Art of Fencing, Art of Life

Month: April 2018 Page 1 of 2

What Happens As You Age Into New Age Category in Fencing?

What Happens As You Age Into New Age Category in Fencing? As your child advances and grows within the sport of fencing, they will encounter physical and mental hurdles that will be difficult, but not impossible to overcome. They will become stronger. They will become more competitive. But surprisingly, there is one hurdle that many parents and fencers do not anticipate, until they are met with it: Aging into a new age category of fencing, and eventually, aging out of youth competitions altogether.

Plan, But Validate Your USFA Rankings Are Official

Plan attending USA Fencing National Championship, But Wait Until Your USFA Rankings Are OfficialThe next two weeks are the last to be qualified for summer nationals in some categories via a regional tournament or divisional qualifier.  In other words, this is your last chance to evaluate your current standings including how many regional points your child has, which events you need to register for, and if there’s a chance for you to improve your standing by attending another event.

Parents, it’s important that you make a careful plan for the next steps of attending Summer Nationals, as time will quickly run out if your fencer still wants to qualify.

Five Ways Beginner Fencing Summer Camp is Different from other Summer Camps

Five Ways Beginner Fencing Summer Camp is Different from other Summer Camps

Beginner Fencing Summer Camp is Different from other Summer Camps. Here is why –

There are 13 summer vacations in a kid’s life. 

That’s all! Just thirteen. What a child does during those two months can enrich them, expand their minds, and open doors to new experiences that they’ve never imagined. Filling that time between the end of school and the beginning of school can be tricky. We want our kids to continue to be engaged intellectually and physically, but we also want them to have that sense of being a kid while they can. It doesn’t last long!

Summer camp is a perfect way to fill some of those weeks, because it gives kids an intensive chunk of time to focus on learning or improving a skill or activity. Summer camp is summer camp right? Wrong! Not when it’s fencing camp! Beginner fencing summer camp is an experience unlike anything else your child can participate in during those summer months.

Here are five ways that beginner fencing camp stands out as a way for your child to get the most out of one of those thirteen summers.

Tournament seeding – what it is and how it is done

Fencing Tournament SeedingTournament seeding in fencing can be a confusing and complicated concept to grasp and understand. Especially for a first time competitor or new spectator to the sport. Hopefully I can help you break down what you need to know in a simple and concise way.

Seeding is conducted several times throughout a competition. There is a preliminary seeding that happens before the pools begin, and another seeding after the pool round.

Seeding occurs in order to create a sense of balance and order. Stronger opponents will be scattered equally amongst other less strong fencers. If there is no seeding, it’s possible that all of the stronger fencers could be fighting against one another within one single pool or the same branch of a tableau. Spreading them out in this way allows for a more fair competition, and allows other less higher seeded players to compete against the higher seeded fencers.

New Rule Change in Foil Regarding Plastic Chest Protector

New Rule Change in Foil Regarding Plastic Chest ProtectorRecently, the FIE officially approved a rule change that would allow wearing only a specific type of chest protector in the foil category of fencing, which was also adopted by the USFA. The rule is dictated by the following:

Per Section m.25.4(c):  

“At all weapons, the use of a breast/chest protector (made of metal or some rigid material) is compulsory for women and optional for men. At foil, this breast/chest protector must be worn below the protective plastron. At foil, the protector will have the following characteristics: The entire outside of the chest protector (the side facing the opponent) must be covered with a soft material such as E.V.A. (Ethylene-vinyl acetate) of four mm thickness and density of 22kg/m3. (The material can be attached to the current plastic models or incorporated into the manufacture of new chest protectors). The material must have the SEMI technical mark at the center of the upper edge.”

Anytime there is a new rule in fencing, it’s important to understand why the rule has been put in place, and how it will ultimately affect you.

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