Archived News

12/29/06: Sign up now for January learn-to-fence classes!

11/30/06: A belated congratulations to our fencers who competed in our fall tournament. Complete results are now available.

11/25/06: Sign up today for winter day camps! We will be offering two half-day camps the week of December 18th -- one for newcomers to fencing and one for fencers currently in our Basic Foil Skills classes (see newsletter for more info on this one).

11/24/06: A big thanks to Treven U. for agreeing to be our Wednesday night salle host. This will enable us to restore our Wednesday evening hours effective 11/29.

11/4/06: Effectively immediately, the salle will be closing at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evenings until we can obtain staff coverage.

10/28/06: Entry forms for the upcoming fall tournament (Nov. 18-19) are now available online and in the salle.

10/24/06: Our next set of classes begins November 1st. Come join us! Also, complete information about the Salem High School Fencing League is now available, including meet schedules, forms, etc.

10/14/06: SCF's annual fall fencing tournament (originally scheduled for October 21-22) has been rescheduled to November 18-19. Sorry for any inconvenience. Entry forms will be available in a few days.

9/23/06: Fall classes for ages 12 & up are now closed. Our next beginner classes will begin the first week of November. Musketeers (ages 8-11) can join any time!

Also, we have updated the rules for our dueling ladder. And, we are adding epee and sabre ladders (see the October issue of La Belle for details).

9/4/06: Just a reminder that our cool-season hours begin today....

8/29/06: Sign up now for fall classes! Classes for older kids (12 & up) and adults begin the first week of September. Your next chance for classes will be in November.

Beginning Musketeers classes for 8-to 11-year-olds are now forming, too! Sign up any time.

7/16/06: We will be holding an open house on Saturday, July 22nd at 6 p.m. If you're interested in fencing or you have friends who fence and are just curious about what they do, this would be a great time to come check us out.

Also, we are now doing birthday parties at SCF!

7/13/06: The salle will be closed July 17-20 for a staff retreat (which is being paid for by an anonymous donor -- thank you!). However, Mrs. Neidig's Tuesday learn-to-fence class will be meet as usual on July 18th.

7/12/06: We still have lots of openings in all of our summer day camps for youth and adults.

6/26/06: There are still three spots open in our summer beginner's class. Tuesday, June 27th is the last day to join this class. First three paid students will get the places.

Also, we thank Salem-News.com for their coverage of SCF at this year's Salem World Beat Festival.

6/15/06: There is still some room left in our summer beginner's class, Introduction to Foil Fencing I. This 14-week class meets Tuesdays from 6-8 p.m. The class has already started, but we will accept latecomers until either June 27th or the class fills (whichever comes first). Cost is $150, plus you will need to buy your own fencing glove (which we sell).

5/22/06: Congratulations to our SCF fencers who competed in the AFL divisional championships! And many, many thanks to the volunteers who helped SCF out as the host club.

Open Foil
Alex Kohan (6th)
Joshua Keatley (8th)
Charles Allen (9th)
Lindsay Pirelli (11th)
Jesse Allen (12th)
Jill Summers (13th)
Jared Beilby (14th)
Nanci Keatley (15th)

Open Epee
Lindsay Pirelli (6th)
Richard Nosiglia (7th)

Open Sabre
Alex Kohan (2nd -- promoted to AFL Junior in sabre)
Joshua Keatley (5th)
Lindsay Pirelli (7th)
Richard Nosiglia (8th)
Jill Summers (9th)

Open Three-Weapon
Alex Kohan (4th)
Lindsay Pirelli (7th)

Team Foil
2nd place -- "We Don't Know"
Alex Kohan (captain), Charles Allen, Lindsay Pirelli, and Rafael Villarreal
4th place -- "The Knights Who Formerly Said 'Ni'"
Joshua Keatley (captain), Jesse Allen, Ashley Pirelli

Team Epee
2nd place -- "Impertinence"
Lindsay Pirelli (captain), Alex Kohan, Richard Nosiglia, Rafael Villarreal

Team Sabre
2nd place -- "Pirates ARRGH!"
Lael Grant (captain), Richard Nosiglia, and Lindsay Pirelli
3rd place -- "The Knights Who Say 'Ni'"
Jill Summers (captain), Joshua Keatley, Alex Kohan, Rafael Villarreal

Team Three-Weapon
1st place -- "The Old Guys"
Rafael Villarreal -- foil
Richard Nosiglia -- epee
Lael Grant -- sabre (captain)
2nd place -- "We Haven't A Clue"
Lindsay Pirelli -- foil
Joshua Keatley -- epee
Alex Kohan -- sabre (captain)

More detailed results available from the American Fencing League.

