Art of Fencing, Art of Life

Month: September 2017 Page 1 of 2

A Parent’s Fencing Question: When Will It Click?

A Parent Fencing Question - When Will It ClickWe 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

New Epee Fencing Rule Aims to Makes Epee as Aggressive as Sabre

new epee fencing rule addresses non combativityChange is coming to the world of epee.

A recent meeting of the FIE rules committee saw a proposal that will drastically affect epee fencing. The proposal was accepted and will begin to be integrated into international competition starting this coming January 2018 through the Senior World Championship in Wuxi, China next summer. The temporary adoption of this rule change will allow the new rules to be tested, to see whether these should be permanent changes and what tweaks might need to be made for these new rules.

It’s a massive shift for epee fencers, but one that promises be positive for the long term.

In a nutshell, the major change in how non combativity is going to be treated. Per the current rules, which are applicable only to the DE bouts, if there are no touches scored in the course of about 1 minute, the referee stops the bout and advances it to the next period without a 1 minute break, or to the full priority minute if this non-combativity happened in the last period.

The new proposal makes a rather dramatic change to this. The referee alternates priority with each touch between two fencers. If there is no touch scored within 45 seconds, then the fencer with the priority is awarded a point and the bout resumes.

This change is rather extremely dramatic and will change the way epee fencing is done.

Why Different Fencers Progress Differently Despite the Same Coaches, the Same Lessons, and the Same Amount of Practice

Despite same environment fencers progress differentlyThough it can be extremely frustrating, it’s important to realize that every fencer progresses at their own pace. Though they can have the same coaches, the same lessons, the same amount of practice, and sometimes even the same parents, nonetheless fencers progress at their very own pace. There’s no way to absolutely speed up the process.

Nature vs. Nurture in Fencing

A hot topic of debate in both sport and in life is the issue of nature vs. nurture. In fact, it’s often said to be one of those “unanswerable” questions in the world. It’s an issue that extends to everything in life, from careers, to learning a musical instrument, to painting, etc. The debate has gone on for decades and longer – whether human accomplishment is determined by our DNA or by our life experiences.

Are great fencers born, or are they made?

How to Plan Your Travel to Big Fencing Competitions – RYC’s, SYC’s, NAC’s, JO’s, and Summer Nationals

Travel to Big Fencing Competitions Prepping for fencing competition is part planning for the actual competition and part planning for the travel itself. Though it might seem like the planning for the actual competitive aspect is the most important aspect of getting ready for these big tournaments such as Regional or Super Youth Circuits (RYC’s or SYC’s), Junior Olympics (JO’s), Fencing Summer Nationals (SN), or the North America Cup Tournaments (NAC’s), participation in them involves a great deal of planning outside of the tournament itself. Getting that planning right can make things exponentially easier for the fencer who is in attendance, which is an important part of performing well in this environment.

That’s all well and good to know, but planning for this kind of travel is intimidating and overwhelming at times. That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to planning your travel so that it can be as easy as possible. Travel to big fencing competition shouldn’t be a struggle!

World Fencing Day is September 9 – Four Ways to Celebrate

World Fencing Day - September 9, 2017Fencing is amazing!

We are always interested in spreading the word about our beloved sport. That’s exactly what World Fencing Day is all about, and we’re encouraging everyone to participate and share their love of the sport with people all over the world. World Fencing Day is sponsored by FIE, the International Fencing Federation. It’s a day that’s all about getting the word out about the joy of fencing to everyone possible. We want to spread the word about fencing and what it means to us.

This year, World Fencing Day is Saturday, September 9, 2017

How can you participate in World Fencing Day? It’s easy! Here are four simple, straightforward and fun ways to spread the word about World Fencing Day and celebrate the sport.

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