New Club Starting Out!!!

[angel]

My coach is starting out a new club closer to where I live. Well, a new facility anyway. I'd like to know what kind of equipment you'd need if you were starting out in a new building. Any suggestions?

If you do have any suggestions let me know here angelo16@yahoo.com I'd really enjoy hearing from people on what kind of stuff they have in their fencing halls that are required & what's there just for fun!

[This message has been edited by angel (edited 02-28-2001).]

[Lumberg]

The minimum would be masks, jackets, weapons, and repair tools.
Next would be a scoring machine, reels, and repair parts and equipment.

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Lumberg.
"...ahhh, we have sort of a problem here... yeah, you apparently didn't put one of the new cover sheets on your TPS report"

[neevel]

What's the nature of the new facility? Will it be a dedicated fencing place? How is the interior laid out-- one large space, or is it divided? What kind of floor is in there currently? Is there storage space already built-in?

-Dave

[angel]

It's a one floor large sized store. Its located inside a shopping plaza right next to a dollar store and a Blockbuster video.

We want it to be a dedicated fencing place but we'll proabable have to make some sacrifices due to the fact that the space is rented. I don't know how my coach will work it out. I am just offering suggestions & an address.

Any more suggestions?

[neevel]

Sounds like a good location to attract attention from passersby. Since it's 'dedicated' in the sense that you're not going to be sharing it with anyone else, one of the most obvious things is to put up overhead wiring for the scoring equipment rather than using reels-- that'll at least halve the cost of setting up the strips and probably be more reliable, to boot.

Another item that you may want to keep in mind is the floor-- is it a concrete slab, or a suspended floor of some kind (for example, is there a basement underneath)? Concrete floors are really rough on people's legs over long run. If that's what you've got, the ideal would be to build up a proper suspended wood floor over it (could get expensive, though). At least try to lay down something (solid rubber matting, sheets of plywood, etc.) that'll provide some give and better traction.

-Dave

[Moniteur]

Hey Angel, who are you working with up in KC? I hadn't heard anything yet about a new club being established. I'm only 3 hours off down in Wichita. Whats the scoop?

The things I find necessary in a club are: decent, working, clean, bathrooms, hot and cold water, control over the climate control system.. some changing areas other than the restrooms if possible, someplace securely lockable to store expensive stuff like machines and reels if necessary. A repeater bell for the phone, or a light that blinks when the phone rings, would be good.
Since you're moving, it would be a good time to go through your first aid kits, and pitch anything that is out of date. Also, it would be high time for checking and replacing the armoury fire extinguisher, making sure you get one that will do chemical or electrical fires (hey, the sport is safe..but glues, paints, solvents aren't and any power tools like dremel, soldering irons, etc, can be dangerous if they malfunction..)

Make sure that you have outlets for power, in the places you need them, if they're not where you want them, use that as a negotiation point in the lease, or get them to install/move them. If you can avoid running extension cords all over the place, that is a good thing, as they make a great tripping hazard..

The truth of it is that you can be as simple as you want, or as complex as you have floorspace for. If you ensure that you have proper clearance around your strips, some place spectators can watch from that is out of the way, as well as your safety eqipment and fencing gear, then you have the bare mimimum. One more step would be blinds for the windows, if as i suspect, being in a strip mall type place means that you have one wall which is mostly windows. It would be ok until the sun comes blindingly in, depending on the orientation of the building. Facing west at sunset, when most of us fence, would be bad especially if the strips run perpendicular to the windows.

A real ultra luxury would be a wall hanging in dark blue, that you could cover one wall with, behind whatever strip is your main strip, for the reason of videotaping bouts. The fencers and blades will show up in sharp relief, and the reel cords will disappear. that is something I REALLY wish we had at our club. Also, a shelf and restraints for a camera to be placed securely out of the way, would be good.
If the building space is setup for it, showers would be a major bonus. If people don't have to drive home stinky, and stink up their cars, or disgust those around them when they go out for dinner or drinks after practice..they'll be happier people. However, showers almost always seem to be a longshot at private fencing clubs.

Some simple things you need to do are:

Use your wallspace.

put up:

Bulletin boards
Tournament notices, camp flyers, class handouts, etc, are going to be all over without it. A calender with our division schedule (not that I'm implying there actually is one, as we never seem to plan anything more than 2 weeks in advance in this division) and national/regional tournaments listed on appropriate days would also be useful (you may wish to plot the SAT/ACT test weekends on it as well if you have highschool age fencers)

A section of wallspace set aside for photos, news clippings and so on, will go a long way towards making the place feel like a fencing salle. If you have pictures of fencers at various tournaments, with their awards, get them up there. It's good marketing, plus it should help establish a sense of tradition and character.

