Should I wait?

[big poppa]

Do it now . Don't wait, even if you don't like the sport your life will be much richer for the experience of fencing. Worst comes to worst you can say in later years " yeah I used to fence back in the day" as your kids and friends look at your weapons. And as you say that in the of your mind a small voice will say I used to be THAT COOL! Go for dude.

[MStaubitz]

Iwant2bafencer,

as a newbie myself, I'd say get started as soon as you can. I am 10 years older than you and just started, kicking myself for not starting earlier... I missed out on a lot of fun. I had friends back in the day (when I was still in Germany) who were fencing, but I never quite got to that all-important step of signing up somewhere.

But let's look at it realistically... Most beginning classes will run you somewhere between $60 and $150, depending on where you go. I would imagine that most beginning classes will let you use the club's equipment. So, what's $150? If you think about it, that's dinner, a movie and 2 Playstation games.

Several people in my class are under 18 (youngest one is 13, I believe), and I know a few actually made deals with their parents that they would pay half. if you want parents to pay for something like that, the usual hangup is the "Oh, yeah... he's going to do that for a little while, and then he's going to quit" problem. So, propose that you will pay half (this also shows that you are willing to save money for it, making you look very responsible and enthusiastic). If you are a good sales-person, suggest that you will pay half, and if you stick with it, your parents pay the next class, or some equipment, or to give you your money back.

Families work like businesses... *g*

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Marc

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."
--"In his house in R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

[oiuyt]

IW2BAF-
epeemike81 is one of my students at UMass. He was (mostly) kidding in his post. You should find a local club, see if you enjoy fencing, then start. Waiting is unlikely to help you. I know one of my regrets is that I never realized that there was fencing outside of colleges before I got to college. I KNEW in high school that when I got to college, if it was available, I wanted to learn to fence. I grew up about 5-7 minutes from Boston Fencing Club, easily the best competition club in New England and it never occured to me that I could learn before going off to school.

Where are you from? How much exposure to fencing have you had?

-B

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"Oh but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!"

[rusty epee]

Ditto, Doug.

Like the ad says, Just Do It. It's worth it. The discipline, the challenge, the FUN!!! You'll have a blast. I will warn you, in the first few practices you're going to rediscover muscles you forgot you had, but so much the better --

DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!! And have fun!

-- k
(Note to MStaubitz: Oh cool, another Cthulu fan! Creep out! BTW, have you checked out a site called "Ask the Giant Squid?" It's a trip... *g* -- k)
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Youth and enthusiam are no match for age and treachery....

[This message has been edited by rusty epee (edited 07-14-2001).]