adult fencing programs

[fluidfencer]

Does anyone have advice on developing a strong adult fencing program? They are tough to find and have much less free time than our youth fencers. Someone in our club suggested an adult fencing league, along the lines of bowling or tennis, but I don't see how you could get the people to come. Maybe a big article in the newpaper would help. I am willing to give it try but sure could use some advice from someone with experience in this area.

I guess I should clarify. We have about a dozen fencers (maybe a little less) out of a club of about 100. A "strong" program should be something considerably more than a dozen.

[howtobrew]

What are your hours?
Our club is open til 10pm on weeknights which gives me more time to fence other adults, because I can get the kids ready for bed and then leave for an hour and a half of fun with less stress for my wife. There is a pretty good bunch of adults (veterans) that fence Monday and Wednesdays (primarily epee), Tues and Thurs are primarily foil. No sabrists to speak of, I think I have seen one in the past year. The website is www.fortunefencing.com if you want to get an idea of how it is run.

[fluidfencer]

We have two classes on Monday evenings at 6:00pm and 7:30pm. We have tried a few configurations, but this seems to work best for now. A weekend class might help, but we tried that before and it didn't make much difference. For advanced fencers, we have tons of options depending on the weapon, including weekday evenings and on Saturdays.

Birmingham (AL) is different than New York City, for example, because there are almost no adults here that might have fenced when they were younger. A lot of people that were raised here stay in the State, and since we have very little history of fencing in Alabama there are very few experienced adults to feed a program.

My question relates to developing adult fencers from scratch, with beginners.

Originally Posted by howtobrew

What are your hours?
Our club is open til 10pm on weeknights which gives me more time to fence other adults, because I can get the kids ready for bed and then leave for an hour and a half of fun with less stress for my wife. There is a pretty good bunch of adults (veterans) that fence Monday and Wednesdays (primarily epee), Tues and Thurs are primarily foil. No sabrists to speak of, I think I have seen one in the past year. The website is www.fortunefencing.com if you want to get an idea of how it is run.

[mlr2fence]

Have you tried to recruit the parents of your youth fencers? Try a parent/child team 'tournament' with the hopes that once they actually get on the strip they'll be 'hooked' and form the nucleus of your adult beginners. Also try to post fliers at the local colleges.

[oso97]

Interesting question regarding adults. Thats actually one of my largest groups, but I then I have a specific program set aside in the evenings for an adult rec class. Its actually mixed in witih my competitors as well. We start out with a joint footwork class, and a bit of drilling. Then I release my competitors to be able to bout with each other (to have some time with their own level, etc), while I do more class instruction with the adult rec group. Finally, I release the adult rec group to go bout mixed in with the competitors, and then start giving lessons to the competitors.

Works pretty well actually. I'm thinking of starting a ladder program as well, to give the adult rec folks something to compete with each other on.

[Schiavona]

In our club, adults and kids are about 50-50. It's harder for the adults to find us-our only advertising is our website. We seemed to do better, adult student-wise, when we were part of a Community Schools program. We're not now because the whole program was canceled. We need more advertising.

[Epee_Pox]

My club has a beginner adult class that starts at 8. Which is a good time for most to get there after work (9-to-5 means you get out around 7 here). The only problem is the club closes soon after that class is over, so there's little time for practice afterwards.

To make the adult part stronger, I'd keep the place open till 10:30 at the earliest, add more adult classes, and have some grownup-only competitions.

[fluidfencer]

How do you get the word out to the adults. I think we have done a great job getting in the newspapers and on television, but the adults are still few and far between (although a number of new ones lately for some reason). Signs around town is something we should be doing, and have before (flyers at libraries and grocery stores make sense). We have small listing in the "Recreational Calendar" in two newspapers. What other specific techniques are you using to get them in the door?

I mentioned a club member that had a "league" idea, which I think would be helpful. Organize teams of three or four and have team competitions. That always makes things more exciting. She suggested keeping it to a certain period of time like 8 weeks, to make it less intimidating, also a good idea, although you don't learn that much fencing in eight weeks.

We have done demonstrations at local fairs as well, although it's been awhile. Not much response after them either.

Originally Posted by oso97

Interesting question regarding adults. Thats actually one of my largest groups, but I then I have a specific program set aside in the evenings for an adult rec class. Its actually mixed in witih my competitors as well. We start out with a joint footwork class, and a bit of drilling. Then I release my competitors to be able to bout with each other (to have some time with their own level, etc), while I do more class instruction with the adult rec group. Finally, I release the adult rec group to go bout mixed in with the competitors, and then start giving lessons to the competitors.

Works pretty well actually. I'm thinking of starting a ladder program as well, to give the adult rec folks something to compete with each other on.

[howtobrew]

Contact the HR person at some of the big corporations around town, and have them put a flyer on the coffee room bulletin boards. I work for 3M and public announcements (softball, bowling) like this appear fairly often.

Offer a company a Group Lesson where a bunch people can participate together as a "Team Building" exercise. Use ballons as part of the "final competition."

[striker]

Originally Posted by fluidfencer

How do you get the word out to the adults. I think we have done a great job getting in the newspapers and on television, but the adults are still few and far between (although a number of new ones lately for some reason). Signs around town is something we should be doing, and have before (flyers at libraries and grocery stores make sense). We have small listing in the "Recreational Calendar" in two newspapers. What other specific techniques are you using to get them in the door?

I mentioned a club member that had a "league" idea, which I think would be helpful. Organize teams of three or four and have team competitions. That always makes things more exciting. She suggested keeping it to a certain period of time like 8 weeks, to make it less intimidating, also a good idea, although you don't learn that much fencing in eight weeks.

We have done demonstrations at local fairs as well, although it's been awhile. Not much response after them either.

fluidfencer,

In my area there are a few fencing classes that are held through the
Parks and Recreational departments of several cities. Also, there
are fencing classes offered in several Adult Education programs.
One of the fencing salles in my area always holds free classes
during the Renaissance Faire. I was told by these folks that many people
contacted them after the free classes in the Renaissance Faire.

So, maybe your salle should also spend some of its efforts in
trying to go to where the potential students are. I hope this helps.