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We are pleased to finally announce our tournament schedule for the upcoming year of Lightspeed Saber!
It’s an action packed year promising plenty of fighting opportunities for everyone who wants them. Each of our three main regions plus Canada has at least one upcoming tournament, many of these being the first in that area, and there’s at least one tournament every month now through next year’s Nationals in June. So start blacking out your calendars and planning your road trips now, because Lightspeed Saber fencers are going to be busy, busy with tournaments!
Check out the schedule, organized by region or in chronological order, below and find sign-ups on our tournaments page. Not every tournament is available for sign-ups yet, but look out for announcements and check back closer to the date to know when they become available.
SUMMARY
RESULTS
Tony Zaldua
Selasi Quashie
Steve Perez
Jowanna Lewis
Russ Mitchell
Hikaru Hayakawa
Dakota Eggert
Andre Gonzalez
Jeremiah Rodriguez
Jose Ortiz-Miranda
Patricia Bauler
Chris Stadther
Aedan Stadther
Kat Laurange
Asher Trask
John Mullins
PROMOTIONS & RERATINGS
Selasi Quashie: E —> B
Steve Perez: E —> C
Jowanna Lewis: D —> C
Russ Mitchell: U —> D
Dakota Eggert: U —> D
Chris Stadther: U —> E
Aedan Stadther: U —> E
Kat Laurange: U —> E
Asher Trask: U —> E
It was the first of its kind, but surely would not be the last: a two-day national Lightspeed Saber fencing tournamenet featuring 30 competitors in three squadrons. Each competitor faced a MINIMUM of NINE opponents over the days-long qualifier, making focus, stamina, and fast self-reflection the keys to victory.
Those competitors included many new fencers and teams, including the delegation of six from Virginia (Josh Blum, Arden Blum, Chris Stadther, Aedan Stadther, Tim Trask, and Asher Trask), the delegation from Oregon (Kevin Fournier and Allison Fournier), the delegation from Long Island (Michael Gruber and Sean Friedmann); and a few lone attendees such as Steve Perez from Penguin Saber Academy and Logan de Guzman from Phoenix Saber Academy.
Well worn teams and fencers included wolves Hikaru Hayakawa and Wolf Captain Andre Gonzalez; Krait members Kieran Haile, William Alonzo, Jose Ortiz-Miranda, SoCal Director Sean Holtzman, and of course champion and captain Tony Zaldua; Star Templars Selasi Quashie and captain Dakota Eggert; fellow Texans Troy Curtsinger, Kat Laurange, and Captain Russ Mitchell from Starbird Saber Academy; Irvine Knights Dinah Kolasa, John Mullins, Patricia Bauler, and League #2 Jeremiah Rodriguez; and the dispirate team Fire Ant made up of Daniel Limon-Martinez and women's champion Jowanna Lewis.
DAY ONE
Day One of the tournament contained the first five matches of the qualifiers for all participants. For many of them, it meant facing opponent's they'd never seen fight before, and it would be a significant learning and adjusting experience for everyone.
Denmates Andre Gonzalez and Hikaru Hayakawa crushed most of their opposition in the Pink Squadron, using their characteristic agility, powerful attacks, and stellar bladework; although they both fell to another strong contender, relative newcomer Steve Perez (Penguin Saber Academy), who deployed even stronger attacks in his reportoire, blowing through both wolves' defenses. However, Perez did not go undefeated, falling to a surprising contender, young Asher Trask out of LS. Virginia. Asher finished Day One with a very respectable 3 wins to 2 losses, using his experience in parkour to dance around his opponent's ranges, closing the distance quickly, and escaping the killzone before they could finish their followups.
Another strong performance came from Starbird Kat Laurange, who may have had the strongest defense in the box. Holding a somewhat uncommon pronate low guard, it put her in prime position to shield low attacks and deflect high attacks, giving her a fortress-like stance that flummoxed those who went against her. In one instance, young Logan de Guzman-- a promising cadet in the league with excellent defense himself-- was caught completely unprepared as Laurange almost casually deflected his opening engagement and penalized him with a headshot counterattack, immediately shooting her up the board 3-0. De Guzman did not make the same mistake twice, however, and from there was prepared to counter-defend anything she threw at him, producing some of day's most beautiful rallies. Ultimately, though, Laurange won out with her superior technique and experience.
