I hope everyone is enjoying both the summer and the Olympics.
We are so happy (there is still another foil event tomorrow) to see our friends on the greatest sporting stage and to do well. An especial shout out to Eleanor Harvey who won the first ever Olympic medal for Canada. Many will have trained with Eleanor over the years, especially those in the HPP program or the very old guard when she was a part of our extended Ontario training group with Joshua McGuire at our sister club Dual Nature.
Of course, Robyn and I could not be happier than to see our adopted son, Filippo (Pippo) Macchi win the silver medal in men's foil. Many of you will have spent time with Pippo when he was last with us a year ago and will be seeing him again in the near future. And risking being thrown out of both Canada and Italy, we were so happy for our close friend Ralf Bissdorf as he coached a masterful squad to win the women's team gold for the US.
At one point, Robyn and I realized that we have shared dinners with every one of the women's final four, or even hosted them in our home! And, of course, our extended fencing family is deep and we were proud to see them all succeed and crushed when they lost. Today I am sad for our Italian epee fencers friends from Milan who lost in the prelims. Tomorrow, I hope to be happy for our Italian friends from Future Champions Camp to continue the vibe set by Pippo.
LOOKING AHEAD:
a. We start the season Tuesday 3rd September at 7 pm. The OFA/CFF have provisional tournament schedules out and I believe membership is not open as yet?
b. If you are in the elite, pre-elite and competitive programs, and are not continuing to fence, or you want to change levels (remember you must be invited to the elite/pre elite), then let us know so we can plan accordingly, including locker space.
c. Robyn is in the process of updating the calendar and store parts of the website and will add the competitions as they become confirmed.
Training Opportunities in August
1. There is a small group coming from Japan to train with the OFA. If you are interested, please watch out for them 20th August to 26th August at Vango. This is an OFA event, so the fee will be paid to the OFA.
2. Amber Fencing Club has just hired a new head coach, Tomasso Marchi (formerly Swedish National Coach and from Livorno, Italy) who is a close friend. They are a relatively new Markham club with younger fencers and I believe will be happy to have any SFO athletes for bouting, particularly our stronger fencers. I will let you know if there are formal times.
3. Elite team fencers who have club keys can fence anytime they wish without my permission. Just make sure you turn the alarm on on exiting. Also, Darren will be doing some work so avoid those areas.
FINALLY
Thank you to Cohen, Lyn and Quintin who stepped up to run our camps this year. Many of you may be aware that I (Darren) had a small medical scare/issue that was diagnosed in early May and treated in late June. It went as well as it could and everything is fine now but there was a little bit of anxiety/process/treatment as we went forward and a lot of thanks for the medicine of today. This meant I was not always able to do what is normal for me. It was absolutely necessary for Cohen, Lyn and Quintin to step up as a result, and they did a great job. Robyn and I extend our thanks and gratitude to them all.
We are so happy (there is still another foil event tomorrow) to see our friends on the greatest sporting stage and to do well. An especial shout out to Eleanor Harvey who won the first ever Olympic medal for Canada. Many will have trained with Eleanor over the years, especially those in the HPP program or the very old guard when she was a part of our extended Ontario training group with Joshua McGuire at our sister club Dual Nature.
Of course, Robyn and I could not be happier than to see our adopted son, Filippo (Pippo) Macchi win the silver medal in men's foil. Many of you will have spent time with Pippo when he was last with us a year ago and will be seeing him again in the near future. And risking being thrown out of both Canada and Italy, we were so happy for our close friend Ralf Bissdorf as he coached a masterful squad to win the women's team gold for the US.
At one point, Robyn and I realized that we have shared dinners with every one of the women's final four, or even hosted them in our home! And, of course, our extended fencing family is deep and we were proud to see them all succeed and crushed when they lost. Today I am sad for our Italian epee fencers friends from Milan who lost in the prelims. Tomorrow, I hope to be happy for our Italian friends from Future Champions Camp to continue the vibe set by Pippo.
LOOKING AHEAD:
a. We start the season Tuesday 3rd September at 7 pm. The OFA/CFF have provisional tournament schedules out and I believe membership is not open as yet?
b. If you are in the elite, pre-elite and competitive programs, and are not continuing to fence, or you want to change levels (remember you must be invited to the elite/pre elite), then let us know so we can plan accordingly, including locker space.
c. Robyn is in the process of updating the calendar and store parts of the website and will add the competitions as they become confirmed.
Training Opportunities in August
1. There is a small group coming from Japan to train with the OFA. If you are interested, please watch out for them 20th August to 26th August at Vango. This is an OFA event, so the fee will be paid to the OFA.
2. Amber Fencing Club has just hired a new head coach, Tomasso Marchi (formerly Swedish National Coach and from Livorno, Italy) who is a close friend. They are a relatively new Markham club with younger fencers and I believe will be happy to have any SFO athletes for bouting, particularly our stronger fencers. I will let you know if there are formal times.
3. Elite team fencers who have club keys can fence anytime they wish without my permission. Just make sure you turn the alarm on on exiting. Also, Darren will be doing some work so avoid those areas.
FINALLY
Thank you to Cohen, Lyn and Quintin who stepped up to run our camps this year. Many of you may be aware that I (Darren) had a small medical scare/issue that was diagnosed in early May and treated in late June. It went as well as it could and everything is fine now but there was a little bit of anxiety/process/treatment as we went forward and a lot of thanks for the medicine of today. This meant I was not always able to do what is normal for me. It was absolutely necessary for Cohen, Lyn and Quintin to step up as a result, and they did a great job. Robyn and I extend our thanks and gratitude to them all.
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