The Road to the Fencing 2009 Nationals

Let me get to the point, thanks for your help!

BENEFACTORS Ted Garry Hamilton Davis Stephen Jones Mathilde Peterson Laura Davis Frank Van Dyke - My fencing coach Lonnie Anderson Stan & Carol Smith Howard Chipman Sirley Luna Laura Hagen Tony Johnson Traci Fogle	Kelcy Robinson John Politis Jennifer Bennett Gary Hilts Maggi Winslow Scott Stewart Gail Bell Rick Bowyer Mike Kelleghan The Festo Family The Kinsey's Rich Johnson Kim Tempest Carol Foreman	I qualified to go to the fencing Nationals in Dallas in 2009. In order for that to happen I needed financial help to be able to afford to go. I needed about $1200. The money covered airfare, hotel, reg- istration and other sundry expenses. I am touched by the contributions from my friends and family. To all my benefactors, you have my heartfelt thanks.

Total Contributions....$1400

The event is organized by the US Fencing Association. You can go to their
website for more information about the event. In 2009
the event was held at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center,
in Grapevine, Texas, just north of the Dallas airport.

Fencing has been one of my passions my whole life. I haven't always been doing it
because I let other things get ahead of it but I love to fence. To be honest,
I'm not the greatest fencer but I am passionate about it. To the extent that I
have had fencing dreams over the years.

I was introduced to fencing by my father who fenced when he was in high school.
We had a mask and a foil that hung around in the garage. I thought it was so cool.
When I was in high school they offered fencing as a P.E. module and I took it and
my love for the sport began in ernest. I fenced two years in high school and was
co-captain my second year (my senior year) and came in 5th at the state championship.
From there I went to college and fenced in the fencing club for 4 years but had no
formal training there but it sure was fun.

After college I lost track of the sport for a few years and eventually found it again.
It was a small group, not very organized but I got to fence once a week. That lasted
for about three years. I did go to the Nationals twice then and had a lot of fun
although no metals. My life hit a speed bump of sorts after that and it wasn't until
the mid-1990's that I found fencing after moving to Pennsylvania. I only lasted a
short time because I got tennis elbow. It seems that fencing is one of the 5 reasons
for tennis elbow, go figure. Anyway I dropped it again. Again life got away from me
and I moved out West and found myself in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Last year the company I work for participated in Corporate Challenge, where different
companies compete against each other in various sports. Fencing was one of the sports.
Without really knowing how it happened I found myself captain of the Corporate Challenge
fencing team. It felt so good to be back at fencing again. I joined the local fencing club,
Red Rock Fencing Center and relearned how to fence. My elbow started to hurt again but this
time I found out how to treat it and kept fencing. So early in March I came in third
in the women's epee Nevada Division Qualifiers, and so I get to go to Dallas
and I really want to.

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CONTACT INFORMATION:
Libby Garry, 239 W. Basic Road, Henderson, NV 89015
702-335-2415
website: WWW.eagarry.com EMAIL:eagarry@hotmail.com