Tuesday, December 06, 2022

Gheorghemas, Day 1: WE BACK, BABY

The natives are restless, demanding the Day 1 post (in French, no less). Folks, it is officially go time once again on your favorite faux holiday...

On the first day of Gheorghemas

Big Gheorghe gave to me

Two dudes bested by Kazansky

7 comments:

zman said...

I doubt any of you care about fencing but many of you appear to care about youth sports so I ask you to sign this petition asking USA Fencing not to eliminate the Y10 and Y12 age groups from national tournaments.

https://www.change.org/SaveYouthNationalFencing

rob said...

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

and why would they ban the kids from fencing?

zman said...

They spell out the rationale in the link. Their concerns are inherent in all youth sports.

OBX dave said...

Hey z,

Not to be a contrarian, but do the benefits of national tournaments significantly outweigh regional tournaments and competition? Youth sports, specifically travel youth sports, are a money pit and prohibitive for many parents. There are surveys (Aspen Institute, among others) that find younger kids prefer learning and competing with friends to schlepping all over creation attempting to win trophies.

I'd be happy to sign the petition if you have a reasonable argument.

zman said...

What would you say if they canceled the Little League World Series?

Fencing is a money pit and prohibitive for many parents regardless of whether you compete locally, regionally, or nationally. zson's studio has several really good fencers (not zson) who schlep all over creation winning trophies and they love it. Why shouldn't they and similarly situated kids have the opportunity to fence for a gold medal and the chance to say they're the best in the country?

Dave said...

rather than learning the details, i'm just going to sign the petition!

the American way . . .

Whitney said...

I think what OBX Dave is trying to say, and really what we all feel here, is that teaching 10 and 12 year olds to hock stolen goods is probably worth investing in, but where’s the ROI? I mean really, how much can they make you back to justify the time and money training them?