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...
At March NAC I was standing near one of our students when I overheard a conversation between two fencing parents who discussed a child of one of these two parents when he was disconnecting from a reel after a devastating 0:5 bout. His mother was lamenting that her...
One of the most difficult tasks of a fencing parent is to comfort their child after losing. We all have been there more times than we ever wanted to be. Fencing is a sport where you lose more than you win. Much more. Ask any Olympic Champion and they will tell you...
There's a phenomenon I've observed time and again in our fencing community – one that rarely gets discussed openly but affects many young fencers. I call it "the early rating trap." Picture this: A 13-year-old fencer – let's call her Stella – bursts onto the scene...
It happened during a seemingly ordinary practice session. I overheard a conversation between one of our teenage fencers and their coach. They weren't discussing technique or competition strategy – they were talking about school troubles, friend dynamics, and the...
Do you want to receive timely updates from our blog and learn more about fencing? Sign up here, and you'll receive an email with the latest blog post after it's published.