Cathleen Pomponio--
I am a new member of Salle Honolulu. I have been fencing with this club since
May of 2000. I arrived on Colin's birthday, sort of a surprise. I am new to
Hawaii and did not expect to find fencing.
I first learned fencing
in New Orleans with a Hungarian ex-gold medalist, Dr. Eugene Hamori, who
defected during the cold war. After school I went to Fiji, and studied martial
arts with some great people there, and continued martial arts in New Orleans
when I returned to the states. So, coming back to fencing was a big decision,
but since Salle Honolulu is a wonderful school with a very good teacher it has
been an easy transition.
Why do we fence Salle Honolulu? I think
it's Colin. He possesses a great deal of personal charm, is willing to listen to
us students, and try things our way, even if we're not always right. He has
managed somehow to involve his students in fun learning experiences, and we've
been through dissapointments, but that's part of growing with a school. The
school is ecclectic, much like my former martial arts teacher's class was, a bit
of this, a bit of that. When a good epeeist came to hawaii to train with us, we
all became epeeists, and we all became 25 years younger. Now he's trying to
get me to learn how to set up electic scoring machines, which has me completely
baffled, even though he's shown me a million times - the button is here, the
switch is there....
I enjoy fencing in Salle Honolulu. We have met
many, many interesting and diverse fencers. Our classmates do interesting
things. Some paint. Some have ballet backgrounds, Sam does Phillipino fighting
sticks.
We have a nice group of young people who are learning how to
fence and it's becoming a family atmosphere. Our group is starting to gel and
it's getting good there.
SAM MITCHELL--
My name is Sam Mitchell. I'm 42 years old and have been fencing for
more then 20 years. I'm a United States Fencing Coaches Association 3 weapon
instructor who tries to stop by and fence at Salle Honolulu about once month.
I was a former Aloha State Game gold medal winner in sabre & epee. I have
fenced all weapons in two USFA National Companionships.
I started
teaching fencing back in 1978 and I was Collin Chock's first fencing teacher
when he was in High School. I'm also a student in Doce Pares Eskrima (Stick &
Knife Fighting). Three weeks ago (August, 2000), I was at the 6th World Eskrima,
Kali & Arnis Championship in Cebu, Philippines where I was able to video and
take lessons from many Filipino Fencing masters. I was also able to teach some
advanced foil moves to fencers from Spada Fencing Club at the University of the
Philippines in Cebu.
Thank You, for taking the time to find out about Salle Honolulu
Fencers -- Sam
Rochelle
Uchibori--
I am a "Fencing Mom" of two boys, ages
8 and 13. I first met Colin Chock, founder of Salle Honolulu Fencing Club
in1997. Our family had spent the summer in Denver where our oldest son, Clinton
Bodley had taken fencing lessons at Cheyenne Fencing Society. He was very
attracted to the sport and wanting to encourage his interest, I happen to come
accross an advertisement in a Honolulu parent magazine for fencing lessons.
Thus began our association with Salle Honolulu.
Colin is synonymous
with Salle Honolulu. As founder, he is a tireless promoter of the sport,
welcoming young and old of all skill levels and dedication. His patience and
understanding with the coming and goings of his members is admirable, for
fencing in the islands is an obscure sport and competes with many other
oriental martial arts, water and land sports. My son has participated with
Colin in many demonstrations at community events and schools. From these
experiences, I see my son growing more confident in himself as a person.
At Salle Honolulu, young students learn along with the adults, each
patiently guiding and assisting the less talented newcomers. There is
comraderie between both competitive and recreational fencers. Salle has had
the priviledge to have visiting coaches from Russia, and Italy and San
Francisco. Recently the Women's Olympic fencing Foil team visited the islands
and practiced at the Honolulu Club where Colin is the fencing pro. Colin
invited the Salle membership to meet the team and watch them practice. This was
a wonderful inspiring experience.
