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2008 ALLIANCE SUMMER CAMPS

HOUSTON:

Juniors/Adults

Youth

WOODLANDS:

Youth

HISTORICAL FENCING

THE HOUSTON CUP

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2006 Alliance Winter Camps

Houston/The Woodland, TX

December 18-22, 2006

December 26-30, 2006

Alliance Fencing Academy had the most successful Winter Camps at its main location in Houston, TX, and at The Woodlands location for beginner, intermediate, and advanced youths (8 to 12 years old), and for advanced cadet, junior, and senior fencers.

We had two youth camps, one in Houston for foil fencers which was lead by Sabina Bazarbayeva and Dina Bazarbayeva, and one at The Woodlands for epee fencers under Andrey Geva and Stephanie Wheeler. Sabina had 13 foil and 4 epee students, 5 beginners, the rest Alliance, Katy Blades, and Westchester Fencing Academies upcoming intermediate and advanced youth foilists and epeeists. They all had a great time working hard from 9 am to 3 pm every day but also playing fun games and making friends. Their fencing improved considerably during this camp and we look forward to new medals in the months to come.

Andrey had a beginner youth camp for epee at The Woodlands with 12 mostly new students. They all had fun, some being exposed for the first time to the sport of fencing and feeling the thrill of their first in-house competition at the end of the camp. We look forward to continue working through the season with our new recruits.

After Christmas we had our cadet, junior and senior advanced camp in Houston. 31 athletes!!! attended this camp which was run by Andrey Geva with the help of Paul Pesthy, Tracy and Bob Hurley from San Antonio, TX.

This was an epee only camp and the quality of the fencers attending was exceptional: 18 A (10 from our club), 1 B, 7 C, 3D, and 2 U rated fencers spent five days together from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. stretching, warming up, conditioning, doing footwork together, drills, and… bouting of course. Healthy snacks and refreshments were provided by the generous contributions of Kathy Bone, Leslie Freiman, and Nikki Hudson. It would be very hard, if not impossible, to find a similar quality level camp, certainly in the Southwest Section, but also in the nation with such caliber and number of top rated epee fencers.

“I thought that this camp was a perfect preparation as we travel to the world competitions in the next several weeks,” said Bob Hurley, father of Kelley and Courtney. “They had just enough training and bouting to sharpen their skills.”

Out of town athletes were the two Hurley sisters Kelley (A-06) and Courtney (A-06), both cadet world champions, the two Hurme brothers Tommi (A-06) and Edward (A-06), both now at Princeton, three from Chicago, IL, Lydia Kopecky (C-06), Jackie Swietochowski (D-05), and Michael Zook (C-06), one from Wisconsin, Korkor Bishara (A-06), two from Florida, Sarah Collins (D-05) and Jonathan Yergler (A-06). Our out of town visitors had the opportunity to stay with our fencers as houseguests so this was not only all work, but also fun and play.

Two tournaments took place during the camp activities: a hardly fought team competition and on the last day the 2006 Alliance Winter Cup individual competition. It was a lot of fencing but also a lot of fun for everyone. One evening the entire gang landed at the Galleria and got lost in hours of shopping, running around, eating out and just having a good time. The day before the conclusion of the camp we had our “team” dinner at Buca di Beppo where everybody loaded up on carbs for the end of camp tournament the next day.

Daily workouts were intense and packed with activities. Fencers were divided in three groups performing drills and routines under the coaches’ watchful eyes. The yoga at the end of each day was a welcome relief for everyone!

At the end, Andrey thanked all participants, the assistant coaches, the parents, and gave everyone a photo of the camp as a souvenir. Finally everyone left, our out of town visitors took off for the airport, our fencers drove back home ready to rest for few days before the final preparation for the NAC in Columbus, OH, and our boys trip to Montreal, Canada, for a world cup event the week after.

These winter camps attracted 60 fencers!!! from beginners to very advanced and elite fencers, separated in categories of proficiency to give the best practice to all. Some of the more “green” fencers had the opportunity to see in person top quality fencing and practice by athletes which are consistently getting national and international recognition. It was also a great opportunity to strike new friendship with people visiting from out of tow and state. And it was a great way to keep busy around the holidays without getting bored or stressed out from shopping and exchanging gifts.

We wish all good luck that the hard work at the camp will bear fruits in the competitions for the rest of the season.

HAPPY 2007 TO ALL!!!

Youth camp in Houston

Fencing movies on the lunch break

Coach Dina

Tired

Zoe Chernis (Sabina's daughter) is ready to fence

Youth camp at The Woodlands

Stephanie is leading the footwork

... and feeding kids with healthy snacks

Youth camp tournament at The Woodlands

After the tournament

Advanced camp in Houston

What a mess!!!

Andrey is explaining his stretching philosophy ...

.... and they are listening

Relaxation session at the end of the training day

Another way to relax

Party time ...

... at Buca di Beppo

Sam Freiman with The Chef

Happy New Year!!!

See you this Summer.

2006 Alliance Winter Cup

Houston, TX

December 30, 2006

The tournament on the last day, an A-2 event, had 19 “A” fencers! Every pool had 3 or 4 “A” s. This made for a very high level of competition for all fencers, including the highest level. The pools seeded for a direct elimination with repêchage which gave a second chance to get back in the competition.

After some highly competitive bouts between our own club’s top fencers, Alliance had four athletes in top eight, Daniel, Dillon, Nathan, and Pietro. The other four were the two world champions Hurley sisters and the two Princeton Hurme brothers.

Unfortunately, Nathan had to fence against Daniel and lost to his friend 10-15. Dillon started very well against Tommi Hurme being ahead or close for the first two periods, but then lost in the third period finishing 9-15 against a very experienced and mature senior fencer. Pietro had an exciting bout with Edward Hurme which he led and controlled all the way winning 15-10. Then again two of our fencers had to fight each other, Pietro and Daniel and Daniel won 15-10 advancing to the final against the senior Hurme.

The final was another beautiful bout watched by everyone and with the audience evenly divided in their support for the two finalists. Daniel led all the way to 14-9 at the end of the second period. The last period saw a great comeback by the experienced senior fencer from Princeton who tied at 13-14, but the winning touch was Daniel’s: 15-14.

This was great fencing by everyone. A remarkable performance was that by Ben Freiman who is still a Y-14 and he finished 11^th, an awesome feat in such a tough field by our young and promising fencer. Of our girls, Francesca finished 13^th overall, 3^rd in the women’s classification, followed by Neely 16^th, Dina 19^th, and Erin 20^th. Because of the number and the mixed type event with men and women fencing together, several of our top Alliance athletes were eliminated by a friend and team mate but all enjoyed a great practice in this very intense competition.