The Green Box was definitely the wild card of the tournament, containing League #2 Jeremiah Rodriguez but also highly experienced Officer Sean Holtzman, champion and officer Jowanna Lewis, and Maestro Russ Mitchell, who had previously not been seen extensively in Lightspeed Saber competition but whose decades of skill and knowledge could not be questioned. The box also contained newcomers Sean Friedmann and Michael Gruber from LS. Long Island, and young Allison Fournier, among others.
Jeremiah Rodriguez dominated Day One, as would be expected for his rank, using amazing agility, speed, and of course, excellent bladework. Perhaps the most interesting matchup would be similarly aged Aedan Stadther, who came in with greater years in traditional fencing but significantly less in Lightspeed Saber. Both were fast, but Rodriguez was faster, and more accurate, letting Stadther come to him and interrupting or intercepting his attacks for a win of 8-1. With a Day One differential of 31, all of Rodriguez' victories were similarly lopsided.
Russ Mitchell had the second strongest performance in the Green Box, striking with pinpoint accuracy and an old school style that most competitors simply weren't familiar with.
But Mitchell wasn't the only one to find success using stances and guards that not everyone was prepared for: young Allison Fournier adopted perhaps the most unusual position of the whole tournament, something everyone came to dub "the crab stance", consisting of an ultra low, ultra long stance with a guard in 5. She leveraged this position with prepared deflectors, scoring numerous 3's and, when their opponents were unable to break through, went on the offensive with strong lunges and great escapes! While she only finished Day One with two wins, she kept it close, and surprised many older, and much taller opponents with her skill and agility.
The Blue Box was probably the most intense box of Day One. Containing two Krait Dragons, including current champion Tony Zaldua.
Troy Curtsinger was probably the standout of the box for his use of a Ren Saber. While it proved a bit too slow against some incredibly swift opponents, it did net a few wins against some of them, especially against Jose Ortiz-Miranda, whose hatred of the Ren Saber is legendary.
Chris Stadther was another standout, deploying the bolt more than anyone else, and making sure that nobody would escape his reach. It served him well enough to net a respectable 3 wins for Day One.
Dinah Kolasa, a newcomer, distinguished herself with a few trick plays, in one match scoring clean kill after clean kill to even up the score from 6-0, then closing the bout with a swift and sudden leg shot, netting her the best win of her career so far.
Young Arden Blum deployed similar tactics, excelling with clean retreating attacks to the hands of his opponents, although eventually his opponents caught wind of his strategy. Regardless, Arden did remarkably well for being in such a strong box.
DAY TWO
The big difference between this tournament and others, strategically, was the possibility to analyze and reflect on one's performance, and talk with your teammates about how to improve. This would be critically important for those fencers who needed time to adjust, and to make up for losses on Day One!
In the Pink Box, Hayakawa and Gonzalez led as before, though Perez and Laurange showed slight improvement over their Day One performances. Even newcomer Kevin Fournier, from the newly established Klamath Falls, Oregon base, earned a close win over the more experienced John Mullins from Irvine. In a surprise win, Asher Trask defeated the high ranked Andre Gonzalez. Gonzalez, meanwhile, defeated his own teammate, Hikaru Hayakawa, though Hayakawa did place the highest overall in the box for both days. De Guzman, meanwhile, easily defeated the fellow teen Trask.
By the end of the qualifiers, Hayakawa, Perez, and Gonzalez had each secured 7 wins and were leading this pack. Laurange followed close behind with 6.
In the Green Box, Long Island fencer Michael Gruber found his feet and earned a full three wins, a remarkable improvement over his Day One performance of zero. Jeremiah Rodriguez was finally challenged upon facing Jowanna Lewis and Russ Mitchell, losing to both as their long competition experience and mental game bested him.
Perhaps the talk of the box was the match between Russ Mitchell and Jowanna Lewis, a match which went to time at 7-7, with both experienced trad fencers biding their time, each unwilling to make moves upon the other, as they have had similar combat experiences, Lewis in Olympic epee and Mitchell in Hungarian saber. But Lewis eventually won out in overtime with a race to the finish, clinching the win by a point.
Overall, Rodriguez, Mitchell, and Lewis dominated this box with seven wins each. Aedan Stadther finished with six.
