Sunday, June 19, 2011

Vassar College Fencing

Story by Philip J. Daly

From obscurity to prominence, Vassar College has entered a new era in its fencing history under the guidance of Coach Bruce Gillman and Assistant Coach Eric Sovka. The Brewers season included a host of first time accomplishments; inclusive of a 17-10 victory over an extremely respectable a NYU team to whom they suffered a 14-13 loss in their first meet of the year. Believe me when I say NYU is and always has been a powerhouse in the fencing world so this was no small accomplishment. The Vassar Brewers Women’s Team finished the season with a 31-7 record which can be counted as their best record to date. Fencing Meets have 27 bouts and are comprised of individual fencers fencing 9 Epee bouts, 9 Foil bouts and 9 Saber bouts. Vassar’s Women’s Team had many stellar performances this year; inclusive of Julie Carlsen (Saber) 68-25, Brooke Schieffer (Saber) 64-24, Katie LeClair (Foil) 79-22, Jackie Kory (Foil) 77-27, Sophie Courser (Epee) 84-15, Caitlin Clevenger (Epee) 68-28 and Victoria Weser (Epee) 69-36. Coach Gilman was recognized for his leadership a unanimous selection as the 2010-11 Northeast Conference Coach of the Year.

The Vassar Brewers Men’s Team finished the season with a 23-12 record lead by fencing sensation Andrew Fischl with a 53-8 (Saber) personal record. Additional strong performances were turned in by Tavish Pegram with a 60-15 (Epee) personal record, Alex Bue with a 56-40 (Foil) personal record, Michael D’Urso with a 60-15 (Foil) Nick Johnson with a 60-23 (Epee) personal record and Brian Rouse with a 62-24 (Epee) personal record.

To read more about the Vassar Brewers Fencing program go to http://www.vassarathletics.com/index.aspx?tab=fencing2&path=wfence

2010-11 Vassar Men’s Team Roster
Tushar Agarwal
John Arden
Alex Blue
Dennis D’Urso
Michael D’Urso
Andrew Fischl
Nicholas Johnson
Conr Kenny
Kenny Lee
Nichloas Mongillo
Tavish Pegram
Gabriel Perez
Brian Rouse
Matt Steinschneider
Alex Castola
Giovanni Zaccheo

2010-11 Vassar Women’s Team Roster
Tracy Bratt
Julie Carlsen
Caitlin Clevenger
Sophie Courser
Comino Gehard-O’Connell
Alia Heintz
Elizabeth Ilechko
Jillian Kosimovich
Jacquelin Kory
Katie LeClair
Brooke Schieffer
Hallie Stotler
Katharine Sweeney
Emma Telischi
Victorua Weiss
Veronica Weser

Friday, June 17, 2011

Cobra Fencing Club

Steve Kaplan is no stranger to fencing and has earned the title of Fencing Master. As a competitor he has racked up numerous awards and was a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic Saber Team, a silver medalist at the 1975 Pan American Games, a 4 time U.S. National Team Champion, an 1971 NCAA All-American fencing for NYU, a Varsity Coach at NYU from 1980 to 1986 and was elected to the NYU Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2002, Steve Kaplan founded the Cobra Fencing club is located at 629 Grove Street, Jersey City, NJ just outside the Holland Tunnel between 16th & 18th Streets. Coach Demetrios “Mitro” Valsamis applies his talents at the Cobra Fencing Club since 2003. Mitro is also no stranger to fencing and his accomplishments include; 1979 and 1980 Under-19 U.S. Foil Champion, 1976 and 1977 U.S. Cadet Saber Champion, 1983 NCAA Foil Champion fencing for NYU.

Cobra Fencing offers group and individual fencing lessons to children 6 years and older. Cobra Fencing offers two (2) sessions of a “Learn to Fence Summer Camp” from June 27 to July 1, 2011 and then again from July 11 to July 15, 2011 with a multi-week discount of 10%. They are a New Jersey Licensed Camp. You may contact the Cobra Fencing Club at (201) 882-2879 or visit them at www.cobrafencing.com

Ward Melville High School Fencing

Jeff & Jennie Salmon have dedicated countless personal hours to the development of high school fencers at Ward Melville High School. Their dominance in both men’s and women’s fencing are what legends are made of. Jennie has coached the women’s team to their 10th straight unbeaten season while Jeff has coached the men’s team to their 5th straight unbeaten season. The Ward Melville Patriots have sent 47 fencers to NCAA programs and 4 have been All-Americans. Jeff & Jennie were recently featured in Sports Illustrated in the Faces in the Crowd section http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/scorecard/faces/2011/04/18/.