5/16/06: If you're looking for information about the AFL National Division Championships (May 20-21 at Willamette U.), please visit the web site of the American Fencing League.

4/12/06: Congratulations to our SCF fencers who competed in this past weekend's tournament! And a huge thank you to our volunteers.

Novice Épée
Richard Nosiglia (3rd -- promoted to AFL Novice in épée)
Brian Penrose (4th)
Matthew Gelhaus (5th)
Isaiah Swan (6th)
Elliot Swan (7th)
Lindsay Pirelli (8th)
Alex Kohan (9th)

Novice Sabre
Lael Grant (3rd -- promoted to AFL Novice in sabre)
Matthew Gelhaus (5th)
Richard Nosiglia (6th)
Isaiah Swan (7th)
Vincent Huynh (8th)
Lindsay Pirelli (9th)
Joshua Keatley (10th)
Rafael Villarreal (11th)
Alex Kohan (12th)

Two medals for SCF! Great job, fencers!

4/8/06: Congratulations to the Salem Homeschool Byzantines on their win over North Salem High School. Details...

4/2/06: The Prep foil event for the Russ Heggen Memorial has been canceled due to low registrations. We will, however, still hold the epee and sabre events, but they have been moved to our salle (instead of WSHS). Details....

3/31/06: Congratulations to the West Salem Titans on their win over the Blanchet Cavaliers. Details...

3/22/06: Entry forms and details about the upcoming 3rd Annual Russ Heggen Memorial Tournament are now available.

3/17/06: Congratulations to the Salem Homeschool Byzantines on their victory over West Salem High School. Details...

3/10/06: Congratulations to Blanchet Catholic School on their victory over North Salem High! Complete details now available for all of our high school team matches.

2/12/06: The rules for our duelling ladder are changing (effective 3/11/06), and we will be reseeding our ladder on Saturday, March 11th. Here are the details.

2/5/06: Due to popular demand, we will be starting another Introductory Foil I class on March 1st (5:30-7:30 p.m.). Please contact us if you would like to sign up.

2/1/06: We have openings in our Level 1 Musketeers classes for 8-11 year olds. Sign up today!

1/23/06: Congratulations to our SCF fencers who competed in this past weekend's tournament! And a huge thank you to all of our volunteers and to West Salem High School Fencing Club (our co-host). Complete results are now available.

Prep Foil
Jesse Allen (2nd -- promoted to AFL Novice in foil)
Cameron West (6th)
Ashley Pirelli (7th)
Nanci Keatley (8th)
Heather Borror (9th)
Lucy Hewitt (10th)
Stephen Shannon (11th)
Devin Swank (12th)

Novice Foil
Alex Kohan (2nd)
Charles Allen (3rd)
Elliot Swan (5th)
Jared Beilby (6th)
Joshua Keatley (9th)
Matthew Gelhaus (10th)
Lindsay Pirelli (13th)

Junior Foil
Rafael Villarreal (1st -- promoted to AFL Junior in foil)
Alex Kohan (3rd -- promoted to AFL Junior in foil)
Brian Penrose (5th)
Jared Beilby (6th)

Novice Épée
Matthew Gelhaus (2nd -- promoted to AFL Novice in épée)
Elliot Swan (3rd -- promoted to AFL Novice in épée)
Andrew Wilson (5th)
Lindsay Pirelli (6th)
Alex Kohan (7th)
Isaiah Swan (8th)
Richard Nosiglia (9th)
Travis Neidig (11th)

Name in bold means this was the first time competing for SCF for the fencer, who received his or her salle shoulder patch for completing the tournament.

