A new fencing season is upon us and that means it’s time to start preparing for a fresh round of competitions! The first SYC (Super Youth Circuit) in Texas and the first Y10MF Bay Cup tournament (Youth Under 10 Men’s Foil) are both coming up in just one month. Some of you may be getting ready for your first year as a competitive fencer, and we couldn’t be more excited for you to get started. For the novice parents heading to competitions for the first time, you may be a bit unsure of what to expect and how to prepare. This post should help and you can also find more information in our book.
Month: July 2014 Page 1 of 2
The current fencing season ends in just one week and the 2014-2015 season starts on August 1st. Remember to update your USFA membership this week if you haven’t already! After August 1st, you can’t fence without it. All fencing clubs require USFA membership: it provides secondary medical/accident insurance. All fencers must have at least a non-competitive membership to participate in fencing lessons.
Now is the time to check this task off of your to-do list.
For many of you, fencing is a new passion for your child and a new frontier for you as well! With the lack of mainstream knowledge, it can be a tough sport to jump into when it comes to supporting your child and figuring out the best choices for attending competitions. The options can be a bit overwhelming since you have many competitions to choose from, both local and national. You want to give your child the best opportunities to progress in the sport, but you also have to consider other important factors like cost, time, vacation days from work, and let’s not forget your own schedule! (You do like to have some time for yourself outside of parenting and work, right?)
With recent changes to the USFA qualification rules for Y10 and Y12 fencers, many parents are confused and we’d like to do our best to clarify the new rules and answer some common questions.
We know that you are working to plan your next year of fencing competitions and many of you want your children to have the best chance of qualifying for Summer Nationals! Particularly since next year’s 2015 Fencing Summer National Championship will be held in San Jose, California, what better destination can you imagine for a mid-summer break from work and to spend time with your child fencing?
It’s not easy to put into words the excitement and pride we feel after a wonderful five days last week at the AFM Beginner Fencing Camp. This was the first of our summer camps for the year and we’re off to a great start. It’s truly amazing to watch these young fencers get better each day, have fun, and also begin to love this sport that we are so passionate about. They brought such joy and energy to the camp each and every day and their enthusiasm was infectious.