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Results: Ontario Provincial Championships Mar 11-13, 2022

14/3/2022

 

The Senior categories of fencing (ages 15 to 99) held the Ontario Provincial Championships at the Queen Elizabeth Building, Canadian National Exhibition grounds over the past weekend after two years almost to the day of suspension of fencing in Ontario.

Our athletes did remarkably well with two provincial champions, two silvers and three bronze medals.  Leading the way was Ellie Davies, still a Y14 athletes, winning women's Junior (ages 17-20), second in cadet (15 -17) and second in senior women's foil (20 and up).  Blake Degroot is the cadet men's champion and second in junior men's foil.  Spencer Orr was defeated by clubmate Degroot in both events in taking bronze in cadet and junior.  Scott Bell added to the podium finishes with his bronze in veterans foil (age 40 and up).

Clubmates shook off two years of tournament rust and had great tournaments with personal bests and in some cases, the first real tournament ever.  Congratulations to Nathan McMillan, Dylan Shi, Calvin Klages, Ewan Peterson and Anna Houston for their results.  Each fenced well.

Cadet men: 1st Degroot, 3rd Orr, Klages 20th, Shi 21st, McMillan 25th.
Cadet women: 2nd Davies, 17th Houston
Junior men: 2nd Degroot, 3rd Orr, 17th Peterson
Junior women: 1st Davies
Senior men: 9th Degroot, 12th Orr, 37th Peterson.
Senior Women: 2nd Davies, 8th Houston
Veteran's Foil: 3rd Bell.

Stratford fencer part of Team Canada contingent headed to Peru for the PanAm Championships

6/3/2022

 
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PHOTO BY CORY SMITH /The Beacon Herald
Full story in the Beacon Herald by Corey Smith:

Blake DeGroot remembers early in his fencing career when Darren Marks told him he had a potential future as a member of the national team.

Turns out the Stratford Fencing Club head coach was right.

“I always thought, ‘Yeah, it’ll happen,’ but when it happened, I realized I’m better than I actually thought I was,” DeGroot said.

The 16-year-old from Stratford recently qualified for Team Canada’s contingent that will travel to Lima, Peru, next month for the Pan-American Championships.

DeGroot was one of four teenagers selected for Cadet men’s foil.

“I always want to get better at everything I do,” he said, “so I just got better and it happened.”

Marks said it was DeGroot’s psychological development that allowed him to grow into a national-calibre fencer. The technical and tactical elements were already in place, but being able to perform on a particular day requires mental resiliency, he added.

“Blake is a pretty gifted athlete and naturally athletic, but because fencing is an individual sport, you stand by yourself,” Marks continued. “There are no teammates to hide behind –  there’s nobody to rely on – so his psychological development and dealing with stress has been remarkable.”

The last two years have been difficult for the St. Mike’s student, who missed out on multiple high-level events because of the pandemic. Ontario had some of the strictest COVID-19 measures in the country, while American fencers, by comparison, missed two months, Marks said.

“His training was substantially compromised,” Marks added. “The simple fact is being competition-ready is a process.”

Instead of six to eight qualification tournaments, DeGroot had to perform at his best in three while also dealing with daily COVID-19 tests at events that could have derailed his dream at any time.
​
One of those competitions was a North America Cup in which DeGroot had three weeks of in-salle training after a lockdown. He also placed third at nationals, losing to the event’s most dominant competitor.

“It’s quite remarkable,” Marks said.

DeGroot has dedicated himself to the sport, which he took up in September 2016 when he was in Grade 6.

“It’s different,” he said. “It’s intelligent. You have to have a plan. It’s like physical chess.”

He’ll have to make the right moves next month in order to achieve his goal of a top-16 finish and perhaps advance to the worlds in Dubai in April.

“Just be really disciplined and don’t think about it too hard,” he said. “Let it happen. The more I think, the more I make mistakes.”


cosmith@postmedia.com

SFO Anounces Club Award Winners

1/7/2021

 
On Tuesday night (Jun 29) Robyn and I announced the annual club awards to the Zoom class and we will look to either early August or early September for a chance to celebrate in person at the club with the recipients.

