Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

Demothenes · 03-21-2005, 06:53 PM

Hey ya'll,
I'm trying to start a fencing club at my high school and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for getting it going. I'd appreciate any advice on the subject.

-Matt

Phoenix · 03-21-2005, 08:24 PM

I also started a club this year at my school (not fencing, anime

) and a big thing that everyone keeps telling me about is the signs we put up; there EVERYWHERE!!!! Just make simple signs with a picture and text (not too fancy) that stands out so when you walk by, you eye catches to it. Put them on hallway doors, stairwells, the cafe, and in the hall ways. Make sure you get permission first because some places are stingy about it.

Also get up a website so people can learn more info and learn about when the next meet is. I used a blog, which is simple and free. It is temperary till we figure out a better domain, but since you just starting, it's fine.

And assuming that you already have a coach or whatever who is helping run this, I guess the last thing that I can think of now is using the PA system. I don't know how they do it at your school, but we have announcements go out at the end of the school day talking about upcoming events.

Try to do this with enough time so everyone can try and make it to the next meet. Any more questions?

blademaster · 03-21-2005, 09:06 PM

I have been teaching an afterschool program at the middle school where I work. One thing I didn't realize after the first few sessions had passed was that many people did not know what fencing was: they made no connection at all to swords and dueling. Since getting enough students to try the sport is always important (each session, despite many people trying it, usually yields just a few who stick around) make sure you reach your core audience. Good luck!!

Aestro · 03-22-2005, 03:00 AM

Since you're in Durham, maybe beg around to a few of the local clubs to see if thye have any old used stuff to sell you? Obviously, getting money from the school is a good thing. You could also try to get fencers from UNC or Duke (NOT BOTH!) to come help you out. Depending on how wealthy your school is, either get a nice starting fund from the school, do some fundraisers, or go try to appeal to local businesses for money. They should be able to write it off, so they might be willing to help.

I guess a few questions before I make more suggestions - how big is your school, and have you received any funds to start the club?

KD5MDK · 03-22-2005, 03:30 AM

The biggest problems I can see are:
1) Permission - schools get nervous when you have "weapons"
2) Gear - even for dry fencing, high school students come in many sizes and unless everybody is shelling out >$150 for their own gear, you'll need community stuff.
3) Organization - somebody needs to find a meeting place, time, arrange for people to show up, get along with school and students, and finally, arrange for an orderly transition of power when they leave.

Demothenes · 03-22-2005, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aestro

Since you're in Durham, maybe beg around to a few of the local clubs to see if thye have any old used stuff to sell you? Obviously, getting money from the school is a good thing. You could also try to get fencers from UNC or Duke (NOT BOTH!) to come help you out. Depending on how wealthy your school is, either get a nice starting fund from the school, do some fundraisers, or go try to appeal to local businesses for money. They should be able to write it off, so they might be willing to help.

I guess a few questions before I make more suggestions - how big is your school, and have you received any funds to start the club?

Thanks for that advice, and my school is a combination middle and high school with about 1400 people total. I have a bit of money for the club (or my parents do anyways

), but my school doesn't usually give out funds. I will certainly get around to UNC to see if the club there can help, and I'll check with Duke too probably. I'll check with a couple of Chapel Hill Highschool fencing clubs and see about old gear that we could borrow, as I fence with them.

To phoenix- I can also advertise for free because I'm on the school newspaper and can pull some strings (yes!), and UNC fencing club put out some ubercool fencing signs at the beginning of this season, and I'll probably steal their idea for layout.

As to what blademaster was saying; I have gotten positive feedback when the subject of fencing comes up from many people, usually in the form of, "I've always wanted to fence but I didn't know any places around here did that." The thing I am afraid of is that I don't want to try to teach a whole bunch of highschoolers footwork, and have them say, "This is stupid, I'm going to go play ultimate frisbee." We do, by the way, have an ultimate frisbee team but no football (or fencing!) team

. I can probably get some coaches though, and maybe *crosses fingers* fence at Duke Faculty club (East Campus of Duke is two blocks from my school).

Thanks all for your help,
-matt

SenorEste · 03-23-2005, 12:39 AM

Good luck with your new club-

Worst comes to worst come fence at the UNC club with us, good club, especially If you like epee, and sometimes some of us UNC Varsity Fencers show up every now and then too.

KD5MDK · 03-23-2005, 01:32 AM

The trick is to play games and do stuff to keep the beginning from being all footwork. We have lots of training games we do in the first few weeks of our beginner classes to keep the kids interested before we let them pick up weapons, and this is at the college level.

LUDICROUS · 03-23-2005, 01:41 AM

You keep 18 year olds amused with childish games based on footwork? Surely some of them think its belittling, childish and stupid?

rcmatthews · 03-23-2005, 04:15 AM

A good footwork "game" is the "Glove Drill". You can limit the footwork, say the attacker gets an advance lunge, and nothing more, while the defender must stay far enough away to not be hit but close enough to hit their opponent. Use gloves instead of weapons so that the beginners don't hurt themselves

. This can get quite spirited, especially if you have a quick little elimination tournament at the beginning of practice. And its very fun.

KD5MDK · 03-23-2005, 12:42 PM

Define "childish game". It seems to work, because everybody's got a competitive spirit (or should, in a fencing class).

Demothenes · 03-23-2005, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SenorEste

Good luck with your new club-

Worst comes to worst come fence at the UNC club with us, good club, especially If you like epee, and sometimes some of us UNC Varsity Fencers show up every now and then too.

Thanks for the offer, but I already fence epee at UNC club on Tuesdays. For anyone else who lives around Chapel Hill and doesn't fence with us, you should come by sometime. It's super-fun.

To rcmatthews, the glove drill is certainly a very good idea. The best thing is, it's not something that you get more advanced in fencing and then look back on it as "completly childish" or anything. It teaches footwork and it's fun for all ages.

And yes, games are definently something that we're going to use (and when I say "we", I mean the coach I can hopefully get to come).

Thanks to all again
-matt