Making Sense Out of the Conference Realignment

 

The conference realignment in fencing affects your team because your school is required to schedule regular season dual meets against your conference and participate in your conference’s freshman-sophomore tournament.  Please see the UNOFFICIAL conference realignment based on all information available until now.  We are using this to spur coaches to have discussions with their Athletic Directors about the new conferences.  If you learn anything more about the name of your conference or its membership, please contact the webmaster.  For example, Hackettstown requested and was granted a move from Skyland to the new Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference.

 

 

 

USFCA Coaches Clinic

 

The annual USFCA coaches’ clinic in the area is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17, at the Mr. Ma Fencing Center in Fairfield, NJ.  For more information and sign-up, click here.

 

 

 

FOC Referee Clinic

 

The next referee clinic in the area given by the Fencing Officials Commission is scheduled for Saturday, June 6, 2009.  For more information and sign-up, click here.

 

 

 

NJIFA 2009 All-State Team and Banquet Invitation

 

The NJIFA gathered on March 18 for its annual post-season meeting to select the NJIFA 2009 All-State Teams.  All-state honorees, their families and coaches should download the All-State Banquet Invitation and return it immediately.  The All-State honorees are guests of the NJIFA.  Friends, family and coaches pay only $40 per person.  Please note carefully the date change on the Schedules page of this website and the invitation.  The All-State Banquet is now on Thursday evening, April 23.

 

 

 

 

 

Preliminary All-State Points

 

Governor Livingston HS Assistant Coach Jim Rutzler has created an Excel spreadsheet of the NJIFA All-State Points calculations.  If you see an error, please report it to Jim immediately.  To better understand Jim’s handywork, please see a description of the calculations.  The description is from 2008, but the basis of the calculations has not changed for this season.

 

 

 

New College Fencing Website

 

A new website covering college fencing has just begun operations in the last few weeks.  One can find it at www.collegefencing360.com.  It has detailed coverage of all the recent NCAA Regionals.  

 

 

Iron Hills All-Conference Teams

 

Please find the 2009 Iron Hills All-Conference Teams posted to this website.  This is last such posting for the IHC.  Most of IHC teams will be in a conference called the Northwest NJ Conference in 2009-10, which will include Butler, Hackettstown, Mendham, Morristown, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, Randolph, West Morris Central and possibly Morris Catholic, if they go varsity.

 

 

Oak Knoll Coach Ben Igoe Takes 3^rd at World Cup Event

 

Congratulations to Oak Knoll coach Ben Igoe who finished third at one of the strongest World Cup sabre events of the season.  Read all about it on the new website of US Fencing.

 

 

 

Official Pairings for NJSIAA State Team Championship

 

The official seedings and pairings for both the boys’ and girls’ events in the NJSIAA State Team Fencing Championships are available now.

 

 

 

Preliminary, Unofficial Team Seedings Posted

 

The preliminary and unofficial seedings for the NJSIAA State Team Fencing Championships are posted on the NJIFA Resources page.  Please note these are preliminary AND unofficial.  If you find an error, please contact the webmaster.  The official seedings should be announced by the NJSIAA on Wednesday, February 4.  Notification to the teams of the pairings will be done by the NJSIAA and assigning of the referees will be done by the NJSIAA in conjunction with the NJIFOA and the NJIFA.

 

 

 

BPFL Freshman-Sophomore Entry Form

 

The managers of the Bergen-Passaic Fencing League’s Freshman-Sophomore Tournament have posted the Team entry form for coaches on the NJIFA RESOURCES page.  The entry form, a school’s list of competitors, and the entry fees are due February 15.

 

 

 

We Couldn’t Have Done It without You

The officers of the NJIFA would like to thank:

·         Voorhees Regional High School, Jim Lawless, his coaching staff and the Voorhees Boosters for providing the space, setting up and helping to run a successful NJIFA Santelli Girls’ Relay Championship and

·         Morris Knolls High School, Roger Jones, Jay Haase and the MK Boosters for providing the space, setting up and helping to run a successful NJIFA Cetrulo Boys’ Relay Championship.  

 

 

 

Thinking of Pulling Out of the Cetrulo ?