Jeff Salmon attended and fenced for Penn State University and Jennie attended and fenced for Temple University. Jeff & Jennie are owners of Mission Fencing Center located at 346 Route 25A # 82, Rocky Point, NY 11778, telephone number (631) 821-1131. Together they have hosted numerous local and national fencing tournaments. The Mission Fencing Center offers introductory classes, intermediate classes, competitive classes, foot work and conditioning classes and summer camps. You may visit the Mission Fencing Center at www.missionfencingcenter.com

Proprintwear's High School Fencing Views

USA 3881, Russia 237, Germany 156, Slovenia 97, Canada 61, Moldova 58, Netherlands 58, China 40, Ukraine 33, Uzbekistan 33.

Proprintwear Tournaments

New York World Cup at the New York Athletic Club, 180 Central Park South, New York, NY 11019 from June 24 to June 26, 2011.

United States Fencing Association Summer Nationals, Reno, NV from July 1 to July 10, 2011.

Printwear Magazine June 2011 Issue

Printwear Magazine is largest and most recognized trade publication in our line of business. We are greatly pleased to have been featured in the June 2011 issue. http://printwearmag.com/article/heat-transfer-sublimation/niche-case-studies. Here is the article:

If you’ve ever been to a fencing tournament in the U.S. and bought a T-shirt, there’s a good chance it came from decorated apparel operation Proprintwear.

Owner Philip Daly has built a profitable business catering to fencing tournaments and organizations across the United States and recently was named the official merchandiser of the United States Fencing Association, a prized and difficult contract.

Daly started his business offering screen printing and embroidery in 1996 as a part-time venture and still operates it while working full time as a detective in Long Island. As a former competitive fencer and later a national referee, fencing tournaments were a natural market for him to target.

After getting his first merchandising contract in 2001, Daly started suffering from growth pains as his on-site business expanded. One challenge was having to ship screen printed and embroidered apparel to each event. As he wanted to offer more shirt styles, designs and colors, the logistics became a difficult and expensive proposition and he’d often get stuck with shirts.

Oftentimes, Proprintwear is an official merchandiser, which means owner Philip Daly can offer shirts with the event's name and logo and other related merchandise. In these cases, Daly pays a royalty to the organization. He also designs most of the graphics and is occasionally inspired by customer conversations he overhears in his booth. Images courtesy Proprintwear, East Setauket, N.Y.

“Sometimes I’d end up with several hundred shirts that were event-specific so I was unable to sell them later,” says Daly. “They ended up as donations.”

Daly solved this problem by switching the bulk of his production to custom transfers. “At the level I am at now, I couldn’t function without transfers,” he says. “Not preprinting shirts saves me a tremendous amount of money on shipping and increases customer satisfaction because buyers choose exactly what they want. If I were to bring all the possible combinations, there wouldn’t be room in my booth. I’d run out of space.”

The degree and amount of merchandise varies by event as Daly travels to everything from regional tournaments all the way up to national competitions that last for 10 days. But, in general, he offers a wide range of merchandise for infants up to grandparents. Top sellers include long- and short-sleeve T-shirts, sweatshirts, and women’s wear. He also offers commemorative merchandise such as stickers, patches and lanyards.

Set up in a 30-foot booth, the company offers a full shopping experience. Attendees choose from garments hanging on racks—smaller events may have up to six racks and larger events up to 15 racks. At the back of the pop-up tent is a wall that contains the 300-plus designs available. For single-color designs, customers can choose from one of three colors. And there are plenty of multicolor design options as well ranging up to nine colors in some instances.

One of Proprintwear’s most popular designs features the name of every single participant in the tournament, and Daly credits the continual improving quality of transfers to his ability to offer this. “There’s been a three-hundred-percent improvement in the ability to put individual names on the shirts,” he says.

He has found that he can get 1,500 individual names on an 11" X 14" transfer, which will fit on a youth small T-shirt. When tournaments have more than 1,500 participants, he splits the alphabet into two or even three sections. Often he’ll have these shirts on display not only in his booth, but also at registration and where participants check their equipment so they get maximum exposure.

