When I watch the Winter Olympics, I can't disconnect myself from my role of a sports parent. While the Olympic Games is the highest possible scene in sports, a pinnacle of sport achievement for selected few, the work, the drama, the emotions, high or low, the triumphs...
Like many Olympic fans around the world, we watched with held breath hoping to see the breakthrough performance of the Quad God Ilia Malinin. We literally stood up when he stepped on the ice, waiting for his ascent to the Olympic top with his final routine. The first...
I’ve written a lot about consistency, showing up and the power of the weekly rhythm in fencing training, including reviewing Andre Agassi's memoir Open from that angle. Agassi dedicates hundreds of pages to this same theme—he showed up to practice, day after day,...
In the last week, three families independently approached me for advice about school truancy letters regarding their children. What triggered them was that each family received a threatening letter from their respective schools about their children's unexcused...
I recently finished reading Andre Agassi's autobiography "Open" and I can't stop thinking about it. To tell the truth, I bought this book a few years ago, four or five (or maybe even six-seven, as kids would joke). Somehow I postponed reading it expecting to find a...
The picture above is a real registration schedule for a Y10 fencer that I came across recently. Twelve competition events in 7 very big and significant tournaments between October and mid-January. That's basically every other weekend for three months straight, often...
Screenshot A mother of a beginner fencer came to me recently and signed up for ongoing group classes. Then she watched some private lessons and asked if her daughter could take them too. "Yes, of course," I said. "Actually, private lessons are a necessary part of...
Talk to any fencing coach and they will tell that the difference between successful fencers and others lies in discipline. And that's exactly right, but what most coaches mean is a different type of discipline than what fencers and parents typically assume. Let’s look...
I recently stumbled upon a quote from Winston Churchill that stopped me in my tracks: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." These words resonated deeply with me, not just as a life philosophy, but as the perfect encapsulation...
I want to talk about planning for next season. Wait, you might probably want to say to me, it's still three months left in the 2024-2025 season, we still have a few regionals and the Summer National competition. Why should we plan the season so soon? And maybe you...
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