You wouldn't dream of stepping onto the strip without a physical warm-up. No one walks into a bout cold - no footwork, no blade work, no stretching - and expects their body to perform at its best. Everyone understands that muscles need preparation. But what about your...
Every fencer hits the moment in their career when almost everything they do feels wrong. New actions as well as old and trusted actions. Nothing feels quite right. Some fencers will keep trying, grinding through the frustration. Others will want to move on to...
January 1st arrives with familiar declarations: "This is my year!" "I'm finally going to get serious about training!" "I'm more motivated than ever!" The young fencer posts inspirational quotes on social media, creates detailed training schedules, and attacks their...
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...
A few years ago we had a fencer with an interesting habit. Before every bout she performed the same routine: adjusted the mask three times, tapped the guard twice with her left index finger, took four steps back, then advanced to the en garde line. She'd been doing...
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...
Talk to any fencing coach (actually any sports coach) and you will hear many stories of overtraining. They all watched a promising young fencer collapse during what should have been a routine lesson. Not from exhaustion—from sheer mental fatigue. This athlete had been...
While we welcome the end of a fencing match, we also know that the ending is the hardest part of the whole process. The final minutes are always much more challenging than the opening minutes. Taking charge of those riveting and oftentimes overwhelming moments that...
There's an old saying that goes "Dig your well before you're thirsty." It's simple wisdom that applies to nearly every aspect of life, and it’s definitely relevant to competitive fencing. The moment you step onto a competition strip, your fate is essentially sealed --...
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...
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