September 6, 2008
Summer’s end. The competitions are over. The travel is over. The Olympics (sob!) are over.
After a crazy summer of travel and competitions, we’re all back home and the kids are back in school.
So much has happened and is happening that I don’t know where to begin. Let’s start with what’s coming up.
Get a cup of coffee. This is a long one.
UPCOMING EVENTS
· World Youth A Championships. Two members of our group – Andrew Jayne and Emily Andrews – are heading to Bulgaria soon to compete in the World Youth A Championships. Ryan Anderson also qualified but elected not to go this year. We wish them well!
Swiss Open: Daelyn Chase and John Gibbons will be heading to Switzerland in October for the Swiss Open. Good luck to you guys, too!
· Sheila Taormina Swim Clinic. Thanks to Lisa Jayne, Olympian Sheila Taormina is putting on a swim clinic for our group on Sunday, October 12. Participation is limited to 10 serious swimmers (no beginners). The two-hour clinic is $100. If you’re interested, contact Pat Duffy for details.
· Southern California Pentathlon Winter Camp. Mary Jo Bullock and Lorraine Price are organizing a weeklong winter camp at Equestrian Centers International in Rancho Mirage. The camp runs from December 27 through January 1, and is followed by a competition on January 3. Cost is $775 for the camp (not including room, food, and transportation) and $150 for the competition ($25 for camp attendees). If you’d like an entry form, please contact Pat Duffy.
Not a bad lineup for the “off season,” huh?
Monthly trainings will also resume in October, with the first one on October 12. Kids will shoot and fence before the swim clinic. There will also be a board meeting that day from 9 a.m. till noon. We should have plenty of business to discuss as modern pentathlon competition calendars should be set by that date.
(Gentle reminder that any outstanding dues must be paid immediately. We rely on those funds to provide training for our kids.)
THE SUMMER, BY ADVENTURE
And now for a rundown of our summer vacation. For a complete listing of scores for competitions, please click on the Competitions tab.
· Open competition at Rancho Mirage (June 6-8).
We started our summer off with a competition cosponsored by Redwoods Pony Club and Southern California Pentathlon. The event, which was promoted as an introduction to modern pentathlon, involved kids of all ages (8-18) and abilities (beginner to international competitors). The competition served as a great warmup for our summer activities and learning experience for all involved. Our kids did extremely well.
Junior Girls
Daelyn Chase, 1st
Alessandra, 2nd
Junior Boys
Andrew Jayne, 1st (also high point champion)
Youth A Girls
Grace Neveu, 1st
Youth B Girls
Marisa Berger, 1st
Youth D Boys
Andrew Tapia, 1st
Youth E Boys
Samuel Felix, 1st
· US Junior Pentathlon Championships in Pennsylvania (June 13-15 )
This competition, held in the beautiful piney woods of western Pennsylvania, was a lot of fun for the whole group. Plus, a couple of our kids qualified for the Junior World Championships. (Congrats, Daelyn and John!)
Junior Girls
Daelyn Chase, 3rd
Emily Andrews, 5th
Junior Boys
John Gibbons, 1st
Andrew Jayne, 5th
· New Mexico Military Institute Pentathlon Camp and US Youth Championships. Roswell, NM (June 16-28)
Cassie Bullock, Marisa, and Andrew J., attended the 10-day camp in the hot New Mexico desert. (Marisa says it’s also a great “fat camp.”) The training was excellent with Polish coaches for the fencing and the running.
Ryan and Brendan Anderson, Mackenzie West, and Emily Andrews came for the competition. And again, our “team” did very nicely.
Youth A Girls
Emily Andrews, 3rd
Cassie Bullock, 4th
Youth A Boys
Ryan Anderson, 3rd
Youth B Girls
Marisa Berger, 1st
Mackenzie West, 3rd
Youth B Boys
Andrew Jayne, 1st
Youth C Boys
Brendan Anderson, 2nd
· European Youth B Championships. Dublin, Ireland. (July 2-6).
