Middlebury Open-28th Edition

I have been trying to email all the competitors, and there seems to be a problem with AskFRED's email system. Below is a copy of that email. Especially note: -No youth epee -All unrated, veteran and senior mixed competitors must have US Fencing membership of Access level or higher. Welcome to the 28th annual Middlebury Open! If you are receiving this email, you are registered for the tournament this weekend. Please read on for lots of important information about the tournament. If you signed up and find you can not make it, please remove your name from the registration list so that we have an accurate idea of who to expect. Two ways to withdraw: 1. Log in to AskFRED. Select "My FRED". You will see a list of events you are registered for, with a red X next to each one. Click the X to remove yourself from the event. 2. If you are unable to access AskFRED, email me (vfox@gmavt.net@gmavt.net) and I will do it for you. If you must withdraw on Saturday or Sunday due to illness (thank you for staying home if you are sick) or other reasons, please text me at 802-779-6530. I will not be able to text you back but that's the best way to at least let us know not to expect you. The Youth Epee event is cancelled due to not enough kids signing up. Open (senior mixed) Epee is currently full (cap of 56 fencers because that is all we have space in the gym for). If you know you won't make it, please withdraw so that someone else can take your place. Tournament location is Middlebury Union Middle School, 48 Deerfield Lane, Middlebury Vt.. You may pull into the bus circle to quickly unload, but then please move your car to the parking lot. Please do not track water or mud onto the gym floor - remove wet shoes at the door. Event Schedule Saturday April 15 (Foil) 8 a.m. Doors open, begin set up 9:30 am Youth Foil, Veterans Foil 11:30: Unrated Foil (separate male and female events if we have enough of both, otherwise a single mixed event) 1:30 pm: Open Foil Sunday April 16 (Epee and Saber) 8:30 a.m Doors open (equipment will be left set up overnight) 9:30 am Veterans Epee 11:30: Unrated Epee (separate male and female events if we have enough of both, otherwise a single mixed event), Open Saber (note: you may not sign up for both Unrated Epee and Saber as they will be at the same time) 1:30 pm: Open Epee End of open epee (best guess 6:30 pm): clean up For all events except for Youth Foil, US Fencing membership at the Access or higher level is required. This includes collegiate and Canadian fencers (Dartmouth club in particular-there are several of you without current memberships according to the US Fencing database). If your membership is not current you must join or renew at usafencing.org before this weekend. We can not do it for you at the tournament. Please bring your membership card with you, or download it to your phone for display. To print or download your card, log in to usfencing.org. Please make sure your membership is up to date. Not sure what kind of membership you have, or whether it is current? Go to usafencing.org, click on "membership" and "current member list" and search for yourself. It will show your membership type and expiration date (you may need to scroll sideways to see the expiration date). Canadian visitors: US Fencing requires you to have US Fencing membership to compete in US tournaments (I know, not fair, Canadian tournaments allow Americans to compete with no extra requirements). The least expensive way to meet the requirement is to purchase an Access membership ($25) at usafencing.org. If you join US Fencing for the first time after April 1, this membership will be good through all of next season. Access membership is for participation in local (divisional) tournaments only - to compete in NACs or ROCs you will need a full competitive membership. For entry fees, we accept Canadian cash at par if you bring exact change. (For snacks, raffle tickets and t-shirts, we accept Canadian cash at the current exchange rate). For this tournament, masks (the covid kind, not the fencing kind!) are optional. While we are no longer checking vaccination cards, we expect all participants to be fully vaccinated for covid. As always, err on the side of caution and do not come to the tournament if you are sick, Wear a mask if you suspect you were recently exposed to covid from a close contact. Please do your part to help the whole fencing community keep covid in check. Entry fees: $10 registation fee, plus $10 per event if registered by midnight April 10, with a $15 late fee if you signed up after that. Please bring exact change, or check payable to VFA (no credit cards or phone payment apps). When you arrive, go to the registration table to sign in, show your membership card and pay your entry fee. New for this season!: Fully certified