2004 - 2005 Season Overall Summary

Congratulations to Byron Weiss - The Under 20 Champion!!!
Byron Qual'd for under 20 and under 17 junior olympics.
Byron has worked very hard for this & also improved his National Rating to a "C".

Congratulations to Max Griffin
Max was 2nd, missing the gold in the Under 17 event by 1 touch!!

Byron has joined Max as a "C" rated fencer, so now both are eligible to begin competing and getting experience at the National Level Division 1 events with me.

Congratulations to Laurence Toal
Laurence finished 4th in the Under 17 girls event
Laurence defeated the champion in the under 20 event (15 - 5) to qualify in the girls event.

Karla - fenced really well, winning her 1st d.e. and just missed qualifying by 2 places.

Both of these girls are only in their 1st year of competition!!! That is very encouraging. They are both only 12, and have 4 more years to fence under 17.

Congratulations to Nathan Wong!!!
Nathan Wong also finished 3rd in the Phoenix Regional Youth event

MARY SPOHN
OCTOBER 2005 - MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRL'S FOIL - UNDEFEATED CHAMPION!!!
CURRENTLY RANKED 15TH IN UNITED STATES - UNDER 12 GIRLS FOIL

Heather Rivas and Nathan Wong Under 10 Gold Medals at the Las Vegas Regional Invitational.

Nathan was undefeated!!

At the Regional Event - Dawson Invitational - in Las Vegas 2005

We took a Bronze Medal and 5th in the Cadet (under 17) Boys- Byron Weiss and Max Griffin, respectively

In the Under 12 - Boys - Christian Reyes (Bronze Medal) , Chris Rivas (5th), and Nathan Wong (6th)

A WEEKEND OF EXCELLENT RESULTS AT THE YOUTH REGIONAL EVENT - SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 2005!!!

U12 BRONZE MEDAL - KARLA ALVAREZ - 1ST COMPETITION!!!

U12 CHAMPION!!!! - TAYLOR LEVIN
U12 BRONZE MEDAL - NATHAN WONG

U14 BRONZE MEDAL - TAYLOR LEVIN
U14 TOP 8 - PAOLO EVERETTE

U17 TOP 8 - PAOLO EVERETTE
U17 TOP 16 - GIO GIECO

Our Junior Team, Just after qualifying for the 2005 Under 19 Team Summer Nationals
left to right: Byron Weiss - (age 15), Al Carter (Head Coach), Max Griffin (14), and Giovanni Giecco (14)
A strong finish for a young team!!!

Winners of the 4/4/05 Adult in house Tournament

Congratulations to Max and Mary!

Max Griffin - age 14 - 2nd place at Foil Open (All Ages / All Levels). Missing Gold Medal by 1 touch.

Mary Spohn - age 10 - 2nd place at under 12 and under 14 youth regional event in El Paso, TX and 6th place in under 12 / 7th place in under 14 foil at youth regional event in San Francisco, CA.

Congratulations to Mary Spohn

Mary (age 11) was 1 of only 2 girls to qualify for the Under 14 Nationals from the Southern California Division!!! She took a silver medal, (missing the gold by 1 heartbreaking touch), nevertheless only losing to one person in the tournament. Excellent work, especially considering she has this year's Nationals, plus 2 more years at this National age level.

Congratulations Byron Weiss

Byron (age 15) fenced in his first Junior Olympics this past weekend and finished in the top half in the United States in the Under 17 Event. Excellent first result!!!

On Sunday, January 2, 2005 at the Burbank Armory an Unrated Foil tournament was held. 30 fencers competed. Two of Wesley Bellanca's students, Joe Cochran and Scott Mattloff, tied for 3rd place and earned "E 2005" ratings. Having only began fencing 10 months ago, and only started competing at the beginning of this season, these are fabulous results! Congrats!

Congratulations Mary, Byron, and Max!

Mary Spohn won 2 Gold Medals - 1st in the Girls Under 12 and Girls Under 14 Foil Regional Event in Portland. She was 2nd in the Mixed Under 12, and 3rd in the Mixed Under 14. (Undefeated until the Gold medal bout in the Under 12, and eliminating the #1 seed in the Under 14).

Byron Weiss qualified for the Under 17 and under 20 Jr. Olympics - finishing 2nd in the Under 17 and 8th in the Under 20 men's foil events.

Max Griffin finished 2nd in the Foil Open Thanksgiving Weekend.

Competitive Students Achieve & Surpass Goals the 2004 Season

Mary Spohn (Under 10 Foil)
Defeats # 1 ranked fencer in the United States (ranked 5th) and
finishes the girls under 10 season with a National Medal.
Mary is now ranked 5th in the United States.
Placed 6th in recent national event in Atlanta
This season, to date, Mary has competed in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Atlanta, San Diego, and San Francisco, and Won 1 or 2 medals in each of the regional and national competitions.

Wes Bellanca
Pacific Coast Section Champion !!!
(Highest Points after 5 Statewide Events including the Sr. Pacific Coast Championships, & 1 Event in Hawaii).
Wes Finished in the Top 8 in all 6 events. He was also the undefeated champion in Hawaii, for the 2nd consectutive year

Austin Nicholas (Under 10 Foil)
Ranked 24th in the United States !!!

Max Griffin (Under 14 Foil)
Ranked 29th in the United States !!!
2nd at Men’s Open
2nd at 1 Touch Open Foil Event

Byron Weiss (Under 14 Foil)
3rd Place at National Qualifiers / Qualified !!!
Finished 2nd in under 20 Regional Event – La. Jr. Invitational

Team SwordPlay: Danny Maynard, Grady Hutt, Al Carter (coach), Matt Adams, Victor Cervantes

The SwordPlay Scoreboard
Success Stories

Corin Porter is the Undefeated Champion at Under 14 SoCal Youth Challenge and Winner of the 1st SoCal Youth Challenge Award Trophy !!!

Wes Bellanca takes Bronze Medal at the 2003 Sr. Pacific Coast Championships. Qualifies for Men's Division 1 Nationals.

Al Carter takes Bronze Medal at Division 1 National Men's Foil in Kansas - 121 fencers

2003 Summer National Qualifiers
16 students qualified in 9 events for a total of 25 entries

Grady Hutt: National Champion - Division 3 Men's Foil in Reno Grady defeated his opponent 15 - 2 for his first National Title

Danny Maynard: National Finalist (8th) - Division 3 Men's Foil in Reno

Cervantes: Goes From National "D" To "A" Rating In 3 Weeks & Takes Gold At The Division 1 National Qualifiers (2/24/02)
Only 18 Months After His 1st Tournament !!!!!