More Metal

Noah competed in the Gateway Curcuit Epee tournament today, bringing home a Gold Medal in the Y10 event, and a sliver medal in the Y12 event. Earlier in the day, Noah was able to watch some of his older club-mates earn new ratings (A and E).  It is always very instructional to watch the older fencers.

Foil next weekend!

Tampa Triumph

Noah just completed a grueling weekend of fencing at the Tampa October Youth Fencing Tournament. He competed in three events on Saturday: Y10 foil, Y10 epee, and Y12 epee. Sunday's event was Y12 foil. Despite the crazy schedule (at one point all three events on Saturday were happening at the same time), Noah had great results: three gold medals and one silver medal.

Some statistics:

Saturday:
Arrived at the venue at 12:30 pm, left at 6:00 pm
Fenced three events:  Y10 foil, Y10 epee, Y12 epee
Fenced three different weapons: 32" short foil, 32" short epee, 35" long epee
Faced 19 different competitors
Fenced 15 pool bouts, winning 12, losing only 3
Fenced 16 DE encounters, winning all 16
Switched between weapons/events five times
Scored 148 touches on his opponents
Opponents scored 43 touches on him
Won three gold medals in one day!!
Drank 60 ounces of Gatorade

And that was just on Saturday! 

Fencing on Sunday was also a lot of fun.  Competitors in Sunday's Y12 foil event spanned a wide experience range, but the gold medal bout was intense--both fencers worked very hard.  Noah was happy to come away with a silver medal.

This was a well-run event with lots of great competition.  Noah had a fantastic time.

Epic Epee

Wow!!  Noah had a great day fencing Y12 epee today at the Back to School Duel in Newberry, Florida. He won all but one of his pool bouts and earned the number two seed for the Direct Elimination bouts.  He faced some very good competitors as he fought his way through his DE encounters.  The final, gold medal bout was very intense.  Noah won the first encounter by winning a touch in overtime.  He lost the second encounter 3-5 after some very exciting fencing.  The bout was decided in the third and final encounter where, in the last 19 seconds, Noah scored four touches to win the gold.  Final score: 1-0, 3-5, 5-2.  This is Noah's first gold medal of the year.  It is especially nice to achieve this in a Y12 event where he was fencing mostly older fencers.

First Tournament of the Year

Noah headed back into competition today at the "Back To School Duel" in Newberry, Florida. Today's event was Y12 foil.  Lots of great competitors. Noah won all of his pool bouts to earn the number two seed for the Direct Elimination round. He had a bye in the first round, and went on to win one DE bout, and lost  in the semifinals.  Noah placed third, earning a bronze medal.  Many, many great touches, good competitors, fast action, and great friends made for a spectacular day of fencing.

Can't wait until tomorrow's Y12 epee event.

Back to Fencing

Noah's tendon is fine and he is back to training.
Noah loves to fence.

He'll still be fencing Y10 events (foil and epee), and will attempt a few Y12 events as well.
Looking forward to another exciting year.

Video from April NAC

Here's a Y10 foil bout from the April 2012 NAC in Virginia Beach, VA.

April NAC :: Monday

Noah's tendon recovered so he was able to fence his Y10 foil pool bouts on Monday morning. Some very exciting fencing.  Noah won one, and some of his other bouts were very close.  After one call, Noah made the gesture requesting a video review.  Everyone burst out laughing.  Even the referee had a huge smile for quite some time.  (There is no video review in Y10 fencing.)

Noah re-injured his tendon during his first DE bout and had to withdraw.  But all in all, a great day of competition. 

We saw a doctor today. Noah's tendon will recover with some rest and physical therapy.  No fencing for a while.

More pictures and videos will be posted in the coming weeks.