Wine Spies, an internet-based wine shopping company from Sonoma has agreed to be a sponsor for the Veteran Bay Cup for the 2007-2008 season. End-of-year prizes will be some nice bottles worth fightin' for.

Feel free to click on the link to your right and maybe you can get some of the bottles before the end of the season. And for parents of youth fencers, here's your chance to sample what they can't win for you. Or, start fencing and maybe you'll get one too!

So, unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past year+, you know that the Summer Nationals are in San Jose this year. And while that means you don't have to pay $50 extra for your fencing bag's travel on a plane, you should do your patriotic duty by helping out and making this Summer Nationals one that USFA National Office will remember. Fondly, that is.

We need volunteers to help set up, run registration tables and tear down.

Set up: Sunday, June 29 12noon until completed. USFA needs 20+ volunteers to help out the strips into place, set up the scoring machine tables, stand and thread the floor cords to all the right places. If 40 people get there, we should get that thing done in about 1.5 hours.

Registration table help: Tuesday July 1 through Thursday July 10. USFA needs 4 people to sit behind the FOIL, SABER, EPEE and COACHES/PARENTS booth to help check-in people, answer questions like "Where's the nearest Starbucks? (answer: step outside, walk 10 feet in any direction)," and hand goodie bags to the fencers.

Tear down: Thursday July 10, 1PM until completed. Frankly, this will be the most difficult chore only because no one really wants to do this one. But, with enough busy hands on hand, we should be able to pack up the 30,000lbs of weights and shims and, oh yeah, strips and send them back to Colorado Springs with a nice San Jose stamp on it.

If you're interested in volunteering, please ping me at this email address and tell me what you want to do. I'm playing the second-in-commend unofficial volunteer helper assistant to the San Jose Sports Authority person who delegated this wonderful task to me at the last possible moment. So I pass it along to you wonderful fencers of the Bay Area.

Make the Bay Area fencing scene proud by helping out. Then make the rest of the country shake in their boots by kicking their butts at the event. Go fencers!

Section 1: Bay Cup Help

1. What is the Bay Cup?
2. Who can participate in the Bay Cup?
3. What is the USFA
4. How do I sign up for the Bay Cup?
5. What do I need to participate in an event?

Section 2: Web Site Help

1. How do I get a username & Password?
2. How do I sign up for events?
3. Do I have to sign up for events to participate?
4. My name doesn't show up in the list when I sign up for an event.
5. Can I sign up events for multiple fencers?
   2 Comments; Read More & Discuss
   
   

How old can one be to compete in various age-restricted events? Here are the answers for the 2007-2008 USFA fencing season:

Event Category	Birth Years (inclusive)
Y10 (Youth-10):	1997-2000
Y12 (Youth-12):	1995-1998
Y14 (Youth-14):	1993-1996
Cadet (Und-17):	1991-1994* (may be younger with Y14 Nat'l pts)
Junior (Und-20):	1988-1994* (may be younger with cadet nat'l pts)
Senior events:	any-1994* (may be younger with junior nat'l pts)
Veterans 40+:	born before or in 1967
Veterans 50-59:	9/2/1948 - 9/1/1958
Veterans 60+:	born BEFORE 9/2/1948

Here's a list of armory and other fencing related services offered.  Feel free to advertise your own in the discussion thread for this article.

Lots of useful links to other websites; forms for running tournaments, governing bodies, commercial vendors and more. Add your own in the discussion thread below!

Here is a list of available referees for Bay Cup tournaments