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Third Annual Salle Seguin Summer Fencing Camp Report
by John Brunning
The 3rd Annual summer camp took place in Outlook August 18th to the 23rd. Nineteen athletes attended this week long camp to shake off the rust and start preparations for the upcoming season. Activities included: dryland training, footwork, lessons, free fencing, team fencing, swimming, basketball, handball, softball and visiting. Many important lessons were learned and if you want to find out about them ask the following people these questions:- Brett Nagel: What happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force?
- Andrew Hamilton: Why is it important to carry a blockbuster movie card?
- Liam McLachlan: Why can't you mix chocolate and running?
- Jesse McCrosky: How important are low line parries?
- Jonathan Moon: What are the medical services like in Outlook?
- Robert Anderson: How useful are useless facts?
- Jordan Smith: What is the importance of roommate etiquette?
- Bronwyn McConnell: How often are hugs required?
- Dawn Hurion: What is the proper procedure for water soaking?
- Robbie Dudiak: How important are shoes when jumping?
- Ryan Stevenson: How much time do you need to pack for camp?
- Jean-Pierre Seguin: How much energy do veteran fencers have?
- Tony Vasquez: How long does it take to renew 4 years of non fencing?
- Travis Adam: Who is Howdy Doody?
- Ryan Chappell: How long does a box of Oreo cookies last?
- Brent Shirkey: How many days in a row can you wear a new track suit?
- Jason Kaptein: Does swimming require glasses?
- Mikael Nagel: What is the importance of returning good deeds?
- Daniel Coode: How does foil compare to epee?
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PERSISTENCE -- The Difference Maker
by Richard Softley
The power to hold on in spite of the odds, to endure to the end - this is the winner's quality. Persistence is the ability to face defeat again and again without giving up.George Matheson once said, "we conquer not in any brilliant fashion; we conquer by continuing." Champions are people with great holding power, not starting power, but "staying" power.
Victory does not usually go to the most skilled. Victory comes to those who make a decision and then persist. Success is not ability alone, but "stick-ability."
"If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success," Richard DeVos states, "I would pick the trait of determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, 'Here goes number seventy-one."'
As a child, Winston Churchill was totally rejected by preoccupied, disinterested parents. He wrote innumerable letters from boarding school pleading with his mother to visit him at Christmas. The letters were largely unanswered, but one reply made it clear he was not welcome at the family gathering. When the other students left to be with family during the holidays, young Winston remained alone at his school. Churchill endured an incredibly unfortunate childhood. As well, he endured a series of failures at school and later, political failure upon failure. It is astounding that this same Churchill would show such greatness in his country's most desperate hour. Late in his life he said something that gives insights into his greatness. He was 80 years old when he was asked to deliver the commencement address at Harrow, the boarding school he had attended as a youth. He stood up, looked over his glasses at the young graduates, and delivered his finest speech. "Never, never, never give up!" he cried out. With that he sat down! In five short words Winston Churchill gave us the bottom line for success. Success is a matter of hanging on after others have let go.
WISDOM PRINCIPLES
We are what we are and where we are because we first imagined it and then while others were distracted, stayed with it.You will never possess anything you are unwilling to pursue.
PERSISTENCE POINTERS
DREAM DREAMS
Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to see them come true.ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE
Knowing that one's plans are sound and sensible, encourages persistence. Be an expert in your dreams.HAVE INTEGRITY
No project will generate persistence, over the long haul, if it lacks integrity. The idea must generate self-esteem and be good for everyone involved.EXPECT SOME FAILURE
Before success comes in any person's life (s)he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat and failure.ALWAYS GET UP AGAIN
When defeat overtakes a person, the easiest and most logical thing to do is quit. That is what the majority of people do. An old Japanese proverb states, "Fall seven times, stand up eight."REJECT EXCUSES
No blaming and no rationalizations. Never let a problem become an excuse to quit. No person has failed until they accept an excuse.GO ALL THE WAY
Reaching third base adds no more to the score than striking out. You must go all the way.ALWAYS LOOK AHEAD
Never look back. Ray Meyer says, "I'm not interested in the past. I'm only interested in the future, for that is where I expect to spend the rest of my life."STAY TOUGH
Bob Schuller enthuses, "tough times never last, but tough people do."THEY CALLED IT LUCK
"He worked by day, And toiled by night He gave up play and some delight. Dry books he read New things to learn, And forged ahead Success to earn. He plodded on with faith and pluck And when he won they called it luck!" Thomas Huxley wrote: "Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are important."
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Heroic Cats - Chapter 1
by Dennis Wendel
On the first of June our brave cat saves his mistress from the devious plot of her awful foe Thelma.My mistress was preparing for the Nationals. The house was littered with broken foils ready to be re-wired. The stereo was playing the theme song from Zorro and the TV was tuned to an old Errol Flynn movie ... when I spied the evil Thelma in the back bedroom about to dip my mistress's foil tips in non-conducting super long lasting wax! I tore through the living room scattering the budgies, terrifying the goldfish, trampling the delphiniums, laying to waste the jigsaw puzzle in my haste to reach Thelma and foil her nefarious plan. With my last breath I knocked Thelma out the window! All the while my mistress sat serenely, reading the FIE Rules and Regulations under the protection of God, country and her devoted cat.
