Academy of Fencing Masters Blog

To live a healthy active lifestyle many people will choose an activity that they can and want to do. This is a way to insure that activity will be a part of your entire life. For example, if you hate running, odds are good you won’t be a runner when you’re in your 60’s. But if you love running, it's possible for you to continue running marathons until well into your 90’s and some have even run marathons older than that! For many, fencing can be and become a lifetime passion. Fencing for the...

When it comes to being the parent of a fencer, everyone wants to see their child win the match. That sounds simple and straightforward, but in reality it’s not so easy to know how to give your child that support. The first thing parents need to realize is that the key is to ENCOURAGE your child in fencing, NOT TO PUSH your child into getting better at the sport. The difference is that encourage is allowing the motivation to spring from inside your child, where pushing your child is forcing...

A few years ago I snapped this picture of our son busily playing with his phone while he was waiting for the rest of us to finish our practice at the club. I’m sure this is an image that is very familiar to many parents. In fact, so many kids come to us obsessed with their Playstation or focused on their electronic devices. I understand and empathize with these parents. My kids, while all serious fencers, have their moments with electronic devices. But I’ve also seen their growth and maturity...

As your child advances and grows within the sport of fencing, they will encounter physical and mental hurdles that will be difficult, but not impossible to overcome. They will become stronger. They will become more competitive. But surprisingly, there is one hurdle that many parents and fencers do not anticipate, until they are met with it: Aging into a new age category of fencing, and eventually, aging out of youth competitions altogether. Moving Up Into A New Age Category Often, when your...

Fencing may be one of the oldest sports in recorded history created out of the duel: A way for two disagreeing parties to settle their dispute by battling it out to see who would be the worthy victor. Entire wars were often fought as an expansion of a duel. Duels began to go out of favor as early as the mid-1400’s but it wasn’t until much later that duels were completely forbidden. Once duels were banned, it became a widespread practice to have amicable battles without the intention of...