As usual, some of the awards are very difficult to award as there were/are many deserving of recognition and some are pretty clear cut being result based in terms of accomplishments in competition.  Nonetheless, each member of the club is a co-winner with all the others as fencing is a sport that requires a large support in bout partners, mutual encouragement and example to succeed.  It is, as I came to realize as I grew older, a microcosm of life - no one is an island and each person has a cast of hundreds who help them move along in life, often unrecognized.  Every athlete is deserving of praise in the club.  They have worked to create a fantastic place of encouragement, inspiration, excellence and humaneness.  It is not a fake wokeness published for the world or social media to see but very real, and Robyn and I are so proud of each of them as they work and grow as people and fencers.  

​There is one change this year with the Spirit of the Sport Award which is annually given to the athlete/(s) who best represent the values of fair-play, integrity and commitment in the club.  This year EVERYONE in the elite, pre-elite and competitive program is a winner for coming together as a community in the pandemic, and we will have a special plaque made with each of their names posted as winners.

Other awards:
Male Fencer of the Year: Blake Degroot (Sr) and Spencer Orr (Jr).
Female Fencer of the Year: Ellie Davies (Sr) and Maggie Sousa (Jr).
Dave Davies House Cup Winner: Cohen Bernard and Maggie Sousa (tie)
Traditional Mutual Emerging Talent: Xanthe Marchanton
Coaches Choice (Improvement due to dedication to training): Dylan Shi and Anna Houston

Congratulations to all the athletes above!

We will hold our club championship for 2021 in December.  2020's reigning champion is Blake Degroot.

Finally, please do sign up for summer camps if you have not reserved your spots - we do have new people coming into the system and do need to track numbers.

Gear return!

24/5/2021

 
Beginner fencers who still have club gear: please contact Robyn to make arrangements for its return by June 30, 2021.

Fencing this weekend

20/5/2021

 
You speak, we listen!  Fencing Zoom training this Sunday at 10 as per usual. 
​
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Cato19 on imgur

May 10 update and How to Study

13/5/2021

 
Hi Folks
All training are as usual on Zoom this week, with one added event.  On Saturday, I am hosting a Zoom on How to Study as an Athlete and have a Life too session in which I share my experiences as an athlete, professor on finding balance in school and athletics.  It is geared for the upper grades (7 and up) but the principles can be done by any one.  

(Zoom link by invitation only. Contact headcoach for details.)

SFO during April provincial COVID shut-down

5/4/2021

 
Well, it is disappointing that we find ourselves in yet another emergency brake/lockdown.  We had hoped that the regional system would stay intact, and that we could run our April break camp and continue training as we were.   

In the meanwhile, we will do Zoom again for the entire club weekly THREE times:  Tuesday/Thursday at 7 pm and Sunday at 10 am (to allow us to be done so you can enjoy the nice weather). 

Finally, I know how very disappointing this is for many of us, if not all of us.  Taking control of the controllable things in a bout is a skill every successful fencer can do, and letting go the uncontrollable things is equally important.  We cannot control how the situation outside of the our world is unfolding but we can control some things in how we respond.  Getting regular exercise, keeping skills sharp, sleeping and eating well as well as just showing up for life (or Zoom class) are all things that we can control.  And they matter!  These things will make a huge difference in how we navigate this next storm. 
If any of you need anything at all, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or Robyn.  You are all our chosen family.

April Break Camps

3/3/2021

 
Running April 12-16. Click here to register
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Classes resume on Zoom wk of Jan 4th

29/12/2020

 
Starting the week of January 4th, we will hold ZOOM classes for all fencers with elite, pre-elite and competitive in one large cohort and beginner in another,  we will post times for these but they will take place in the evenings or on the weekend two or three times per week. 

As of right now: Beginner Zoom 1pm Sundays; Minifence movement Zoom 3pm Sundays

Nov 2 update

3/11/2020

 
Thanks for all for making our Fright Fight event a lot of fun (and safe).  It was nice to see so many of you again, and congratulations to the fencers who competed (and thank you to Robyn for making the rather excellent skull trophies, filling the loot bags etc).
And, I was the Dread Pirate Roberts - not Zorro!


All training is as usual this week and we restart Joga for the month of November.
It is Saturday at 4 pm this week.  Usual instructions.


Parent-Athlete Tournament
We are trying to figure out how to replace our annual near Father's Day parent (sibling) versus athlete event in early December.  Clearly Covid has altered our ability to do this in any large format but we are working on some plans.  Start considering who would like to be stabbed by their child!

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