
Though individual fencing is strong and getting stronger all of the United States thanks to the supportive clubs and the increasingly competitive web of tournaments in America, there is one place that we are sorely lacking – the team events.
In our current system, from local to regional to national events, individual fencing takes the top priority. Team events are not a priority. Even when we have team events in the competition, they are still not well attended. Clubs don’t encourage participation because they aren’t emphasized from the top, and fencers don’t participate because they are not emphasized from the club level.
It is absolutely time for this to change. While the team fencing events are so important on the international level, it has been too slow a trickle for them to become important down here.
Yes, it is different. Yes, it is slightly complicated and challenging for new fencers to enter into. However it’s not really that complicated, and we can’t wait around forever. We need to see some shift in the way that this is done so that our fencers can get the right tools to succeed at the top.