Szathmary Open 2014 Results

Congratulations to the following:

• Alumnus Parth Deshmukh for placing 3rd in Mixed Epee and renewing his B2014 in epee
• Arthur Lim for placing 7th in Mixed Epee and earning his C2014 in Epee
• Alumnus Parth Deshmukh for 1st place in Mixed Foil
• Arthur Lim for placing 3rd in Mixed Foil
• Daniel Bodamer for placing 6th in Mixed Foil and earning his C2014 in foil
• Maxwell Curtis for placing 11th in Mixed Foil and earning his E2014 in foil
• Alumnus Parth Deshmukh for placing 2nd in Mixed Sabre
• Kevin Zhu for placing 3rd in Mixed Sabre
• Anthony Betts for placing 5th in Mixed Sabre

For all results from the Szathmary Open, click on the link to AskFred. https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=27630

Homecoming 2014

For the first time ever, the Yellow Jacket Fencing Club participated in Homecoming Week. We placed 7^th out of 20 teams in the clubs and organizations division. Not a bad start for our first year!

YJFC club members competed in Iron Buzz, Trivia Night, the Scavenger Hunt, and the Mini 500. Although we discovered that trivia is not a fencer’s forte, our team placed first overall in the club division of Iron Buzz with Jack Mueller on bike, Alex Nikoukary running, and Matt Bernstein swimming. We also put in an impressive showing in the Mini 500, placing third in the co-ed division. The team was made up of Dalton Mulkey, Jack Mueller, Kevin Zhu, and Anthony Betts as racers and Fiona Wong, Keith Johnson, and Matt Bernstein making up the pit crew.

YJFC's In-House Tournament!

On Sunday, October 26th, we had the first In-House Tournament of the year. We had a large turnout with 10-15 participants per weapons!


Thank you to Tim Kierkzowski and Keith Johnson for hosting and running the tournament! Also thanks to Matt Bernstein, Arthur Lim, Kevin Lyn, Parth Deskhmukh, Leslie McConnell, and Jess Shimko for refereeing for the tournament.

Congratulations to the Top 4 Foilists!
From left to right: Daniel Bodamer (1st), Susanna Dong (3rd), Valerie Avva (2nd)
Absent: Max Curtis (3rd)
Keith Johnson (furthest left) was this tournament's 1-man bout committee!

Congratulation to the Top 4 Epeeists

[ Picture not acquired. :( ]

1st: Arthur Lim

2nd: James McAveavey

3rd: Jack Mueller

3rd: Matthew Lemons

Congratulation to the Top 4 Saberists!
James Kelly (left, 2nd), Kevin Zhu (right, 1st)
Absent: Daniel Bodamer (3rd), Alex Nikoukary (3rd)

Tiger Open 2014

All fencers from the club - from the newbies who've fenced for only 2 months, up to the seasoned veterans of the sport - woke up early to get to Clemson, SC for our first USFA tournament of the year. See below for placements and photos of the tournament!

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Tiger Open placements

• Keith Johnson for earning his E14 in both epee events
• Arthur Lim for renewing his B14 in Open Foil
• Matt Bernstein for earning his E14 in Div3 Foil
• Daniel Bodamer and Keith Johnson: Top 16 in Open Epee
• Cory Walker and Keith Johnson: Top 8 in Div3 Epee
• James McAreavey and Jack Mueller: Top 16 in Div3 Epee
• Alumnus Parth Deshmukh: 2nd place in Open Foil
• Arthur Lim: 3rd place in Open Foil
• Matt Bernstein: Top 8 in Div3 Foil
• Sukwon Shin: Top 16 in Div3 Foil
• Kevin Lyn: Top 16 in both sabre events

Click here to see all results from the Tiger Open.

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Photos from Tiger Open

The YJFC epeeists chilling out on an early Saturday morning.

Leslie McConnell (left) fencing against UT's Katie Keirstead (right)

Cool YJFC track jackets.

The YJFC foilists chilling out on an early Sunday morning.

Parth Deshmukh (left) fencing against Lawrence Tan (right) in the Round of 8

Matt Bernstein (right)

Parth Deshmukh (second from left) and Arthur Lim (second from right) at the awards ceremony

Photos courtesy of our awesome collegiate fencing buddies, the University of Tennessee.

Murder Among the Mateys

On October 25^th, the Yellow Jacket Fencing Team had it’s 4^th Annual Murder Mystery Party. This year’s theme (which matched GT’s homecoming theme) was Pirates!

Fencers got to act as pirates, wenches, and merchants enjoying a party at the The Salty Sea Dog. During the party, however, things took a turn for the worse and Merciless Morgan was found dead! It was then up to the characters to figure out who had killed him and why. Players completed their own personal objectives while also talking to and bargaining with others for clues.

