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.

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

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

Cato19 on imgur

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.)

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.

Running April 12-16. Click here to register

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!

Coming this Sept to SFO, new classes for a new, COVID-19 reality.

• Munchkin and Me: for ages 6 and under, plus their parent or guardian
  
• Fencing Day-Class, for children being homeschooled this fall
  
• Saturday beginner classes
  
• Adult only fencing Monday evenings
  

COVID-19 safety protocols remain in place until further notice.

For further information on any of these classes, please see the programs or store portions of the website, or email info@stratfordfencingclub.ca