Salle Angelo

It was cold, wet and miserable. Roads were slippery and most members were quite agreeable not to turn up to the hall but to stay in the warmth.

BUT… One member did! We forgot to ring him and he stood courageously outside the hall for some time braving the elements (a photo will be forwarded as proof of this). Michael Angelo had travelled all the way from Hamilton (not especially for fencing I better add), thrown in his fencing gear in the hopes of some bouts at Salle Angelo but found the hall closed. I think, through his chattering teeth and crackling cellphone, he called us a pack of woosy, mellowpuff fencers. Honour will have to be restored.

The Weekend in Naseby has been cancelled!  But not the tournament.  The Royal Naseby Fencing Tournament will be fought in Dunedin as an extension  to our usual Saturday session.

The reason for the change is that it was difficult to get accommodation in Naseby on any of the weekends we wanted it.  But we will start early to organise it for next year so long-johns can be packed away again for the next twelve months.

The Tournament will be held at the Arthur Street Hall on the 28th June. In the evening the usual formal dinner will be  held to present the awards.  If you didn’t get an email from Brian and would like to attend the dinner contact him and confirm your intention.

This is a summary of a recent Veterans survey made by a Salle Angelo fencer for Fencing NZ. It should be of interest to other older fencers regardless of whether they fence visual, electric, or both. 80 names of all those aged 40 and over, with their contact details, were extracted from the Fencing NZ affiliation database. This included fencers who are no longer affiliated. A questionaire was emailed or mailed out to these names and 42 people replied. Of these, 28 would fence as veterans if their preferences are generally accepted.

All numeric values given for the veteran preferences are out of 10 – a ‘perdecage’ rather than a percentage – and in this summary are the national response only. In the full results, the preferences were broken down further into cities (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin) and age groups (40-49, 50-59, 60+).

Equipment questions. Do you have, or would you buy: level 2 equipment? – 6; level 1 equipment? – 5; or neither, using older or lesser equipment? – 3. Notes: More fencers have, or would buy, level 2 equipment. About half the fencers have, or would buy, level 1 equipment. More fencers in the 40-49 age group have, or would buy, level 1 and/or level 2 equipment. While level 2 equipment is required for higher level competitions, fencers who already have level 1 equipment may not want to buy level 2 equipment as well to only enter lower level competitions.

Competition questions. Would you compete at a: higher level with ranking? – 5; middle level with ranking? – 8; lower level without ranking? – 8. Notes: More fencers would compete at middle and lower levels rather than a higher level. The three age groups are about equal in this opinion. While Direct Elimination is required for higher level competitions, some older fencers would prefer sequential pools for lower level competitions. This provides more bouts for those with lower ability.

Travel questions. Would you travel to these central cities to compete: Auckland? – 7; Wellington? – 8; Christchurch? – 8; Dunedin? – 7; an overseas city? – 6. Notes: The further a central city is away in New Zealand, the less a fencer will travel to it to compete. The willingness to travel increases with age. Auckland fencers will travel overseas more than others; Dunedin fencers will travel overseas least.

Alternative question. Are you interested in Veterans/Masters visual fencing with rules prior to the introduction of electric foil? – 6. Notes: About half the fencers are interested in this alternative. While the result is skewed somewhat by Salle Angelo fencers in Dunedin, there is still a significant national response.

Conclusion. One solution for Veterans/Masters fencing in New Zealand is to have two competitive formats that run in parallel, where a fencer can move from one to another. A higher level for the younger and truly competitive fencers would be to FIE rules with level 2 equipment, Direct Elimination and a national veterans ranking. A lower level for older and recreational fencers would have level 1 equipment, sequential pools and no national veterans ranking. The enjoyment of the day would be sufficient.

Seven Salle Angelo fencers assembled at the Botanic Gardens on the 12th of April to fence in the open air. There is a considerable difference between fencing in an enclosed gymnasium as opposed to an outside environment. There is no longer a smooth floor and diffuse illumination from ceiling lights and windows, but a surface that ranges from grass to rough paving, often with strong sunlight and variable winds.

The extra difficulties of a dubious surface for foot movement and the possible glare of sun light in the eyes make fighting with swords a more challenging affair. One can appreciate the effect these factors would have had on a real duel. Wearing a modern fencing mask actually makes it harder to see the opponent’s steel blade through the heavy wire mesh. Another visual problem is that if there is no sunlight, but grey overcast conditions, the opponent’s blade is even harder to see.

However, we chose the best surface available, a paved patio beside the glass green houses, and ensured that the direction of fencing was at right-angles to the direction of sun light. After an hour of fencing free-play, we set out a piste with orange traffic cones and fought a formal pool for another hour. We then retired to the Otago Museum cafeteria for our lunch to the sound of two classic guitars.

Where were you?