Overall, the fencers had a great time solving the mystery. Thanks to Social Committee for organizing this awesome event!  

Fall SIFA

On October 3^rd, twenty-two members of the Yellow Jacket Fencing Club traveled down to Gainesville, Florida for the inaugural Southern Intercollegiate Fencing Association (SIFA) tournament. Teams for men and women’s saber, men and women’s epee, and women’s foil competed in the tournament, which was held at the University of Florida. Saturday started off with a clinic in the morning, followed by the men’s events on Saturday afternoon. Women’s events were held on Sunday morning. All of the Yellow Jacket teams placed highly and both the men and women’s saber teams won all of their matchups. Tech fencers made new friends from UGA, UF, ECU, UM, Clemson, and UT. We can’t wait for Spring SIFA!

Max, Dalton, and Alan as Georgia Tech's male foil squad.

Brittni (right), sabre, finishing an attack

Leslie, epee, lunging at her opponent

Fencing Field Day

Back in September, we had a fencing field day. Several fencers gathered together outside of the CRC on Saturday morning and then headed over to Tech Green to participate in the games.

The day started out with lunch on Tech Green followed by games like kickball and cornhole.  Then after everyone had some time to hang out, the competition began! Fencers were split into five teams to compete in the days’ activities.

“Team Number 1”

Jack, Cory, Alex, Maeve and Eric

“The Wombats”

Anthony, Leslie, Nora, Fiona, Vlad

The teams sprinted, spun, and jumped up and down Tech Green as they competed in different relays races.  Some of the relay races were used as practice for some of the Homecoming Events that will be happening soon.

Dizzy Bat Race

Wheelbarrow Race

Then it was on to Tug of War. The teams started out competing against each other, but soon there was some need for weapon rivalry.

Sabre and Foil (left) vs. Épée (right)

After all the games were over, some of the fencers headed over to Yogli Mogli for some frozen yogurt and Just Dance to wrap up the day.

Georgia Meet & Greet

On an early Sunday morning of September 14th, 19 fencers drove up to UGA for the annual Georgia Meet & Greet. This year's Meet & Greet included UGA, Clemson, and KSU - with 4 foil, 7 epee, and 7 saber squads competing in total.

Tech A vs. Tech B, with referee Matt Bernstein.

Saberist MC Adams (right).

Most fencers who competed had only spent a few weeks learning to hold a blade, while the more experienced fencers coached or refereed. Fencers learned how to act appropriately in a fencing tournament, as well as get to know the other schools' fencers. After the tournament stretched to the mid-afternoon, the fencers packed up and headed over to stuff themselves in a buffet.

Georgia Meet & Greet 2014's Georgia Tech fencers!

Fencing Statistics

Kevin Lyn, President

The Yellow Jacket Fencing Club is proud to present its Fall 2014 numbers and statistics. Once again, the club experienced exceptional growth, increasing the number of dues paying members to 97. Of those members, 37.1% are female, which is higher than the institute’s ratio of 33% female.

YJFC Cookout

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the hiatus, but we YJFC members were getting too busy having fun with new members. Officers and other veteran fencers got together to coordinate over 50 prospective fencers and teach them the ways of fencing - from footwork to bladework to the three weapons. As of today, we have over 70 dues-paying members in our club!

Last Saturday, the club hosted our annual cookout, where fencers got to mingle together on top of the Curran Parking Deck for Four Square, basketball, volleyball, burgers, hotdogs, and chatter.

Fencers gather around for food and fun!

New fencers also got to be paired up with veteran fencers for the Vets and Wrecks program. This program was designed for new members to get to know more about the club and GT life through a seasoned member, as well as meet a new friend! Some Vets received their first Wreck ever, while others have built up a Wreck family.

President Kevin Lyn (right) with his Wreck Matt O'Brien.

Social committee chair Jess Shimko (second from right) with her Wreck family!

Although the forecast predicted rain, no rain came to ruin the fun!

First Newbie Practice of the Year!

To veteran members, welcome back! To prospectives, welcome!

Practice times are updated on the website, but to reiterate, they are on Tuesdays 8-10pm, Thursdays 8-10pm, and Sundays 5-7pm through Oct 16, and Sundays 4-6pm starting at Oct 18. Practices are always at the CRC 4th Floor back courts.

For prospectives new to the YJFC, your first practices will be on August 19th and 21st. Make sure to wear athletic clothing - no jeans and sandals allowed!

For all (prospectives and veterans), you will get more information regarding dues, when to pay them, and other useful information on our awesome emailing list. Subscribe now, if you're not already!

