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Welcome to October, Fencing Family!
About the same time this message hits your inbox, I’m hitting the ground in Minneapolis for the October North American Cup. It’s our first national event of the season and our largest #OctoNAC ever, with more than 2,000 participants.
A new season brings a perfect opportunity to remind you about the importance of athlete safety. In fact, nothing is more important than the safety of our fencers, and provision of a positive culture for our fencers — at our national tournaments and every day. I ask you to make your own personal contribution to that by role modeling a positive culture, and holding accountable where you see issues. (File a report here or text 320-ENGARDE.)
This month also sees the relaunch of the U.S. Fencing Foundation. The Foundation will be our fundraising arm of the fencing family, designed to provide for additional funding needs not met by operating income or supported by performance funding from the USOPC — for example, funding athletes below the Top 4, or funding our Paralympic program.
So, in honor of this — I have a challenge! If you are reading this, go to this page, and make a donation. I will personally match your donation to a maximum of $50 per person (but feel free to give more, of course!). Don’t forget that donations to the U.S. Fencing Foundation as a 501(c)(3) organization are overseen by our trustees and are also tax deductible.
You’re probably wondering where USA Fencing’s money goes. You can take a look at our annual accounts and budget right on the website! Take a look. And, again, ask questions. It’s your right as a member!
You’ll observe that our largest costs are associated with supporting our athletes in international competition, while funding coming in from the USOPC covers only a portion of this cost. Similarly, you’ll notice no government revenue whatsoever.
Since our Paralympic program is very slimly funded by performance awards to us by the USOPC, I will be designating my donations to the development of our Paralympic team. You can see there you can designate what your money is used for — to help you better see it flow through USA Fencing.
Speaking of our Paralympic program, what a month for Ellen Geddes PLY, who won two silver medals at the IWAS World Cup in Pisa, Italy! It was a fantastic result, especially as we look ahead to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Ellen and the rest of our parafencing team will next be in action in very early November at the Zonals in Brazil.
October’s big international event is the FIE Veteran World Championships in Croatia. This one is particularly special as we are the next hosts of the competition in 2023 when the event will be in Daytona Beach, Fla. Our veteran team is very strong internationally, so we look forward to seeing the results. Our delegation is huge, and we hope they can repeat some of the great results from the 2019 event in Cairo where Lydia Mazorol, Mark Lundborg, Josh Runyan, Jenette Starks-Faulkner and Elizabeth Kocab amongst others added weight to their return luggage in the form of a medal.
It’s been a busy time at USA Fencing. We are finally back to full staffing for the first time since 2019 with the addition of Brad Suchorski and Amanda Lilly, who officially join later this month.
Brad joins us from US Lacrosse and previously worked at USA Weightlifting, while Amanda joins us from the US Olympic & Paralympic Foundation. Internally, Tanner Gonzales will be moving over to become our Officials Coordinator, which means we are currently looking for a great Service and Membership Administrator, if you know someone please refer them!
As we onboard many of our new team members, we are excited to hear from you. Clubs this month will be receiving a survey from our regional team as we look at how we can deliver on our strategic plan promise of additional support in the regions, while we are developing similar exercises to hear from our wider membership.
Speaking of hearing from our membership, I’ve spent a little bit of time on the road this month visiting with clubs, fencers and colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Columbus and Cleveland. The “listening tour” has proven really helpful, and I want to thank all of the clubs, members, parents, donors and colleges I’ve met with along the way! This month, I’ll be visiting Boston and Rhode Island, as well as Houston. In each city, in addition to visiting our club and college programs, I’m making some time to have an open visit with our members. Again, come along, pull up a chair and share what you want to see in USA Fencing.
Another new program that we’ll be launching this month is our Women’s Mentorship Program, specially designed to help accelerate the development of women in coaching. We need good mentors, including men, to help so reach out if you feel you could be a good mentor. Stay tuned for more information on our website soon.
Speaking of coaching, our coaching education project is moving along. We’re in deep discussions with the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association about how both organizations can healthily meet the goals of helping develop and support United States coaches. It’s my belief our personal coach network is a strength to both our elite teams and indeed to our grassroots fencers. It’s a relatively unusual system in the world, but it’s one which pays dividends. To see that grow, we need to foster positive, innovative coaches, together.
At the end of the month, our board will be visiting with us in Colorado Springs. This will be the first time the board has met in person since I came on board. I’m looking forward to working with this engaged group of people who are passionate about the sport. There is the opportunity to observe the meeting, and I encourage interested members to do so!
That’s quite enough from me. If I can be of any help, or our team at USA Fencing — get in touch by hitting reply!
Phil
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