Blue Box probably had the widest range of skill levels, shown in the disparate scores of the top placers. Tony Zaldua remained on top as usual, taking no losses for either day, with wide differentials, although Chris Stadther came the closest at 9-5. Patricia Bauler showed significant improvement using her defensive skills, and as a result landed in second position for the second day.
Patricia Bauler showed significant improvement over Day One, taking second position for Day Two thanks to her stellar defensive skills, nearly besting Dakota Eggert with a series of defensives.
By the close of Day Two, Zaldua led the pack with 9 wins, and Dakota Eggert placed second with a distant 7 wins.
COED ELIMINATIONS
Being a 30 person tournament, that meant that 16 people would be going into the coed division eliminations. The bottom of the 16 was made up by John Mullins, Chris Stadther, Aedan Stadther, Asher Trask, Star Templar Selasi Quashie, Patricia Bauler, and Jose Ortiz-Miranda.
Top seed Tony Zaldua knocked out John Mullins as expected, and Andre Gonzalez took out Jose Ortiz-Miranda. In two lopsided bouts, Hikaru Hayakawa eliminated Kat Laurange, and Steve Perez easily removed Aedan Stadther from the running.
In two extremely close fights, Jowanna Lewis edged out Chris Stadther by two points, and Dakota Eggert took out Patricia Bauler 12-11, this despite Bauler earning 3 defensives throughout the match.
In an upset, 15th seed Selasi Quashie defeated 2nd seed Jeremiah Rodriguez, also in a close battle that finished 12-10 in favor of Quashie.
The next round was a series of close battles. Tony Zalda defeated Andre Gonzalez 13-10, Hikaru Hayakawa was bested by Steve Perez 12-8, Selasi Quashi knocked out his captain Dakota Eggert 13-11, and in a flabbergasting matchup, Jowanna Lewis again bested Russ Mitchell in a long bout that finished at a remarkable 3-2, where both fencers had learned from their previous bout, and neither was willing to make any committed actions against the other.
The semi's were all about accuracy versus brawling, consisting of Tony Zaldua versus Steve Perez and Jowanna Lewis versus Selasi Quashie. Perez was ill equipped to deal with Zaldua, as Tony's extreme accuracy easily dismantled the powerful but mistimed assault from the Penguin. A similar story played out in the other match, with Quashie besting Lewis for 2 of 2 rounds.
This brought us, at last, to the final bout of the coed event: Selasi Quashie versus Tony Zaldua, a remarkable feat considering that Quashie had arrived late on Day One and had to forfeit two matches at the very start. This had to mean that Quashie was a force to be feared, but so was the champ, Tony Zaldua, widely known for his brilliant timing, agility, incredible reach, and most importantly, adaptability.
Throughout the tournament, Quashie had displayed great power in his attacks, plus great mobility and agility. But in this bout, Quashie had difficulty mustering an offensive against the champ, who kept his opponent at bay until he was ready to launch an assault. Quashie was caught off guard numerous times by Zaldua's bolts and long pommeled swipes, landing clean shot after clean shot, shooting up the board. By the end, it was 2 for 2 rounds for Zaldua, and another first place in the bag, although it would actually be his first national championship win.
Quashie ultimately took the silver, and Steve Perez won the battle for bronze.
WOMEN'S ELIMINATIONS
Five women went into the women's elilminations, with Dinah Kolasa and Allison Fournier fighting it out for the 4th position. Fournier easily bested Kolasa with her most confident and commited stances, defenses, and attacks, putting her in place for the semi's. Jowanna Lewis put a stop to her momentum, knocking her out, though not before taking at least one round from the lady lightsaber champion.
Meanwhile, the similar Kat Laurange and Patricia Bauler fought in the other branch of the semi's. Laurange's greater experience were on display, however, as Bauler was unable to mount a defense against Laurange, though the two showed off some long and exciting engagements. Lauranage took this match 2-0.
Finally, it came to Jowanna Lewis and Kat Laurange, with Lewis defending her title from 2018. While Laurange had the bladework advantage, Lewis came in as a brawler, and wore Laurange down with powerful attacks which her defense could not withstand. Lewis eventually took the match for 2 rounds, earning her the gold medal once again.
Kat Laurange took home silver, and Allison Fournier, in a truly impressive result for her first tournament, won the bronze.
