Son will be attending College with fencing club, no team

Our son will be attending a college with a fencing club- there is no coach-
the most experience is about 3 years- all self taught-
The club practices 3 nights a week.

Do you have any suggestions? training?

His coach has challenged him to make the club better, to make the club
better, to become a coach, and to get to as many T's as possible. The
college is located in the Midwest.

A difficult situation. Is your son oriented toward being a coach?
If so then it might be a blessing in disguise (for him).
But if he's a player, then - in my humble opinion - he might be better
off not fencing or waiting till he comes home. In the absence of
the guidance/criticism of a coach it's just too easy to pick up
bad habits and then have to spend a lifetime unlearning them.
Especially if his salle mates are self taught. I have to argue that
this is one sport that demands that knowledge be passed on by
personal contact (teacher -> student) and salle mates are for
testing yourself against. While that is learning in one sense-
time has proven the need for the teacher/coach/maestro/maitre'd.

Other possible:
* Is the college close enough, for your son to (ech!) make
weekly trips home to study with his current coach? Might be
a way to see him.

* Are there any other clubs (with coaches) around the college?

* why not rethink the choice of college and pick a (tongue in cheek)
"decent" school that'll pay for a coach?
Ok maybe not an option but the sport does need more support
at the institutional level.

J.

C-Sports wrote:
> Our son will be attending a college with a fencing club- there is no coach-
> the most experience is about 3 years- all self taught-
> The club practices 3 nights a week.
>
> Do you have any suggestions? training?
>
> His coach has challenged him to make the club better, to make the club
> better, to become a coach, and to get to as many T's as possible. The
> college is located in the Midwest.
>
>

Your son's coach is right. Teach, if he can. Some small clubs don't take well
to the advent of an experienced fencer - but others will look on it as manna
from heaven.

Teaching does two things.

First, it forces the instructor to think about precisely what he does, and why.
He has to disassemble his technique and think about it. Which is good in the
long run.

Second, teaching passes the knowledge forward. One of the problems of fencing
is that the martial arts attitude that one is a custodian, not an owner, of the
knowledge isn't there. There's no sense of duty toward your instructor to pass
on what you have learned. Which is why fencing is so pitifully weak. Teaching
produces more fencers, which is better for everyone in the long run.

V/R:
Mike McDaniel

"gary hayenga> wrote in message >
> >
> > How much experience does your son have, and at what level?
he has been fencing since age 10, he is now 18.
he just started fencing t's this past november
>
> Where is this college located?
Midwest

Are there any coaches within traveling
> distance?
the closest is 1.5 hours away (home)
>


> Does your son have a disciplined style?
very disciplined- he has trained with an eastern European
>

> If, say, your son is a 'C' level fencer with good technique and footwork
rather than large, fast actions) and no other fencing/coaching is within
traveling distance, (I went to Iowa State University and there wasn't) he
would be most likely to get better by leading footwork and giving lessons
and thus practicing good form and building himself some reasonable
opponents.


We are told ( at nationals) he has excellent technique ,style and extremely
quick, your section on bringing the level of the club up echos the
sentiments of his coach.

I fenced for four years in high school, and then went to a college which had
only a club, whose members were the result of a P.E. class.

My "coach" for the four years I was in college was the mirror in the dance
room, and I believe that the many hours I spent teaching those classes helped
me to maintain, and possibly even improve, my skills over that time.

B.C. Milligan

He will be attending University Of Missouri Rolla


"Adam" <97lakada@hawken.edu> wrote in message
news:7cc86958.0308140944.4badb8d@posting.google.co m...
> If you don't mind my asking, what school is he going to? I went to
> school in the midwest (although we had a varsity program) and am
> fairly familiar with the fencing levels and styles of most of the
> schools.
>
> -Adam

In article <oiednUz0cuDxnqyiXTWJig@accessus.net>,
"C-Sports" <csports@epconline.com> wrote:

> Our son will be attending a college with a fencing club- there is no coach-
> the most experience is about 3 years- all self taught-
> The club practices 3 nights a week.
>
> Do you have any suggestions? training?
>
> His coach has challenged him to make the club better, to make the club
> better, to become a coach, and to get to as many T's as possible. The
> college is located in the Midwest.


Tell him to go to coaches college through the USFA and learn to be a
coach. Too late for this year, but maybe next summer.

--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

In article <20030806184221.01332.00000155@mb-m15.aol.com>, hmslion@aol.com (HMS
Lion) writes:

>Subject: Re: Son will be attending College with fencing club, no team
>From: hmslion@aol.com (HMS Lion)
>Date: 06 Aug 2003 22:42:21 GMT
>
>Your son's coach is right. Teach, if he can. Some small clubs don't take
>well
>to the advent of an experienced fencer - but others will look on it as manna
>from heaven.
>
>Teaching does two things.
>
>First, it forces the instructor to think about precisely what he does, and
>why.
> He has to disassemble his technique and think about it. Which is good in
>the
>long run.
>
>Second, teaching passes the knowledge forward. One of the problems of
>fencing
>is that the martial arts attitude that one is a custodian, not an owner, of
>the
>knowledge isn't there. There's no sense of duty toward your instructor to
>pass
>on what you have learned. Which is why fencing is so pitifully weak.
>Teaching
>produces more fencers, which is better for everyone in the long run.
>
>V/R:
>Mike McDaniel

Well, first of all, I must say that people's definition of the 'midwest' (USA)
varies widely, but if one has transportation, (often a problem in college)
there are certainly opportunities throughooout the midwest for beneficial
competition, learning, etc. and I certainly agree with Mike, that when you
are trying to explain something, it certainly makes you take a second look at
it!

Additionally, I would agree with Mike (sorry, Mike!), that an experienced
fencer dropping into a situation can definitely change the group dynamic, but
this could be a good thing; an alternative scenario that I have not yet seen
posed is that it stimulates/motivates the group enough to recruit a coach.