A group of 26 (pentathletes and families) traveled to Ireland for three weeks of competition, training, and fun. Our kids (who obviously are not European) competed as guests. The US girls’ team was Marisa, Daelyn, Leah Price, and Mackenzie. On the boys’ team were Ryan and Brendan.
The kids did very well in the shoot—and not so well in anything else. (Although Daelyn did hold her own in the run and the swim.) You’re not going to see any first, seconds, and thirds posted here.
But the competition was a huge success for WCP on many levels.
· Friendships. The kids stayed in the dormitories at Dublin City University where they got to know the British (and Spanish) teams very well. These international friendships will live on through Facebook for a long time. A couple of the Brits are even considering attending the winter camp.
· Team building: One attraction of the competition was the team competition on Sunday. Our girls worked together as a team, supporting and cheering each other on. And Ryan had the opportunity to be on an international scratch team and experience teamwork on an international level.
· Connections. Pat and Mike, of course, made many valuable contacts for trainings and competitions later on.
· Reality check. The kids (and parents) got to see up close and personal just how high the bar is outside of North America.
We were all stunned by the level of competition they faced. Europeans take modern pentathlon very seriously. And more importantly, European governments take modern pentathlon very seriously.
The European kids compete for a place on the national team, and then their training and travel is funded and coordinated by their national committees. In England, the pentathletes’ schools offer abbreviated school days to correspond with their training schedules.
It was a rude awakening for our kids who have to find (and pay for) their own coaches, training, and travel. And then work around school schedules. Hopefully, our new NGB can alleviate some of the burden next year.
· World Juniors Championship, Cairo, Egypt (July 6-13)
Again, the level of competition was extremely high here. Unfortunately, John and Daelyn did not progress to the final rounds so they were not able to show off their riding ability, one of their strengths. But both gained valuable international experience and got to do a little sightseeing as well.
Next year!
· Raford House (July 6-18)
We couldn’t wait to get to Orla McCabe’s manor house at Athenry. There we enjoyed huge Irish breakfasts and scrumptious dinners (courtesy of Kathleen). We all had fun getting lost on unmarked Irish roads and discovering areas we didn’t intend to visit.
There was never a dull moment. The kids took over the study (and the TV) as well as the billiards room. The adults chatted and consumed huge quantities of coffee at the dining room table throughout the day and moved to the fireplace where they consumed large quantities of wine at night.
The food was great. The hospitality was even better. And the baths? Let’s just say, they were bracing!
The riding was the highlight of the trip. The kids (and a couple of moms) rode cross country daily with Tom McNamara. And the Irish Olympic fencing coach, Tristan Parris, journeyed out from Galway a few days for fencing clinics.
At any rate, we were all busy from dawn to midnight (later for the kids) doing whatever it was we were doing. And it was fun!
· Equestrian Centers International, Rancho Mirage (July)
While the rest of us were gallivanting in Ireland, Andrew Jayne put his time to good use. He spent five days at Michael Cintas’s facility training with the modern pentathlon Olympic team before they headed off to Beijing. He reports that it was an incredible experience.
· Canadian Nationals, Guelph, Ontario (August 1-3)
A contingent of us managed to come home, unpack, and head back out for the last competition of the summer up in Guelph, which turned out to be a charming little college town.
There we had fun just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company and getting to know the Schrimsher family from New Mexico better. It was a nice, low-pressure event. The perfect end to a summer. But that doesn’t mean the kids slacked off.
We went into the event a little out of shape. Many of the kids had just returned from vacation (think Ireland and France) and had not been training regularly. But they still gave the Canadians a run for their money.
Youth A Girls
Emily Andrews, 5th
Youth A Boys
Nathan Schrimsher, 1st
Lucus Schrimsher, 2nd
Youth B Girls
Marisa Berger, 2nd
Youth B Boys
Jimmy Reizman, 2nd
Ryan Anderson, 3rd
Youth D Boys
Brendan Anderson, 1st
RETURN TO REALITY
Now we’re home. The medals are put away. The kids are back in school. The laundry is done (mostly).
What’s next?
