Sacramento Saber Fencing

Summertime classes are going well!

Olivia Steverson, former student now in college, is a recipient of the USFA Fencing Spirit of Sport Recognition Program, recognizing six members of the fencing community who have exemplified outstanding dedication to the sport and are an inspiration to others! Way to go Olivia!

Been to a Doggie Diner recently? We have! Oh, no, wait! It's just the logo dogs that were sitting outside the venue at the RYC on Treasure Island this weekend! Saturday found Bennett (aka Bleft) fencing in his first tournament. He was awesome! He fenced great in the pools and finished the day with a top 16 finish, just missing by a couple of points a top 8 finish. Lexa and Meriem were calm, cool, and collected - of course! Meriem took home the 6th place medal and Lexa... claimed the gold! On Sunday, Ryan and Bennett (aka Bright) fought to the top - they both ended up in the gold medal match! It was advance, retreat, advance, retreat, jump in, jump out, lunge! A hard fought battle finally finished with Ryan winning the gold and Bright taking home the silver! At the same time during the day (a coaching nightmare!), Fatima took no prisoners! She fenced to the top, fighting hard for the gold, but just missing out and proudly taking home the silver medal to add to her collection! Also on Sunday, the Y14 men battled it out! Andrew fenced out of his skin in his first tournament (his first 2 pool wins ever!) and finished in 19th place! Rishi just missed the top 8 and finished in 10th place! Kyan rocked the day with his quick footwork and amazing ability to be here (no, wait, he's not here, he's there!), and finished on the medal stand in 5th place! Monday (Labor Day) dawned sunny with a little bit of fog and a lot of traffic! The Y12 girls fenced an amazing tournament : Joharah was in 12th place, Kitty and Aden (both fencing in their very first tournament) battled down to the wire to finish in 10th and 9th place, respectively (and they were very respectful!) and Renee brought home the bronze medal with her amazing finish! We don't have pictures of Bennett (aka Bleft) and Joharah and Rishi - they were too quick on their feet and escaped our photographer! We are proud of all of our fencers! They were AWESOME! See more

Today was the first Bay Cup of the season! Joey and Hayden rocked the Y12 Men's event - Hayden took home the bronze medal for his third place finish and Joey, fencing in his first tournament, won his first pool bout and went on to get into the top 8, finishing 6th! Kitty ran through the Y12 Women's event, winning 3 pool bouts, and finishing just out of the medal round in 5th place! An all around great day! Everyone fenced their best and looked sharp! Now it's back to work so we can do even better at the next event!

With just a few days left of the school year and Summer Nationals rapidly approaching, our Junior and Y14 Men fencers had a chance to try out their latest training at the Bay Cup today. Junior events are always very tough and this one was no exception. For a change, Alex and Rohan didn't have to fence each other right out of the pools.....(wait for it), but met up in the round of 8. In a hard fought battle which was very close, Alex pulled out the win and went on to finish in 3rd place, earning a bronze medal and Rohan updated his rating to a D18! The Y14 event saw a couple of firsts: Stephen won his very first DE and Ian earned his E18! Rishi and Kyan just missed the cut for top 8 and Mohammed went on to win the bronze medal! Overall, it was a good day and now it's back to work towards success at Nationals!

The nail-biting and anxious waiting is finally over : Coach Evan was just accepted to Tulane Medical School! Congratulations, Coach! Now be sure to impart your fencing wisdom on the rest of us before you start school in August! We are proud to have another doctor in the house!

Wowie Zowie! Today was awesome! The Bay Cup at the club today began with the Veterans event. It was an hourlong fight to the finish and Dale was the ultimate victor! The C and Under Men's event was up next. Rishi, Dylan, and Kyan finished in the top 16 while Mohammed and Ian just missed the 8! Hieu was working his footwork and just missed the top 4, coming in 5th and earning his E17! Rohan and Alex tied for the bronze medal and Alex earned his D17! Not resting on thei...r laurels, our guys went on to fence the Senior mixed event. A hard-fought battle in the afternoon, the final results found Isra, Dale, and Mohammed in the middle of the pack; Rishi earning his E17; Hieu bumping his E to a D17 (in the same day!), tying with Rohan in 5th place and Alex finishing up with another bronze medal and earning his C17! Our team fenced really well (I guess that practice stuff actually works!) and they should be as proud of themselves as we are them! Great job today, everyone! See more

