Palomar college, let's start a club

[shadowwolf41]

I'm a student at Palomar college (San Marcos, CA) and I was wondering if there are any fencers out there who also attend this school and are interested in creating a fencing club. There has to be at least 10 people signed up for the club before the administration would approve it, so anyone who would like to get involved, please send a reply and so we can try to get the ball rolling on this.

Thanks!

[oiuyt]

While signing up fencers will be useful, sounds like what you really need to do is go find 9 friends that will sign up regardless of whether or not they've evr fenced before. You're unlikely to find 10 people who already fence from a single school that doesn't already have an organized club on here. Not sure whether or not you could find 10 from a school that DOES have an organized club (possibly including lurkers, but I can't think of any just from active posters).

Lots of places have funding requirements that you have been an active club for X semesters or years, so getting that clock started earlier is beneficial. Of course with a 2-year school you're unlikely to be able to grow the club sufficiently before you leave that it can take on life of its own and survive the transition when you graduate. All the more reason to pull in as many people as possible when you first start.

-B

[RITFencing]

I went through a similar situation four years ago at RIT, and now our club is doing very well for itself. If you ever want help/advice, please don't hesitate to ask. I remember how rough it can be starting out. Ouiyt is completely right, by the way. Find people who will be interested in fencing, not just preexisting fencers. Your club will probably have a beginner focus for the first few years, and there's nothing wrong with that. Also, it's really useful if you can find a faculty member who fences. They can really help grease the wheels if they want to participate, and they may be able to help coach if they have a lot of experience.

[Ordway]

Good idea!

There's a brand-new fencing club right near you, at MiraCosta College in Oceanside. We just started it this semester, but things are going very well. The circumstances are a little different, as it was my idea, and I'm a faculty member who is also coaching the club, so that nailed a couple of requirements right off the bat.

You'll have to be willing to start with total beginners. We had a tremendous response in interested students, but only one had ever done any fencing whatsoever.

Get other people interested in starting the club right away. Get to know the people in the Student Activities office and be nice to them We're lucky in that one of the most enthusiastic members (now president of the club) also works in the SAO and knew the procedures for asking for recognition, money, etc.

You can try to play the card of "MiraCosta has a fencing club... we should too!" Ours is now the second largest club on campus, so clearly at MCC there was a lot of pent-up interest!

Try to hold a demo - that was a HUGE recruitment event for us (I "borrowed" a couple of very good and very nice fencers from my own club to do the demo).

If you get things rolling, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with the club officers. It would be great to set up competitions between our clubs (another selling point you can use in pitching your club, btw). (One note - we're a sabre-only club.)

Good luck!

[RITFencing]

Also, be sure you make friends with people that do come. In college, people have a whole plethora of opportunities open to them; they're going to sample a bunch and stick witht he few that they like best. If they have friends always showing up to fencing, it's much more likely that they will stick with the club. At RIT, we all go out to dinner after every saturday practice, and we often hang out together anyway.

[darius]

Keeping it social is key -- if all your friends are at practice, and getting better, you'll want to as well.

The RIT fencers definitely have the team socialization thing down. They organize field trips to our practices so they can see what females look like.

darius

[RITFencing]

Keeping it social is key -- if all your friends are at practice, and getting better, you'll want to as well.

The RIT fencers definitely have the team socialization thing down. They organize field trips to our practices so they can see what females look like.

darius

Ah, Darius, a day in which you don't insult your alma mater is a day in which haven't talked to you.

[shadowwolf41]

Thanks for the replies, they've all been helpful. I should have clarified that I've been looking to make a club so that already existing fencers would have a place to train/bout with others at the campus. There is a possibility that the college would be interested in starting a fencing class, since I've heard that the P.E. department was looking for some combat-sports (jujutsu, tae kwon do, judo, etc.). That would bring in a lot of beginners and if there's already a group of existing fencers practicing on campus, that should really help convince the administration to create a class. Any thoughts/suggestions are more than welcome.