The fencing section of the Masters Games was held at the Otago Boys High gymnasium in Dunedin In the first weekend of February – and hailed as a great success especially by those from outside Dunedin. Contestants came from as far away as Auckland and Hamilton and the organisers breathed a sigh of relief when they commented about the efficient organisation and the friendliness of the event. It was great fencing and a lot of good fellowship.

We were a bit ambitious with the programme as we didn’t get to the academic and drawing room fencing as we had planned. On the Saturday we managed to get through the foil events and on the Sunday we completed the sabre and epee competitions. Medals were presented thick and fast.

On the Saturday night the medals clinked and jingled around the dinner table. We had squeezed our way into a small restaurant to commemorate the games and the birthdate of Domenico Angelo with a meal, good company and a moderate amount of good wine. Awards were awarded, acquaintances were re-acquainted and fencing stories retold.

If you’re not there in 2010 you’ll miss a great event – one even better than this year’s

It was a beautiful warm day but we had promised to fence indoors at Knox College. We had decided to make an exception to our rule of not coaching beginners, to help out the college students who had showed enthusiasm but were having trouble attending beginners’ classes at Claymore on Sundays.Some of us had never been to Knox College and the view (see photo gallery) of the building from the car park was impressive.

Inside, Cameron Hall proved to be an ideal venue for visual fencing – elegant and old-worldy, so the event got off to a good start. Tony took the coaching session – simple lunges from quarte, sixte and octave. Following this we fenced in a round-robin, using and practising the activities from the coaching session – as far as possible. Bouts to conclude the time helped to explain and practice skills in judging and presiding.

The Museum Café was the venue for lunch – good food, good company and good conversation

Foils, Flood and Food
Most of the Salle’s members fighting in the Royal Naseby Tournament arrived at the Royal Hotel on Friday night and gathered in the Bar, to warm up after the trip from Dunedin and to get away from the frozen snow covering Naseby. Lots of laughter and stories but an early night allowed the curlers to take over the bar.

Next morning, as early as can be expected under the extreme conditions, adjudicators, seconds and duellists gathered in the main street of the town. This was Anton’s public duel for his membership. He fought with honour, against the Salle’s champion, Tony, and was duly admitted.

Banners and devices aloft the gathering paraded to the Town Hall to start the tournament proper. Foils clashed as the pool got under-way and the score sheet started to fill. As the fencers warmed up there was some neat and exciting fencing. A pool of nine takes some time to complete so we adjourned to the local hostelry for lunch.

Returning after lunch we were met at the door by a wave of water. A pipe had burst and covered the piste with two inches of water. Michael broke the stunned silence with “I think I’ll leave my gumboots on for the next bout”. With all hands to the pump – well brooms and buckets really – the excess water was swept out the door, towels soaked up the remainder and in under an hour the floor was ready for fencing again.

The afternoon saw clashes for the minor placings as the score sheet showed who was obviously in the first four. The floor was better to fence on, washed of the powder applied for the dance the weekend before. But the flood had taken its toll: the sabre event couldn’t be run because there was no time left if we were to dress for dinner.

The meal was at the ‘Welcome Inn’, one of Naseby’s oldest hotels, now cared for as a private house by Sam and Wendy Inder. They provided a most elegant meal (including pork, duck and venison), Maurie Angelo provided the speeches, and wine and good company combined to make a very enjoyable evening. Mike Geary was presented with an Award of Honour for his services to Salle Angelo, Anton with his membership certificate and Tony Williams with the main award of the night – the winner of the foil event in the Royal Naseby Fencing Tournament.

The traditional morning after coffee was observed, not in the usual venue with Gio and Ruth as the house’s vitals had frozen but in their motel at the Ancient Briton.

Thanks Barry for all the organisation – we had a really good weekend.
Photos in the Photo Gallery

On Saturday the 7th of July the sun rose (about 8.20) on a cold and frosty Dunedin. The low, golden sun and blue sky promised a fine day and the weather forecast promised that the temp would rise to 8 degrees Celsius. But the sun would have to work hard to melt the remnants of snow.

Fortunately, by 11 am the quad outside the hall where we meet for fencing was drying out and it was going to be warmer fencing outside in the sun than inside. So we did.

For the first half hour we warmed up with free play and then Barry had an idea. Because only five of us could get to fencing he thought that we could form a square of four with the fifth person keeping time. After 3 minutes we all rotated one place in the square where we had a new opponent, the time-keeper coming in as number one and the fourth person into the time-keeper’s place.

It worked well, each person acknowledging a hit against them and also acknowledging a flat hit. After 12 minutes of continuous fighting I was feeling the strain but Barry then suggested we do the same with another weapon – epée. After another 12 minutes of continuous fencing I felt sufficiently exercised, and somewhat relieved that it was lunch-time and too late for a sabre round

A great morning’s fencing. All done in the spirit of the Salle and none the less competitive for that.