Come check out the Ball State University Fencing Club at this year’s Fall Activity Fair on Saturday, August 21st from 6pm-8pm on the Worthen Arena concourse.

New and current Ball State students are encouraged to check out this year’s Fall Activity Fair and come to meet current Ball State Fencing Club members, officers, and coaches.  Students will have a chance to check out some fencing gear, watching amazing fencing videos, collect 3 awesome collectible cards featuring information about the fencing club, and even view some spectacular fencing demonstrations.

The Ball State Fencing Club will be demonstrating all 3 fencing weapons from 7:30pm to 8:00pm by Gate 1 on the Worthen Arena concourse.  Club Coach Brian Koby will be on hand to explain the fencing action and score keeping as well as answer any questions viewers may have about fencing.

If there are any questions about joining the Ball State University Fencing Club, please feel free to contact the club using the main club web site: http://bsufc.iweb.bsu.edu/contact.asp.

Memberships can be renewed from the main USFA website, http://www.usfencing.org.  You can also find the link to download the paper form if you wish to pay by check, money order, or wait until your first tournament.  USFA memberships include unlimited access to any USFA-sanctioned tournament in the United States, a free subscription to American Fencing magazine (a quarterly publishing about all things fencing), and the ability to meet great, new people who have the same interests.

If any Ball State Fencing Club members have questions about getting a USFA membership, please speak with Coach Koby.  USFA memberships are not required by the Ball State Fencing Club, but are appreciated as the club in general is looking to increase its reputation in the fencing community by competing and hosting tournaments.

Two Ball State fencers made the drive to compete on Saturday; club coach Brian Koby and head foil instructor Bill Stark.  Koby was on hand early in the day to referee the sabre portion of the event, but later competed in both Epee and Foil, whereas Stark only competed in Foil but was on hand to cheer on Koby’s efforts in Epee.

In Epee, Koby dominated his pools, winning all 5 matches and earning the 1st place seed for DE’s.  He moved through the first round with a bye, and earned a place in the semi-finals with a 15-13 win.  He then faced Purdue fencer Mark Scherschel; a fencer he’s seen several times before.  Koby ended up in a 13-15 loss against Scherschel, finishing the day by bringing home a 3rd place medal.

Foil was a difficult D1 event, with only 15 fencers (8 of which were rated E or higher).  Stark and Koby both did well in the pools with Koby winning 3 of his matches while Stark come out with 2 wins, seeding 2nd and 9th for DE’s respectively.  Stark faced off against Jim Conroy, from SCFC.  He fenced well, but ended up being knocked out with a 9-15 loss.  Koby came through his first DE with a 15-9 win, pushing him in to the round of 8 where he faced Steve Koehneke from SCFC.  Though he fenced well, Koby was knocked out in a 9-15 loss.  Stark finished the day in 10th place while Koby finished in 5th place.

Epee Results
Brian Koby – 3rd Place

Foil Results
Brian Koby – 5th Place
Bill Stark – 10th Place

The day started with Sabre, and club coach Brian Koby was the only BSUFC member to compete in this event.  Out of six competitors, Koby only won one of his pool bouts, but came close in the other 4, putting him in the 5th place seed for DE’s.  He went up against 4th place seed Jacob McNeal (from Summit City) where he came out on top with a well-fenced 15-11 win.  Next up was number 1 seed Caleb Swerens (also from Summit City) where he was knocked out in an 8-15 loss.  Koby finished Sabre with a tie for third place with Dan DeForrest from Indianapolis Fencing Club.