YJFC in the Summer

While the YJFC is mostly active during the Fall and Spring, members who wish to fence during the Summer semester may do so upon request and approval on the Facebook group.

Coming soon - luring unsuspecting freshmen into the YJFC via FASET! Mwahahaha....

YJFC 2014-15 Appointed Positions

Congratulations to the following fencers who were appointed to leadership positions for the 2014-15 year:

Foil Squad Leader - Matt Bernstein
Sabre Squad Leader - Maeve Nagle
Sabre Squad Leader - Kevin Lyn
Epee Squad Leader - Fiona Wong
Epee Squad Leader - Daniel Bodamer

PR Committee Head - Susanna Dong
Social Committee Head - Jessica Shimko
Armory Committee Head - Elizabeth Vencill
Tournament Committee Head - Timothy Kierzkowski

The responsibilities of travel coordinator will be added to the responsibilities of the VP.

YJFC 2014-15 Executive Board Election Results

Congratulation to the 2014-2015 Yellow Jacket Fencing Club Executive Board: 

President: Kevin Lyn
Vice President: Susanna Dong
Team Captain: Jessica Shimko
Treasurer: Leslie McConnell
Secretary: Matt Bernstein

The new board will take effect at the last board meeting of this semester. 

Some YJFC Updates

Waiting for the YJFC Family & Alumni newsletter? Fear not - the March/April edition will be out soon! In the meantime, how about you check out a Technique article about the YJFC? http://nique.net/life/2014/03/27/fencing-hosts-successful-tournament/

If you're a member of the YJFC, make sure to come the practice on Tuesday, April 1st at 6pm because election speeches will be done at that time! Appointed positions are also going to be available at the same time.

We're wrapping up the YJFC "season" with the Collegiate Fencing Championships on April 5-6, and Volunteer Open on April 12-13.

Shameless Advertising!

Have you seen the YJFC's many cool t-shirt designs? Chances are you have! Traditionally, these t-shirt designs are limited edition - that means if the club has sold out the t-shirts, they'll never exist as t-shirts again...

Until now!

The YJFC has set up a Society6 account filled with old t-shirt designs. Select from t-shirts to prints to mugs! Maybe even a throw pillow or two...

YJO in 3 Days!

Hey guys!

The Yellow Jacket Fencing Club is preparing itself for its Fifth Annual Yellow Jacket Open, hosted in Georgia Tech's Campus Recreation Center, or the CRC as Georgia Tech students like to call it. Every part of the YJO will be run by YJFC members - whether bout committee, armorer, referee, first-aid, or t-shirt vendor. Members who aren't volunteering will be on the fencing strip!

If you haven't preregistered for an event, what are you waiting for? Go to AskFred! Remember - epee and sabre are on Saturday, while foil is on Sunday.

For those coming, please make sure you read the YJFC's CRC guide. It contains general rules for the YJO and CRC, a navigation guide of the CRC, and a list of nearby restaurants sorted by distance. Make sure to read this carefully!

Even for those who aren't planning to fence or don't even know what fencing is, the YJFC encourages people to come watch our annual tournament. Make sure to not crowd on the 5th floor track or get too close to the weapons...

For me, I will wake up at 7 in the morning to get ready, put on a business suit, and referee all day. The next day, I will return to the CRC with gym clothes and a fencing bag by my side as I fence my first YJO as a member of the YJFC. (Last year, I contracted pneumonia the week before YJO. Please take care of yourself in these few days!)

See everyone at the YJO!

Countdown: 2 Weeks!

Hope everyone survived Snowpocalypse 2.0 and kept themselves warm.

Firstly, congratulations to Alumnus Parth Deshmukh for earning his A rating in foil at the Green Gator tournament!

Speaking of foil, yesterday was the mock tournament for foil! Congratulations to Zeeshan Rasheed and Susanna Dong placing 3rd, Elizabeth Vencill for placing 2nd, and Matt Bernstein placing 1st in the mock tournament (left to right).

Tonight, the YJFC will have their first ever Spring semester Gender Segregated Team Bonding Night! Every GSTBN I've been to were fun (and a breath of fresh air from the guys), so I'm excited to participate in it again.

Also, the Family & Alumni Newsletter should be sent out early next week, for those who were wondering. It will include the past tournaments and socials, so there will be a lot in store!

Countdown: 3 weeks!

This week is pretty quiet, but it doesn't mean the YJFC hasn't been doing anything. The Yellow Jacket Open is only 22 days away!

The YJFC has prepared mock tournaments for foil and sabre in the next two weeks to prepare ourselves in fencing and running the tournament. But that doesn't mean we're not going to relax - next Saturday, Feb. 15 is our Gender Segregated Team Bonding Night, a YJFC fencer's favorite social!

