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Post by schlager7 on Jun 23, 2006 9:29:43 GMT -6
Would any fencing in Midland or Odessa fall into the Plains Texas Division or the South Texas Division?
(For that matter, anyone know when the Plains Texas Division was formed?).
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nemo
Blademaster
mobilis in mobili
Posts: 729
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Post by nemo on Jun 23, 2006 10:33:47 GMT -6
Would any fencing in Midland or Odessa fall into the Plains Texas Division or the South Texas Division? The Mesquite Division! Why would anyone care? I don't exactly see the permian basin becoming a hotbed of foil, epee or sabre.  |
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Post by kd5mdk on Jun 23, 2006 11:14:20 GMT -6
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Post by Parry Nine on Jun 23, 2006 16:38:15 GMT -6
I know that talk has been in this division (Plains) of including them in Division affairs.
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Post by kd5mdk on Jun 23, 2006 22:37:23 GMT -6
The Border Texas and Plains Texas boundaries overlap, as is mentioned on the Section webpage, although I don't know if Odessa is in one of the disputed counties. It would be nice to know what the Divison Boundaries are. North Texas apparently runs "west until somewhere short of Plains Texas". With the gap in between apparently South Texas Division.
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Post by Matt Vann on Jul 10, 2006 8:55:35 GMT -6
We recently re-formed La Belle Fencing Club in Midland. When the club formed in 1983, we were in the Plains division. I checked with the USFA recently and we're still there.
The population of Midland is over 100,000. Odessa is a little smaller. We hope to have an active club and things are going well so far.
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Post by fox on Jul 10, 2006 9:24:48 GMT -6
Why would anyone care? I don't exactly see the permian basin becoming a hotbed of foil, epee or sabre. It now seems very possible you were wrong. As Aldo said, now we see why your karma is -5! Or, as we say in the business, et la! |
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Post by schlager7 on Jul 10, 2006 9:33:36 GMT -6
I know I have a couple of news clippings of a tournament held in Odessa twice in two consecutive years back in the 1970s. I don't know how long it continued. I think in the second year the big winner was a fencer from UT.
So they had fencing at different times over the years and were not insular.
I am very happy to hear fencing is starting up again in your area desertfencer. Please keep us in the loop.
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Post by katyblades on Jul 10, 2006 10:36:20 GMT -6
Dear Desert Fencer,
I remember several fencers from the plains area in the 80s. One gentleman was from Panama, and I remember Mike Husband and several others from the top of my head. There is a very good foilist that I can visualize and can't name, and used to make the top 32 at NACs with me and we were both upcoming.
My club focuses on an area with not a much greater population, (Katy, TX), and we had four medalists in the last nationals. We will have more in the future. There is no reason you can't do the same.
There was a city in Germany with a population of 10,000 that had the women's gold, silver and bronze in an Olympics in the 80s. Don't let others hold you back on having successful fencing.
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Post by Matt Vann on Jul 10, 2006 13:10:15 GMT -6
Katy,
The Panamanian fencer you met was Orlando Temple. He passed away a couple of years ago. He was a great guy and is missed by the group.
Mike Husband was one of our coaches in the 80's. His job sent him to Oklahoma, which I think was one of the reasons our club fizzled out back then. We lost lots of people in the bust.
You may also remember Robert Walter, he coached the same time as Mike. Robert is now our head coach. At 50 years old he can still beat everyone else. We're lucky to have him.
As for tournaments, we held a few at the Army Reserve Center at the Midland International Airport. We're currently at a city community center and they're itching for us to hold tourneys there. We've scheduled a small club tourney after our first class.
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Post by katyblades on Jul 10, 2006 13:26:51 GMT -6
I was going to say Orlando Temple, but the name did not seem right. Orlando was a very good fencer and a lot of fun.
Dr. Bob if I remember correctly. You have a very good foil coach. He is about 6'2'', tall and lean, and was one of the people I would always see in the finals. They came to San Marcos often, and I saw them at competitions in Houston and Dallas. Ask him if he remembers August Skopik.
Dr. Walter, (I remembered it as Walters), will be a very good coach for you. Listen to him, get lessons and you can be very good in the sport.
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Post by Matt Vann on Jul 10, 2006 14:30:12 GMT -6
That's the same Bob. Actually, it's Rev. Walter now. He's been a senior pastor for some time now. His schedule's really tight but we're more than happy to work around him. He's an incredible coach and fencer. I'll pass the word on to him.
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Post by katyblades on Jul 10, 2006 23:09:32 GMT -6
We had more than one discussion with him and Dave Huskey and I. I thought that was the direction he was going. What church is he the pastor of?
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Post by Parry Nine on Jul 11, 2006 10:35:46 GMT -6
Desert,
I'm Jay Young. I'm the Vice-Chair of the Plains Texas Division. We'd love for you guys to become active in our division and begin coming to our tournaments, etc. If you need any information, please let me know! jay.young (at) ttu.edu
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Post by Matt Vann on Jul 11, 2006 12:34:42 GMT -6
Kay,
Robert is the Senior Pastor of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Midland, TX. I don't remember how long he's been pastor, probably somewhere close to 15 years.
Jay,
We're working on building our membership level to the point where we can become a USFA club. Matt Hite and I have been communicating back and forth for a few months. We're starting our first beginner class on August 17. We're starting from scratch. I'll be in touch with you. My email is mvann@apex2000.net.
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Post by Parry Nine on Jul 12, 2006 9:40:36 GMT -6
Excellent! We've got a beginners tournament in mid October here at Tech. It's much closer than Amarillo and everyone from the Amarillo area will be there. You guys are more than welcome to come join us. It's an E and Under tournament. It should be on AskFRED asap. I'm still ironing out details about the scheduling because we're adding sabre, but it should be up soon.
