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A Comprehensive Guide to USA Fencing Tournaments

A Comprehensive Guide to USA Fencing Tournaments

For the uninitiated, the world of USA fencing tournaments can seem complex and honestly confusing. Just as with anything however, once you get the basics down it all seems simple! This comprehensive guide to fencing tournaments in America will show you what types of fencing competitions exist, the reasons that each one is important, and how the network of tournaments are connected to one another. The first thing to know if you don’t already is that fencing in America is governed by the USFA -...

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The Opposite of Helicopter Parenting – How Fencing Helps Kids Break Free

The Opposite of Helicopter Parenting – How Fencing Helps Kids Break Free

Helicopter parenting has been a much buzzed about style of raising children for the last several years. For those of you who might not know, helicopter parents are overly involved in their child’s lives. They step in to solve their kid’s problems from name calling on the playground to college professors who don’t give the grades they think their kids deserve. The problem with helicopter parenting is that kid never learn how to handle situations on their own. Life is full of problems and...

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Does Hard Work Really Pay Off?

Does Hard Work Really Pay Off?

Hard work and dedication is at the foundation of any athlete, and fencers are no exception to this. Hard work can appear to be different to different fencers though, depending on their skill level, their training, and their passion for the sport. But does hard work really pay off? Is it possible to see the results you want just from putting in hours and hours of training and effort? Let’s take a closer look at what is involved when you put in the hard work. Is Winning a Result of Hard Work? I...

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Infographic – Historic Performance of USA Fencing at 2018 Fencing World Championships in Wuxi, China

Infographic – Historic Performance of USA Fencing at 2018 Fencing World Championships in Wuxi, China

What does a revolution look like? For American fencing, it just might look like the podiums at the 2018 Fencing World Championships in Wuxi, China. The results are truly unbelievable. There were so may first time top finishes, best ever performances, and team victories that it’s hard to see the events in Wuxi as anything other than revolutionary. It’s the kind of event that comes out of the blue, but that has in fact been building for many years. Fencing finishes like never before July saw...

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Make the Most of Your Summer With Fencing

Make the Most of Your Summer With Fencing

The days are long and the heat index is high which must mean we’re in the thick of summer! While many families take this time to have a relaxing vacation (and you really should), and many other families are recuperating from time and energy spent at Summer Nationals, I believe that these last few weeks of summer can be the perfect time to re-engage with a sport you love, and improve your fencing game just in time for a new season. Here are some unique ways you can incorporate fencing into your...

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How to Safely Pack Your Fencing Bag with Wet Clothes

How to Safely Pack Your Fencing Bag with Wet Clothes

Fencing clothes get wet. Not wet like swim trunks or rain jackets, but wet from the heaping amounts of sweat that pour out of a fencer’s body throughout the course of a strenuous practice in thick gear. The real deal with sweat First off, let’s talk about sweat. There is something deeply satisfying about getting in a hard workout at the fencing club. Running up and down the strip, feeling those muscles tense and release, it’s good stuff! That good stuff also produces smelly, wet stuff in the...

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Burning Desire

Burning Desire

Many fencers find their way into the sport after trial and error with other sports, or through a genuine interest in fencing. Some may have watched a competition online or saw an Olympics bout that was exciting. Many discover fencing because of siblings, or other family members who encouraged them to check it out. Whatever the reason, many students don’t know at first whether or not it will click for them.   When it does it can feel like lightning in a bottle. And that feeling is something...

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How to find motivation to train when fencing season is over

How to find motivation to train when fencing season is over

Down time after the fencing season is over can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because the pressure is off in many ways, allowing fencers to take a breath and get their heads together. It’s a curse because finding that motivation to train when there is no competition ahead is challenging for many fencers. Lots of fencers plan ahead to the next year or are fresh out of Fencing Summer Nationals that to help them stay uber motivated over the summer, but there are plenty who...

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8 Essential Skills for Beginner Young Fencing Referees to Master

8 Essential Skills for Beginner Young Fencing Referees to Master

Youth fencing brings with it youth referees, an aspect of our sport that’s good all the way round. As a fencing father and a fencing event organizer, I’ve watched as beginner and young fencing referees work their way through calling matches. They start officiating at tournaments at a very young age, down to age twelve and sometimes even to age ten! That’s a fantastic thing as it develops referees, it develops fencers, it instills confidence, and so much more. Handing over a match to a young...

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What It Takes to Be a Fencing Dad

What It Takes to Be a Fencing Dad

Once you have children, it’s never quite ever about you anymore. Your life revolves for the better (and rarely for the worse) around your child and their development into healthy, well functioning human beings. And most parents agree that all of this is not only worth it but immensely gratifying and even fun! Having what it takes to be a fencing dad isn’t much different. When it comes to being involved in a sport like fencing, your job as a father can often be thankless, exhausting, and also...

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7 Points of Failure in a Fencing Tournament

7 Points of Failure in a Fencing Tournament

Stepping into the tournament venue at the start of a fencing competition is exhilarating. The air is saturated with possibility, because truly anything is possible for a competitive fencer on a tournament day. Failure is a natural part of competition, and it’s a natural part of life. Fencers face little failures every day in training, not just in competition. Overcoming setbacks is a skill that we as people must develop. We don’t want to paint it as a big monster to be frightened of, but we do...

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Fencer Emoji – A Very Unscientific Ranking

Fencer Emoji – A Very Unscientific Ranking

Let’s first of all be excited that a fencer is part of the standard emoji set! The fencer was added to Emoji 3.0 and Unicode 9.0 in 2016. What that means that this is a standard emoji that you can use everywhere no matter what your device. You can send the little fencer emoji to anyone and everyone in your contacts list not matter what you’re using OR they’re using. It shows how prominent fencing is becoming! Emojipedia tells us that this fencer’s official name is “person fencing”, which isn’t...

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The anatomy of a fencing sword

The anatomy of a fencing sword

Fencing as a distinct form of combat goes all the way back to the 12th century when fencing schools started to spring up in Europe. Even to those first fencers the sword was seen as extension of the body. Fencing swords are more than just pieces of metal, they are pieces of us.   To the uninitiated, a fencing sword is a long piece of thin metal with a handle and a guard. It looks quite simple on the outside, but every piece and part of the fencing sword has a name and a purpose. These weapons...

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Why You Need To Stop Checking Your Opponent’s Seeding

Why You Need To Stop Checking Your Opponent’s Seeding

Fencing is a tough mental game that requires as much focus and concentration as it does physical strength and endurance. Many fencers wrongly believe that by continually checking other opponents seeding, they will somehow develop a leg up. That they will be able to assess some magic formula to figure out who they will play in the next round and sometimes even three or four rounds from now. But to check your opponents seeding time and again means that you’re not focusing on the right thing. And...

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The Power of Women in Fencing

The Power of Women in Fencing

There’s a lot of conversation going on right now about what exactly it means to be a woman – what are the limits on women in our world and what should their role be? We see women and men competing in fencing with a shared vigor. That goes from our youngest new fencers who are walking into the club for the first time to the veterans who have been at this for a long time. Not only are women in fencing powerful, but they’re gaining. Women’s fencing is growing! Fencing is a sport that many people...

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