The next event was Epee, where Koby, Stark, and Correll all competed.  With there only being 9 fencers for the event, a super-pool was created to give everybody a good seeding result for DE’s, meaning that all BSU fencers faced off against each other at some point.  This was Stark’s first time competing in Epee, where he faired well winning 3 of his 8 bouts; seeding him in 8th place for the DE’s (due to a low indicator).  Correll also won 3 of his 8 bouts, but a higher indicator seeded him in 7th place for the DE’s.  Koby was the talk of the Epee crowd as he commanded the strip with 4 out of 8 wins and a 3rd place seed for DE’s.  In the Epee DE’s, Stark started out strong with a 15-9 win, putting him into the round of 8 where he met former BSU coach Paul Geraci and a well-fenced 6-15 loss.  Correll earned a bye, which pinned him against 2nd seed Dan DeForrest.  Nathaniel held on against the B-rated fencer for an 8-15 loss.  Koby meanwhile faced off against Rive City Fencing member Mark Brandyberry and fenced a good match to win 15-14, moving on to face off against Dan DeForrest in the semi-finals where he was knocked out with an 8-15 loss, earning him another 3rd place finish for the day.

The talk amongst the crowd watching the foil bouts was newcomer Lauren Dailey, from BSU.  This was Lauren’s first tournament ever and she knew what she was doing.  With one win in her pools, she seeded 7th going in to the DE’s.  As she fenced on, Bill Stark blew through his competition, winning 4 of his 7 bouts and earning a 4th place seed on the DE bracket.  There was a lot of excitement going on between Stark and club coach Brian Koby as Stark faced off against Summit City coach Steve Koehneke, making an impressive 15-11 win to move in to the semi-finals.  While Stark was taking charge of his first DE, Lauren Dailey faced off against Mark Brandyberry and did what she had been doing best all day long; impressing those around her.  Despite a 7-15 loss and a 7th place finish, Dailey was a force to be reckoned with on Saturday.  Stark moved on to face number 1 seed Rebecca Schneider, but came out with a 4-15 loss, earning him a 3rd place finish.

Sabre Results
Brian Koby – 3rd place

Epee Results
Brian Koby – 3rd place
Nathaniel Correll – 7th place
Bill Stark – 8th place

Foil Results
Bill Stark – 3rd place
Lauren Dailey – 7th place

Congratulations to the BSU fencers and their placements on Saturday.  A special thank you goes to Caitlin Huston for helping run the tournament, Lauren Dailey for taking photographs, and Abby Correll for showing support to those competing.

Epee was the largest event of the day; with a whopping 58 fencers, it only qualified as an A2 event, despite the size.  All three BSU fencers were pitted against some of the top fencers in the region during the pools.  Correll and Koby came out on top winning three of their six bouts, while Wolford won just one of his six.  Koby was seeded 31st, Correll was 33rd, and Wolford was 45th going in to the first round of DE’s; the Round of 64.  Wolford lost 8-15 to Purdue fencer Pavel Prusakov while Correll lost 9-15.  Meanwhile, Koby advanced to the Round of 32 with a 15-12 win against Miami University fencer Kevin Bisbing, pitting him against Escrime Du Lac fencer Nick Hanahan.  Koby and Hanahan were back and forth during the entire bout and eventually ended the third period tied at 12-12.  Koby won priority going in to the one-minute over-time round, but managed to gain the counter-attack against Hanahan and win 13-12.  Koby then moved on to the Round of 16 to face another Miami University fencer, Anson Eckel, where he was finally knocked out in a 8-15 loss.

Stark had an uphill battle from the start of foil pools.  With 35 fencers, Foil qualified as a B2 event, but it was still no easy task as Stark faced off against several high-level fencers in his pools.  Winning one of his six bouts, and having an impressive 4-5 loss to IFC fencer Dan DeForrest, Stark seeded 27th  in the Round of 64 (earning him a BYE to the Round of 32).  Fencing against Illinois Fencing Club member Leonard Grazain, Stark continued to perform well, but ultimately lost 7-15.

Final placements are as follows:

Epee (out of 58)

Brian Koby – 16th
Nathaniel Correll – 34th
Tyler Wolford – 45th

Foil (out of 35)

William Stark – 27th

Congratulations to all the BSU fencers on their placements.  A special thanks goes out to BSU members Ray Dobell, Brittany Harvey, Lauren Dailey, Blake McDaniel, and Tori Kiefer for following along to show support, take photos, and enjoying the thrill of competition.

