Fencing’s Positive Impact on Girls' Self EsteemHow do you raise a girl who has high self esteem?
Empowering girls is important work for parents, not only because it helps them to feel good about themselves but also because positive self esteem leads girls to better decision making and success in life.

Fencing’s Positive Impact

Girls who are empowered feel secure in who they are. They learn how to take action in life, how to make positive choices, and how to do positive things for others. They practice critical thinking. They are able to express the feelings that they are experiencing and also to understand the feelings and thoughts of others, then respond in caring and supportive ways.

They also have times of self doubt and insecurity, but because they have learned how to handle problems that come along, these feelings aren’t overwhelming.

Here are some ways that fencing helps girls to learn to be powerful and self confident.

Fencing encourages girls to pursue their passion.

Fencing is an activity that gives girls the opportunity to master challenges, boosting their self esteem and resilience. It also helps them to feel affirmed in values that come from the inside rather than appearance. Participation in fencing allows girls to feel as though they have something to give to the world, an area that they can delve deeply into. Part of the beauty of fencing is that there is so much to it, so much to learn. That depth means that girls have a lot of room to grow, continuing to find ways to fuel their passion.

Fencing lets girls have a voice.

Fencing is all about decision making. Girls who fence get the chance to make constructive choices in their lives through every single bout. Then they get to live out those choices. One of the best parts about fencing is that it doesn’t limit girls to being pigeon-holed into the decisions that others want them to make. When they step up onto that strip, they are on their own and have the ability to be who they are without anyone telling them what to do.

Fencing models positive values.

Parents want their children to have great values modeled for them, and fencing offers an arena where those values are on display every day. Fencing is all about integrity, positivity, resilience, fierceness, devotion, support, and accomplishment. Girls learn a whole range of positive values, and more importantly get to see them in action.

Fencing lets girls solve issues on their own.

Girls learn positive coping skills on the strip, and how to deal with situations when their parents aren’t thee to help them or to bail them out. The wonderful part about fencing is that girls get to practice solving issues in a place that doesn’t have dire consequences for failure – they can make a mistake and still be ok. Allowing girls to feel the full force of doing things on their own is important, because if they don’t get good practice now then when they get older and have an issue, they’re going to find that they aren’t able to cope on their own. Fencing let’s them practice solving their problems in a supportive and nurturing environment.

Fencing encourages girls to take physical risks.

Girls who avoid taking physical risks tend to have lower self esteem than girls who take on physical risks. Fencing draws girls out of their comfort zone, allowing them to face fear in the form of a sword and then conquer that fear. The physical confidence that comes with fencing is unique among sport because it does involve a weapon. Though it’s incredibly safe and the weapons used in fencing aren’t dangerous at all, there is nonetheless something special about holding a sword and using it against another person. Through fencing, girls learn to form a positive relationship with their physical bodies, feeling how strong and powerful they are and that their bodies are valuable for so much more than they way that they look.

Fencing offers positive body image role models.

Unfortunately today, girls are bombarded with a whole range of negative images in the media that give them a false sense of what a healthy female body looks like. It can be a real challenge to find healthy and well balanced women for girls to look up to.  Fencing offers girls those positive role models. There are so many fantastic women who fence, from the Olympic level to the local level. It’s not difficult for girls who are immersed in fencing culture to look around and see what they could be and what healthy bodies look like. Girls learn that their bodies have a purpose other than to wear designer clothing, and that they can harness the power in their bodies to achieve their dreams. .

Fencing teaches tenacity.

Girls who fence learn to be vigorous in their approach to life, and to be tenacious about it when life gets them down. There’s no reason for girls to feel overwhelmed or out of control in their lives – there is always a chance to get ahead with hard work and a positive attitude. We learn again and again on the strip how to get back up when we fall, how to show up and dig in when we lose a point. Fencing teaches girls that losing isn’t so terrible as they thought, and most importantly that a loss is not an end. When girls walk into a fencing club, they encounter a wide variety of women who have lost and gotten back up anyway – because everyone has lost a bout at some point. It’s the fire to fight again that is important and that girls learn when they pick up a sword.

More than anything, fencing offers girls the chance to participate in something that is their own, that belongs to them, while still being surrounded by support and kindness. That kind of positive environment teaches conflict resolution and personal empowerment, and is the key to building girl’s self esteem.