Topic: Brentwood Holiday

Wow, that was an extremely exciting. Major upsets everywhere! AJ Szylagi WON Men's Foil, Paul Schulman
 and Tyler Han**** being knocked out incredibly early, Olivi Curry's loss to Emilly Smith and Smith's loss to Cubano, etc. etc.

Any input?
 

Who knew?  Was this event adverstised AT ALL.  It wasn't advertised in Nassau County, was it?  Was it advertised at the clubs? NSFC, IFA, FAW, NYAC, FC? NO.  Was it advertised through the schools? NO.  Was it posted on ASKFRED? NO!.

I guess for a "private" event it was good, but don't get your hopes up based on the results.  I am SURE there were a lot of GREAT fencers who didn't show, because they didn't know.

Piste_Off,

 It was a non-usfa tournament that is why it was not on fred. It is an annual Invitational down for the Brentwood High School fencing team, Invites are sent out to all suffolk and nassau schools with complete teams.

Check the list - JERICHO's team members were not notified

Like I said, coach, Jericho did not know, and if the Leung brothers weren't there for sabre, I wouldn't get too hot on that tournaments results.

I assure you the Invite was sent to your coach. To discredit the event cause your kids on your team were not there is not fair to the other fencers. While the Leungs are nice fencers, they are both D level. Had the tournament been a USFA event it would have Been a B2. You had Paul Schulman and Sam Austin who are both Bs compete, as well as someone with soild national results in Peter Freiss, and a solid fencer in Tyler Han****. You also had other very good fencers in Nino Prodigalidad, Ryan O'Halleran, CJ Junior, and Joe Babinski. Because your school did not follow through on what they should have done do not discredit others, and step out of nassau and realize there is a much bigger and stronger world out there.

I am just saying that while the Brentwood Tourney has a great reputation, it would be great to get ALL fencers invloved and something more than just telling the coaches should be done.  Thats all.

 I agree with Coach_Kolakowski wholeheartedly.  The Brentwood Holiday Tournament is not a secret.  Long Island coaches all know about it.  If your team did not attend, it was by decision of your coach.  Speak to him or her if you think your team would be interested in fencing there next season. 

 Furthermore, the Leung brothers (David and Robert, if I am not mistaken) would have been a presence at the tournament but not a dominant one.  I do not believe either one of them would have been able to beat Han****, Freiss, Austin, or Schulman.  Perhaps if one of them had gotten a lucky path, they could have made the top eight as CJ Olsen (the second place finisher at the Brentwood Holiday, who, despite being a strong high school fencer himself, would probably not have beaten teammate Schulman had he not lost to Nguyen).

 I agree with coach. This was a great tournament with many strong competitors and to say that the Leungs would have been a force is plausible. However, I have seen David Leung fence and have fenced against him myself. He's a strong competitor and I can tell you much better than his rating. You could tell this if you had watched his match in a qualifier where he beat Peter Tyson. It was a great bout that really could have gone either way. If you ask any of those people that you named coach, I'm sure they would say the same as they have fenced him.  If you look at his record he's been in the top 3 of every j.o or  national qualifier on long island for a long time. However, he hasn't entered many tournaments of late or in his career, which may say something about his motivation to fence. But then again you can't deny the fact that he has never lost to Sam Austin. However, I would like to see about between him and Paul Schulman. That's a bout I would like to see. But coach is right in saying that on the national picture neither Leungs cause much stir. Same can be said of most of the long island fencers, except maybe Freiss. But, anyway it was a great tournament and the bottom line is that the Leungs didn't show up and you can't really predict what would have happened.

 If you had said this a full year ago then I would agree with you but right now you're a little behind the times.  While David Leung is still a strong Long Island Fencer, he has been relatively at the same level his entire career.  Last year, he placed highly in two or three tournaments, all local qualifiers during a transition period in sabre fencing.  Luis Perla, Adam Austin, Lucas Janson, Adam Fields, and the lesser known Andrew Fischl (a strong fencer who never fenced as part of a high school team) had left.  Keith Feldman, Paul Schulman, and Pete Tyson were just starting to come into their own and Sam Austin had yet developed into that strong a fencer yet.    Yes, he beat Pete Tyson but that was considered a shocking upset.  True, Sam Austin has never beaten him.  However, their last bout ended 15-14, when Austin had still been fencing for under two years.  Since then, he has proven that his skill has increased tremendously.  Just look at the results from the recent Liberty Cup, where he managed to defeat Valentin Staller in pools and Allen Schneider in DE's, two very highly ranked national fencers.  David Leung however hasn't been seen even in a local tournament since his victory over Tyson.  The David Leung from last year would be a match for any current Long Island Fencer.  However, I expect his absence from tournaments and lack of practice have caused him to be left behind while other fencers continue to improve.

You also claim that none of the current high school fencers have made much of a stir on the national level.  I agree.  I disagree that Freiss is the exception.  A top 8 finish in a Division II tournament, while a testament to his stamina, does not prove his skill. 

Coach, my apologies to you and to Brentwood.  The Jericho AD told me that Jericho was invited, but its coach was taking some sort of techers certifcation test and could't go, and since the coach couldn't go, the team couldn't go.  None of the kids on the team were told about it(two years in a row now) Is there a requirement that the COACH of the team has to go?  I thought it was a non-section 8 event and is basicaly an individual event.

Some insight would be helful for next year.