Though we don’t get much snow here in California, we still find that winter offers different challenges and opportunities than other times of the year. In fact winter is a perfect time to get started with fencing! Why? Here are seven reasons to start your child in...
It’s Thanksgiving, the original American Holiday that calls for us to stop and take stock of the good things in our lives. This day has a beautiful tradition of highlighting the positive things in life, the aspects of our relationships and our world that inspire us to...
Some fencers and their parents feel that they may be able to make it at tournaments without the help of a coach, even at major and important ones. Other fencers and their parents mistakenly think that coaches are there to attend competitions with only one purpose - to...
Being a tween can be hard stuff. The "inbetween" years, when you’re not old enough to be a teenager whose running around with tons of freedom and lots of excitement but you’re too old to be a little kid, well they’re just hard years. Those ten-eleven-twelves when your...
This is a story of the warm and kind hearts. This is a story about appreciating our shared humanity. This is a story about sincerity and the goodness of people. This is a story about one superhero, a regular boy with extraordinary strengths and burning desire to win....
The thing about fencing is that in every bout there’s always a winner and a loser. The winner gets to walk away with the joy of having bested his or her opponent, but what does the loser walk away with? It turns out that to lose fencing bout is not that bad, actually...
In the recent Arizona SYC, I witnessed a situation when in a pool bout an inexperienced referee called “HALT” and moved the bout to 1 minute due to non-combativity. Of course both coaches jumped in and explained the rule to the referee, who needed to verify with the...
Good fencing and good coaching go hand in hand - great fencers always have amazing coaches to support and guide them on their path. We often hear people talk about the attributes of a great fencing coach. They should be experienced and dedicated, firm when necessary...
Getting the fencing blade size right is an important, if sometimes mystifying, process. It’s one of those things that so many new fencers just aren’t sure about! Where it starts The regulated weapon size for youth 10 events is #2, while older category fencers use #5....
