WAY Epic Epee: Men's A4 cometh & Women's Div 3

Epic Epee Open A4 Cometh! UPDATE as of March 18, 2021 I will be closing pre-registration tonight at midnight March 18 and generating pools Friday afternoon March 19 which will be viewable via fencingtimelive.com. This is a huge careful process that my committee takes seriously and can not rush through. Be patient. This event is sanctioned. Full USFA regulation uniform and competitive memberships required. Men's epee moved up 30 minutes to 9:30 am from the previous time of 10 am. Women's Epee check in is 4 pm. Warm-up in the lower level after check-in. We plan to start your pools at 4:30 pm. Covid plan https://wayofthesword.org/covid/ $55 via Venmo, Zelle or Credit Card: https://wayofthesword.org/cart/ Pray attend signage guiding and educating you as you walk about the studio and surrounding areas. Stairs to the lower level [FLOW] instructions. Go down through the waiting (art) room and up at end of the archery range by the ping pong table. Large fencing bags and stuff must be stored on the lower level (archery range) but strip bags are permitted while you fence. Bring your strip bags or carry your equipment as you move about the floor. Did you know? "A"ppreciation rated fencers will receive $15 refund upon completion of the event. All other competitors (not A's) will be awarded a $10 discount if you finish in the top 8 position.   Did you also know that if you earn your "A" here you fence for free from now on. Former scholarship winners have included Ian Sanders, Gordon Reis, and Nowell Gibson...who will join their ranks next?  Mask up- face masks required at all times. We will have masks breaks and there is also ample outdoor space for you as well. We will flight pools once in order to accommodate Expect us to flight pools with each pool having 6 to 7 fencers in it.   Here is what you need to know about flighting pools and staggering registration times. READ THIS: 1) You must pay in full, in advance, or you will be scratched 48 hours prior to the start of the event (refunds given with 48 hour advance notice). Further you must make sure your email is correct in askfred so I can communicate with you through their system. Pay here now, please. https://wayofthesword.org/cart/ 2) We will balance the "heats" and pools taking into consideration ratings, matching clubs and siblings or car pools traveling together. We are not obligated, nor promise to give you a favorable later start time.  Please don't ask me.... I know many of you are coming from afar and want a later start time. The priority must and will always be fair and equitable pools. Speaking of which we have created a talented and impartial committee responsible for creating and balancing pools. It's not just me slapping this thing together and hoping for the best. 3) If you are siblings or car pooling you MUST notify me of such so I do not split you up into separate heats. This is a courtesy that I am willing to do but again no promises of a later start time only that you will be able to arrive at the same time. Use email to notify me.  Mikem@wayofthesword.org or info@wayofthesword.org. If you fail to notify me you may have two fencers starting at different times. 4) It is imperative that you show up to the event and fence because the pools will be generated in advance (a risky move for us to manage because not showing up impacts the pool balance). As such you must be aware and with total  transparency that I reserve the right to manipulate the pools while maintaining balance as needed. In addition you can expect that I might add a fencer to a pool to "pad" and "hold" spots in the event that a fencer scratches last minute. This is ONLY a fail safe for me to ensure balanced pools of a minimum of 6 fencers in each pool.  So don't freak out if you see a name of someone that you know who is really not coming. If you see their name, I have received permission to use their name and rating for me to maintain pool integrity. 5) "How will you pull this off? Show me the math?" As many of you already know we have a large facility 11,000 sq feet on two levels.  We will run 6 strips 8 ref's on staff. Sadly, no parents or coaches will be permitted on the floor during the pools rounds. Let me repeat that....in order to stay within current capacity rules we can run 6 strips (36 fencers) safely plus staff which leaves us no room for parents or coaches during the pools. Pools should take 1.5 hrs but I would plan for 2 hrs to be on the safe side. We ask parents and fencers in the first heat to leave and enjoy picturesque Ridgefield's shops, restaurants and museums. You can follow the action on Fencing Time Live website as we progress. 6) "What about the DE rounds?"  Glad you asked. In the round of 64, ONLY fencers and coaches will be permitted when your time is called (fencers must leave immediately after the bout and may return when called for the next round). In the round of 32, fencers and coaches will be permitted when your time is called (fencers must leave immediately after the bout and may return when called for the next round. In the round of 16 fencers, coaches, parents (you do not have to leave the room) In the round of 8 fencers, coaches, parents and teammates (you do not have to leave the room) In the round of 4 fencers, coaches, parents and teammates (you do not have to leave the room) In the round of 2 fencers, coaches, parents and teammates (you do not have to leave the room) Medals awarded to the top 8 7) We will be leveraging Fencing Time Live (https://www.fencingtimelive.com/) to communicate start times, and strips for both pools and DE's. If you were not aware, in fencing time live you can see your exact start time and strip assignment for each DE round on the tableau page. We will be posting DE bouts in 15 minutes intervals, give or take a few minutes each way. Our free internet [guest] password is "getyourway".  Good to know: Safety is number 1 and we will be enforcing face masks at all times. Further, no screaming and yelling permitted during bouts. During the round of 64 and 32, in particular, we are most vulnerable to overcrowding. Please follow the rules and leave the fencing floor after you have finished your bout. Sorry but no hanging around to watch or support your teammates until later rounds. Let's be respectful and make room for the professional coaches (not teammates) to do their job. Please wait until the round of 8 to cheer on your teammates. Please, be kind and follow the rules. LET ME BRUTALLY HONEST, IF YOU CHOOSE TO DEFY ME, ARGUE WITH ME, REFUSE TO FOLLOW MY RULES, I WILL THANK YOU KINDLY FOR COMING BUT YOU WILL NOT BE INVITED BACK.  Seating will be designated and separated from each other by 6'. You will assigned a seat on the strips you will be fencing (we may even have name tags awaiting you). Do not move chairs and clump together. Note that on two of our strips (numbers 6 and 9) seating will be along the sides of the strips and as such close to the action. Those seated closest to the center of the strip should wear fencing masks to protect themselves against "friendly fire." If you do not want this seat we will gladly move you to another location that is off to the end of the strips. Know before you go. Take a look inside at the facility, chairs, strips, etc...this video was taken during warm-ups. https://www.instagram.com/p/CLmLVVQpyPT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Follow us for even more pix and vids: Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/wayofthesword https://www.facebook.com/wayofthesword.org Give us a five star Google review today. https://wayofthesword.org/reviews/ Keep safety and kindness first, Coach Mike Owner text 203 529 1320 https://wayofthesword.org by day http://Ridgefieldrave.com by night Now is the time to pay or risk being scratched. Not sure if you paid? Find your receipt or confirmation in venmo or zelle or credit card for your own personal satisfaction. Please, ONLY send me a copy of your receipt if the last name of the payer is NOT the same as the fencer so I can correlate the payer with the fencer. info@wayofthesword.org I know many of you are traveling long distances and I am not incentive to such but we have a procedure for deciding on who comes when. Priorities are: 1)Rating 2)Club affiliation conflicts 3)Carpooling considerations 4)Travel distance consideration. FYI...I painstakingly look up every club and overlay it on a google map to calculate who is driving the farthest to reach WAY. We give those folks, dare I say, "right of way" when possible to create equality in sleep time. In the case of a tie when all else is equal I roll dice to determine who gets the priority. If you take umbrage with this process let me apologize in advance and welcome a discussion on Monday, March 22. Lastly, you should know that I am NOT the sole decision maker in this process. In fact, there is a committee that reviews and fine tunes the pools prior to publication. The committee is committed to creating a level playing field in our quest to see who is best.