Future of the Team

OK you know what i just realized i have been neglecting to address the JV and Novice fencers and that just isn't right but here is the thing the JV and novice teams have been changing so much that i have completely lost track of who is where with a few exceptions. so rather than make a fool of myself guessing i am just going to give you my impressions on each of them starting with Pat. Pat is easily the top of the JV league he bagels people all the time but next year he will have to make varsity or sit on the side lines that has me worried but unfortunately there is nothing i can do about it he will just have to knock someone out next year. then we have Rob. Rob fenced last year but he is a sophomore so the pressure of being on varsity wont apply to him next year but honestly i have fenced him recently and he has improved a lot since last year i think he needs to be more confident but overall his technical skill has improved tremendously and i believe after the five juniors (Kevin Tim Austin Pat and I) have graduated he will be a top contender for guys varsity. Ben has the second smallest target area of the team the smallest being Sarah W.'s and he is a good infighter, something most people have trouble with. to improve his infighting he has actually started using a shorter foil (yes that is legal there is a maximum length but not a minimum length) but he needs to work on his defense as it is a good fencer will just pick him off before he gets close enough to do any infighting. Drew, Timmy's younger brother, um well he needs to improve his reaction time and work on the speed of his attacks and on making his movements smaller. if he can do that he will be a much better fencer. Andrew has good grasp of the Technical skills meaning blade work and footwork he has a lot of potential but he is not making the most of it. He spends most of practice talking (meaning sitting on his ass while doing so) with his GF Erin (girls Varsity) if he concentrated more on his fencing he would probably improve exponentially. Collin has a lot of energy and spirit and he has pretty good blade work but he seems to be missing something not sure what. maybe he just needs to practice against better fencers (best way to improve). or maybe he just hasn't found his own style yet. finally their is Zack who chose to fence lefty despite being right handed. this choice has worked to his advantage as many fencers have no idea how to deal with lefty's a sort of mental block if you will. on the other hand though because lefty's screw up so many fencers they often do not need tremendous skill or technique to win. so there technical skill is often less than it could or indeed should be. this is the case with Zack for example he almost never counter parrys (parrys a parry repost) which costs him many points in bouts against me and other experienced fencers. also his point control, and ability to judge distance need serious work many times his attacks go over my shoulder of to my side or fall short. OK the falling short part is because i back up but still he should learn to cope with that. all of these statements are my own opinions and they are based on the times i have fenced the above mentioned. they are the future of our team and i believe that in two years when the varsity team gets blown wide open. that they will all be ready to represent our school just as well as it is now.