We want to thank all of our AFM family from the bottom of our hearts for a truly fantastic 2014. It’s been quite a year. We finished our first season as a club and jumped headfirst into our second. In true AFM fashion, we had high hopes for the year, but together we have surpassed them.
On this New Year’s Eve we’d like to recall a few of our favorite highlights from the year:
A collection of impressive results. We are so proud of your fencing accomplishments this year. Many of you earned ratings and secured your spots on the podium in local, regional, and national competitions. We collectively made a name for AFM in our local fencing community and nearby regions. Our reputation is owed to you, our hardworking fencers, and we plan to keep pushing for excellence in the coming year.
Emerging leaders and new fencing enthusiasts. As a second-year club, we saw many of our older returning fencers become natural leaders. You, our experienced fencers, provide an excellent example of what it is to be AFM fencers and how we support each other as a club and a family. We also welcomed a new set of fencers in our beginner camps and classes as we started the new season. We watched new fencers fall in love with our sport and find their places in our growing community.
Successful classes and camps. Our camp programs thrived this year, bringing in many new fencers that have since joined our club. Nothing brings us more joy than watching fencers, new and returning, make progress in leaps and bounds each day of camp. We also introduced a new Youth Competitive Class that has given our more advanced fencers some added fencing time and more varied and challenging training.
Spreading fencing knowledge in our local community and beyond. As most of you know, we are passionate at AFM about teaching others about fencing. We love our sport and we believe in its benefits to those who participate and learn to love it along with us. With our parent orientations, camps, blog, and even our first book, we have made strides towards this goal and only expect more progress in 2015!
Of course most of all, we look back on 2014 with pride for the supportive atmosphere at AFM and the excellent sportsmanship that we see in all of you. You help each other. You congratulate each other on the good days and hold each other up on the tough days. And of course, our fencer parents are the best around. We couldn’t do it without you. I am proud to be a part of this family and am thankful to all of you for helping to create it.
As we close the year, we look forward to Summer Nationals in San Jose and meeting more fencers from all over the country. We also look forward to continued growth of our fencers and our club. We commit to you on this New Year’s Eve and every day that we will work hard to provide the environment and tools to make you the best fencers you can be. Cheers!
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