If you’ve made the decision as a school to pull out of the Cetrulo Relay Championship, please contact NJIFA President Chris Awad immediately, so we can prepare the computers for a smaller tournament.  We understand why you might drop out, but we don’t want your decision to affect the start of the tournament.  So far Lawrenceville, Bergen County Tech, West Milford, WWPB-S and Hackettstown have dropped out.  As of 9:20pm, Saturday evening, the tournament is STILL ON.

 

In addition, check-in has been extended to 8:45am.  We’ll have a cozy 40-team tournament.  4 pools of 7; 2 of 6 in each weapon with the pools of 7 triple-stripped at the end of each round.  

 

 

 

NJSIAA District Championships Entry Form

The entry form for the District Championships is available on the NJSIAA website.  The entry form and fee are due by January 23.  The form includes the entry for those fencers who wish to qualify for the Individual State Championships, but whose school does not field a fencing team.  

 

 

 

Cetrulo Postponed Until Sunday

The forecast snowstorm has postponed the Cetrulo Championship until Sunday, January 11.  The check-in time and the location are unchanged at 8am at Morris Knolls HS.

 

 

 

Snowdate Added for Cetrulo Championship

The host school for the Cetrulo Championship has added a snow date to the schedule.  If the possible snowstorm for Saturday postpones the tournament, the event will be held on Sunday, January 11, at Morris Knolls.  The first place to know if the event is postponed because of weather will be the NJIFA usergroup on Yahoo!  Another reason why you coaches should join.  The second place to learn of the postponement will be this website.

 

 

 

Format of the Santelli Relay Championships

The first round of pools looks like the following:

Foil: 44 squads seeded into 6 pools; 2 pools of 8 and 4 pools of 7

Epee: 45 squads seeded into 6 pools; 3 pools of 8 and 3 pools of 7

Sabre: 43 squads seeded into 6 pools; 1 pool of 8 and 5 pools of 7

 

As you check-in by 8am, please let them know if there is any change to the seeding form you’ve already submitted.  Check your final seeding now.  Each pool will be double-stripped on two adjoining strips.  At the end of round when the pools of seven are complete, the pools of eight should be triple-stripped.  The second round of the tournament is pools, also.  

 

 

 

Referee Contact for Santelli and Cetrulo Relays

If you are interested in refereeing at the Santelli or Cetrulo Relay Championships or know someone who is, please contact Nick Franzi and Jay Haase.   Nick is the head of the NJ Interscholastic Fencing Officials Association.  Jay is the NJIFA Officials Assigner for the Relays and Morris Knolls Boys’ Coach.   

  

 

 

Seeding for the Santelli and Cetrulo Tournaments

The seeding for the Santelli Girls’ and Cetrulo Boys’ Relay Championships are now available by clicking here.  The data are in a single file with a tab in the lower-left hand corner to switch from Boys to Girls.  If you think you submitted a seeding form, but your ratings aren’t in the file, contact Tom Tishman immediately.  

 

Please remember, if a fencer on your form cannot attend, contact Tom Tishman to change that squad’s seeding.  For example, a top girl foil fencer, an A-rated senior, might be fencing overseas.  If that occurs, the school is already prepared to change their form.  Don’t wait to the last minute with those changes.  Also, if a fencer earns a new USFA rating before the championships, you can increase that squad’s seeding.  

  

 

 

Bergen County Girls High School Individual Tournament

The Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest just added the Holy Angels Girls’ Invitational Tournament to the schedule on Sunday, January 11, for those high school girls who attend Bergen Tech, Fair Lawn, Teaneck, Ramapo, Holy Angels, Northern Highlands or Indian Hills.  This is not a US Fencing Association tournament.  Female fencers must attend one of the 7 invited schools.  In addition, the tournament is open to all four grades, not just freshmen and sophomores.

  

 

 

Help the Star-Ledger Publicize HS Fencing

Last season Dorf Feature Service, which handles all high school sports reporting for the Star-Ledger, instituted a new method to report dual meet scores.  Each team's score reporter should input rosters, dual meet schedules and results into www.njschoolsports.com.  This will make their reporting more accurate and insure that the Star-Ledger includes every team’s results in its rankings.  Your school team’s press contact should call 800-285-1960 to obtain your school's username and password.

