The VTFC has many traditions, some of which are new and some of which are old.
Listed here are the few that we are currently aware of; any alumni that know of older ones can have them added here by e-mailing fenceweb@vt.edu.
Macado's!
Every Monday night, directly after practice, the club runs over to Macado's. There is usually a decent turnout; sometimes more people come than were at practice. Once upon a time, officer meetings were held there, but it's been years since that happened. Now we find that once a week is a great way to spend time with fencers, and even have a chance to talk things out. It's also a great way for new members to get to know the old members in the club without them saying "parry!"
End of Semester Banquet
On the last day of class during the fall and spring semesters, the club will travel to a local restaurant for good food and good fun. We generally have an extremely large turnout with almost all current members attending. For many years the banquet was held at El Guad's on Main Street, but during the 2004-2005 school year it was relocated to Cinco de Mayo due to El Guad's inability to remember our reservation, even if we called 20 times.
Senior Swords
--- Temporarily deleted, by order of Katie ----
Information to be restored after outcome of current drama.
RoY
A Rookie of the Year (or "RoY") is chosen before each banquet from that semester's newbie class and new members. The person that is chosen has shown dedication to the club in some way, either by exceling in the sport or taking on club duties. Either a male or a female is chosen, each receiving a different type of award (a sceptor or a tiara).
Paper Plate Awards
Yes, we are poor. Therefore, we honor many members at each banquet with paper plate awards. These awards may be for something funny that occured and practice or a tournament, or a good deed that was done for the club. Awards are up to everyone that is present at the officer's meeting prior to the banquet, and are generally created and presented by the officers (both old and new during the spring semester).
Alumni Tournament
For the past few years, the alumni tournament has been held towards the end of the spring semester to allow the alumni to see each other again, and to allow the newer members to meet them. It is a tournament restricted to VTFC members and alumni only, and is always a great deal of fun. For the first few years there was a team tournament on Sunday, but that has recently been replaced with a brunch instead during the 2003-2004 schoolyear (which may continue). Saturday is solely an individual tournament.
Tech Open
The Tech Open is a USFA tournament the club hosts every fall. The goal is for it to be on Halloween, because it makes our alumni happy. Traditionally we have interesting trophies for places 2-8, and swords for first place in each weapon. Certain trophies are definitely highly sought after due to their novelty. If you'd like to see them, come to the tournament!
Roanoke College Tournament
Every semester (assuming we can make the scheduling work) we take any of the beginners that want to participate to Roanoke College to fence off with their fencing class. The tournament is only for beginners from that semester (or the semester before if a tournament could not be scheduled), and is only foil.
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