Joe Biebel to Captain our Veterans at the World Championships

Joe Biebel will be the Delegation Captain for our Veteran's Team as they travel to the World Championships in Porec, Croatia this September.

Joe sheepishly admits that, "Having made just about every tactical, technical and travel arrangement error possible in the last 8 years, I believe myself uniquely qualified to help my team mates stay on course and get the most out of their opportunity." 

Joe, 6-time member of the US delegation to the world championships, was asked to captain our fencers by Rinaldo Campana, the Veteran's Committee Chairman.


Posted by Mike

7-31-2010


Joe Biebel's report from the 2010 Summer Nationals

MSFA's Ellis Grasse went to his first national championships and competed in the Y-10 foil.  Ellis had 2 victories in the pools, advanced, and fenced one set of DE matches.  Ellis won the first match 5-4, lost the second and the third 5-3, 5-3.  This was an excellent first appearance at a national event!  Way to go Ellis!

I rather fell short at Nationals this last weekend.  Fenced brilliantly, first seed after the pool round and finished fifth.  This also put me fifth as far as standings for the world team.  The only way for me to go now is as the first alternate.  Not very likely I'm afraid.  The guy who put me out, many of you will remember with great fondness.  It was Sam Jones, previously from Caliburn, now in Birmingham.  Sam made his first world team.  It was great to see Sam and his son Stephan.  Stephan is really something, in a good way, of course.

I must say that I have never wept uncontrolled before at a loss.  Sam defeated me 4-3 in "sudden death" overtime, (us veteran fencers don't like to use that term) after six and a half grueling minutes, to make the round of 4.  When he won and we shook hands and hugged, he refused to let go until I could compose myself.  It's interesting how hard we work to vanquish an opponent and still remain the best of friends.  Good luck Sam. 

Sam then beat Tom Lutton to make the gold medal round and was defeated by Ed Kaihatsu.  FYI, Ed won both of the NACs and "Nationals" and has a good chance of winning the world championships.  Go Ed!


Joe Biebel
July 13, 2010

[Thank you Joe for this report. Congratulations to you, Ellis, Sam and Ed. -Mike]

Youth fencing alive and well at the MSFA

The future of our sport resides in the small bodies and sometimes fickle motivations of our children. So, we should all be proud of the job Joe Biebel and his MSFA are doing to cultivate youth fencing.

The June 19th, 2010 MSFA Lighthouse Youth Event was run as one large 10-person pool with Y10, Y12 and Y14, boys and girls together. This format gave all of the competitors nine, 5-touch matches.

One competitor, Ellis Grasse, a Y-10 fencer from MSFA, won all nine of his matches, cleanly and convincingly!  Ellis has been working very hard lately and it shows.

After qualifying for nationals at the "Arnold", Ellis has decided to train hard for his first Summer Nationals next month.  The quality of his fencing and his confidence has grown markedly and he should do well.  We all wish him the best of luck in Atlanta.

The champions were:

Y-10 and overall Champion: Ellis Grasse

Y-12 champion: Ted Capp

Y-14 champion: Alden Grasse

Congratulations to all the fencers!


Lighthouse Awards.jpg



Agenda set for 2010 AGM

The Agenda Committee extended the comment/motion/nomination period for an additional week prior to this year's AGM. No new motions or nominations came in during that time.

The 2010 AGM Agenda is set. Please see the post below for details.

Mike
posted 6-21-10

3rd call for motions, nominations

This is the third notice of the 2010 AGM and the 3rd call for motions, nominations, ideas, comments, whatever you think will help the division. We're extending the motion process by one more week to give the division members a chance to submit their idea.


AGM announcement

Annual General Meeting

June 26, 2010 @ 12:30 PM

Milwaukee Sport Fencing Academy

247 S. Water Street

Milwaukee, WI

 

 Proposed agenda. 


  1. Role Call of members and guests

  2. Approval of Minutes from last AGM

  3. Old Business
    1. Officer reports

                                                              i.      Armourer's Report

                                                            ii.      Secretary's Report

                                                          iii.      Treasurer's Report

                                                           iv.      Chairman's report

  1. New Business
    1. Committee Assignments

                                                              i.      The Chair will create an ad hoc committee to investigate the financial split between Division and venue with respect to Division tournaments (JO Qualifiers, Div 2/3 Qualifiers and Closed Championship).

                                                            ii.      The Chair will create an ad hoc committee to coordinate with the USFA regarding the October 2010 NAC in Milwaukee.

                                                          iii.      The Chair will recognize and thank the members of the Sanctions Committee and the Bylaws Committee. These members worked hard last summer to finalize these documents. Although the committees are dissolved and their tasks completed, the work continues for all of us.