Well, Mike and Marisa both had their long-delayed surgeries. Marisa is recuperating nicely after hip surgery in early August and is walking well with crutches. She’s swimming and biking and hopes to be running and shooting in October.
Mike is looking at a longer recovery from his ankle surgery. He is resting at home and scheming about how to make our club bigger, better, and stronger.
Lea Reizman starts college this month at UCLA. We’re happy for her but very sad to see the old group split up. Although Marisa plans to see a lot more of Lea once she’s in LA.
Pat is already wheeling and dealing and lining up clinics and competitions for our kids. And rumor has it that she’s planning to put a lap pool out back. Before you know it, Prancer will be taking apart the pool instead of just his watering tub.
If you have any news you’d like to add, I hope to be doing monthly newsletters in the future. Email any news or suggestions to me at ballardcon@aol.com.
West Coast Pentathlon Newsletter
May 27, 2008
It’s been a long winter but now the competitions are gearing up and everyone is getting excited. This promises to be an exciting summer with a new NGB, the Olympics, and our kids competing in Rancho Mirage, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Ireland, and Canada. And who knows? Some of them might be advancing to world youth and junior championships as well. Let’s start with our local club and activities.
Board Meeting
The board met on Saturday, May 24, to finalize summer plans and discuss outstanding business. Among the agenda items were:
· New board members-- Lea Reizman and Lynda Banks have resigned as board members. Taking their slots are Marisa Berger, Steve Chase, and Lisa Jayne. Welcome!
· College members—Because many of our members attend college out of state, we are instituting an “inactive” membership for college students. Their annual dues of $50 will allow them to train and compete with the club over the summers.
· Dues—A couple of our members still have not paid their annual dues. Please send your payment to our treasurer, Beth Reizman asap.
· Uniforms—We have ordered club track and swimming uniforms for those who will be competing as a team in Ireland. If you would like to also order new uniforms, call or e-mail Connie for prices.
· Roster—We will be distributing a new club roster with this newsletter. Please let Connie know if there are any errors or omissions.
· New training regimen—We are still trying to figure out the best training regimen for the club. We decided that we need to offer weekly group activities to maintain interest and to attract new members. Beginning in September, we will hold a run/shoot clinic twice a month and a fencing clinic in Petaluma twice a month. We will also schedule special clinics at least once a month and travel to Michael Cintas for riding/shooting clinics every other month. Monthly topics will include cross training, sports psychology, stretching, etc. If you would like to suggest a topic or a speaker, please call or e-mail Pat or Mike.
Uniforms
· Sexual harassment clinic—It is mandatory that all members and their families attend a sexual harassment clinic. Training must be completed before a member or his or her family travels with the group. Call Vic to set up your training session.
Pentathlete News
Here’s what our pentathlete family has been up to.
Congrats to:
· Ryan Anderson, Colorado, placed 15th in the nation in the Junior Olympics for air pistol.
· Grace Neveu, San Francisco, placed 7th in Division I fencing in Oregon.
· Lea Reizman, San Rafael, got the lead in her school play, “The Princess and the Pea.” And she will be attending UCLA in the fall.
Other news
· Thank you to Andrew Jayne, Nevada, who collected enough donations for the club to purchase two falling targets for the run/shoot competition clinics.
· Welcome home to Alessandra Accinelli who is back from Bethany College for the summer and will be competing with the group.
· Welcome back (sorta) to Marisa, who the doctors are temporarily allowing off the injured list so she can compete in June and July. She’ll have hip surgery in August. Also on the injured list: Mike Duffy, who will be having ankle surgery in August.
Competitions
Our kids have a competition-filled summer. Here’s who’s doing what when. If you are not signed up for one of these competitions, it isn’t too late (except for Ireland). Just call Pat for entry forms.
· June 6-8. Pentathlon Clinic/Competition in Rancho Mirage. Attendees will compete in all five sports plus have a riding lesson with Michael Cintas and a shooting lesson with Cliff Halenar.
WCP competitors: Grace Neveu, Daelyn Chase, Marisa, Andrew Jayne, Gracie, Alessandra, Cassie Bullock, Leah Price, and Breanna.