   

 

 

In Case You Missed It

 

The Sunday, November 23, “Meet Your Neighbors” column on the Morris County “Around the Towns” page of the Star Ledger carries a story entitled “Exec Leads Fencers to Olympic Victories.”  The story is about NJ fencing’s own Bob Largman, a member of the NJ Interscholastic Fencing Officials Association.    

 

 

 

Minutes and Entry Forms Posted

 

The minutes of the pre-season coaches’ meeting and the entry and seeding forms for the Cetrulo-Santelli Relay Championships are available now on the Resources Page.  Please note the entry deadline of December 15 is much earlier then in previous years.  The entry forms only are to be mailed with the entry fees to Treasurer Gail Kedoin.  Her address is on the entry form.  The seeding forms only are to be faxed to Tom Tishman, whose fax number is on the seeding form.    

 

 

Another Referee Seminar

 

A referee seminar entitled “Advanced Topics in Sabre with Brad Baker and Tomasz Stusinski” will be held Saturday, December 20, in Cherry Hill from 10:30am to 12:30pm.  Please register on FRED.  This seminar is for practical experience in sabre refereeing.  

 

 

Referee Seminar

 

A Fencing Officials Commission referee seminar will be held Saturday, November 15, at Maestro Fencing Club in Somerville from 8:30am to 4:00pm.  One can sit for the written tests from 4:15pm to 5:30pm.  Please register on FRED.

 

 

Date Change for Cetrulo Boys Relays

 

At its annual pre-season meeting, the NJIFA announced a change to the date of the 2009 Cetrulo Boys Relay Championships, which was to have been the same weekend as the Santelli Girls Relay Championships.  However, no venue was available for that date.  The NJIFA Cetrulo Boys’ Relay Championships will be held on Saturday, January 10, at Morris Knolls High School.  Entry forms for both tournaments will be due on December 15.

 

 

NJSIAA Votes to Re-Align Northern Conferences

 

The NJSIAA voted today to re-align all conferences in Central and Northern NJ for the 2009-2010 school year.  The NJIFA website has attempted to put fencing teams into their new 2009-10 conferences.  Please note this is based on the Star Ledger’s chart of Super Conferences, it will NOT affect this coming fencing season and it does NOT affect the District set-up for qualification to the State Championships.  Further, it assumes the 4 fencing schools from the Northern Hills Conference initially assigned to Super Conference 2 stay there.  The East-West breakdown in the large Skylands/Union Super Conference is one of many possible logical breakdowns for fencing teams, this one based on geograhpy.  It is not designated by the NJSIAA.

 

 

Coaching Clinic Agenda

 

The annual NJ High School Fencing Coaches’ Clinic co-sponsored by the NJSIAA, NJSCA and the NJIFA will be held on Saturday, October 25, at Morris Hills HS.  The agenda/registration form is now available on this website’s Resources Page.  The pre-season meeting of the NJIFA coaches will be held at 4:00pm.

 

 

Coaches’ Usergroup on Yahoo

 

There is a usergroup on Yahoo exclusively for NJ high school fencing coaches.  To join the group, please send an e-mail to NJIFA-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.  You’ll have access to all the features of the group that include the bulk e-mail list.  The bulk e-mail list is how important information from the NJSIAA and the NJIFA about state tournaments, clinics, policies and rules is circulated to coaches.

 

 

Referee Seminar Scheduled in Maplewood

 

The first referee seminar of the season has just been announced. The seminar is approved by the Fencing Officials Commission of the US Fencing Association.  It will be held at NJ Fencing Alliance in Maplewood on Sunday, September 28.  Sign up thru FRED.

 

 

Courier News Carries Article on Governor Livingston Fencers

 

The first week of August’s Courier News covered Governor Livingston’s 12 fencers who traveled to US Fencing’s Summer Nationals.

 

 

Minutes from Spring 2008 Coaches’ Meeting Posted

 

Minutes from the NJIFA coaches’ spring 2008 are now posted on the Resources page.  Just click on that link above.

 

 

Preliminary 2008-09 Schedule Posted

 

The preliminary NJIFA High School Fencing schedule is now available by clicking on the SCHEDULES link above.  Please note, that the previous season's schedule is appended at the bottom of that page.  If you have any important dates for conference, invitational or championship meets, please e-mail webmaster Tom Tishman.