Brian Koby competed on Saturday in the mixed epee open event.  The event was an A1 event with only 20 fencers registered, 3 of which were A-rated fencers.  Koby’s pool was difficult as he faced a few fencers he’s never seen before, and a few others he had not.  He finished 5th in his pools with only one win, a seeded 15th going in to the DEs.  He excelled during his first DE round (round of 32) to win 15-11.  He then faced A-rated Henry Reed in the round of 16 and lost 5-15, but fenced rather well.

Bill Stark had to wait until Sunday to fence in the mixed foil event, where he faced 31 competitors; 5 of which were A-rated, making it an A-2 event.  Bill started strong in his pools, but ultimately finished 7th with no wins, seeding him in 29th for the first round of DEs.  Bill changed his strategy for his DE and faired well against 4th place ranked Josh Grill; Bill lost 3-15, but learned a lot from his final bout.

To bring more excitement to the weekend, Koby and Stark were also lucky to have the chance to meet two Olympic fencers; 2008 Mens Sabre Silver Medalist Tim Morehouse and 2004/2008 Womens Sabre Gold Medalist Mariel Zagunis.

On top of the fencing celebrities, Koby and Stark also had a chance to meet the person responsible for the Arnold Sports Festival; California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Next year Koby plans to take more fencers from Ball State to experience this spectacular event, hosted by the city of Columbus, Ohio and organized by Royal Arts Fencing.

As of right now, the sabre visor masks are still legal for all USFA events.  As more information is available, it will be posted.

Any questions about this event can be directed to club coach, Brian Koby.

On Saturday, February 27, the Ball State Fencing Club will return to Ball State’s Late Nite activities to help promote the Olympics and club membership.

Ball State students will be able to chat with current club members, officers, and the club coach about fencing, how to join, look at the weapons, try out some gear, and even learn some fencing moves.  If possible, live fencing demonstrations will be available for those interested in seeing real fencing in action.

More information about Ball State’s Late Nite program can be found at http://cms.bsu.edu/About/AdministrativeOffices/StudentCenter/StudentCenterPrograms/LateNite.aspx

Facebook has become the world’s largest social networking site during just the last year, so it was an easy decision to branch out to these millions of users by creating a Facebook Page for the fencing club.  The Facebook page is the main source for any of the club’s recent tournament pictures as well as information on upcoming events and recent discussions.  -  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Muncie-IN/Ball-State-University-Fencing-Club/40810081264?ref=nf

WordPress

As far as keeping track of news, the easiest way to do this was with a RSS feed, and WordPress was a great place to start working on updating news.  With the integration of widgets and applications, the fencing club’s WordPress page allows viewers to gather more information than just the news.  They can access the calendar of events, read recent Twitter updates, and even find links to other media sources. – http://www.kobystudios.com/BSUFC

Twitter

Quite possibly the largest new fad of the Internet age, Twitter has taken over as the quick update media manager.  Users can quickly post thoughts, plans, and even pictures using the array of tools available from Twitter.  Coupled with the popular program TweetDeck, updates can be made quickly and easily to the fencing club’s Twitter status, allowing members and interested persons to get the information they need quickly. – http://www.twitter.com/bsufc

Main Club Web Site

The club’s main web site, hosted on Ball State University, is the go-to source for general information about the fencing club, its practice times and locations, members, and basic information about what fencing is.  The club’s web site is also the main communication tool for the fencing club.  Interested persons can browse through the FAQ section to gather information about the club, or even use the contact form to send a quick email to the club’s officers and coach. – http://bsufc.iweb.bsu.edu/

How do all of these sources of information tie together to help bring new about the Ball State Fencing Club to you?  With updates made to the club’s WordPress account, the title of the recent entry is automatically updated as a Twitter status update, which also updates the Facebook page’s status.  The main web site link will bring you straight to the WordPress feed which will allow users to read the blog entries in their entirety and give them the option to subscribe to the RSS feed using a RSS feed manager or Microsoft Outlook.  This is just the beginning of what is to come.  With many upcoming new programs, such as Adobe’s Flex 4.0, Flash Catalyst CS5, and Google’s Wave application coming out to the market soon, a new form of communication and news deployment is already being developed to bring the Ball State Fencing Club directly to you.