· June 13-15. US Junior Pentathlon Championships in Pennsylvania. Medalists who garner enough points will qualify for Junior World Championships in July.
WCP competitors: Daelyn, Emily Andrews, Andrew J., Alessandra, John Gibbons. Michael Cintas will be the coach.
· June 16-25. New Mexico Military Institute Pentathlon Camp. Roswell, NM. This 10-day camp covers swimming, shooting, running, and fencing for $890.
WCP attendees: Cassie, Marisa, and Andrew J.
· June 26-28. US Youth Nationals. New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell, NM. This is the qualifier for the World Youth Championships which will be held in Bulgaria in September.
WCP competitors: Daelyn, Andrew J., Marisa, Cassie, Ryan, and Brendan.
· July 2-6. European Youth B Championships. Dublin, Ireland. Our Bs are competing as guests so their scores will not be counted. However, it’s a great opportunity to get to know pentathletes from Europe and see how they measure up.
The WCP girls’ team is Marisa, Daeyln, Leah, and Mackenzie. On the boys’ team are Ryan, Brendan Anderson, and Corbin Chase.
A group of 26 (pentathletes and families) are traveling to Ireland for the event. They will also stay at Raford House where they will continue their training, riding cross country with Tom McNamara and fencing with members of the Irish team.
· August 1-3. Canadian Nationals in Guelph, Ontario.
Entry forms are not available yet but let Pat know if you’re interested.
WCP competitors: Daelyn, Andrew J., Marisa, Jimmy Reizman, Ryan, and Brendan.
Southern California Pentathlon, Inc.
We are no longer the only youth pentathlon group operating on the West Coast. We now have a sister nonprofit group based in Rancho Mirage with Michael Cintas, Mary Jo Bullock, and Lorraine Price on the board. We are helping them with the clinic/competition in June and hope to continue that partnership with other clinics and competitions.
NGB
The US Olympic Committee has finally chosen an NGB. The name will be USA Pentathlon and its board members will be announced in early June. We are hoping that the NGB will help us will insurance and help grow the youth membership through more clinics and competitions.
The elite athletes will stay under USOC supervision until after the Olympics. At that point, the NGB will partner with the USOC for a transition period, and take over the reins in early 2009. Stay tuned.
Olympics
There’s a heated race for the two slots on the men’s and the women’s teams. The USOC will decide who our representatives will be after the Senior World Championships May 29-June 1.
Calendar
Connie is trying to build a more comprehensive calendar on the Web site. Please contact her with any news about activities the group might be interested in. And be sure to visit the Web site for the latest news.
West Coast Pentathlon Newsletter
February 7, 2008
We’re going into a new competition year – an Olympic year! – and lots is going on. Some of our members are getting ready for our first competitions overseas and planning a riding vacation in Ireland. Everyone is training hard and anxiously awaiting news about the new NGB.
With so much going on, we need to make the Web site more functional – if you have news to share, please send it to Connie and she’ll post it. Photos are also welcome. She also needs any changes members need to make for the club roster.
On January 26, West Coast Pentathlon held its first annual general meeting. We had hoped to also have a potluck dinner but had to cancel because of the bad weather. But a lot of news came out of the meeting. Read on.
Comings and Goings
This year we said good-bye to the Davises as they left the club due to time restraints. We will miss them.
We did, however, gain three new members at the pentathlon camp we held in Rancho Mirage in December. Leah Price, 15, and Kiersti Wyle, also 15, both live in the desert. And Emily Andrews, 17, lives in New Jersey. The new members will train with Carmelo over spring break. Welcome!
New Club
Mary Jo Bullock (Cassie’s mom) is spearheading an effort to start a new club in Rancho Mirage which will be called Southern California Pentathlon. Pat is guiding her through the steps. Michael Cintas will be the board president.
Shooting
Cliff Halenar is going down to Rancho Mirage once or twice a month to coach the SoCal kids in shooting. We are invited attend these clinics at any time. The next clinic is Monday, February 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sheila Taormina will be there as well and will give the kids a little talk.