WOW! Seven medals for SCF! Great job! And to top it all off, Rafael won the Duelist Award again!

1/16/06: Our Introductory Foil I classes are all full. If you can get together a group of six or more that can meet at the same time, please contact us about a customized class.

1/12/06: After some technical difficulties, we are back to regular updates now. Classes are filling quickly. Sign up today.

12/31/05: Entry forms (and online payment) for SCF's Winter Foil & Épée Tournament on January 21-22 are now available online (PDF) and in the salle. New for this tournament: for an extra $5, we'll feed you lunch on Saturday! Just check the box on the entry form (lunch must be ordered by January 14th).

12/28/05: A study guide for the Basic Foil Skills challenge examination are now available (PDF).

12/26/05: Details (entry forms coming soon) are now available for the Winter Foil and Épée Tournament, January 21-22, 2006. Please note that we have added Novice Foil and Prep Foil events to this tournament!

12/15/05: Our site update continues. We still have room in all classes, but that won't last long. To get the classes you want, sign up today. To hold your spot in class, just send us a check (sorry, our online class registration system isn't quite up to speed yet).

12/8/05: We are in the middle of a major update to our web site. We apologize is some links are not working or if there is outdated information. We hope to have our update completed in the next few days.

12/7/05: Our winter class schedule is now available. It will be available online shortly. In the meanwhile, please drop by and pick up a copy.
Also, we are offering a Winter Learn-To-Fence Day Camp for 12-18 year-olds from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. December 17-23. No experience needed, and we supply all the equipment except a glove. Cost is $150. To sign up, just drop off (or mail) a check.

10/18/05: Congratulations to everyone who fenced in last weekend's Novice foil tournament. There was some very nice fencing! Complete results are now available.

Mike Fear (2nd)
Elliot Swan (5th)
Matthew Gelhaus (7th)
Jason Parker (8th)
Beth Lampert (12th)
Steve Schneider (13th)
Vincent Huynh (15th)
Jesse Allen (16th)

In addition, the following results are for our affiliated high school club fencers. Well done!

Alex Kohan, Salem Homeschool (6th)
Charles Allen, Salem Homeschool (10th)
Lindsay Pirelli, Blanchet Catholic School (17th)
Joshua Keatley, Salem Homeschool (18th)
Sarah Olafson, Blanchet Catholic School (22nd)

Name in red means promoted to AFL Novice classification.
Name in bold means this was the first time competing for SCF for the fencer, who received his or her salle shoulder patch for completing the tournament.

Well done, everyone! We thank our tournament co-host, Blanchet Catholic High School Fencing Club, for providing the venue.

10/3/05: Registration for SCF's Fall Tournament on October 15-16 is now open!

10/2/05: All classes are full. However, if you can come up with at least six other people to form a learn-to-fence class, contact us and we will try to put together an Intro Foil I class for you.

9/30/05: Wow! What a great way to start the high school team foil season! It was the West Salem High School Titans vs. the Salem Homeschool Byzantines, 45-44 in overtime. Complete results coming soon...

9/9/05: All classes begin next week. We still have some room for a few last minutes students, so sign up now.

8/26/05: Our summer day camps were a great success! Thanks everyone! Fall classes are filling quickly, so sign up now.

8/4/05: The second session of our Learn-To-Fence summer day camp (August 8-12) is now full. To learn to fence, sign up for one of our Introduction to Foil Fencing classes this fall.

7/31/05: The second session of our Learn-To-Fence summer day camp (August 8-12) has only a few spaces left. Sign up now!
Our fall classes are beginning to fill up, as well, so sign up early to get the best choice of classes.

7/15/05: We have added a second session to our Learn-To-Fence summer day camp (August 8-12). Sign up today before it's full! We are also taking deposits for a waiting list for the first session (Aug. 1-5).
And, we now have our fall schedule of classes online. Sign up today!

6/11/05: Thanks to the more than 70 people who helped us celebrate the salle's first year! We had quite a party -- it went from 4 p.m. until after 11, with fencing, games, skits, a limbo contest, a poetry reading, a conga line, and the chicken dance -- not to mention a potluck! We now have 100 fencers at SCF, making us the second largest salle in the state. Great job, everyone!

