When your child starts fencing, it can be overwhelming to learn the rules of a sport you may never have watched or learned about growing up. One important part of the competition is penalties. As parents, we want to understand why our child is being penalized if it...
Parents, what would you say is your #1 job at a fencing competition? To make sure your children have everything they need? That they have nutritious food and plenty of water? I would argue that your most important job is to make sure they know that you enjoy watching...
Part of what makes fencing special is its uniqueness and, from our experience, the supportive community. At the same time, a niche sport with tight-knit clubs means that you will inevitably faceoff against your teammates. These aren’t ideal circumstances, but with a...
We've discussed in previous posts that fencing is not nearly as dangerous as some might believe. In fact, if you follow that link you will see a great chart that shows how fencing was in the bottom six sports for number of injuries in the 2008 Summer Olympics....
What can be more straightforward than straightening your weapon? (Pun intended.) The basic idea is simple: Weapons should be straight and they often get bent during a bout … so you need to straighten them. The problem is that beginner fencers, especially children,...
Often times I see novice fencers fencing with the pistol grip. When I talk with their parents the typical reply is “every other kid in their class are using pistol grip so my child doesn't want to be not cool”. Kids tend to believe that once they hold a pistol grip...
Dear Irina: Just writing to give you an overview of my experience at this Tournament just finished. I entered 3 events overall. In the combined over age 40 Men's Foil, there were 39 competitors; I seeded 13 after the pools (4 won and 2 lost of 6), but lost in my DE...
