Fence St. Louis Birthday Bash: March 17, 2024
Tyler B. (right) lunges in a direct elimination bout against Xander C.
We spent our St. Patrick’s Day doing what we know best - fencing! Our one day, saber only tournament at our club was a success and well-attended despite the holiday and spring break. We hosted four different events: Senior Women’s, Senior Mixed, Y10 Mixed, and Y12 Mixed.
First Time Competitors
We had multiple first time competitors at this tournament:
Xander C., Senior Mixed Saber
Lucy F., Senior Womens Saber and Senior Mixed Saber
Ruby H., Y10 Mixed Saber
EllaMarie M., Senior Women’s Saber
Lenore N., Y12 Mixed Saber
Lorelei N., Y10 Mixed Saber
Blake R., Y12 Mixed Saber
Evelyn S., Y12 Mixed Saber
We are proud of these fencers for trying out competition for the first time!
Evelyn S. is all smiles with Coach Annamaria after her stellar performance at her very first local tournament!
Notable Results
These are our fencers who placed exceptionally well at the tournament. For full results, check out the results page on askFRED!
Senior Women’s
EllaMarie M., 3rd
Lillian S., 3rd
Senior Mixed
Tyler B., 1st and earning D2024
Lillian S., 5th
Will P., 7th
Jonathon H., 8th
Y10 Mixed
James H., 1st
Lorelei N., 3rd
Alisa B., 5th
Y12 Mixed
Evelyn S., 2nd
Ali H., 3rd
Greg H., 5th
Blake R., 6th
Lillian S. makes Lucy F. laugh (and nearly spit out her water) during the one minute break of their direct elimination bout in Senior Mixed.
Fencer Shoutouts
Belle D. hasn’t been able to come to practice the past month, but still signed up and had a blast.
EllaMarie M. tried her first ever tournament, won her first DE, and placed 3rd!
Lucy F. was the best cheerleader to all her teammates.
Lillian S. had her best result in a Senior Mixed event, tying for 5th out of 16 fencers.
Xander C. couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
Hudson P. did an excellent job trying out everything we had practiced in lessons in his bouts.
Julian S. learned that losing can be tough, but showed determination to do even better next time.
Blake R. and Ali H. had a fantastic direct elimination with much cheering and camaraderie.
Ruby H. won her first ever DE!
Tyler B. coaches Xander C. against himself during the 1 minute break of their DE.
Fencing Community & Sportsmanship
I have some big grateful thank-yous for this tournament. This tournament would not have run without the help of others, especially because I had been sick and had the worst laryngitis over the past week.
First of all, thank you to the Sobery and Hammond families for offering to come in the day before the tournament and help clean and set up. It means more than you know. I didn’t think to ask for the help, but I was so glad to have it. Thank you too, to Tyler, who came in Friday night and set up some of the machines for the tournament.
Secondly, thanks to Chris from Buccaneer Blades Fencing, who stayed on the referee more events than I initially asked him to do since my voice was failing. We greatly appreciate it and the tournament would not have run half as well without you.
Finally, Jonathon coached our fencers for both the Y10 and Y12 events and did an phenomenal job guiding our youth fencers through their bouts.
I also want to point out a moment of sportsmanship that was brought to my attention by a parent. During Tyler B.’s bout with Xander C., Xander was down 8-1 at the break. Tyler actually coached Xander against him and gave advice during the break, which Xander took to heart and managed to score two more touches for a final score of 15-3. Xander was thrilled to get 3 points on the eventual winner of the event, and we’re proud of both the fencers for that moment of sportsmanship.
Coaches Tyler, Annamaria, and Jonathon post tournament. Tyler refereed and fenced, Annamaria refereed and ran bout committee, and Jonathon fenced and coached.