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Post by Matt Vann on Jul 14, 2006 8:25:49 GMT -6
I'll be watching for that October tournament. We're all U's right now. We're looking at having a tournament for our class on Sept 23 if we have a large enough turnout.
We have a great place for a tournament. Since it's through our community center, they can get breaks on hotels and such.
Our biggest problem is that we only have one scoring machine that may or may not work. We hope to do some hosting once things get rolling.
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Post by kd5mdk on Jul 14, 2006 9:08:33 GMT -6
Since you're in the Plains Texas Division, you might be able to borrow/rent some scoring equipment from them.
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Post by Parry Nine on Jul 14, 2006 11:18:33 GMT -6
I was thinking the same. If you can let us know when/where, etc, I think that we at Tech can bring some people down and equipment.
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Post by Matt Vann on Jul 14, 2006 12:56:11 GMT -6
That's great news! We have no idea what kind of turnout we'll have for the class. We might be able to get by with what we have, but if not I'll check into borrowing/renting gear. We still need to unearth our scoring machine and see if it's in working order. Thanks for the info!
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Post by schlager7 on Sept 25, 2006 22:34:50 GMT -6
Response to fencing class has been 'great,' pupils, organizers say
Stephanie Miller<br>Staff Writer
Midland Reporter-Telegram
09/24/2006
Though the medal around Katherine Boyd's neck was bronze in color, it felt like gold to the 10-year-old.
"It's really great! I've never really won a medal before," she said. "All the hard work and the soreness paid off."
Boyd was one of 15 participants in a fencing tournament held Saturday at the MLK Center. The tournament marked the end of a six-week period of classes taught by members of the LaBelle Fencing Club. The classes came about after the fencing club approached the MLK Center and asked if the club and center could partner to provide the classes, organizers said.
As a result, this first class drew 26 students, surpassing its maximum for 20 students, instructors said.
"It's fun to see kids of all ages and adults all working together and learning the skill," said Andrew Bass, recreation coordinator for the city.
"Our hope for the class is that it will be here for many, many years and that it will continue to be supported and this is just the beginning."
Jocelyn Banschbach, a home-schooled sixth-grader from Midland, said she took the classes because she thought it would be fun and she wanted to do a sport with swords and things. Jed Austria, a junior at Andrews High School, also found the fencing classes intriguing.
"I was greatly interested in sword fighting because it helps release stress because you're having fun," he said. "It's a better way to take out your stress than start a fight."
Banschbach's favorite move is the lunge, because it stretches out the body, she said. Boyd liked the parry more.
The training was "sort of weird at first because you had to stand in an "L" position," Banschbach recalled.
Boyd added "the sword gets kind of heavy after a while."
Austria does not have one particular move that is his favorite. "I just like being on the defensive, attacking them as much as I can, see if I can get a hit before they can," he said.
Two events took place at the day-long fencing tournament. There was a Y-12 foil for participants 12 and younger -- it had five participants -- and then there was a mixed foil for those 13 and older that had 10 participants.
"It's been great. We've had all ages, from 10 to people in their 50s, 26 in the class and we have everything from casual fencers to people who are going to be serious athletes," said Matt Vann, a member of the La Belle Fencing Club and one of the fencing class instructors. "It's been fun. We've had a blast."
Aside from the moves, the classes have taught both Banschbach and Boyd more about sportsmanship.
"You fence because you love it and you want to show the other person you enjoy fencing with them," Banschbach said.
The fencing classes have also been a learning experience for Austria, who found the right of way in fencing to be educational.
"Those right of way rules are tricky because if you think you've got the point, it could be that your opponent has it first because of better-planned moves," he said.
Austria recommends others to try fencing, which he describes as "an artistic sword-fighting dance."
"It's sort of like sword chess because you have to plan moves ahead and you have to watch the sword," he said. Plus there are more benefits others could gain from the fencing classes, Austria said.
"It's a good fine art to learn. It helps you get out of the house, and it's a good way to relieve stress by taking it out on someone else in a fair fight without using a lethal weapon or fist."
The next fencing classes instructed by the LaBelle Fencing Club will begin in early November. Classes will be limited to a maximum of 10 students and registration begins in late October, organizers said. For more information, call the MLK Center at (432) 685-7379.
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Post by Chuck on Oct 9, 2006 13:58:02 GMT -6
Welcome to the Plains Texas Division Our website is located at www.plainstexasdivision.com. While you are not yet up and running with USFA, the division will be glad to pitch in and help where we can to get you started. My name is Chuck Slaughter and I am the division chairman. My home club is Amarillo College Fencing Association. Our website is www.acfencers.com. Please contact either myself or Jay Young (Parry Nine) if you need anything. My email is chuck@acfencers.com. We have a good working relationship with the Southwest Section and we hope that will continue to improve over time. Much of our division is actually closer to events in the Southwest Section than we are to events in our own Rocky Mountain Section so we believe it is important to keep up with events in the rest of Texas. |
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Post by Matt Vann on Oct 11, 2006 11:32:46 GMT -6
Thanks, Chuck. We're working fast on the USFA thing. We're giving free club membership for 6 months with a USFA member number. We hope to be there by the first of the year.
I've been in touch with Matt Hite and he's been a great help. We're about to start looking around for some epee and saber clinics.
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Post by DavidSierra on Oct 11, 2006 11:34:26 GMT -6
There are a number of coaches you might consider contacting who might be willing to come out and DO such a clinic for you. Myself included  |
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Post by LongBlade on Oct 11, 2006 14:49:40 GMT -6
There are a number of coaches you might consider contacting who might be willing to come out and DO such a clinic for you. Myself included Me, too. |
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