Individuals’ names also are available as part of Proprintwear’s รก la carte, design-your-own T-shirt services. Designs range from ½" X 2" to 11" X 14" so often, a customer may want a design on the back, a left-chest design on the front and their name. Employees heat print the shirts while the customer waits.

To keep track of the 300 designs in multiple colors and sizes, Daly uses plastic totes that store designs alphabetically. Although it would be less expensive for Daly to purchase the multicolor designs as digital transfers, all event transfers are the screen printed type. “We may have thirty to fourty customers in our booth at one time,” he notes. “We need to maintain the simplicity of applying only one type of transfer so we don’t have to keep changing the time and temperature.”

Sales have continued to climb each year, and Daly is anticipating a 25 percent increase for 2011. He attributes part of that increase to his understanding of his market. “I think we are tapping into what the market can afford. We are gearing our product line to that level,” he says.

Monday, June 13, 2011

2011 Mission Motorcycle Madness Tournament

The 2011 Mission Motorcycle Madness Tournament concluded on Saturday, June 11, 2011 in Rocky Point, New York. It was a great and had fought finish that entertained all the spectators. Mission Fencing out did themselves by awarding 3 HOT! Road Bikes to the winners. The tournament format included 3 events where fencers amassed points from each event for the final results. Here are the final results:

Epee Results:
1. Dmytro Chumak
2. Atilla Lukacs
3. Lasha Sopromadze
4. Brian Heflich
5. Michael Shaw
6. Andre Blue
7. Mike Quackenbush
8. Daniel Lynch
9. Jake Goldberg
10. Mathew Frederick
11. Matthew Homan
12. Mykhaylo Mokretsov
13. Alex Tsinis
14. Justin Meehan
15. Nathan Bailey
16. Sean McGeveran
17. Kwabena Amanquah
18. Jack Greenfield
19. Tudor Saitoc
20. Marvin Dacis
21. Tyler Montalvo
22. Jeff Spahn
23. Daniel Hurwitz
23. Brent Schottenfeld
25. Andrey Sokolov
26. Tim Stein
27. Christian Skitmore
28. Maria Mucci
29. Melanie Holl
30. Thomas Hobbs
31. Mark Duffy

Foil Results:
1. Robert Nunziato
2. Brendan Meyers
3. Adam Mathieu
4. Stuart Holmes
5. Andrew Holmes
6. Christopher Sullivan
7. James Whittle
8. Michael Antipas
9. Alexander Harwood
10. Samuel McCauley
11. Devon Reina
12. Daniel Sconzo
13. Nitai Kfir
14. Eric Pizzuti
15. Jose Samora
16. Wilfred Curioso
17. Stephen Jan
18. Ryan Murphy
19. Adam Pantel
20. Alexander Szilagyi
21. Julian Fevry
22. John Petrie IV
23. Timothy Wheeler
24. Andrew Foster
25. Glenn Pantel
26. Muhammad Khallaf
27. Demi Antipas
28. Nolen Scruggs
29. Felix Garo
30. Marcus Russo
31. Gregory St. Clair
32. James Conlan
33. Dennis Liaw
34. Ray Sarant
35. Jared Moseley
36. Rowan St. Clair
37. Justin Meehan
38. Jacob Harder
39. Jeff Harriss


Saber Results:
1. Daniel Bak
2. Mihail Etropokski
3. Alexa Antipas
4. Alexa Rohan
5. Graham Brown
6. Tim Morehouse
7. Will Spear
8. Vincent Argenzio
9. Luther Clement
10. Tommy Gerrity
11. Benjamin Loft
12. Rienzi Gokea
13. Kara Lee
14. Carly Weber-Levine
15. Andrew Herczak
16. Werner Jansen
17. Chris Sullivan
18. Adam Mandel
19. Justin Meehan
20. Alex Harwood
21. Justin Oh
22. Jeff Harriss
23. Devon Reina
24. Jared Moseley
25. Kevin O'Grady
26. Joseph Brajdic
27. Nathalie Jean-Louis
28. Deniz Berkay
29. Alex Smith
30. Dave Rabinowitz

2011 New York World Cup

The United States Fencing Association and the New York Athletic Club are hosting the New York World Cup at the New York Athletic Club, 180 Central Park South, New York, NY 11019 from June 24 to June 26, 2011. Proprintwear is proud to have been chosen as the “Official Merchandiser” for this event.