The Y10 Mixed and Y12 Women's tournaments in San Francisco on Sunday were something to see! Kitty was participating in her first tournament and she showed everyone that she is a force to be reckoned with! Even after she was stabbed in the leg so hard that she hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, she got over it, wiped her face, drank some water, and fought on to a magnificent finish! Everyone was impressed with her grittiness! Ryan, the veteran of competitions, was tow...ered over by his competitors, but that didn't stop him from parrying everything in sight! Even the other coaches couldn't believe how well he parried! And Ryan worked the underarm cut to a huge advantage! The Y12 women were just amazing! Samy, also fencing in her first tournament, had terrific "go fasts" and racked up the points! Vanessa, a second time tourney competitor was working her go fasts and chase downs to perfection! Renee, looking cucumber cool the entire day, was rocking the step in, step out, parry to perfection - she took home the bronze medal! Lots of great fencing and plenty of fun with friends! Great job everyone. We are very proud of you all! See more

RYC at beautiful Treasure Island in San Francisco this Labor Day Weekend. It was the hottest weekend in SF in over 60 years: yep, because Sac Saber brought the heat! Simon rocked the Y12s with a top 16 finish, while Lexa just missed the top 8 in the Y14s and Sujin was 6th! (with her top 8 finish she earned a new pair of fencing shoes!) Ryan and Fatima both brought home the bronze medal after smoking their competition in their DEs! The Y14 men was a slow start in the pools,... but Stephen came back strong in the DEs and lost a squeaker (15-14) finishing 11th; Rishi finally found his rhythm, came back on his opponent, and brought home an 8th place medal; Mohammed worked his magic to finish in 5th; and Kyan fenced an amazing bout and brought home the GOLD! The last day of competition (Monday) was a barn burner: Our Y12 girls had it going on! Joharah had to fence Meriem in her first DE and even though she fought hard all the way, the bout ended with Meriam just nosing out a win, and Joharah earned a 7th place medal. Renee had an amazing DE round, working her step in stop and parry on her shocked opponent, and Renee finished with the bronze! Meriem got to the gold medal match, but Lexa was too much for her on this day and Meriem brought home the silver medal with Lexa earning the GOLD! It was a great weekend for all of us! Everyone earned points towards getting a ticket to Nationals and now it's back to work to continue earning points! We are proud of all of you! Great job everyone! See more

Today was so HOT! And I mean at the fencing tournament! Kaelee earned her C17 and the bronze medal in the first event, Coach Shima volunteered for fencing duty in the second tournament (and totally controlled her opponents with her parry 5/riposte!) and Isra, Sujin, Zorro, and Nicole all totally represented for Sac Saber in the Unrated event! Sujin "tigered up" and brought home the silver medal! The others fenced at top level and showed off their hard work of the past month! We are now on to bigger and better events! Congratulations to all of our women! They rocked it! We are proud of every single one of them!

How was your weekend? Ours was FABULOUS! Thank you very much! Saturday we traveled to San Jose for the Div. 2 ROC (finish in the top 10 and earn a spot at Nationals). And we had 4 fencers do just that: Alex was 9th. Preston at 8th, Rohan at 5th and Mohammed at 2nd all earned medals for the day! Hieu, Randy, and Rishi just missed the cut! Randy was a total surprise to a lot of the fencers. They assumed that since he's older (and by that I mean much, much older!) he would ...be an easy win - oh, not so! He worked his long lunge to startle quite a few of his opponents. He had some good wins! Hieu was working his long attacks, as well, and finished in the top 16! Alex and Preston fenced a barn burner (15-14)! Their bout was a great show of how to fence saber like a pro! Rohan was so cool and relaxed his opponents underestimated him and his 5th place finish was great! Mohammed had everyone buzzing with his impressive showing. He took out some top level opponents with his overall performance of good footwork, sizzling attacks, and parries that totally rocked, and he brought home the silver medal! The women's event included Sujin, Zorro, and Isra (in their first tournament - way to ease in, ladies, start with a large Regional Qualifier!) They all worked hard, had some great footwork, and bladework and finished in the top 16! Kaelee brought home the bronze medal with her astonishing parries off the line. The ride home after a long day was relaxing and easy. I'm surprised how many people know the words to "Stayin' Alive" however. Ask Kaelee, Hieu or Zeke about that! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! First Bay Cup of the season! The Y12 women's event included more first timers : Vanessa, Joharah, Renee (in her first Y12 event), and Meriem fenced like they had been doing it for decades and they all finished in the top 8! Great job! Lexa was calm, cool, and collected, but didn't let anything stand in her way as she mowed down the competition to bring home the GOLD! Ice cream after the tournament was her reward (as well as that bright and shiny gold medal!) The Y14 women saw Eva just miss the top 8, and finish at 9th; Sujin working her retreats for good (not evil) for a 7th place finish; and Lexa working her way to a 5th place finish! The Y14 men saw Dylan make a comeback and finish in 11th; Stephen, in his first tournament, was focused worked hard and finished in 10th; Rishi was 6th, and Mohammed fenced another close one to bring home the silver! Our weekend was great! All of our fencers performed amazingly well and had some terrific finishes. We'll now get back to work and look ahead to the next event so we can try to do even better! We are proud of ALL of you! You all represented Sac Saber! very, very well! See you next week! See more