Fencing Coach position in Burlington, MA

[guardup]

Part Time (Possible Full Time) position available for Youth Fencing Instructor at Guard Up! of Burlington Massachusetts. Must have previous experience teaching kids. Expecially interested in any instructors with Historical Fencing or Swordsmanship experience. Must have reliable transportation and be available after 3pm weekdays and/or after 11am Saturdays.
Please contact Meghan Gardner at (781) 271-1491 for more information.

[prototoast]

I guess this answers this.

[oiuyt]

Not really, GuardUp! has been advertising for additional instructors for a while (including previously here on f.net). I assume they currently have people teaching fencing. I know of one (sport) fencing person (with a large amount of competitive and competitive coaching experience) who I believe used to coach there. Don't think he's still currently involved.

-B

[guardup]

As I responded to your other post:

We are not a club that focuses on competition. We do not cater to individuals who wish to compete... in fact, we often send people looking for training in competitive fencing to Boston Fencing clubs and other reputable schools nearby.

If you would like to stop by some time and talk with us, please let me know. Or if you would prefer to call me, my direct line is listed below. We are always interested in networking with other instructors and clubs. I would also like the chance to address any questions or concerns you may have in person so as to avoid any miscommunications or assumptions.

Thank you.

Meghan Gardner
Director
Guard Up Inc.
(781) 271-1491

I guess this answers this.

[umbrella]

My fencing 'resume' is not reposty enough to submit to this forum; but it looks like fun! It may be a nice change for an older coach who's not into 'defeat - defeat - defeat them' thing. It's very cold though in Mass. [only visited once, during 4th of July, and it was a great old town]; what enticements do you have for this newly relocated coach? Townhouse! What kind of Do-re-me are you offering?

[oiuyt]

What kind of Do-re-me are you offering?

After the unpaid training period, learning their system, the position pays $10/hour part-time, with the potential for eventual full-time employment which would include benefits.

-B

[guardup]

After the unpaid training period, learning their system, the position pays $10/hour part-time, with the potential for eventual full-time employment which would include benefits.

-B

Actually, fencing coaches with previous training do not require training to become coaches. This applies to coaches who don't know our martial arts system or our historical weapons program.

Also, coaches get paid 1.5 hours for each 1 hour class (additional time is for planning classes). As well, they get paid for all meetings, additional training and travel time to offsite courses. Finally, there are performance bonuses that allow for a higher rate of pay based on class attendance, etc.

Feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions.

Meghan Gardner
Director
Guard Up Inc.
(781) 271-1491

[oiuyt]

Actually, fencing coaches with previous training do not require training to become coaches. This applies to coaches who don't know our martial arts system or our historical weapons program.

From the job announcement on your website (emphasis mine):

Note that applicants who are not currently enrolled in Guard Up programs are not trained specifically in the curriculum that we teach. As such, applicants would need to enter our Instructor Training and Work-Study Programs which are unpaid positions until qualified to teach. Understand that this is not an issue of experience for those with such. Instead, it is required to get an Instructor comfortable with our curriculum and our teaching methodology as well as our students.

Quite explicitly disagrees with what you're saying here. Now, presumably you know what you do and don't require, in which case you really ought to update what you have posted on your jobs page.

From tone you seem to think that I have an issue with what you/your company is doing. I really don't. Text is not the best medium for conveying tone, so either or both of us could easily be misinterpreting intent here.

I think what you're doing is likely a reasonable business model that I'd love to know more about. I don't think I, personally, would be interested in being invovled -- I'm very focused on competitive fencing at all levels -- but I can see why people would be. Also seems like the kind of thing that would lend itself to expansion, and possibly franchising. If I still lived anywhere NEAR you I'd be tempted to stop by and check it out. A 6 hour (each way) drive to do so is excessive, however, so I don't see that happening.

-B

[Slim]

I've got a friend in the area of GuardUp in Burlington Mass. He works down the road. He has told me that what he has observed from driving by is people running around and wacking each other with foam Kendo swords. He asked me, "is this the fencing your kids do?". Heh. I had to explain, no, that didnt sound like fencing to me. At least not what my kids are doing. I've check out the website, and I've seen that formula before.

Having spent 20+ years doing very traditional karate, I personally don't have too much respect for the Mc-Dojo's, especially when what they teach is a billed as a self defense system. I'm pretty sure anyone who has spent as much time in fencing as I have spent in traditional martial arts may have the same feeling towards advertising this sort of "sword play" as fencing.

My opinion on this type of place is that it's basically a Gymboree for teens and adults. It's playtime. A watered down blend of way too many different disiplines with mirgrant coaches and trainers that have taken the 3 month unpaid training courses to learn their "systems".

In martial arts you frequently have great instructors with decades of experience who have dedicated their lives to the art, but are terrible business people. The product, or their art, is the most important thing. GuardUp looks and sounds like the converse of that. Great business model, but a very weak product. The former is good for the consumer. The latter is good for the investor (if it flys). But, hey, look at Tai-bo. Billy Blanks is a very wealthy man. It's extremely rare to find someone who is good at both, but it does happen. I know first hand this is true in both karate and fencing.

If you can build a business around it, more power to you. If you can get people off their arses and moving around, even better. But you should expect some flack about what you're offering if your going to post someplace with the caliber of fencers that seem to congregate here.

To anyone considering such a place, I would caution against signing any long term contracts as a instructor or as a student.

[RITFencing]

I think it depends on what you're looking for out of the program. Learning self defense? Eh, maybe; I'd have to look at the instructors. Competition fencing? That's already right out by admission of the director. However, if some people (especially kids) are looking for a place to go smack each other with foam swords and maybe get a decent workout out of it, I think Guard Up might be good for them. I took a look at the program, however, and I would have killed for that big nerf melee thing when I was a kid. Looks like it still might be fun as a lark.