The Fencing shall be top caliber as athletes from around the world gather to compete for world titles. Fencers from the United States have stepped up their game in recent years winning various international and Olympic medals. Mariel Zagunis looks to repeat her gold medal performance at the 2012 Olympic Games and the New York World Cup is part of the qualifying path to the 2012 Olympic Games. Ibihaj Muhammad, Dagmara Wozniak, Daria Schneider and Aksamit Moinca have also been fencing extremely well for the United States and well worth following during the New York World Cup. For the US Men; Daryl Homer, Tim Morehouse, James Williams and Jeff Spear are fencing extremely well and look to further their efforts to secure an invitation to the 2012 Olympic Games as well. Ben Igoe and Luther Clement are also strong contenders as should not be overlooked.

The New York Athletic Club was founded in 1868 and in the writer’s opinion sets the mark for all other sports clubs to emulate. A dress code is strictly enforced and may be viewed at http://www.nyac.org/. The New York Athletic Club offers an exquisite Dining Room with an unforgettable and spectacular view of the Long Island Sound perfect for a romantic sunset dining experience.

Here is a list of competitors for the United States in alphabetical order:

USA Men’s Saber Athlete Selections:
Eric Arzoian
Adrian Bak
Daniel Bak
Daniel Berliner
Brad Baker
Zachery Brown
Sean Buckley
Jason Choy
Luther Clement
Ewan Douglas
Rhys Douglas
Mihail Etropolski
Andrew Fischl
John Hallsten
Daryl Homer
Ben Igoe
Daniel Kim
Adam Mandel
Tim Morehouse
Alexander Ochocki
Evan Prochniak
Alexander Ryjik
Allen Schneider
Peter Souders
Jeff Spear
Will Spear
Kaito Streets
James Williams
Steven Yang
Avery Zuck

USA Men’s Saber Alternate Athlete Selections:
Adam Austin
Isaac Buchwald
Charles Copti
Denis Dukhvalov
Evangelos Efstahiou
Rienza Gokea
Peter Pak
Teddy Weller

USA Women’s Saber Athlete Selections:
Hareen Ahmad
Monica Aksamit
Emma Barratta
Laura Decker
Essane Diedro
Loweye Diedro
Nicole Glon
Alisha Gomez
Sarah Gruman
Lena Johnson
Tiki Kastor
Claudia Kulmacz
Margaret McDonald
Celina Merza
Faizah Muhammad
Ibihaj Muhammad
Lain Osier
Sage Palmedo
Lauren Phillips
Anastasia Pineschi
Skyla Powers
Samantha Roberts
Francesca Russo
Aleksandra Sakowicz
Daria Schneider
Annabel Sharahy
Kamali Thompson
Dagmara Wozniak
Mariel Zagunis
Erica Zhao

USA Women’s Saber Alternate Athlete Selections:
Aziza Hassan

New York Fencing Academy- NYFA

New York Fencing Academy- NYFA

Hours of Operation: Mon, Wed, Fri 3pm- 9pm
Tue 9am- 2pm
Sat 8:30am- 7:30 pm

Head Coach: Misha Mokretsov

Notable Students: Skyler Chin, Annie Morelli, Gabriel Canaux, Daniel Hurwitz, Anna Brosgol, Romain Cannone, Peye Wong, Bennett Cohen, and Mitchell Revich.

Programs: Our classes range from beginner groups to individualized lessons for all ages, depending on your personal interest and needs. Please visit our Website at www.nyfencingacademy.com for more information.

Please feel free to contact us at 718-996-0426 or e-mail us at info.nyfa@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

New York Fencing Academy (NYFA) Training Camps

The New York Fencing Academy (NYAC) has announced their Pre-Summer National Training Camp and Summer Camp Sessions with Coach Mykhaylo Mokretsov.

The New York Fencing Academy- NYFA is located at 2896 W 12th ST, Brooklyn, NY 11224 and may be reached at (347) 741-1343. Ask for Club Manager Viola Lee and visit them at www.nyfencingacademy.com for more information.

Pre- Summer National Camps: June 20-29, 2011 (except Sunday).
NYFA Summer Camp Session 1: August 1-5, 2011.
NYFA Summer Camp Session 2: August 22-26,2011.
NYFA Summer Camp Session 3: August 29-September 2, 2011.