Fencing prints, posters and such are good for morale, and antique fencing stuff is fun but frivolous.

trashcans, trashcans, trashcans. learn them, live them, love them. put them EVERYWHERE. fencers are slobs, but it's possibly correctible.

Don't forget a pushbroom, dustpan, a mop, and one of those big magnet on a stick thingies..
all for now.. maybe i'll think of some things later..

chris

[This message has been edited by Moniteur (edited 03-03-2001).]

[angel]

We're called the International Sports Academy officially but unofficially we're the
Five Rings Fencing Club. We're having a lot of problems finding space for our practice and getting known by both non-fencers & fencers.

Out website url is:
http://www.fiveringsfencing.org

[Moniteur]

Oh..ok.. you're with Mark Wickersham then.. tell Mark that Chris from Wichita says hi.. I thought perhaps you were with Kelly Williams or Elise Clements..



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Chris Holzman
Moniteur D' Escrime

[angel]

You've heard of Maestro Wickersham! Thank God! The way that no one had heard of our school and the fact that it wasn't in the USFA official club directory I though this guy was a fake! Yeah, I'll tell him that Chris says hi.

[This message has been edited by angel (edited 03-05-2001).]

[This message has been edited by angel (edited 03-05-2001).]

[This message has been edited by angel (edited 03-05-2001).]

[Moniteur]

Angelo, Mark is a Moniteur D' Escrime, like myself, for all three weapons, through the US Fencing Coaches Association, (which is recognized by the International Academy of Arms in France, as being able to grant certification as a moniteur, provost, or maitre) and I think he is either a level 1 or 2 coach through the USFA coaches college..
The coaches association has a website at http://www.usfca.org
He went through the USFA coaches college a couple years ago, and did the Moniteur class/testing under Maitre D' Armes Ted Hootman, at the Wichita Fencing Academy during this last year.
He's a good guy, and knows what he's doing. He tends to be a bit more classical in his approach to competitive fencing than some of the others in the KC area.

ISA has been through a few name changes, several coaches, and various difficulties, over the last couple few years.
The club situation in KC has been extremely unstable over the last couple of years, with people coming and going, changing clubs, dropping in and out of divisional politics, etc.

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Chris Holzman
Moniteur D' Escrime

[angel]

Maestro Wickersham and Maestro Issac Leuss have been working like crazy to re-stabilize the fencing enviornment at our club. We've been looking for new space for one. Something we can rent but that no one else can use.

Maybe that way we can help more people in Kansas realize what fencing is, what a wonderful sport its and just how accessible its to them.

[Moniteur]

Angelo, I must be a bit nitpicky, and this is absolutely no disrespect to Mark, but the title Maestro, is reserved for people who have earned it, before a board of his/her colleagues. calling a Moniteur such as myself or Mark a Maestro, is rather akin to calling a bachelors candidate a doctor. Again, I hate to pick nits, but it really just isn't appropriate.. Now, I have to agree with you regarding the KC fencing atmosphere. To be quite honest, it is sad. From what I've seen and heard over the years, each club there is pretty much an island to itself. There has been a lot of bad blood amongst the clubs in the last few years, some of it dating back even farther. The JCCC group stagnates, year after year, except for the few that Steve Mayer manages to drag out into the light, the KCFC and FACKC seem to keep entirely to themselves, or to national events only, and ISA was just a ridiculous mess before Mark bought it. Making the division even more of a mess than it was, is the fact that the club in salina, now called Kanza I believe, and my club, WFA, have different interests and ages than each other, and that KSU/KU nolonger have clubs which are active to any large extent.
In the last 10 years, KC was almost exclusively sabre while Nazlymov was there, ISA was basically nothing more than a childrens foil program at that time, as was Kanza, and the WFA was mostly Junior foil and epee. What all this meant was that the various clubs rarely got together for anything, except for division qualifiers..

Now at last WFA and ISA are both pushing all three weapons again from a competitive standpoind, which will give us common ground with both KCFC and Kanza, in sabre and foil respectively, and we're pretty much the only clubs really doing any epee to speak of. It does remain to be seen how active either of those two clubs would be if there was an attempt to get something started on a divisional level, or if they're too busy to take part. At anyrate, hopefully Mark can get things back online up there on a more permanant basis.. We need to get the division going again, with a real schedule. North Texas division, for example, has their schedule planned something like a year in advance.. It must be nice
anyway, take care.. oh, if you can, tell Mark that I'm trying to get a group together to go out for mongolian bbq either saturday or sunday night of the NAC.. I think a couple of the Texas people may be interested..


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Chris Holzman
Moniteur D' Escrime