Academy of Fencing Masters Blog

There's a moment that happens at almost every competition I attend. A fencer comes off the strip after a loss. Before she even has time to take off her mask, her parent is already there: "Why didn't you finish your attack when she was at the back line? You had the moment! And that last touch — you should have parried instead of counter-attacking." The fencer's eyes go flat. She nods, says nothing, and walks away to pack her bag. The parent thinks they've just helped. They haven't. They've just...

I recently stumbled again upon The Nine Gifts book, to which I contributed an interview about attention — what it means in fencing, how we develop it, and why it transfers to life outside the sport. It got me thinking about something I rarely write about directly on this blog, even though focus and attention might be one of the most important things fencing gives our children. But first, let me start with something that has nothing to do with fencing to drive the point home (pun intended). The...

Children's fencing, even without victories, gives a child a kind of confidence that no school can provide. But very few parents truly understand this. Most parents, I would dare to say maybe ninety percent of them, look mostly at medals. I get it - medals are tangible, you can hang them on a wall, and post the podium moments  on Instagram. They feel like proof that all those hours of driving, all that money on equipment and tournament fees, all those early mornings — that it's all "working."...

Every season, I watch the same movie play out. A young fencer of eight or nine years old wins a few local tournaments, maybe even places at a regional. This child’s parents are ecstatic while the other parents notice and predict that that kid is going to be something special. And maybe she will. But probably not for the reasons anyone thinks. If you're the parent of a kid who just brought home a stack of medals from the Y10 circuit: at that age, it’s hard to recognize that most of what looks...

I’ve written a lot about consistency, showing up and the power of the weekly rhythm in fencing training, including reviewing Andre Agassi's memoir Open from that angle.  Agassi dedicates hundreds of pages to this same theme—he showed up to practice, day after day, year after year, even when he hated tennis. That consistency, more than his natural talent, made him a champion. But Agassi also makes clear that maintaining discipline is hard, and every honest discussion of consistency would...

In the last week, three families independently approached me for advice about school truancy letters regarding their children. What triggered them was that each family received a threatening letter from their respective schools about their children's unexcused absences and the actions the school could take. As a parent, the first thing that comes to mind is social services, and just the thought of it is enough to make you panic. I believe the timing of these letters coincided with the end of...