Cliff will also be there on Sunday, February 24, and will be focusing on the run/shoot format. Let Pat know if you’re interested in attending either of these events.
New Structure
Our training group has made tremendous strides over the past year so the board decided that their monthly training sessions should be more specialized. They will no longer meet monthly at Horseman’s for a day of training. Instead, Steve Chase, our new activity chair, will arrange training in one discipline each month. There will no longer be monthly dues. Instead, each pentathlete will pay his/her share for that month’s activities. Please check the WCP website calendar for updated activities.
However, Carmelo will still be busy on the third Saturday of each month. He will now be coaching the newer/younger members of the group. Fees will be $50 for the day. Carmelo will also be available for private instruction those afternoons. Please make arrangements in advance.
Dues
Annual dues have been increased to $150 per year. They are now due and payable in full. Please make your checks payable to West Coast Pentathlon and leave them at Pat’s or mail them to Beth. Any member who is two months in arrears will have his/her membership suspended.
Good Publicity
Marisa was featured in the Los Angeles Times on January 11. See the link at http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp- sondheimer11jan11,1,7544760.column.
An NBC affiliate in Los Angeles picked up on the story and ran a news feature on her on the evening news.
We’re hoping to leverage these stories to get a bigger story on WCP in the San Francisco Chronicle. If you would like to get publicity on your child in your local paper, please e-mail Connie and she will help you.
Sexual harassment clinic
Vic presented a sexual harassment clinic both to pentathletes and parents at the last board meeting. All members (parents and kids) of WCP are required to undergo this training. Please contact Vic to set up an appointment.
Calendar
Connie is trying to build a more comprehensive calendar on the Web site. Please contact her with any news about activities the group might be interested in.
Competitions
The summer is going to be busy! Currently, our group plans to compete in Colorado for US Nationals (tentatively June 6-8), in Dublin for European Youth B (running, shooting, swimming only) (July 2-7), and then Canada for the Open (unscheduled). A couple of kids may also be invited to compete in Sweden for European Youth A. This is our first chance for the kids to see how they measure up to international competition.
Many of these dates are not firm. However, Pat feels we should at least book the roundtrip Ireland flight while seats are available. She also suggested that everyone get trip insurance because as we all know, these competition dates tend to slip.
Though most of the people who are traveling together belong to West Coast Pentathlon, please note that this is not a West Coast Pentathlon sponsored trip. Participants will be traveling on their own and at their own risk. Pat may make some of the arrangements for the group but all are ultimately responsible for their own travel arrangements and airline reservations. The club bears no responsibility for this trip.
Ireland
Currently, we have about 25-30 people going.
- From Northern California: Pat and Mike Duffy; Daelyn, Dana, Steve, and Corbin Chase, and maybe Vic and Jimmy Reizman.
- From Southern California: Marisa, Connie, and Jan Berger; Kurt and Lindsey Leisure; Mary Jo and Cassie Bullock, Leah and Maureen Price, Kiersti Wyle, and others.
- And from other states: Andrew, Lisa, and Gregg Jayne (Nevada); Tom, Carol, Brendan, and Ryan Anderson (Colorado); Donna and Emily Andrews (New Jersey).
For most of the trip, we will stay at Raford House where the kids will train and ride cross country with Tom McNamara. They may even get to fence with the Irish team in Galway.
If you’re interested in going on the trip, please contact Pat. We have a separate newsletter that covers the itinerary in more depth.
January 3, 2008
Happy New Year!
First, a big thank you to Thar and Nancy Casey for hosting the West Coast Pentathlon holiday party. The Caseys laid out such a scrumptious dinner in their beautiful home that we all had trouble tearing ourselves away. It was wonderful to get together with all the families in a purely social setting. Let’s make this a tradition. (Don’t worry, Thar and Nancy, we can take turns hosting!)
Desert Christmas Camp
West Coast Pentathlon and Redwoods Pony Club hosted a weeklong tetrathlon/pentathlon camp at Michael Cintas’s facility – Equestrian Centers International in Rancho Mirage. Michael is the riding coach for the Olympic Modern Pentathlon team and our kids received a lot of invaluable instruction at the camp.
