News

The 5th annual Orange and Blue Tournament was held on October 12th and 13th at the University of Florida.  The Florida Fencing Academy started strong on Saturday with Kyle Waite taking the Gold Medal in the Senior Mixed Saber event and earning his C 2019 rating, and William Bowden finishing with a Bronze Medal while earning his D 2019 rating.

In the Division 2 Saber Kyle Waite earned the Silver Medal with William Bowden not far behind in the top 10.

On Sunday the Senior Mixed Epee had a strong field of 33.  In that event William Bowden finished in the top 10, finishing ahead of teammates Thomas DuPree, Robert Wagman and Nickolay Mavrodiev. 

And in the Division 2 Epee with a field of 32, Kyle Waite and Nickolay Mavrodiev both earned Bronze Medals with Thomas DuPree also finishing in the top 10.

It was a good day for the Academy.  Congrats to Kyle Waite for a very good day. 

We are catching up on some of the recent tournaments for our fencers from the Florida Fencing Academy. 

Stoccato Cup Fall Series #2 held on September 21, 2019 in Longwood, FL.

Kevin Liu scored the Gold Medal for Y12 Mixed Epee, defeating Carlos Alexander Romero Kuri of the SwordMasters Club in the final round.  Meanwhile, Nick Liu finished 6th in that event.  Nick Liu also earned the Silver Medal in the Y10 Mixed Epee event, losing 5-3 in the final to the number one seed.  Dominick Diaz fenced in the Y12 Mixed Foil, finishing in 7th place, scoring a 5-0 victory in his pool bouts before falling  to the number two seed.

USF OCTOBERFENCE, September 21, 2019, University of South Florida, Tampa FL

In a good day for the FFA fencers, Nickolay Mavrodiev had a big day, winning the Gold Medal in C & Under Mixed Epee in a field of 32 fencers and earning his D2019 rating!  Seeded number 3, he was victorious in five tough bouts, winning the last three 15-14, 12-11 and 14-13. 

Also fairing well, Robert Wagman finished 8th in a field of 40 in the Senior Mixed Epee, earning his C2019.  In Senior Mixed Saber, William Bowden and Thomas DuPree both claimed the Bronze Medals, and Thomas DuPree earned a Bronze Medal in the D&Under Mixed Saber event as well.  Uma McIntosh had a big day finishing 9th in D&Under Mixed Saber in a field of 15, seeding 7th with two victories in the pool bouts.

 Iron Works Open, October 5, 2019 in Melbourne FL

FFA Fencer Kevin Liu entered the Y14 Mixed Epee in this tournament and finished 7th.  These are learning experiences that each fencer goes through as they continue to practice and get closer to their first rating!  Keep fencing, Kevin!

On the schedule next: a big tournament in Gainesville - the 5th Annual Orange and Blue Open at the University of Florida on Saturday and Sunday, October 12th and 13th.  FFA fencers already registered include Robert Wagman, Agatha Wagman, Kyle Waite, William Bowden and Thomas DuPree.  Good luck to Coach Harper and the fencers of the Florida Fencing Academy.

On August 17th, our fencers headed northeast to Jacksonville to participate in the Jax Jab, hosted by coach Jeremy Moore.

William Bowden placed in the top 10 of the Senior Mixed Epee, ahead of his teammates Robert Wagman, Thomas DuPree, Nickolay Mavrodiev and Uma McIntosh.  

In the Division 3 Mixed Epee, Nickolay Mavrodiev finished with a Silver Medal followed closely by William Bowden with a Bronze Medal.

This tournament saw Uma McIntosh growing stronger with each event as she begins tournaments in Epee.  We are looking forward to her victories!

The Summer Dual in the Swamp 2019 was held at the University of Florida on August 3, 2019.  Fencers from Miami to Pensacola were in attendance to compete for the medals.

FFA fencers faired well in the events. In Senior Women's Saber, Uma McIntosh claimed a bronze medal.  In Senior Women's Epee, Diane Trice took the gold medal.  

In Senior Mixed Saber, William Bowden finished with the silver medal and Thomas DuPree earned the bronze medal.  Ethan White and Uma McIntosh finished in 7th and 8th respectively.

Congratulations also to Nickolay Mavrodiev for finishing in 8th place in the A1 event for Senior Mixed Epee.  He earned his first rating and is now E2019 in Epee.  

