July 2006

Fencing and its role in a young person's life

Recently, a parent from another club made a comment to me. She was afraid her son's coach was pushing him too hard and didn't have his best interests in mind. She was looking at our club practice schedules said, "Obviously you must feel that 2 days of fencing is enough to keep young fencers prepared for tournaments."

I replied to her, and I thought I would put the gist of it up here.

The enviornment I strive to create for my students, PARTICULARLY the youth students (and I would definitely put your 11 year old son in this category) is one of a relaxed, fun, and exciting enviornment. With regards to youth, I feel that while fencing is an ideal sport and activity, and one that can be pursued throughout life, with valuable rewards and experiences, it should be one component of an active, healthy life, not the entire focus of that life. When an individual chooses to make fencing and competing a priority, and is mature enough to understand the ramficiations of that decision, it is another thing entirely, but I don't think that 11 year olds are anywhere near capable of making that kind of decision. Fencing at my salle hopefully never comes before homework, school projects, birthday parties or family vacations.

Which is not to say my students don't have competitive success. I have two students ranked in the top places of the Southwest Section Circuit Cup standings in Senior Women's Sabre However, these are two women, (one is a young woman who will be 15 in January, actually), who have made the decision to make fencing competition a priority, and have sacrificed and worked hard to get to that point. As far as my youth fencers, I take them to tournaments in the local area... and that is pretty much it. They'll attend the RYC that in in Dallas in the spring (some of them), and perhaps we'll consider taking a few of them on the road to an RYC later on. Granted, we're a new club (we've just celebrated our second anniversary of operations) and things could develop differently, particularly as some of the 8 and 9 year olds I have now develop and progress.

But to answer the question of if I feel two days of practice is enough for an 11 year old to keep in practice for tournaments - the answer is most assuredly yes. But I have very different goals for my students than some other coaches. I don't particularly care if my students are top competitors at the age of 11, so long as they are having fun and enjoying themselves. At that age, I want to set the foundations for a long and profitable fencing career. To put it another way, I'm not training them to be able to beat 11 year olds - I want them to be able to fence high level opponents, successfully, at the right time. And that is something that requires many years of work and progression. In the meantime, hopefully, the kids are having fun, getting in physical activity, and learning and developing the skills neccessary to take them where they want to go.

Once a student makes the decision, supported by their family, that competitive fencing is the direction they want to go, our club is well prepared to help them! And I as a coach will make the same commitment to them that they make to the sport. But, it should be noted that fencing, like any other sport, when practiced seriously, requires a not inconsiderable commitment of time, money, effort, and sacrifice. It also has wonderful rewards like no other, and the relationship between a competitive fencer and his or her coach is a very close and personal one. But save such decisions for the teenage years, and let kids be kids! I'll be here when they're old enough to be serious.