The kids rode at Michael’s, then shot and fenced in a tent erected on his property. They ran at a high school track and swam at a country club. Believe it or not, they did all five events every day for six days. Wow.
Unfortunately, Cliff Halenar got the flu and had to cancel so Mike Duffy stepped in and did a great job supervising the shooting. Melissa Adkison coached the swim at Palm Valley Country Club. Evae Silva, running coach for A Snail’s Pace shoe stores, gave a special running clinic. And our jack-of-all-trades, Carmelo Felix, coached everything else. Everyone was very busy and very happy.
Twelve kids attended the camp, including seven from WCP: Marisa, John, Andrew, Brendan, Ryan, Daelyn, and Isaiah. In addition, we had Emily Andrews, a tetrathlete from New Jersey; Ali Schleusser, a tetrathlete from Grass Valley; Vinnie Verruzio, a pentathlete from Brazil; and two pentathletes from the desert, Cassie Bullock and Leah Price.
On New Year’s Eve, we held a competition to see how our training had paid off and the kids did very well, especially considering that many of them had been sidelined with the flu for a couple of days. Michael Cintas was thrilled with how well our kids performed and how smoothly the camp was run. We are invited back for more camps if we like.
The camp spawned a lot of interest in pentathlon in the desert and beyond. We have several new pentathletes who would like to join our club. And Mary Jo Bullock, Cassie’s mom, is organizing training for a small group who would like to accompany us to Ireland in the summer. More on that later.
Comings and Goings
Tom Anderson has accepted a seat on the board to replace Steve Tintle, who resigned earlier this year.
Unfortunately, Christy Davis and Fiona Davis have resigned their positions at West Coast Pentathlon due to time constraints. Their daughters, Tara and Gilly, will not be renewing their memberships for the same reason. We will miss them and wish them well.
General Meeting
We will have our first annual general meeting at the Duffys’ house on Saturday, January 26. The board will meet at 9 a.m. and everyone is invited. The board meeting and training will be followed by a potluck dinner that evening. We’ll send details later but hold that date on your calendar. Pat will give a short presentation on the club’s activities for 2008. Please be thinking of any questions or issues you would like to discuss.
Tet Clinic and Rally
On the weekend of March 29 and 30, Redwoods Pony Club is hosting a tet/show jumping clinic and rally at Horseman’s. This is a great opportunity for WCP pentathletes to get some training in. Perhaps we can also do a fencing demonstration. Mark this spot on your calendar as well.
National Competitions
The Junior/Senior Competition will be held June 14/15 at the Olympic Training Center. Dates for the Youth competition will not be set until a National Governing Body is established. We also don’t know when the Canadian Nationals will be held. And we don’t know when or where NORCECA will be. When we get these dates, we’ll update the calendar. In the meantime, run track, get on a swim team, find a fencing club, and shoot whenever possible. Remember the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared.
Ireland and England
Many West Coast pentathletes will be spending July in Ireland and England. Our group will be leaving around June 28 and returning the first week of August.
Pat is trying to get our Youth B pentathletes included in the European Youth B Championships in Dublin on July 3. Although their scores would not count, this would be a great opportunity for them to compete against pentathletes from all over Europe.
The group would then go to Raford House, a manor house surrounded by cross country fields. Tom McNamara will furnish horses for riding. Pat is trying to find fencing and swimming instruction so the kids can train while there.
Finally, some of the group will go to Millfield in England for the National Youth Pentathlon competition there on July 26-27. The kids will compete against the some of the best young pentathletes in the world. So only our best pentathletes should consider attending this event.
Please send any newsworthy items about our club or its members to ballardcon@aol.com and I will be happy to include them.
December 2007 Newsletter
This will be a short one. We’ll have more news to report in January after our camp in the desert.
Shooting
On December 2, a group of West Coast pentathletes traveled to Chino to compete in the Junior Olympics state qualifier for shooting. As usual, our kids did very well. Here are the results:
Boys
Jimmy Reizman – Gold
Chris Hassoon – Bronze
Girls