It had been four years since Lightspeed held an event as large as this one. And while many lessons were forgetten since the last time, the experience of the first one definitely showed, ensuring a smoother, fairer tournament for everyone involved. It could not have happened without all the many fencers volunteering to learn the rules and reffing system, and our dedicated Lightspeed staff. It's going to be even better next year at Lightspeed: Return of the Starbats! Until then, keep practicing, and MTFBWYA!
Cang Snow
Lightspeed Saber League
Chief Executive Officer
Cang Snow
Chief Executive Officer
PRIZES
Ripper Blades
Patricia Bauler
William Alonzo
Tony Zaldua
Cang Snow
Jowanna Lewis
DIRECTOR
Cang Snow
OTHER STAFF
Andre Gonzalez
Patricia Bauler
Jowanna Lewis
Dinah Kolasa
Maddisen Garrett
WORKSHOPS
Russ Mitchell
Kat Laurange
Cang Snow
REFS
Kieran Haile
Hikaru Hayakawa
John Mullins
William Alonzo
Tony Zaldua
Jose Ortiz-Miranda
Chris Stadther
Josh Blum
Kevin Fournier
Sean Holtzman
Dakota Eggert
Andre Gonzalez
Kat Laurange
Russ Mitchell
Troy Curtsinger
Patricia Bauler
Jowanna Lewis
Selasi Quashie
SPECIAL THANKS
Rachel Lewis
COMPETITORS
Kieran Haile
Dinah Kolasa
Hikaru Hayakawa
John Mullins
William Alonzo
Tony Zaldua
Jose Ortiz-Miranda
Steve Perez
Jeremiah Rodriguez
Chris Stadther
Aedan Stadther
Arden Blum
Josh Blum
Asher Trask
Tim Trask
Allison Fournier
Kevin Fournier
Michael Gruber
Sean Friedmann
Sean Holtzman
Selasi Quashie
Dakota Eggert
Andre Gonzalez
Kat Laurange
Russ Mitchell
Troy Curtsinger
Daniel Limon-Martinez
Patricia Bauler
Jowanna Lewis
Logan de Guzman
With Lightspeed Strikes Back 2022 just a week away we’ve been getting lots of questions about how and where to buy spectator passes online. If you’ve been worried that you just couldn’t find the right button, you can stop your worrying now because the answer is: there’s isn’t one!
Spectator passes for Vegas will be available for purchase at the door only; we will not be having an online presale. Individual day passes can be bought for $20 per day, or a Friday and Saturday access pass can be bought for $30. Entry is free for Thursday and Sunday.
We all can’t wait to see you there next week!
Hi all! Maddi G is back again, this time asking for some help.
We’ve received complaints from several members that, since the armory has been updated, there have been issues making purchases. If you have tried making a purchase from the armory but it did not go through, please let us know!! You can send me an email at maddimgarrett@gmail.com, or let us know in our Discord.
Thank you all for your help!!
Maddi G, signing off again.
Junior Assistant Maddi G
RESULTS
PROMOTIONS
Josh U→E
Hayden U→E
Grant U→E
Locke U→E
Josh Blum
Hayden B.
Grant B.
Locke F.
SUMMARY
First off a special thank you to the Lightspeed Saber League and Cang Snow for bringing a unique and exciting version of a sport that has roots in martial arts with the flair from the universe we all know and love. Thank you to all the family and competitors for coming out making this a great event! Also special thanks to Aedan Stadther for agreeing to forgo competing to help run the event and edit the footage.
The sun was out with a slight breeze on June 4th as the first Virginia tournament began. The majority of the fighters were under 18, and a lone adult, Josh Blum, captain of the Riverbend team. All of them considered novices, most with little or no athletic competition experience.
With only 8 total participants, it was opted for one pool of eight, with a total of 28 matches, each 8 points, running 2 minutes long. The pool bouts were distributed across two arenas, being referee’d by Aedan and Chris supported by the participants themselves, second reffing and scorekeeping. A new version of scorekeeping was used that had been practiced in the local mock tournaments to capture the actions that were occurring.
Out of the gate there were some very quick decisive wins, as it was obvious who was warm and who wasn’t, but as the evening wore on, the level of competition grew. Grant, Hayden and Josh came out strong, with Locke and Sofia proving that winning wasn’t necessary to move up the ladder, scoring a lot of points to keep their index high and in contention of the top 4. Arden, Liam and Emily showed their skills with bladework, but were sometimes outgunned by the more aggressive stances of their opponents, but battled through, and really showed how much their skills have improved over the last 6 months.