Coach Harper was pleased with the success of the Academy's students against some worthy opponents.  We look forward to the Saber events on August 17th at the Jax Jab in Jacksonville. 

Florida Fencing Academy fencers picked up six medals at the 7th Annual "It's only a Fleishe Wound" Tournament at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

For Foil Fencers, Noah Helton won the Gold Medal in the Senior Mixed Foil.  Vishnu Guatam won a Bronze Medal in the C and Under Mixed Foil. 

For Epee Fencers, Thomas DuPree and William Bowden competed against each other in the final C and Under Mixed Epee Final with Thomas picking up the Gold Medal and a C rating, and William winning the Silver Medal.

For Saber Fencers, in the C and Under Mixed Saber it was Thomas DuPree getting the Silver Medal and William Bowden getting the Bronze Medal.

It was a good day for Coach Harper who had his hands full with his fencers moving through the rounds.  

Our summer camps are now set up and you can pay for them by credit card online.  We are very glad that we could make this convenient.  

Go to the Fencing Camps page and register now.

With the approaching Spring Break for Alachua County schools, we are offering programs during the week for students.  

We open our doors at 8:00am and begin the day which will include exercises and basic fencing instruction.  Our coaching staff is assisted by our interns and tournament fencers to ensure everyone has a great experience in becoming familiar with the art of fencing.

Our full day program is 8:00am to 5:00pm.  Please bring a lunch, snacks and drinks.

We offer half days which go from 8:00am to 12:00 pm or from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  

Many of our tournament fencers discovered their desire to improve in fencing after having attended a camp.  We encourage you to give that opportunity to your children.  

The Florida Fencing Academy is migrating all of its membership management to a new database.  As part of that move, this website is integrated into the database for efficiency of resources.  Once the contact database has been fully populated, you will begin to see new email formats and ultimately a website that will allow you to make your payments and get all your information in one place.

Bookmark this website and visit often.  Let us know if you think of something we could put on the website to better serve the members of the Florida Fencing Academy.  

Fencers from all over the nation converged in Denver, Colorado for the 2019 Junior Olympics.  The Florida Fencing Academy was represented by Coach Harper, Foil Fencer Noah Helton, and Epee/Saber Fencer William Bowden.

In the Cadet Foil event, with 315 fencers in the competition, NOAH HELTON placed 7th.  The position in the top 8 is a career high for Helton and an outstanding achievement!  He is an amazingly talented young man!

In Junior Epee and Junior Saber, WILLIAM BOWDEN faced stiff competition at this national level.  In his six seeding bouts during the two days, he tied the score at 4-4 each time, only to have the opponent prevail.  This was his first Junior Olympics and he did great against these highly rated fencers.

COACH BRIAN HARPER was a referee during the weekend, which was capped off by him calling the Cadet Women's Epee Final bout.  Being the referee at the Junior Olympics is an honor.  Being the referee for a Final is a milestone in the career of a coach.  Congratulations to Brian!

Congrats to our 2019 Junior Olympics participants.

The Green Gator Tournament was held on February 9th and 10th at the University of Florida.  

VISHNU GAUTAM fenced Foil and finished in the upper half of the field in both of his events (Senior Mixed and Div 2 Mixed).

We saw a number of FFA fencers in the Saber events on Saturday.  Coach TYLER KVOLS-RIEDLER posted another victory as the Gold Medalist of the Senior Mixed event with EVIN SAMY and WILLIAM BOWDEN both finishing in the top 10.  Also competing in that event was THOMAS DUPREE, ETHAN KREHL, MATTHEW MILLER, ETHAN WHITE and UMA MCINTOSH.

In the Division 2 Saber, EVIN SAMY finished 6th and our other fencers in that event were WILLIAM BOWDEN, THOMAS DUPREE, ETHAN KREHL, MATTHEW MILLER and ETHAN WHITE.

On Sunday the action was in Epee with strong fields.  The Senior Mixed was a good experience for our fencers ROBERT WAGMAN, NICKOLAY MAVRODIEV, THOMAS DUPREE, WILLIAM BOWDEN and COLE JANES.

For the Div 2 Mixed Epee, WILLIAM BOWDEN won the Bronze Medal.  Our other fencers in that event were NICKOLAY MAVRODIEV and THOMAS DUPREE. 

Congratulations to all of our fencers for their achievements and for their sportsmanship.  We look forward to seeing them compete next time.