I recently reviewed Andre Agassi's autobiography Open on this blog, and the response was significant. Many fencing parents told me they picked up the book because of that review. That's great — it's an extraordinary memoir that every sports parent should read. But I'm...
Ask any soccer parent what their kid does in practice, and conditioning will come up before they finish the first sentence. Think about basketball, swimming, track and field. In every one of these sports, conditioning is just part of the deal. Nobody questions it....
We've all waited a long time for the appearance of a professional fencing league. There were at least two attempts in the past that I remember, and they all miserably failed. Until now. Meet the World Fencing League, founded by Miles Chamley-Watson — three-time...
There's a moment that happens at almost every competition I attend. A fencer comes off the strip after a loss. Before she even has time to take off her mask, her parent is already there: "Why didn't you finish your attack when she was at the back line? You had the...
I recently stumbled again upon The Nine Gifts book, to which I contributed an interview about attention — what it means in fencing, how we develop it, and why it transfers to life outside the sport. It got me thinking about something I rarely write about directly on...
Every time USA Fencing publishes a schedule, a huge portion of parents start complaining, both about event days and event start time. I'm among these complainers. We don't like anything: why does this age group event end at night and the next age group event start at...
In fencing, we talk a lot about touches, ratings, and results. We talk about footwork and blade work and tactics. We talk about mental resilience and about inner discipline. What we don't talk about nearly enough is reputation — and yet, reputation is one of the most...
Children's fencing, even without victories, gives a child a kind of confidence that no school can provide. But very few parents truly understand this. Most parents, I would dare to say maybe ninety percent of them, look mostly at medals. I get it - medals are...
Every season, I watch the same movie play out. A young fencer of eight or nine years old wins a few local tournaments, maybe even places at a regional. This child’s parents are ecstatic while the other parents notice and predict that that kid is going to be something...
A few weeks ago, USA Fencing published something that I've been waiting for — fencing safety in numbers. This is real data on fencing safety, Not anecdotal evidence, not comparisons to other sports based on small studies, but a comprehensive analysis of more than...
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