Beginner Fencing Summer Camp is Different from other Summer Camps. Here is why –
There are 13 summer vacations in a kid’s life.
That’s all! Just thirteen. What a child does during those two months can enrich them, expand their minds, and open doors to new experiences that they’ve never imagined. Filling that time between the end of school and the beginning of school can be tricky. We want our kids to continue to be engaged intellectually and physically, but we also want them to have that sense of being a kid while they can. It doesn’t last long!
Summer camp is a perfect way to fill some of those weeks, because it gives kids an intensive chunk of time to focus on learning or improving a skill or activity. Summer camp is summer camp right? Wrong! Not when it’s fencing camp! Beginner fencing summer camp is an experience unlike anything else your child can participate in during those summer months.
Here are five ways that beginner fencing camp stands out as a way for your child to get the most out of one of those thirteen summers.
- Unique but familiar
Every child has picked up a stick or a broom and played at swordfighting in the backyard – it’s a childhood rite of passage! Fencing is a sport that’s intrinsic to the body, because swordfighting has been around for so long and is so iconic in Western culture. Whether it’s from watching Jedi with lightsabers or swashbuckling pirates, we all “get” swordfighting. It’s familiar!
Other sports that involve throwing balls or chasing each other around a green are activities that kids participate in at gym class in school, and that’s wonderful. But in the summer there is this golden opportunity to go beyond to something that’s not so easy to come by. Fencing is unique in the sense that, while just about every child has kicked a soccer ball, it’s rare that a child has picked up a fencing sword.
Beginner fencing summer camp gives kid the chance to try out something that’s totally unique, but also tremendously familiar. It’s a perfect way to spend a week of summer vacation!
- A chance to face fear
One thing that we want to teach our kids is how to be resilient. Beginner fencing summer camp gives kids the chance to lose! Whether it’s losing a point or losing a bout, kids in fencing learn quickly that they have to rebound from things not going their way, and that it’s ok!
Unlike the way team sport camps work, fencers are on their own, right from the beginning. Standing up there on your own with a sword can be scary, especially when there’s another sword coming in your direction trying to get a touch on you. Losing that first point is formative for kids, as is losing that first bout – both of which will happen in beginner fencing summer camp. It shows them that facing fear, facing the sword of an opponent and not winning, it’s not the end of the world. That resilience is something that only builds with continued fencing, and it’s something that carries over to other parts of life and lasts well beyond summer camp.
- Explosive progress
Something that we see consistently in beginning summer fencing camp is that kids make giant progress from the beginning to the end. Again, this ties back into the fact that holding a fencing sword is something that just about every beginner fencer has never done before. They go from not knowing how to put on a fencing mask on day 1 to being masters of fencing terms on day 5!
When you’re new to a sport, it’s possible to make these beautifully massive leaps in skill in a short period of time, and that’s something that we see with our fencers right from the very start. Beginner fencing camp pushes kids with their technical fencing skills and challenges them to use their bodies and minds in conjunction with one another. Parents and kids are always surprised at how big the change is after a week of camp!
- Holistic training
In beginner fencing summer camp, we focus on fencing, but we also do conscious sports psychology training and physical fitness training. We run, we crawl, we jump up and down. Kid’s stamina improve dramatically over the course of a week, and it shows as they hold their focus and footwork together on Friday!
Focus and mental engagement are hallmarks of the unique fencing experience. Fencing is physical chess, it’s taking the working of the mind and playing it out in the physical world with another person to challenge your thinking. During beginner fencing summer camp, kids focus on improving their self esteem through visualization exercises and exploring what their dreams as fencers are. A basic tenet of beginner fencing summer camp is that kids walk away with more than just a knowledge of fencing – they walk away with a deeper knowledge of themselves.
- Ambition
Whether it’s because of the uniqueness of fencing or the thrill of swordfighting, we find that beginner fencers walk out of the camp with a great deal of ambition. They’re ready to take on the world, ready to attack the things that are ahead of them. Competitive sports in general lead to higher levels of self confidence and healthier, happier kids overall.
After a week of beginner fencing summer camp, kids who might have struggled to find their passion so often walk out of the club with something that they feel strongly about! It’s inspiring to see the vigor and excitement that fencing brings to kids when they first start in the sport.
Of those thirteen summer vacations that kids have, taking one week of them to experience beginner fencing summer camp is a perfect way to have them explore a new skill and learn a sport they’ve not had a chance to learn! Whether a child has always wanted to try fencing or if they’re new to the idea of it, beginner fencing summer camp will leave them feeling more confident and well rounded. Not only that, but many of our most passionate fencers found their spark by trying out the sport for a week on summer break!
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