Academy of Fencing Masters Blog

  If your child is fencing a teammate, what should you do? This is a tough situation, and it’s one that isn’t all that uncommon. Depending on the level that your child is fencing at and how big your fencing club is, it’s quite possible for your child to end up fencing one of their teammates during a competition. Tournament organizers work hard to keep fencers from the same club from fencing against each other in the pool, but it’s not always possible. But in the Direct Elimination round,...

First off, congrats on beginning your amazing journey into fencing! It’s truly a wonderful place to be and a wonderful world for you to partake in. A lot of parents ask me about what their kids should practice at home to become better at fencing. What fencing skills they need to work on at home, how often, etc. Even those who just started their first lesson! My reply is always the same - nothing! Why home fencing for beginners is a bad idea Parents and kids are all ready and going to get...

Finding balance as a fencing parent isn’t always easy. You want to do a great job of supporting your child’ development as a fencer, but it’s not always easy to know how to do that. We’ve all known the trap that some parents fall into of being over-zealous and over-enthusiastic in their child’s sports, pushing children beyond their limits and losing that positive focus. Making sense of it all is no simple task, but it’s a challenge that you can absolutely be up for.  Here are some ways...

We recently received an email from a parent about helping his daughter face the struggles of improving her performance in fencing. This is a topic that nearly every parent of an athlete can recognize as very important, and it’s one that we thought would be best addressed right here on the blog! That way everyone can learn something from this parent’s letter. Hi Irina, My wife and I really enjoy your blogs.  We used your blogs as a reference to get our daughter into fencing and taking care...

Though it can be extremely frustrating, it’s important to realize that every fencer progresses at their own pace. Though they can have the same coaches, the same lessons, the same amount of practice, and sometimes even the same parents, nonetheless fencers progress at their very own pace. There’s no way to absolutely speed up the process. Nature vs. Nurture in Fencing A hot topic of debate in both sport and in life is the issue of nature vs. nurture. In fact, it’s often said to be one of those...

Prepping for fencing competition is part planning for the actual competition and part planning for the travel itself. Though it might seem like the planning for the actual competitive aspect is the most important aspect of getting ready for these big tournaments such as Regional or Super Youth Circuits (RYC's or SYC's), Junior Olympics (JO’s), Fencing Summer Nationals (SN), or the North America Cup Tournaments (NAC’s), participation in them involves a great deal of planning outside of the...