joqual2005

Well, the end to another JO qualifies here in North Carolina. All I can say is fencing down
here has come a long way over 6 years. I remember when Gregg Porter introduced himself
to me when I first moved down here as the U19 men's junior sabre champion. When I asked
how many U19 sabre fencers there were here at the JO qualifiers last that year his response
said it all, "just me". Well that is no longer the case and I finally feel like we have a division
that can propel the kids to national success.

The Raleigh fencers club were awesome hosts. We saw some stuff up there that we are
taking back down to Charlotte. The facility and the strips were great and we just wonder
how hot it gets there in the summer.

There were plenty of refs at the tournament and the down time was kept at a minimum. We
only had one issue that we thought was really poor sportsmanship, group of parents and
friends who were actually booing a fencer every time they scored a point against the person
that they were rooting for. Root for your friends but don't boo other fencers that is really a
poor example of sportsmanship.

Everyone was surprised by Blake's display of sportsmanship when a foil fencer from CFA
was out of working foils during his DE bout. Instead of watching the bout be called against
him for no more working weapons, Blake lent the fencer one of the clubs working foils so
that he could finish the bout.

This year was definitely a precursor of the things to come over the next couple of years.
The medal count for Knights was impressive 14 overall, the next club was Raleigh with 9 and
then Touche with 7. Maybe next year the qualifiers will move to Charlotte. In all we had 12
fencers qualify in over 20 events for the Junior Olympics. They now have adopted the team
name

"The Dirty Dozen"

We also saw for the first time fencers come to the qualifiers from Morganton. Next year we
hope to triple the number of competitors from the sleepy little town of Morganton.

For all the results check out askfred.net at the following link.

http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=1423&FREDV3SID=634000386fd83aa
b93a24af8768a88ab