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SABRE TEAM THROWS EVERY BOUT IN EXCHANGE FOR CHOCOLATE!
REGINA - In a shocking discovery, the Sask Sword has learned that the men's sabre team might not be as bad as their record would indicate.Apparently the team accepted payment from a Las Vegas bookie in return for throwing bouts. However, payment was not in the form of cash. According to highly placed sources, famous Hollywood chocolate magnate, Heidi Phleiss, organized a weekly chocolate orgy for every member of the lowly sabre team. "I personally don't care how well the team does" said Phleiss, "I am just doing what I have been hired to do. Las Vegas bookie Ugly Vinnie was also implicated in the scandal, "There is a lot of money to be had in CFF fencing. It makes no sense to take a chance on who might win when you can ensure you make a ton of money if you pay off the fencers" said Ugly Vinnie.
Very few fencers could be reached for comment but a left handed fencer with 12 toes offered his thoughts as long as his name was not released. "Right now we are very angry and disappointed" said the anonymous left handed fencer. "I don't know how we will go on without our regular chocolate. I mean our girl friends are good for a bit of chocolate now and then, and it's OK. But if you want to get it on a regular basis and have a taste for that exotic stuff Heidi's is phenomenal".
Right now, the remaining question that is on the minds of fencing fans across Canada, is how good could the team might have been if they weren't paid to lose. "We stink, but we don't suck" said the anonymous left handed fencer. "Heck, I could make my own mother cry for the stuff we get from Heidi."
Head coach John "Claude" Doe felt the same. "We certainly are not the best team in Canada but I'm sure we could have won at least a couple of bouts if the guys weren't getting paid off" said Doe. Doe was not paid off with the fencers but he was aware of the situation. "I'm not going to say that I agree with what the guys did but when I found out he didn't say anything cause I understand they are young. You know young kids they'll do anything for a bit of chocolate. I mean I remember myself at that age. I can't condemn them for something I would have done. It's not like any of them will ever make a living with their fencing skills.
The investigation has not been limited to the sabre team. The SFA Technical Committee is also under investigation on exchanging inactivity for chocolate but nothing has been discovered as of yet.
Apparently the Technical Committee agreed to look the other way if Heidi came across with some of her chocolate. A high ranking SFA official was unavailable for comment but did have a big grin on his face.
Two Prominent Fencers In Serious Condition
REGINA - Dennis Wendel and Doug Jackson underwent root canal surgery. Both are listed in serious but stable condition. Jackson will not be able to eat ribs for at least 6 weeks. Reports from the dental lab indicate Wendel's condition may have been brought on by too much exotic chocolate. When asked by the Sask Sword how he managed to get so much chocolate, Wendel just smiled.
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The Sabre Song
by Brent Shirkey, sabreur!
I have noticed that, much to my chagrin, the "Sabre Song", which appeared in the October 1992 edition of the SASKSWORD has only been repeated since by myself and 2 of my compatriots who together make up the Terrors of 'Toon Town. I think that this song is a great achievement in modern literature and art and should once again be put in the spotlight, so without any further interruptions, I present to you...THE SABRE SONG
Oh we are sabre fencers and we all adore bloodshed!
Come in striking distance and you'll leave without a head!
And someone with a foil is about as good as dead!
And not just that, we out perform the epeeists in bed!*
Chorus:
We are, we are, we are, we are, we are the sabre team!
We love, we love, we love, we love to hear our victims scream!
We slash, we stab, we cut off limbs, we maim and kill with glee!
If you have any wits at all when you see us you will flee!
The foilists are a wimpy lot who've never seen blood drawn!
And then those dolts, the epeeists, they make us want to yawn!
But we true men who want a sport packed full of blood and gore,
Have drawn our mighty sabres and dealt death at every door!
Chorus
Get your daughters off the street, we are the sabre team!
Foilists we mutilate and epeeists unseam!
And any man with any sense would run away and scream!
Women take care, you'd better beware, we are the sabre team!
Brent A. Shirkey, Sabre fencer.
PS: I would just like to say that the proper term for one who fences sabre is a sabreur, not a saberist, as many people like to call it. Maybe we should call the foilists foileurs and the epeeists epeeurs and see how they like it...
* Editor's Note: This assumes that there are no such persons as Women's Epeeists, Foilists and Sabreurs. The Women's Sabre Canadian champion is Donna Saworski, a chemical engineer who works in Toronto but who originally fenced foil in Saskatoon. Her parents live about 50 yards down the road.
I also recall at the Westerns in Saskatoon, when a Lady Sabreur named Anne Staarveldt from Alberta who remarked to a whining young man she had just trounced in a sabre bout that "If you can't keep up with the women, you had best get out of sabre". It should also be noted that noted foilist, Dennis Wendel, won silver at that tournament.
I do like your spirit and passion but a firmer footing in reality would help advance the primacy of our chosen weapon. Let's introduce others to the joys of a truly passionate weapon.
- Dennis Duncan, sabreur.
