Another year, and now it’s time for another recap of the world of online fencing information. Every year AFM publishes a list of the Best Fencing Blogs for the year and we will be doing an overview of the best fencing blogs 2021 in this post as well. Every year, the online resources for fencing information dwindle down just a little.
While 2021 was a year in which the world slowly and painfully returned to something akin to normal, what with more activities resuming and the Olympic Games coming roaring back in Tokyo, the number and quality of fencing blogs is still a dire situation.
Great fencing information is harder to find than ever.
It’s not all gloom and doom though! There are three reliable, wonderful sources of online content that we’re excited to highlight for 2021. I believe I read most of the fencing blogs this year, and I find that the varied perspectives are part of the joy of learning and growth. I would love to see more, but I’m also excited about what we do have going on here.
Since there are really only 3 (!) reliable, consistent, and properly maintained fencing blogs outside of AFM Blog, we’ve decided not to rank them this year. They are all three winners in our eyes because of their resilience and passion for enriching the world of fencing. We offer our huge thanks to each of them for continuing to share their knowledge with us.
Fencing Parents
What a fantastic resource for parents for information about what’s going on with the USA Fencing organization for American fencers. There are details here about varied points of interest in fencing.
This blog brings extraordinary information that details the rules, statistics, the underlying currents that are affecting fencing all over the country, and so much more. There’s tons of valuable insight and information here for parents of fencers, as well as for fencers themselves who want to know the inside scoop on what’s happening in terms of competition and qualification.
Recently, USA Fencing provided a plethora of reasons to talk about corporate governance and organizational behaviors. There’s been a lot going on with the leadership of the governing body of fencing in the last couple of years, some of which are complex and all of which are worthy of delving into. Fencing Parents has been a valuable resource to explain all of the details about these events and to put things in perspective.
Though I’d been a bit skeptical about the USA Fencing-focused content that they put out in the last year, now I think that they occupied a much needed position as an interpreter of what’s been happening. Explaining how all of this affects the activities that are relevant to the average fencers, such as tournaments and seeding, is a wonderful service to fencing families.
This blog is run by Donna Meyer, a passionate fencing parent, and it shows in her expertise and focus on useful information for fencing families. This blog is definitely one of the places to watch online.
The Fencing Coach
One of the dominant voices in the online fencing community for many years has been The Fencing Coach. It’s been refreshing to have Damien Lehfeldt return to putting his thoughts on paper (well, on a screen).
What I really like about this fencing blog is its focus on technicality and on useful information for fencers. In particular, the series of bout breakdowns that Damien provides are helpful for fencers. These are an excellent place to find detailed analysis of tactics, as well as insight into refereeing and coaching.
Lately, there has been a lot of cross-correlation between Fencing Parents and the Fencing coach, all of it connected to the events going on in USA Fencing. That’s not a bad thing, as it gives slightly different perspectives on issues that people tend to be passionate about.
In general, The Fencing Coach is a wonderful place to go find information on fencing from someone who is both articulate and full of information on fencing that’s useful for parents, fencers, coaches, and the wider community. The style of writing is easy access, and Damien has a great perspective to share.
Cyrus of Chaos
Of everywhere to learn about fencing online, the most consistently exciting place has got to be the inexhaustible flow of content from Cyrus of Chaos. To be fair, this is not a fencing blog. Cyrus is active on Instagram and YouTube, where his videos are an insider’s look into fencing.
The playlists on his YouTube channel are a good place to start, but you’ll find lots of different points of entry if you hop on over and start looking around. Fair warning – it’s easy to get lost in all of the videos, so pace yourself!
If you want to see byte-size snippets of great fencing moments, go to his Instagram. If you want to see the whole bout or match, then go to the Cyrus of Chaos YouTube account. He’s my favorite online creator of 2021, and once you go check out his content you’ll see why.
Last year, we did a great interview with Andrew Fischl, a man behind the Cyrus of Chaos, where he gave us a backstage view of his process and his history. The tremendous amount of excitement that he shows for the sport of fencing is contagious. His love of fencing is visible in all of his content, across the years that he’s been sharing it all with the world.
Final thoughts on online fencing content
There was some hope in the lead up to and then during the Olympics that fencing.net would finally be resurrected, but unfortunately the Olympic torch shutting down in Tokyo also put this blog on ice. They stopped publishing. It’s a pity and a loss to the fencing community. This also happened the PBT Blog, which started to stir a bit towards the start of the Olympics and then slowly died. The Leon Paul blog has almost disappeared from the stage as well with rare reentrance here and there.
We’d love to see more online! There is a thriving community of fencing on Reddit, with consistent responses and tons of information on every subject that’s imaginable. The community there is worth exploring if you haven’t. If you don’t see the answer to a question you have, then you can post it and get lots of responses. Like Cyrus of Chaos, it’s easy to go down the rabbit hole of this informative area of fencing on the internet.
Though we are fortunate to have these online fencing resources, we are always eager for more voices to become visible online. The more people who are talking about fencing online, the more we are able to grow the sport and the stronger we become.
That being said, there’s a lot of time and effort that goes into sustaining online content creation. My hat goes off to Fencing Parents, the Fencing Coach, and Cyrus of Chaos for continuing to put their point of view out there. It’s important work! It makes a big difference to the world of fencing that you are out there and putting information online for fencers and fencing families.
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