refs who agree to ref within self-reffed events, allow us to list their names as official refs for the tournament, and serve on a bout committee if one is needed, get a $20 discount (ie. free entry into their first event of the tournament). This is in addition to earning GMD coupons if you volunteer as a dedicated ref (not fencing yourself at the same time) for a complete U or youth event. Fully certified means: -Referee rating of L2 or higher in one of the weapons you are fencing -Checked (Safesport training and background check) status if age 18+ - or Coach membership which includes the check -Signed the referee contract and marked "Good to go" in the US Fencing referee database If you are a fully certified ref, please let us know when you check in at the registration table. In recent years, gym rental costs have gone up. Please don't be surprised that we are trying to pack maximum fencing action into mimimum gym rental time! That means: -Doors open at 8 Saturday and 8:30 Sunday morning (please do not enter the school before that) -We need volunteers to arrive at 8 on Saturday and set up quickly, finishing up as veteran and youth foil events get underway. We also need volunteers to stay until the end on Sunday and help clean up. Everything can be left set up overnight on Saturday, so Sunday set up should be minimal. -Events will start as promptly as possible, and run on a fast track, double or triple stripping larger pools as much as possible. Please arrive and check in at least 30 minutes before your posted event time. We will not wait for late-comers. -You may not enter two events which start at the same time (i.e. open saber and unrated epee) -Stay alert and don't wander far from your strip, as you may be called upon to fence with little time between bouts The format for all events will be one round of pools with 100% promoted to direct elimination. We will make pools of 6-7 fencers whenever possible, but sometimes event numbers/strip availability requires us to use pools of 5-9. Youth and Veterans DE will consist of 10-touch bouts. For all other events, the round of 64 (if there is one) will be 10 touch bouts, round of 32 tba depending on strip availability/how it's going (10 or 15 touch), all remaining DEs (round of 16 on) will be 15 touch. For the unrated events, if we have 6 or more of each gender, we will hold separate mens and womens events. If fewer than 6 of either gender, a single mixed event will be held. Our venue is small (8 strips). We are running a busy schedule of events, so there may not be much space for warming up. Please be understanding, and share whatever space is available. Everyone is in the same boat. Please store your bags in the upper tiers of the bleachers, or in the adjacent hallways. The Green Mt Division is friendly and welcoming. We prize good sportsmanship and volunteer effort. Play hard and compete with gusto, but don't forget to bring your sense of humor, patience, and a positive, helpful attitude. We are especially appreciative of experienced fencers who help ref. All open events will be self-reffed, so please help out if you have the skills to do so. Those who have been to the Middlebury Open before know that it's a festival of fencing, a fundraiser and a party all rolled into one. -Our talented in-house artist Adam Glazer has created yet another beautiful t-shirt design. These are limited edition, available only at the tournament, when they're gone they're gone. $15 each, in a range of adult sizes. -We will be holding a raffle, with many and varied wonderful prizes. The drawing will be held on Sunday afternoon. Winners need not be present, so are not there to collect your prize, we'll arrange to get it to you. The more prizes, the more fun the raffle is, so if you have something you would like to donate, bring it along (just no white elephants, no alchohol and no stuff for small children please). Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5 -Cafe VFA will be offering bagels and coffee, plus an array of snacks to keep you going throughout the day. If you would like to donate some food to sell, that would be most welcome. Payment for all of these items is cash or check - no credit cards or phone apps. This is the 7th tournament (of 9) of the 2022-23 Champlain Cup league (our first full season since 2018-19). Want to see the point standings so far? Go here and scroll down until you see "2022-23 Champlain Cup" then select the weapon standings you want to view: https://askfred.net/Results/pointsLists.php Many thanks to all of you for helping rebuild the Vermont tournament scene, whether that's volunteering, driving from afar to fence with us, or simply coming out to fence in your first ever tournament. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. I look forward to a great weekend of fencing! Viveka