    1. Motions

                                                              i.      The Division takes financial responsibility for its web site. (M. Garrison)

                                                            ii.      The Division hosts an armourer's clinic. (M. Garrison)

                                                          iii.      The Division hosts an FOC referee clinic. (G. Weimer)

                                                           iv.      The Division takes financial responsibility of Division Armory maintenance. (G. Weimer)

                                                             v.      The Division set payment standards for referees (honorarium and mileage) at the three official Division events. (D. Baumgart)

                                                           vi.      The Division set a time limit to submit financial information and money from tournaments. (D. Baumgart) [This time limit is already set at 1 week per the Sanctions Manual. May we remove motion? MG]

                                                         vii.      The Division requires a standard form for financial reports regarding Division run tournament. (D. Baumgart)

                                                       viii.      The Division Set the revenue responsibilities/sharing for Division run tournaments. (D. Baumgart) [Addressed in committee. May we remove motion? MG]

                                                          ix.      Discussion on NAC-Milwaukee. How to improve communication with USFA/ how to help make our NAC successful (G. Weimer) [Addressed in committee. May we remove motion? MG]

                                                            x.      The Division publish a newsletter in addition to maintaining the website (A. Mctavish)

                                                           xi.      The Bylaws be amended as follows (M. Garrison)
Section 3: The Agenda of the AGM
The AGM agenda shall be set by the following process:

1.       Four weeks prior to the AGM the Secretary shall create an open call for main motions to the AGM agenda from the membership of the Division. This call for motions shall be placed via mail or e-mail and published on the Division web site.

2.       Three weeks prior to the AGM the Secretary shall compile and publish all submitted motions on the Division web site, allowing for a second one-week call for main motions.

3.       Two  One week prior to the AGM the AGM subcommittee shall set the agenda for the AGM, publishing it on the division web site.

                                  

                                      xii. The Division collect membership contact information (name, address, phone and e-mail) and this be held by the Division Secretary. (M. Garrison)





  1. Elections
    1. Executive Committee

                                                              i.      Nominations

1.       All current EC members (M. Garrison)

2.       Andy Pain, MSFA (J. Biebel)

3.       Jacob Kriegisch, MFA (M. Garrison)

4.       Mike Conard, NDA (S. Stary)

5.       Scott Bins, NDA (S. Stary)

6.       Danielle Reed, UWSP (S. Stary)

7.       Steve Amich, Lawrence (S. Stary)

8.       Mike Lienau, Durendal (M. Garrison)

9.       Nick Gengler, UWSP (A. McTavish)

    1. Officers

                                                              i.      Armourer, Currently David Neevel

1.       David Neevel nominated (M. Garrison)

                                                            ii.      Secretary, Currently Ginny Weimer

1.       Brian Duckwitz nominated (M. Garrison)

                                                          iii.      Treasurer, Currently Diedra Baumgart,

1.       D. Baumgart nominated (S. Stary)

                                                           iv.      Vice Chair, currently Steven Stary,

1.       Steven Stary nominated (J. Biebel)

2.       Aaron McTavish nominated (A. McTavish)

                                                             v.      Chairman, currently Mike Garrison,

1.       M. Garrison  nominated (B. Duckwitz)

  1. Chairman's comments
  2. Adjournment.

 

** Remember, proxies must be received by the Secretary 72 hours prior to the annual meeting. **



Posted Sunday June 13, 2010



2nd call for motions

This is the second call for motions to be discussed and voted upon at the 2010 Annual General Meeting. 

Meeting details:

2010 Annual General Meeting
Saturday June 26, 2010 @ 12:30 PM
Milwaukee Sport Fencing Academy 
247 South Water Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204


Please take a moment to consider what you'd like to see in our division in the upcoming year and submit your ideas to Ginny Weimer the Division Secretary.

So far, the following motions have been submitted:

1. The Division take financial responsibility for its web site.
2. The Division host an armourer's clinic.
3. The Division host an FOC ref's clinic.
4. The Division publish a newsletter.

Do you like these motion? Do you think we should adopt them or not? Come to the AGM and share your opinions.

If you have any questions about motions, the meeting, elections, officers... anything, please contact Division Chair, Mike Garrison.

posted June 9, 2010



2010 Annual General Meeting



2010 Annual General Meeting
Saturday June 26, 2010 @ 12:30 PM
Milwaukee Sport Fencing Academy 
247 South Water Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204


Also, at this time I'm calling for main motions to be submitted to the Division Secretary, Ginny Weimer (ginny.weimer@gmail.com). Once these motions have been submitted, we'll publish them on the web site and make a second call for main motions. Two weeks out from the meeting we'll set the motions and publish the agenda.

When thinking about motions for submission, think about how you'd like to improve fencing in the state. This past year we held a referee's clinic, several weapon-specific clinics and many tournaments, including the Sabre Rattler's first.

What would you like to see next year? Should we hold an armourer's clinic? How would you like the Division to work with the national office during the November NAC in Milwaukee? What can we do to help your club, your coach or your fencers? 

Think about these issue and submit a motion. Then, come to the AGM and lend your thoughts, comments, suggestions and advice.

If you have any questions, please contact me directly.

Thank you,

Michael Garrison
USFA, Wisconsin Division Chair

posted May 19, 2010