in the Great Lakes Conference have always trained tough, smart fencers. If you are considering competitive fencing but are unsure, talk to Coach about your interests and concerns.

There is a fee for competitors but no charge for spectators. The cost will be $20 per fencer per weapon fenced. Also, this tournament will require foil bibs (on masks) for foil fencers. If you do not have a mask with a foil bib, don’t worry. We will discuss an inexpensive option at practice along with any other equipment requirements.

I will be asking for parent volunteers to help with transportation. For those of you who will not be competing, you can tag along to support your teammates as long as we have enough room for those fencing and their equipment. I should have a better idea of how many seats we’ll have available by the week of the tournament. Bring snacks, beverages (lots of water!), and a lunch or cash for concessions.

If you know that you’re ready to participate, you can get registered for the tournament by going to the AskFRED site. The tournament link is https://askfred.net/Events/moreInfo.php?tournament_id=28059. If you don’t have a membership to AskFRED (it’s free) , read our post, Getting Ready for Competitive Fencing, to learn how to register for a membership.

Results – RDFC Invitational

We had a great time at the RDFC Invitational on Saturday (Feb. 22, 2014)! We faced some impressive competition–fencers from Marian Catholic High School, Lowell High School (Red Devil Fencing Club), Homewood-Flossmoor High Schools, Northwest Indiana Fencing Club, and Tinley Park Fencing Club. In spite of the stiff competition, I continue to be impressed with how well we are developing as a team and as individual fencers.

HHSFC took home two medals, a bronze for Sarah Motley in Women’s Foil, and bronze for Jack Stuckey in Men’s Foil. Jack had to fence Alex Mohler for the bronze, so we had two fencers in the final rounds for Men’s Foil. Our fencers finished as follows:

Women’s Foil – Sarah Motley (3rd); Heather Bucher (11th)
Men’s Foil – Jack Stuckey (3rd); Alex Mohler (4th); Logan Kyle (5th); Jacob Banes (9th); Luis Meza (10th); Sam Schmalzried (13th); Jacob Ashman (14th).

The official results can be found on AskFRED complete with information on pools and DE results: http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=25255&highlight_competitor_id=&event_id=101164

 

Upcoming Tournament: RDFC Invitational

Our next tournament that we will attend as a club will be the Red Devil Fencing Club Invitational. This event is scheduled for Saturday, February 22. The Red Devil Fencing Club originates from Lowell High School, however the tournament will be located at the Lowell Middle School Gym.

Please note that if you intend to participate in this event, pre-registration is required on AskFRED–go to http://askfred.net/Events/moreInfo.php?tournament_id=25255. The deadline to pre-register is February 16, 2014. A signed permission slip is also required to travel with the team on the bus (see attached). The permission slip must be turned into me or the Club Secretary by Friday, February 21, 2014.

As always, if you have any questions, just let me know. We’ve made some impact at our last few events, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you fence at the RDFC Invitational.

Download Required Permission Form

New Tournament – RDFC Invitational

We have a change in our tournament schedule for this season. Instead of participating at the Indiana Middle and High School Championship scheduled for February 22, we will be going to the RDFC Invitational in Lowell. I’ve made the change to the Events page as well as to the Calendar. Please note the change in your personal calendars.

UPDATE: The entry fee will be $20 per fencer per weapon.

The RDFC Invitational is open only to the following high school teams: Red Devil Fencing Club (Lowell HS), Marian Catholic HS (Chicago Heights, IL), Homewood-Flossmoor HS (Homewood, IL), University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (Chicago, IL), Harrison HS, West Lafayette HS Fencing Club, and Northwest Indiana Fencing Club (St. John, IN). This is another ideal tournament for us as a club since there will be a good number of fencers participating but not so large that our heads will be spinning!

At the beginning of February, I will distribute the participation/permission forms for this tournament. If you intend to compete, you can let me know well in advance so that I can make the appropriate arrangements for equipment and transportation.

Final Results: Red Devil JV Invitational

Lowell High School’s Red Devil Fencing Club hosted a 3-blade JV tournament on Saturday, April 27 for students between the ages of 12 and 19 in their first or second year of fencing only. The pools for foil and sabre were quite full for beginning fencers, so it was a pleasant surprise to see so many fencers there! We saw teams and individual fencers from Marian Catholic High School (Chicago Heights, IL), Escrime du Lac (Mishawaka, IN), Tinley Park Fencing Club (Tinley Park, IL), Northwest Indiana Fencing Club (St. John, IN), Homewood-Flossmoor High School Fencing Club (Flossmoor, IL), and of course the Red Devil Fencing Club (Lowell, IN). HHSFC had four entrants in the tournament (listed here in alphabetical order): Jacob Banes (Men’s Foil), Jacob Ginn (Men’s Foil), Sarah Motley (Women’s Foil), and Greg O’Connor (Men’s Sabre).

I was impressed with all of our fencers! Tournament competition can be personally intense at times, testing your physical abilities, emotional control and mental acuity all at the same time. Everyone represented Harrison well, both in character and results! Jacob Banes took first place in Men’s Foil, going undefeated through the entire preliminary round-robin round. Sarah Motley took first place in Women’s Foil, fencing one of the longest direct-elimination bouts in her fencing career to date. Greg O’Connor took third place in Men’s Sabre, an impressive feat considering that he joined the club well after we started and didn’t start with sabre until recently. Congratulations! And a special thanks goes to Jack Stuckey who supported his teammates with cheers, strategy and equipment. Additional thanks go out to the West Lafayette Jr/Sr High School Fencing Club and the Red Devil Fencing Club for loaning us some electric equipment so that our fencers could compete!

Official results can be viewed at askFRED – http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=21923