Training for judicious fencing with the Jar of Pain guest post from Andreas “Dre” Orphanides If you stop by Mid-South on a Saturday afternoon, instead of the shuffle of feet and delicate clacking of Olympic fencing weapons, you might encounter something very different: the clang of steel on steel as two fighters attempt to best each other at historical German longsword combat. German longsword has been offered at the club since 2015, and in contrast to Olympic [Read More]

Durham, NC.  Sky Miller earned her first international title in Moedling, Austria over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Her Gold Medal finish is highlight of her progression this season. This was Miller’s second international competition. In early December, Miller finished 26th at her international debut in Germany. After this weekend’s result, Miller ranks 6th in the USA Cadet national rankings. Scores from this weekend’s result: Finals Miller def. Jolien Corteyn (BEL), 15-7 Semis [Read More]

Sixteen fencers from Mid-South Fencers’ Club will travel this Friday to National Harbor, Maryland this weekend to compete in what is known as the ‘largest youth fencing event’ in the United States. Capitol Clash, a Super Youth Circuit event, is set to start this Saturday, January 13th, and run through the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Good luck to these fencers: Elle Carrasco Evan Fruth Guillaume Preud’homme Phoebe Todd Matthew Chaves Connor Woodward Dylan Woodward [Read More]

The 2016-2017 competition season was an exciting one for Mid-South Fencers’ Club. We had great representation at the Summer National Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah in July. Mid-South returned home with 4 medals, we had 13 athletes competing in a field of 4,052 fencers from 362 different fencing clubs. We’re proud of how everyone fenced and are excited to start into the new season. Congratulations to the Carl BADGER who, for the second year in [Read More]

Summer is BIG ENERGY at Mid-South! Check us out month to month: JUNE Our current Academy Class and Practice Schedule continues throughout the entire month of June. June 19th-23rd – Cary Academy – Olympic Fencing – AM 4th-6th grade, PM 7th-9th grade – $195.00 – FULL CAMP June 19th-23rd – Mid-South Fencers’ Club – Beginner to Intermediate Olympic Fencing – 9-3:30pm, $285.00 – FULL CAMP June 26th-30th – Mid-South Fencers’ Club – High Performance Camp [Read More]

Congratulations to the Mid-South fencers who qualified and will travel to Kansas City, Missouri on the weekend of February 17-20th to participate in the 2017 Junior Olympic Championships: Ben Lockwood (Senior, Northwood High School) Leo Tamburro (Junior, Cary Academy) Dylan Woodwood (Sophomore, Voyager Academy) Leanne Chan (Freshman, Durham School of the Arts) Sky Miller (Freshman, Durham Schools of the Arts) Athletes competing this weekend will be coached by Jeff Kallio.    

Mid-South is celebrating our first decade. CAN YOU BELIEVE ten years? While we are thinking about it, when did we actually start? Do we count the move to Durham? When we incorporated? How about when we were teaching classes at First Health of the Carolinas? Through all of our iterations, transitions, growing pains, and celebrations, Mid-South evolved due to great people who believed in a community of fighters. Now, in the year 2017, we are more strong, wise, [Read More]

Carl introduced himself to our fencing community as a fencing parent, but after the kids headed off to college, Carl got busy training. Read about Carl’s recent experience at the Veteran World Championships… Going to the Veteran World Cup in fencing is (I hope!) not just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it was memorable and a great experience. In some ways it did not differ much from a NAC or Nationals, at least in my event. The level of [Read More]

The 3rd Annual Memorial Ryder Cup hosted 11 Divisions and 161 registrations in Durham, NC this past weekend. Metrics comparing the 2015 RJCC (Regional Junior and Cadet Circuit) portion of the event showed participation growth up 92% from 2015. The addition of the ROC (Regional Open Circuit), specializing in one event, Durham location, facility, and reputation of event organizers were reported as critical reasons for this increase in participation. The event holds memory to William Ryder Darwin, a [Read More]

USA Fencing tests the endurance limits of member clubs and coaches with its Summer National Championships and July Challenge. Dallas 2016 leaves us with an incomplete 2015-2016 season due to the tragic events that caused the last day of the tournament to be cancelled. Congratulations to all Mid-South participants on their results and efforts: Carl Badger: GOLD V60MS Nicholas Cantin: 125 Div 2 MS, 141st D3MS, 21st SRMSTeam Leanne Chan: 69th D1AWS, 95th JWS, 87th CWS, 10th Div3WS, [Read More]