A lot of our communication is done via the internet, Colin will post
attendance, member news, club policies, community sporting events, fencing
literature and entertainment and most recently fencing news from the Olympics.
Once he posted my son's participation in the State Science Fair competition.
It is not unusual for us to also read as a side note that he saw a turtle or a
manta ray while on his swimming workout, offshore Waikiki.
At first as a parent, I was drawn to Salle Honolulu by it's ability
to offer my son lessons in the sport. But as the years has gone by, we find we
have been rewarded with much more. Through the discipline of the sport and the
affirming role models at Salle Honolulu, my oldest son has developed a
stronger confidence in himself and has been rewarded with friendships he will
keep for many years.
This month, my youngest son, Garrett, began
with his first fencing lesson. And so, Salle Honolulu's influence continues in
our family. -- Rochelle Uchibori ,Fencing Mom of Clinton and Garrett Bodley,
Kailua, Hawaii
Paul Scherman--
My name is Paul Scherman and I have a club called Fencers On the
Peninsula. I received my training as a fencing instructor at San Jose State
University Fencing Masters Program directed by Maestro William M. Gaugler. I
have current certification as Provost-at-Arms.
I was in Hawaii from August 26th to September 3rd. I went as part of
my Navy reserve active duty training where I work as a photographer and for
training as a navy journalist. I asked myself, "What is there to do in
Hawaii besides hang out on the beach?" Fencing of course. I went to the
USFA website and tracked down clubs in Hawaii and Salle Honolulu was courteous
enough to answer my email.
Colin invited me to fence with him and members of his club.
I was impressed by Colin's spirit of "Aloha". On our
first meeting I was greeted with the warmth of an old friend. Colin was
professional and courteous when fencing and this carried over to members of
Salle Honolulu. Colin was also extremely knowledgeable about fencing in the
U.S.A. and we had long discussions on the matter I was surprised to meet a
visiting epee fencer from Italy. Federico Bolliamo(SP?) was on vacation in
Hawaii and was keeping up with his training at Salle Honolulu. This added a
nice international flavour to my visit. Even though Federico was one of those
typically annoying epee fencers (tall and skinny!) we still had fun.
The fencing was great and I also enjoyed the meals after our
workouts. If you go to Hawaii it is important to explore the local hangouts and
eat at the non-tourist eateries. Yum! Our conversations were about many things,
but usually we ended up talking about fencing. I remember on night discussing
the nature of the flick and whether or not it constitutes fencing and if the
thicker blades and different tip pressures will bring fencing back to its
duelling origins. Guess who took which side (see where I trained - LOL). We
did come to the conclusion that we all love fencing. --Warmest regards, Paul G
Scherman Provost at Arms, Fencers On the Peninsula
Federico Bollati--
(Visting epee fencer from Italy)Ttalking about my staying in Honolulu, I really enjoyed myself
because of two main reasons: I fenced everyday with enthusiastic people who
wanted to grow up in fencing practise and could have fun practising it and
during my training period I met new real friends like Colin and all his
clubmates!
Our "typical" training was characterised by 3
parts:
1. warm up, fencing conditioning (running, stepping, jumping)
2. stretching
3. footwork and practising (drilling each other,
challenging)
At the end of training we were tired, but very satisfied!!
I remember a funny episode in the first days I was In Hawaii. Colin
and I were training at Moiliili Community center; suddenly I remember I wanted
to get a pair of Salle Honolulu shorts and I asked him for. Colin answered me
me: "We haven't got any, but you'll get them tomorrow: THIS IS AMERICA!!".
The day after I got the shorts...
Another funny happenings during my stay in Salle Honolulu have been
chats I had with Colin about differences between Italian and English language:
he tried to convince me that English was more difficult and I tried to convince
him of the opposite!!
(I was told of this debate in e-mail from
Colin and I had to side with him but if it had been about the beauty of the
language, it might have been a different story.--editor.)
Ciao,
Federico
