Fencing Frustrations

Posted by Vulnadia on Feb 05, 2011 at 10:32 AM We all know it snowed yesterday...delivered the real deal, complete with bottom layer of ice for good measure & sticking insurance even. Schools and all school activities were cancelled with the anticipation of the pending snow...and that cancellation carried over to the weekend, sadly for us. So Friday afternoon rolls around, and we expected this weekend's High School Championships to be cancelled because they were to have been held at the school... Well, because Caddo cancelled the school activities, the organizers (who are NOT from a Caddo school but from a private fencing school locally) decided to instead just MOVE the tournament to their own sal...posing a HUGE problem for our team fencers. Sounds like they were being nice, but fact is, because the activities were cancelled, the students who normally check out equipment for these big tournaments could not because of liability issues: ie, the school would be going against the cancellation decree by loaning things out... Furthermore, any student on the team was told they could NOT represent Magnet in any way at this tournament should they choose to fence...even though this tournament is one of the Varsity letter requirements. This completely crushed my eldest since this was the only remaining requirement for his letter this year (he has one from last year already but wanted one for each year of high school-what kid wouldn't?) On top of it, they still have yet to cancel the tournament for some weird reason...and they would not... So we spent the afternoon trying to find out if he could fence at all at the tournament-it was already paid for even (fencing tournament fees are not cheap by any means and my kid is a 2 weapon fencer so he was entered in more than just one event.) As it turns out, he can fence without repercussion, but he cannot represent his team. Coach also waived the requirement for lettering thankfully, so this one doesn't count towards it. Coach swears there will be no repercussion for the kids fencing this weekend, but I have my copies in writing JUST IN CASE because the problem comes in that we must all have our home school as primary school on our fencing affilliation registration and it can only be changed once yearly and its not that time of year! So, this morning, at the crack of dawn, husband and my kiddo crept quietly to visit his fencing maestro at the fairfield school (our 2ndary affilliation listed even though technically it is where our loyalty lies) and borrowed the rest of the missing equipment (mostly epees for extra because they tend to break easily in competition and backup is necessary.) Because they refused to cancel this tournament, my kid feels all sorts of renegade having to sneak around and try to arrange for equipment to complete his gear and then having to fence as a pirate so-to-say...even if he wins, the school cannot recognize his victory or any rating he may glean from the tournament...its very sad... But they slid over to the other fencing school for the tournament early this morning, making just in time for check-in but barely because of all the ice... He's there now, working himself in hopes of training for Junior Olympics which will be in Dallas week after next (Presidents Day is his competition date.) We've spent the better part of our snow day dealing with fencing frustrations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Community Theater, Stage Work, Haunted Attractions, Shocktale Terror Show,GLP, Gas Light Players, Renaissance Festivals, Writing, Directing,Acting, Sewing, Literature, Art & Music.on the web http://gaslightplayers.com.MomsLikeMe Discussion Leader Send to Friends Facebook Publish to a group