6/9/05: Come see us at the Salem World Beat Festival, June 25-26 at Salem's Riverfront Park. We will have a booth with information, displays, and free mini-lessons for the public. We will also give a fencing demonstration each day (2 p.m. on Saturday and 12:30 on Sunday in the Martial Arts Court).

6/8/05: Summer classes are now in progress. Newcomers to fencing can still squeeze into one of our Intro Foil I classes until June 15th, so register now!

5/9/05: The complete summer class schedule is now online. Summer semester starts May 23rd, so register now!

5/9/05: Congratulations to everyone who fenced in the May Day Foil Tournament (April 30-May 1). Complete results will be available shortly.

4/27/05: Applications to be a volunteer teaching assistant for the summer semester are now available (online or in the salle). Applications are due by May 6th.

4/22/05: Online payment of entry fees for the May Day Tournament is now available.

4/12/05: Registration for the May Day Foil Tournament (for Prep, Novice, and Junior fencers) on April 30-May 1 is now open. Register by April 25th to avoid a late fee.

4/11/05: Congratulations to our fencers and volunteers for another successful tournament! The Russ Heggen Memorial Foil Tournament (for Prep-level fencers) was our second-largest tournament overall (so far) with 31 fencers from eight clubs. The individual foil event was our largest event ever, with 25 fencers. SCF fencers all fenced well.

Marina DeLucco (2nd)
Charles Allen (3rd)
Richard Nosiglia (4th)
Matthew Gelhaus (5th)
Jason Parker (9th)
Travis Neidig (11th)
Joshua Keatley (12th)
Beth Lampert (13th)
Jocelyn Neidig (17th)
Vincent Huynh (19th)
Kevin Tribble (20th)
Collin McCready (22nd)
Rachel Bever (23rd)
Kalvin Williams (24th)
Dominic Sinibaldi (25th)

Name in red means promoted to AFL Novice classification.
Name in bold means a first-time competitor, who received his or her salle shoulder patch for completing the tournament. Well done, everyone!

SCF also took 1st and 4th place in the team foil competition on Sunday. Great job!

We thank our co-host for the tournament, West Salem High School Fencing Club, for providing the venue.

3/17/05: Registration for the Russ Heggen Memorial Foil Tournament (for Prep-level fencers) on April 9-10 is now open. Register by March 31st to avoid a $5.00 late fee.

3/16/05: The Selberg seminar was a great success! Thank you to everyone who participated and helped out. We raised almost $2,000 for our building improvement fund. We will let you know when the video is done.

3/15/05: Next week (3/21-3/25) is spring break. There will be no classes during that week, and the salle will be open modified hours (6-9 p.m. nightly, no Wednesday morning session). We will resume our normal schedule the following week.

3/11/05: We are pleased to announce our new equipment grant program. These grants are intended to help low-income fencers purchase basic fencing equipment. Grants are available for both youth and adult fencers. We can also always use donations to support this program (hint, hint).

3/6/05: American Fencing: Past, Present, and Future, a two-day fencing seminar with Maestro Charles Selberg is this weekend, March 12-13, 2005 here in Salem. There are still some places left, so don't miss out!

2/7/05: Maestro Ciaramitaro will be presenting a free 45-minute lecture on the history of the sword this Wednesday (2/9/05) at 8:00 p.m. at the salle. He will be bringing his collection of reproduction swords with him to illustrate his talk (yes, you can handle them). Guests are welcome.

1/29/05: The 2nd Annual SCF Winter Novice Tournament was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who fenced and/or helped out. Complete results are now available. Congratulations to Gary Girod, the first-place finisher and the first AFL Junior-level fencer.

1/17/04: Our winter semester classes start this week! Late registrations will be accepted until the third week of class.

1/11/04: Registration for the Winter Novice Tournament (open to all fencers) on January 22-23 is still open, but entries are now subject to a $5.00 late fee.

1/5/05: Classes for the winter semester are filling quickly. Sign up for a class today so you don't miss out...

12/29/04: Register today for American Fencing: Past, Present, and Future, a two-day fencing seminar with Maestro Charles Selberg, March 12-13, 2005 here in Salem.