Until then, best of luck for those going to Green Gator, and hope to see everyone at the Yellow Jacket Open!

First mock tournament of the year!

UGA Open happened last weekend.

But suddenly Snowpocalypse 2014 happened.  (For those who don't know, Georgia had a previous "Snowpocalypse" in 2011, where a good 3 inches of snow fell and the roads froze, causing an entire shutdown of the metro Atlanta area for 9? days.)  The difference being that 2in of snow fell in the middle of the day, and all roads were in gridlock.  Trust me, I experienced it myself on Tuesday night.

Anyways, I digress.  Just hours ago was our first mock tournament of the year!  These mock tournaments were designed to help prepare tournament committee manage bout committee for the upcoming Yellow Jacket Open, as well as train fencers in a tournament-style fencing.  Pools, direct elimination, etc.

We held an epee event of 10 people - 6 epeeists, 2 foilists, and 2 sabreists.  In general, the group had a fun time fencing each other.  And those who were knocked out of the DEs (direct elimination) continued free fencing as the tournament continued.

From left to right: Krunal Patel (1st), Jack Mueller (2nd), Keith Johnson (3rd), Elizabeth Vencill (3rd).  Congratulations to the Top 4 of our Epee Mock Tournament!

The 14th will be foil, and the 21st will be sabre.  See you there!

Geoff Elder

I think it was yesterday that the "fencing high" finally wore off after going to Geoff Elder.  This was my third time going to Statesboro for a fencing tournament and it's always been a fun experience to travel with the YJFC.  For my first time in Geoff Elder, I enjoyed it - small and relaxed, with a lot of cool fencers to fence against and talk with.

On the Saturday of the tournament weekend, I was entered impromptu into the Open Epee tournament.  Although I was not physically or mentally prepared for the event, I felt a lot better in epee than I was a year ago, thanks to the couple of months fencing foil.  Anthony Betts and Cory Walker were also fencing in the Open, as well as the C&Under.  And for some reason, the YJFC just ended up running half the tournament...

Anthony Betts awaiting to fence.  Alex O'Connor and Parth Deshmukh at one side of the strip.  Matt Bernstein testing weapons, and me timing/scorekeeping for Matt.

The Sunday tournaments were also fun but a whole lot more challenging.  As a first-year foilist, needless to say, I didn't do so well.  In the Open Foil, Matt Bernstein, Alex O'Connor, and I seeded such that we had to fence each other for a spot in the finals.  Matt got 2nd Place in Open Foil, and Alex got 3rd Place.  In the C&Under, I guess I had neither the strength or will to fence much longer, and I came out short.  However, Alex pulled through to earn 3rd place for a second time.

Congratulations to the Top 4 in Open Foil!

Once we were done, we drove back to Atlanta and got some burgers at the Vortex.  Yum.

So in short, I really enjoyed going to Geoff Elder.  It's cool to find me and my teammates supporting for each other while we continually improve ourselves.  I feel like I say this all the time, but the club has really grown to become a family to me, putting up with my friends' antics and simultaneously enjoying their company.

Parth, Matt, Cory, Anthony, Susanna (me), and Alex.  The glow makes it look like we're dead...

Well, that's another tournament down.  This Sunday, I will be joining more foilists to the UGA Open, where over 50 foilists have signed up in both of the foil events.  I am as excited as I am scared.

Minor Technical Difficulties

The website is back up.  (Yay!)  And just before leaving for Geoff Elder tomorrow night.  (Even more yay!)

Have a great Friday and a great 3-day weekend, everybody!

Susanna, your Friendly YJFC Webmaster

First YJFC Blog of 2014

Hey guys!

What you're reading right now is the first YJFC blog post of 2014!  We're very excited to get back to the CRC and start fencing again.

Our first practice of 2014 will be on Tuesday, January 7th, 2014 6-8pm @ the CRC Back Courts.
Note that our practice times have changed for this semester!  The changes follow:

• Sunday 4-6pm
• Tuesday 6-8pm
• Thursday 7-9pm
• Friday 7-9pm (optional)

We have six tournaments this semester.  We start off with what seems like a marathon of tournament weekends, including Geoff Elder on Jan 18-19, UGA Open on Jan 25-26, and Green Gator on Feb 8-9.  After a month, we will host our Yellow Jacket Open on March 1-2.  Towards the end of March and around Spring Break, colleges will congregate for Spring SAC and the CFCs (Collegiate Fencing Championships).

Of course, the club is also planning some fun socials, which are coming soon.  Make sure you come to practice to pay your dues, get warmed up, and start fencing again!

See you on Tuesday!