Friday, June 10, 2011

New Articles

Looking to feature some high school programs and private clubs on our blog site. Articles can include program information, accomplishments, camp information, staff profiles, etc… If interested please send us a message.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

2011 Summer Nationals

The United States Fencing Association shall be hosting their annual Summer National Championships from July 1 to July 10, 2011 and the 2011 Pan American Zonal Championships from July 4 to July 9, 2011 at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center (Hall 4-5), Reno, Nevada. This tournament represents a celebration of the Sport of Fencing in the United States.

Fencing disciplines are broken down into 3 weapons; Epee, Foil and Saber. Each discipline shall play host to various brackets including; Youth 10, Youth 12, Youth 14, Cadet, Juniors, Veterans 40, Veterans 50, Veterans 60, Veterans 70 and Team Events. There are 3,449 athletes presently registered to fence totaling 6668 entries.

Fencing is offered at the club, high school and college level and athletes commonly start fencing as young as 5 years old and often parents of fencers start to fence after their children have first engaged in the sport. The areas of target for each weapon and the principles of right differs for each discipline which accommodates each athletes various athletic abilities. How to start? Search our listings of clubs local to your area and give them a call. Most offer group lessons to start at a reasonable fee and if you fall in love with the sport you may progress into individual lessons and a club membership.

The United States Fencing Association is the National Governing Body for the Sport of Fencing as designated by the United States Olympic Committee. Fencing is officiated by Referees trained in the disciplines of each weapon and rated on a national (1 to 10 with 1 being the best) and/or international scale (A to C with A being the best).

PhilipJames Photography has posted more than 20,000 photographs of fencing. This could provide to be a wonderful reference point to educate prospective athletes, parents and administrators as to the beauty of our sport.

Proprintwear shall be in attendance at this event offering thousands of fencing related products to choose from. Proprintwear’s Owner Philip Daly was first a fencer, a National Referee and now a business owner committed to promoting the sport of fencing. You may visit Proprintwear at the National Tournaments, Super Youth Circuits, and local Tournaments or at our web site www.proprintwear.com. Proprintwear has appeared as the Official Merchandiser at such Fencing Clubs as; Mission Fencing, Rochester Fencing Club, Cobra Fencing Club, and the National Fencing Foundation of Washington, D.C..

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Proprintwear's High School Fencing Blog is BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

We apologize for the vast amount of emptiness in this blog, but life has twisted and turned quite a bit lately. Here at Proprintwear we have been busy, busy, busy! Please send us your advertisements for your personal, team and/or club’s accomplishments and we shall act quickly to post them on Proprintwear’s High School Fencing Blog.

Proprintwear is once again the “Official Merchandiser” for the United States Fencing Association having signed a five (5) year contract concluding 2015. Proprintwear has contributed more than $300,000 back to the sport of fencing through our many tournament appearances. Proprintwear attends fencing tournaments on a percentage of sales supplying a complete and comprehensive product line. This is a no risk factor for your group provided by Proprintwear and you’re guaranteed to make a profit.

Proprintwear offers other customer services in the areas of customized patches and customized socks and our clients have included; Columbia, Harvard, UPenn, Northwestern, Ohio State, Wellesley, Vassar, numerous High School Teams and Fencing Clubs. Our fencing socks have been worn to numerous World Cups and several Olympics. Drop us a line to discuss customizing patches and/or socks for your team and/or club.

We have been busy developing a few new product lines and expanding our current selection. Stop by our web site www.proprintwear.com.

Proprintwear is proud to introduce PhilipJames Photography. PhilipJames Photography provides a secondary source of revenue to tournament organizers. PhilipJames Photography attends fencing tournaments on a percentage of sales supplying a complete and comprehensive product line accessible to athletes and parents at www.philipjamesphotography.com. This is a no risk factor for your group provided by PhilipJames Photography.

You may contact us at proprintwear@optonline.net to discuss our attendance at your event.

It’s that time again for the United States Fencing Association’s Summer Nationals and Proprintwear will be there offering thousands of products to choose from. Proprintwear has employed a new booth design enhancing our ability to display our product line. Proprintwear has recently purchased a Point of Sales Bar Coding system which we expect to be in service for the 2012 season. We shall be introducing a Proprintwear Club membership whereas purchases shall be accumulated for free merchandise.
Commentary and/or posts are to be well intentioned and respectful. This is not a place to cause pain or grief, but rather give national prominence to our athletes and sport.

We at Proprintwear are proud of our association with the sport of fencing. Our owner was first a Fencer, secondly a National Referee and now a business owner committed to furthering the image of fencing.