Good News!

[azfencer]

Ahhhh!!! Strunk and White! Don't bring that into a fencing discussion. I had to memorize lists of grammer rules verbatim from Strunk and White my first semester of college. The scary part is I still remember some of them years later. I try to spell correctly when I write anything but I notice I let capital letters go. I do think having a huge amount of misspellings implies that a person isn't taking time and doesn't care as much about what they are saying. I know that isn't necessarily true but it is implied...

And back on topic, I'm not surprised that a college club can't accept a kid fencing. None of the local colleges even let people under 17/18 in the rec center much less into a club sport. It's all about liability! No one person really makes the choice, it just happens that way most of the time because they can't afford to be sued. Try to find a club open to all ages, it's likely to have a coach better used to a variety of fencers too.

[epeemike81]

There is a 15 y/o that practices with my colegiate club....

Its all about liability..... waivers.

-m

[Inquartata]

Sometimes it's just senseless bureaucracy---or one senseless bureaucrat. My club allowed kids for years. Then a new man took over as administrator of the facility we used, and suddenly it was "no one under 18". However, the swimming pool was still full of children as a matter of course, and on several occasions I noticed rooms full of mid-teens practicing tae kwon do! Apparently, only fencing struck this guy as "dangerous", and no amount of reason would change his mind.

As soon as he moved on to another job, poof! The "liability issue" apparently moved with him, as the new administrator allows us to accept youngsters again...

[epeemike81]

Inquartata,

You are right that it is senseless beaurocracy. However, this is SLIGHTLY different, since it is a collegiate club, and there are, therefore, some restrictions on age already.

Iwant2b,

Since our collegiate club accepts high school students who want to practice with us, I don't see why yours wouldn't. Try suggesting to them that
1) You are willing to pay dues.
2) You will sign a liability waiver.
3) Letting high school students practice with them is a good way to recruit, and to up the odds that they will get experienced fencers applying to their school.

-m

[Inquartata]

Oops, I forgot to mention that my club IS a University intramural one. Most of us are students, faculty, staff or alumni. We have no kids under 14 at the moment, but have had them as young as 10 in the past...

[Moonitic]

Our club is based out of a college. They recently implimented a 15+ age guideline. We had a LOT of young kids get signed up, with no parental control. It just got stupid.

Doug, I was thinking...if they had started that much sooner, Sean, Sam & Stephanie wouldn't be with us now. Ok, well...Sean (our 16 year old C rated fencer). Anyway, they were all between 12 & 14 when they started fencing!

[Catlady]

Greetings,

First, on the spelling question. I will agree whole heartedly that bad spellers can be quite intelligent. I consider myself a writer as well and can tell you from reading work of friends and classmates there are quite a few people out there who are wonderful writers but positively cannot spell. For some reason I was blessed with the ability to "eyeball" a word and be able to tell if it's right, I also have a good memory so that helps as well. That said if I'm pulling a late night trying to finish a paper and I've been at it a few hours, all that goes out the window and nothing seems to be spelled right.

BTW I hate Strunk and White too-- I prefer Ten Lesson in Style and Clarity fyi-- for me grammar is like parry drills, you have to know it, but it's not the fun part, that's writing. Frankly I'd almost like to trade Tim, I can spell and use all the big words, but I have the worst time repairing my equipment.

I echo Tim in wanting to know where Iwant2b is going to be fencing and also to which college she applied. No college or university in Utah that I am aware of has a varsity fencing program, although Brigham Young (BYU or just the Y.) has a student club as does the University of Utah. BYU was the last college to have varsity fencing and that's where quite a few of the prominent fencing people in the division (e.g. Julie Smith, Ron Hendricks,Zhon Johansen, Bethany Cox et.al) trained.

I do need to make a correction in Tim's info however. The club in Salt Lake proper, Salt Lake Fencing, is not downtown, it is actually a bit northeast of downtown a short distance from the UofU campus (in the Foothill Shopping area, for those who want to know). I'm biased because I fence there, but if Iwant2be is looking for a club I would suggest she come see us, we can't do a free trial but we are pretty reasonable and I would say that at present we're a better choice than the UofU's club--no offense intended to them btw, but we have more people thus offering a greater variety of opponents and our coaches are slightly more experienced. Just for the record--and for a bit more self promotion-- we have recently hired a full time coach who has previously coached the Ukranian youth team, he works you hard, but he's a neat guy and a great coach, so if you're in the area you might want to see about getting a lesson. All this info is on Salt Lake Fencing Clubsome areas haven't been updated lately, but the contact info and schedule are up to date. I suppose I've gone on enough now.

[Iwant2bafencer]

Alright I'm back! First of all I agree with Dame it's just a website not an Essay on the fall of the Roman Empire! Second I should have been more clear on the college subject. I applied for Early College wich is Everything. (Geometry to fencing) Therefore they didn't accept me because they assume that people under 18 aren't 'Mature' enough to handle it. That is why I thought it was stupid becuase everyone is different! Not to mention some 18 and 19 year olds are more imature then the rest of us. (Keep in mind I said some! So no offence to ne 1.)
Yes I realize that I will most likely get hooked on fencing. My parents are already used to 'carting' me around. Also when I finish rebuilding my Junker car and in a few months I will be able to drive myself. Catlady, sound great!! I'll have to come and check it out soon!! btw I cant get onto yourguys site. It wont download. Although I havent tried it in a while so I'll try it again. I'm actually getting giddy just sitting here thinking about starting to fence! hehe
K I'll shut up for now.

[ 08-11-2001: Message edited by: Iwant2bafencer ]