12/20/04: Entry forms for the Winter Novice Tournament on January 22-23 are now available.

12/2/04: Our December and January schedule is now available. Please note our holiday hours in December and January, as well as the changes to open floor times beginning January 17th.

11/23/04: Corrected results for the Fall Prep Tournament have been posted. A scorekeeping error of one point on Saturday resulted in several incorrect placings in individual prep foil.

11/21/04: We apologize for the downtime. Our web hosting company had a hiccup that made this web site (as well as e-mail to classicalfencing.us users) unavailable for many people for the last two days. During the downtime, we redesigned the web site to utilize our new logo. Many thanks to Marina DeLucco for the logo design!

11/14/04: Thank you to everyone who participated and helped out with the 2004 SCF Fall Prep Tournament this weekend. We had 25 fencers competing, along with more than 30 volunteer judges, timekeepers, scorekeepers, runners, greeters, cashiers, etc. Great job, everyone! Complete tournament results are now available.

11/8/04: The épée class is now closed. If you wish to be placed on a waiting list, please e-mail Mr. Heggen.

11/4/04: Our schedule for winter semester classes (including our first-ever épée class) is now available. You can register for classes online, by mail, or at the salle.

11/1/04: There's still time to sign up for the 2004 SCF Fall Prep Tournament (Nov. 13-14) -- albeit with a $5.00 late fee.

10/15/04: Entry forms for the 2004 SCF Fall Prep Tournament (Nov. 13-14) are now available. Deadline for timely registrations is October 30th.

10/11/04: Thank you to everyone who participated and helped out with the 2004 SCF Fall Open this weekend. We had 23 fencers competing, along with more than 40 volunteer judges, timekeepers, scorekeepers, runners, greeters, cashiers, etc. Great job, everyone! Complete tournament results are now available.

9/29/04: We are pleased to announce that Willamette University has agreed to host the upcoming fencing tournament October 9-10. The event will be held in Sparks Center in the lower gym (campus map). The event is free -- spectators are very welcome!

9/27/04: This is the last week to sign up for classes until January. To join a class, bring yourself and cash or a check to the class section you wish to join.

9/17/04: The Intermediate Offensive Foil class is now full. Other classes have varying amounts of room in them still.

9/14/04: Classes begin this week! We still have room in all classes. You can register online or by dropping a check off at the studio during our regular hours. The last day to join classes will be the third meeting for that class (i.e. during the week of September 27th). Don't miss out! Our next class session will not be until January....

9/9/04: The final examination mini-tournament for the summer Intermediate Defensive Foil classes went well. The results are now online.

9/8/04: Rules and entry forms for our Fall Invitational Foil Tournament (October 9-10) are now available.

9/6/04: Many thanks to all of the folks who volunteered to help out at the Oregon State Fair with our fencing exhibitions. This was a mammoth effort for a pretty modest-sized organization. In addition to fencers from Salem Classical Fencing, we also had fencers from Northwest Academy of Arms (Eugene), West Salem High School Fencing Club, and Willamette University Foil Fencers (Salem). Thanks, everyone!

8/23/04: Curious about fencing??? Salem Classical Fencing will be presenting three 30-minute fencing exhibitions daily at the Oregon State Fair in Familyville on the "Noseworthy Stage". Come see us at the Fair!

8/22/04: Congratulations to the U.S. men's epée team, which finished sixth -- a strong finish for U.S. epée. Thus ends the fencing portion of the 2004 Olympic Games.

8/21/04: Congratulations to the U.S. men's foil team, which finished fourth -- the best finish for American foilists since 1956.

8/19/04: Congratulations to the U.S. men's sabre team, which finished fourth -- a very strong finish.

8/17/04: Congratulations to Mariel Zagunis, 19, of Beaverton (home salle: Oregon Fencing Alliance/Salle Olney) on her Olympic gold medal in women's sabre! Congratulations also to Sada Jacobson, 21, of Georgia for her Olympic bronze medal in women's sabre! These are the first American Olympic medals in fencing since 1984 (Peter Westbrook, men's sabre) and the first American Olympic gold medal in fencing since 1904 (Albertson van zo Post, men's singlestick).