One best highlight match during the pools, was Liam’s catch of multiple returns against Locke, showing that when he gets warm and into the zone if you give him the opportunity for a parry-riposte, he’ll gladly take the 3 points.
At the close of the pools, it looked like Josh and Hayden were the two strongest, with Josh going undefeated and Hayden only losing to her match with Josh. Rounding out the top 4 was Grant and Locke.
Into the direct eliminations, where the first match was father vs son, Josh and Arden. Josh started out with a strong lead, using his speed to his advantage, but Arden was not ready to throw in the towel and battled back from nothing, once he had his dad’s timing down. Unfortunately it was enough in time, and Josh won the first match 12 to 8.
Next up was Sofia vs Locke. Locke had been using a style, where he baits his opponent to attack and avoids the hit while able to score. The second match ended, landing Locke into the semifinals with a 12-9 victory.
The third match brought up Grant vs Liam. Grant took a quick lead and looked to close out the match quickly, but Liam was not to roll over without a fight. Liam battled back with some very precise timing attacks that caught Grant before he could land his own. However, Grant managed the lucky victory 12-10 by switching to more quick cuts at the end.
The last match of the bracket of 8 was Emily vs Hayden. Emily fought valiantly, but was ultimately defeated by Hayden’s long arm sniping attacks, with the final score of 12-3.
On to the semifinals, with the first match Josh versus Locke. At this point it looked that Josh was in the groove and Locke was looking tired. Josh claimed victory with 12-3, but Locke has secured that coveted top 4 position which earned him an E rating.
The last semifinal match pitted siblings Grant vs Hayden. Hayden continued her dominance with the long armed sniping, scoring on Grant before he could get into range for his own attacks. Hayden advanced to the finals with a 12 to 5 victory. Grant ended his run in 3rd place, also earning himself an E rating.
The final match of the tournament was between the quick footed captain of the Riverbend team and the long range, hand hunting powerhouse. The final match was set to 15 points and 3.5 minutes. Josh proved he was able to get into range quickly, bypassing the point where Hayden had the advantage. Though at one point, Josh moved so fast, he forgot to hold onto his saber and dropped it allowing Hayden to score an easy clean hit. The mistake didn’t phase Josh and he regrouped, claimed victory and first place in the tournament, with the final score of 15 to 7.
STAFF
Chris Stadther
Aedan Stadther
Josh Blum
COMPETITORS
Grant B.
Hayden B.
Liam S.
Emily W.
Arden B.
Locke F.
Josh Blum
Sofia B.
Lightspeed Strikes Back 2022 is coming up fast, which means your window of opportunity to sign up is quickly closing. You have two and a half weeks in which to buy your fencer passes before we close registration on June 14th. Fencer passes will not be available at the door.
This is Lightspeed Saber’s biggest event of the year, a four day event bringing together fencers of all grades from all around the USA. Tickets are currently $105 for a Basic pass, but they increase in price this Wednesday, June 1st. Separate Spectator passes are available at the door only.
Purchase your passes and find out more about the event at: LightspeedSaber.com/events/2022/06/23/lightspeedstrikesback.
We are so pleased to announce Basin Saber Academy, the newest addition to our Lightspeed Saber Family!
This team, based in Klamath Falls, Oregon, was started when a couple of friends with no fencing experience bought some Ultrasabers and decided they wanted to learn how to fence with them. They started out by learning traditional epee fencing from a local teenager, until the group switched to the Lightspeed Saber method.
Their Captain, Kevin Fournier, bought two of every piece of gear to ensure that there would always be enough equipment for them to practice and welcome new members. They’re a small group currently, ranging from teenagers and teachers to programmers and pastors. Most of the year they practice indoors, where they pup Star Wars playlists through the speakers and have fun.
No one in their current member list has any martial arts experience, so they’re all learning together which makes them a great group for newcomers.
If you’re in the area and interested in joining, find them at the United Evangelical Free Church, 3333 Beverley Way, Klamath Falls, Oregon, Saturdays 9:30am-12:00pm.
Please help us give them a warm welcome in the Discord and find them on Instagram and Facebook at BasinSaberAcademy for more information.
