We recently received an email from a parent about helping his daughter face the struggles of improving her performance in fencing. This is a topic that nearly every parent of an athlete can recognize as very important, and it’s one that we thought would be best addressed right here on the blog! That way everyone can learn something from this parent’s letter.
Hi Irina,
My wife and I really enjoy your blogs. We used your blogs as a reference to get our daughter into fencing and taking care of her equipment, and we look forward to reading your upcoming blogs in the future.
I am wondering if you have written, or will you write a blog for parents who used to fence (or are still fencing). I fenced from middle school to college, so when I watch our daughter fence other kids, a lot of time, I find that her forms were just not acceptable to me as a former fencer. I cannot help but wonder when will everything she has learned, from the classes to private lessons, click with her brain?
When she practiced in her classes, private lessons, or sometimes with me, she was able to keep her forms (En garde, parries, feint, disengages, etc.) on point. But when she fenced her classmate, her forms became distorted, her parries became wild, she forgot to disengage and kept doing the same movements. I don’t want to let this become a habit for her, but I don’t know what else I can do to make everything click with her.
Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to help her, or what I can do to adjust my mind set?
Thank you for your time. I really appreciate your help
Sincerely,
A Fencing Father