Congratulations also to Soren Thompson, 21, of San Diego for his seventh-place finish in men's epée -- the best finish for an American epéeist since 1956.

Additional Olympic fencing news is available at http://www.fencingmedia.org

8/11/04: The updated calendar for September is now online.

8/10/04: A fond farewell to Intro Foil II student Courtney Ropp, who is moving to Texas. Also, bon voyage to her fellow student, Rosie Brownell, who is leaving to spend a year in Hungary as an AFS exchange student. We'll miss you both!

8/7/04: Many thanks to Alex Kohan, Elliot Swan, and Travis Neidig for their help as teaching assistants at last week's first-ever introductory foil summer day camp. We had seven campers, and we had a great time. We'll do it again next summer!

8/2/04: Beginning August 9, the studio will be open Monday nights for open fencing from 8-9 p.m.

7/24/04: The updated calendar for August is now online.

7/23/04: Fencing will be at the Oregon State Fair this year! We will be presenting three fencing demonstrations each day for the length of the fair (August 26-September 6). We need lots of volunteers to help us out. Please e-mail Mr. Heggen if you can join us at the fair!

7/22/04: We have made two changes to the dueling ladder rules. Challenges are only valid for one week now. And, there is a new rule for "frozen" fencers....

7/8/04: We now have autographed copies of The Revised Foil by Maestro Charles Selberg for sale in the salle. Get 'em while they're hot!

7/6/04: We will begin a dueling ladder this week. You can sign up in person at the salle anytime after 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 7.

7/3/04: Sign up for beginning fencing camp August 2-6 from 9 to 2 p.m. for boys and girls ages 12-18!

The updated calendar for July is now online.

6/11/04: We still have room in our Wednesday afternoon (2-4 p.m.) Introductory Foil I class. Late registrations are okay until the third class meeting (June 23).

Intermediate Foil (defense) was so popular that we split the class in two. There are still a couple of slots open in each class. The last date to join this class will be June 17th (the fourth class meeting).

SCF will offer a beginning fencing camp August 2-6 from 9 to 2 p.m. for boys and girls ages 12-18.

We now have men's and women's dressing rooms! Fencers are welcome to leave their equipment in the dressing rooms (just make sure it's in a bag).

5/27/04: Summer fencing classes begin this week. We still have room in Introductory Foil I and II classes. Late registrations are okay until the third class meeting (the week of June 7). If you have questions, please e-mail Mr. Heggen.

Intermediate Foil (defense) is full, but please let us know if you would like to be put on a waiting list.

5/17/04: Thanks to all of you who helped us move yesterday. Great job! We still have work to do to get the space ready for classes next week, so we're having a work party on Thursday, May 20th from 6-9 p.m. If you can help out (or just want to take a look), please stop by!

A huge thanks to all of you who have pre-paid your dues and tuition for the month of June. Without your support, we could not have signed our lease. Classes (especially intermediate foil) are filling quickly....

5/13/04: We have found a space for a dedicated fencing studio. Our new address will be 354 Belmont Street NE, Salem, Oregon 97301. We need your support to make this work! Sign up for classes and membership now so we can sign a lease! Tell your friends: introductory and intermediate classes start the week of May 24, 2004. Our first day open will be Tuesday, May 25th, but please do not wait until the last minute to sign up -- we need $$ now!

The Salem YMCA Fencing Club is still alive, too -- just scaled way back so it can fit into its (hopefully) temporary home.

4/22/04: The SCF Spring Invitational was a great success. Complete results are now available. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped make this event happen.

3/23/04: Whitman College Fencing Club has been invited to participate in the upcoming spring invitational tournament.

3/18/04: Palm Beach Classical Fencing has informed us that they cannot attend the upcoming tournament due to high airfares.

2/27/04: The SCF Spring Invitational Fencing Tournament will be held April 17-18, 2004 at the Salem Family YMCA in downtown Salem, Oregon.

2/10/04: Congratulations to all of the fencers and clubs who participated in the SCF Winter Invitational (Jan. 24-25, 2004)! Complete results are now available.