Counting blessings in sport of fencingIt’s Thanksgiving, the original American Holiday that calls for us to stop and take stock of the good things in our lives.

This day has a beautiful tradition of highlighting the positive things in life, the aspects of our relationships and our world that inspire us to be better people. Fencing brings so many wonderful things to us, some of them that we can measure, and many more that are beyond measure.

Today we’d like to count all of our blessings, both large and small. It’s so easy just to plug in and walk through life in a stupor, not really stopping to think about all of the good things that we are blessed with. And we are blessed with so many!

We’re thankful for swords

Yes, we are thankful for swords. Though these were once only known as weapons of destruction, today they’re truly tools of integrity and growth. In the hands of a competitive fencer, a sword is a beautiful thing that lifts them up and brings them closer to their true selves. Our swords are extensions of who we are.

Thank you to our swords for taking all of the real hits!

We’re thankful for the sport of fencing

We wouldn’t even be here talking to you without the sport of fencing. In our humble opinion, it’s the best sport that was ever created. But we might be a bit biased. Fencing brings us together as a team and teaches us to define ourselves as individuals. It’s method of self expression and a tool for personal growth. We are so very thankful for it!

Thank you to all of the great fencers of the past who blazed the way for this sport of fencing.

We’re thankful for competition

The competitive spirit drives us and helps us to grow! We are so very thankful for the incredible chance to get out onto the strip at competitions large and small, as well as the ability to compete right within our own club against one another. Losing and winning, they both help us to learn how to be better people! That’s what makes competition so wonderfully compelling, we learn to get up when we’ve fallen down.

Thank you competition, for teaching us how to be strong and resilient.

We’re thankful for fencing students who bring us joy & pride

What more can we say about our incredible fencing students? These kids and adults come into the club every day with heart and dedication to their craft of fencing. There’s really no way to express how grateful we are that they trust us to guide them on their path. Oftentimes we learn more from them than they learn from us, and for that we are thankful.

Thank you for being the heart of it all!

We’re thankful for coaches who care

The fencing coaches that we work with do an amazing job of being there for our students, helping them to be better fencers and better people. Wonderful role models, they take their responsibility to be good to our fencers very seriously. They work long hours and create individual plans for their fencers. Coaches put so much effort in, never to get a trophy or a medal. There’s so much about our fencing coaches that makes them special! Without our coaches, we wouldn’t be anywhere.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with your students.

We’re thankful for fencing families

Fencing moms and fencing dads, as well as fencing brothers and sisters and fencing grandparents, are as much a part of the fencing club as the fencers themselves. None of this happens without the support of fencing families. We see your sacrifice to support the dreams of our fencers, all of the things that you do in order to make life better and to help push our fencers up to another level of competition in this sport that they love. Everything you do, from going to fencing competitions to driving to practice everyday to being there in hard times, it all has meaning and matters a great deal to our fencers.

Thank you to fencing families who support our fencers!

We’re thankful for the people who read this blog

You’re out there somewhere, reading this miles from where it was written and hopefully learning something about what fencing might mean in your life. It’s humbling to know that people read our words. That’s pretty spectacular! You guys come here for fencing tips, for inspiration, and to hopefully learn something about yourself. We hope that we can offer you what you came for, and we are so grateful that click your way over here.

Thank you for reading this blog!

We’re thankful for the freedom that we have to say thank you

We’re thankful for the warm international community that stands together with fencers to make this sport better. We’re also thankful to be a part of Team America – something that we celebrated this year during the Olympic Games as we watched our American fencers work so hard to represent their country. There is a lot of freedom in the world, but in many places the people aren’t free to speak their minds openly like we are. We take this for granted much of the time, without thinking about how lucky we are. And we are very lucky!

Thank you Thanksgiving for offering us a chance to count our blessings.

The hustle and bustle of the thousands of little obligations that we have can run away with us, keeping us from seeing how wonderful life has been to us. Part of the joy of fencing is learning to be thankful for it, and we are indeed thankful for it.

So this year when you sit around your Thanksgiving table, maybe stop to think of how fencing makes you thankful. We a