New Club Design

[broncofencer]

Originally Posted by sloper

Second floor bar with viewing area of bouting. Must be called The Balestra Lounge.

Come on I was hoping to call it "the Strip club" You know keep fencing tradition of off-color sexual overtones in all things.

[OROD]

Originally Posted by smohrle

Hi there -
I have a question to pose:
If money was no object, and staying inside the subject of fencing (not pools, and other stuff), what would be your wish list in a new fencing club design?

I searched around and only found one thread on this subject and it was more geared towards the economic version of design.

Sooo....bring out the "wish-lists"!

Please.

Thanks,
Sarah Mohrle

There's only one thing I want in my fencing clubs... hot girls! If you get some of those then I'll come fence at your club.


.

[dilznik]

What have you got against a pool? Not only does Tauberbischofsheim in Germany have a lap pool, they also have a sauna and a tanning booth. And their own Uhlmann shop. And a hall specifically for finals with tiered seating. And three, count em, three halls with at least 20 grounded strips each with lights at the ends of the strips and the cable reels buried in the floor. Not to mention a cafeteria for 100 people. The only problem is it's chock full of snooty German fencers who refuse to acknowledge that Bonn has a better program. And it's in the flippin' middle of nowhere.
Or you could go the route of MTV Muenchen. 14 grounded strips with lights at each end in a room built into a 175 year old sporthalle so that your fencing membership also gets you all the fitness equipment and floor sports that you can handle, as well as a discount on the climbing wall and the other 42 sports they have. Also there's a Greek tavern built in with great food. And it's in the dead center of town with easy access to the underground and other public transportation.

[smohrle]

I don't have anything against a pool. I am a competitive swimmer, so am not looking for comments on pool design, only on the fencing part. A pool in the facility also brings along a maintenance headache and more personel to maintain, guards to watch people, etc.

On the fencing part...how many raised strips would y'all look at. Say I wanted to host NATS or some kind of high caliber competition in the salle? Do they all have to be raised for FIE aproval and if so, how high?

Also, does anyone know where on USFA and FIE websites I can find club guidlines to hosting a world or nats competition?

Thanks for everyone that contributed...I am taking notes

Sarah

[smohrle]

I also have another question...

I know for the growth of the salle, you need children of different ages involved. That is a given. My question is, for the adults that fence, is there a way you would like to see the adults seperated from the kid classes, or does it make a difference. Also, if there any coaches that want to chime in on the advantages or disadvantages...

Thanks,
Sarah

[ThatReallyHurt]

Hmm...

- open 6 or 7 days a week, all year (get the weekend fencers in, too)
- air conditioned (not like a freezer, but pleasant)
- regular tournaments and a contract with local/regional media
- full time, well paid coaches
- small fencing library (sometimes you don't know what other things you want to learn unless you've seen them)
- be able to provide academic scholarships or bursaries for fencers (it would raise the profile of the sport as well as help people, too)

I think the filming idea is great - I'd really like to be able to see what I'm doing.

[broncofencer]

Originally Posted by smohrle

I also have another question...

I know for the growth of the salle, you need children of different ages involved. That is a given. My question is, for the adults that fence, is there a way you would like to see the adults seperated from the kid classes, or does it make a difference. Also, if there any coaches that want to chime in on the advantages or disadvantages...

Thanks,
Sarah

I have found seperate adult classes are helpful and if you mix in the occasional women's only class then you get a good percentage of adults involved as well. I have even run a parents course that was much less intense with the idea of educating so they can properly communicate items they observe in their childs fencing. It also introduces them to fencing and helps them get hooked.

[Allen Evans]

Originally Posted by smohrle

My question is, for the adults that fence, is there a way you would like to see the adults seperated from the kid classes, or does it make a difference. Also, if there any coaches that want to chime in on the advantages or disadvantages...

All my experiences with group classes point towards it being better to keep kids (younger than teenagers) out of adult classes. If you can, it’s a good idea to finely sort the kids classes, as well, since there is a big difference between a 12 year old and a 9 year old in terms of attention span and physical skills.

[pacer]

Regarding having kids and adults fencing at the same time - my club designed two separate rooms (actually there is a large open window between the two). So adults can have open fencing on 4 strips while the kids classes are in a different room on 3 strips.

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by smohrle

On the fencing part...how many raised strips would y'all look at. Say I wanted to host NATS or some kind of high caliber competition in the salle? Do they all have to be raised for FIE aproval and if so, how high?

Also, does anyone know where on USFA and FIE websites I can find club guidlines to hosting a world or nats competition?

Going back a couple of years (okay, 3), the world cup (M/WS) hosted in the Boston area for several years (prior to moving back to NYC and then out to Las Vegas) was held in a typical suburban high school gym. Finals (top 4 and beyond?) were in the school auditorium. Don't remember the total number of strips that fit in the gym, they were typical copper laid on wood (with some roofing paper to avoid scratching the floor), so not raised at all.

NAC/Nationals bid packets aren't directly available on the USFA website, but can be obtained by sending an email to the national office. World Cup bids likely don't have a specific packet, you'd have to do further talking to the national office, IPSC (or whatever set of initials they're using this month), etc.

-B :)