In a competition in Washington DC, I witnessed a situation that immediately prompted me to write a post about it. Unfortunately, this is all too common in our sport, and I've never seen a competition without it. However, this time, the girl put it so eloquently in her...
Academy of Fencing Masters Blog
Art of Fencing, Art of Life
For Parents
The Measuring Mentality – How Constant Calculations Hurt Youth Fencers
Before kids are even born, we’re bombarded with the idea that everything has to be measured. How long is the baby during each sonogram? How many times did they kick in the last 24 hours? Are they on time for their due date? Once they get here, we're told to...
How to Transition Kids from Other Sports to Fencing
Most kids start sports somewhere like tiny soccer leagues or toddler gymnastics classes, but most of them start learning to work with teammates and play right on the playground. They naturally transition from one activity to another, but all too often we see kids and...
Exciting News: Join Me in the “Parents’ Corner” at American Fencer!
I am thrilled to share some exciting news with all of you in the fencing community. Recently, I received a wonderful invitation to become a regular columnist at "American Fencer," the online reincarnation of the renowned "American Fencing" magazine. American Fencer...
Fencing, Music, and the Divide Between Enrichment and Competition
There’s a great misunderstanding about what fencing does for kids and where it should fall in their lives, both now and in the future. Not so much within the fencing community, but definitely with people who are looking at it from the outside. With other activities,...
The Road to Confidence in Fencing: Why You Need Competition Experience
I recently had a discussion with a concerned parent who made the decision not to sign up her daughter for a fencing competition. Her reasoning was that in her last tournament, her daughter had only won three bouts in the pools and lost her first Direct Elimination...
How Youth Fencing Can Help Kids Forge Deep and Meaningful Friendships
What are the things that make life really rich and meaningful? When you think about your own childhood, you probably don’t remember the things you did so much as the people you did them with. Your best friend who sat next to you in math class and made you laugh every...
How to Encourage the Youngest Y8 Fencers When They Struggle
Fencing can begin as young as seven or even six years old, and we want to encourage those littlest fencers to get the most out of the sport. Any parent will tell you that elementary school-aged kids have very different needs than middle school or high school-aged...
How Fencing Helps Adolescents Even Out
Adolescence is a challenging time for lots of reasons. It marks the transition from being a kid to being an adult, but those intervening years are anything but easy on pre-teens and teenagers. Fencing can really help young people navigate this often unbalanced time....
Why Kids Should Try Lots of Activities (Including Fencing!)
One thing that parents are always looking for is new things for their kids to participate in. We want our kids to have the opportunity to learn new things, even as we want them to find that perfect activity and focus on it so they can excel. Keeping their bodies and...