Today I had a conversation that went badly wrong. I said something that landed as a personal attack. It was not intended as one. What I actually felt, what I was actually reacting to, lived in a register the other person had no access to. I was transmitting on a...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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