[guardup]

Slim,

I would ask why you have labelled us as a "McDojo". Have you come by and seen for yourself or talked with me in person about our programs and our experience? A drive by from the road is not a very good assessment of our courses.

Are there any issues you have with what our website states? Does our martial arts program make claims that seem unreasonable?

I'd like to know what you base your opinions on... is it a bad experience you have had with one of our staff or students?

Thank you for your input.

Meghan Gardner
Director
Guard Up! Inc.
www.guardup.com

[RITFencing]

One quick question regarding the GU website: You say that you're looking to implement a tournament fencing class; does that mean that you will eventually be thinking of catering to competitive fencers/coaches?

[guardup]

Quite explicitly disagrees with what you're saying here. Now, presumably you know what you do and don't require, in which case you really ought to update what you have posted on your jobs page.

From tone you seem to think that I have an issue with what you/your company is doing. I really don't. Text is not the best medium for conveying tone, so either or both of us could easily be misinterpreting intent here.
-B

B,

I can see where the confusion is and will have our marketing department look at the application page. However, we run a pretty standard USFA curriculum and coaches who are already using this only require minimal training to bring them up to speed on our Life Skills integration.

For further clarification: We do have a period of assessment when prospective coaches check out our classes and we check out their ability to coach. For some coaches who are not USFA certified, there may be additional training required - and this would be unpaid. But in the past, we have had USFA coaches move right into a paid position immediately because of their previous experience.

So I gues the correct terms to use are "may be unpaid training, depending on experience".

I don't believe that you have an issue with our company... I try not to make any assumptions via text based communications. However, I will always try to clear up misconceptions and offer the chance to talk "live" or in person with anyone who wishes to so that further miscommunication can be avoided. Most often, a phone call clears the air quickly. This is why I post my full name, position and direct phone line in many of my posts.

Meghan Gardner
Director
Guard Up Inc
(781) 271-1491

[guardup]

One quick question regarding the GU website: You say that you're looking to implement a tournament fencing class; does that mean that you will eventually be thinking of catering to competitive fencers/coaches?

RIT,

We have had enough students ask for some introduction to tournament fencing, that we do offer one class a week for students to become educated in the process of competing, judging, etc.

No, we do not have it in our business plan to cater to competitive fencers or coaches. This is not our niche. However, we can offer this to students on a limited basis. If students have a desire for more serious competitive fencing, we direct them to some of the fine fencing schools in our area that do exceptionally in competitions. Our desire is to have the student obtain the training they want... even if it causes us to lose a student.

Meghan

[Slim]

Slim,

I would ask why you have labelled us as a "McDojo". Have you come by and seen for yourself or talked with me in person about our programs and our experience? A drive by from the road is not a very good assessment of our courses.

Are there any issues you have with what our website states? Does our martial arts program make claims that seem unreasonable?

I'd like to know what you base your opinions on... is it a bad experience you have had with one of our staff or students?

Thank you for your input.

Meghan Gardner
Director
Guard Up! Inc.
www.guardup.com

My opinions are based on experiences I have with the formula you are using. Not GuardUp in particular. I have absolutely NO experience with GuardUp. And I admit, my comments here are indeed a generalization. And I also admit I am somewhat snobbish when it comes to the fighting arts. That being said....

I use the term McDojo as the fast food analogy. McD's is great, if that's what you want. A quick, tasty snack that makes you feel good for a little while. The nutritional value is questionable. It's fast, looks good, smells good and is pretty tasty. But, it's not doing a whole lot of good for your insides.

If someone says to me, "I want a hamburger", and I suggest McD's, the response is usually, "no, I mean a real hamburger. Something with some meat". The Yugo certainly was a car. Schlitz certainly is beer, Riuniti is wine, Velveeta is considered cheese by some.

What you offer could be considered by some martial arts and fencing. To those who have dedicated many years to either, it's a difficult sell and doesnt warrant much respect from the art side. Businesswise, like I said, more power to you. If it's what people want, let them have it. I just dont see GuardUp being able to offer any path to advancement in any particular area. Your solicitation for fencing coaches and the requirements you listed doesnt lead me to believe quality is job 1 over there. But, sure, it may be a fun introduction and good for a little while.

One tactic I have seen used is to lure people in that dont know very much and get them to sign a contract for up to 2 years. After about 3 months or so, they start to understand what they got isnt really what they wanted, so they leave pissed off and eating the fee to break the contract. "Why is the kid who was standing next to me last month now teaching the class and being called "Master" ?" Ah, he took the instructors course.

Again, if you post here, you should expect these types of comments.

[Ordway]

I think this model of fencing program serves a certain niche that's not incompatible with serious sport fencing. I taught fencing to kids for five years at a summer camp. It was basic and oriented toward "have fun and get hooked on fencing" rather than anything remotely like getting them competition-ready. That's what made sense in that environment, so I really didn't try to refine form or teach more than the very basics. On the other hand, I did work to make it as much "the real thing" as circumstances allowed - for instance, we used real equipment, not foam stuff. (Even with the 7-year-olds. If you instill the right safety rules in the kids, and take appropriate precautions, you can indeed have a group of 15 kids all armed with real foils doing drills.) I would not have considered using foam or plastic weapons, as I think that just takes it down too far into "play" rather than "sport."

Did some of those kids go on to do real fencing right away? I hope so, but in any case, they all had a really good time, and hopefully I instilled some seed of enthusiasm that might let them pick it up again in high school or college, or give them a positive impression so that when THEY have kids who want to fence, they think "Hey, cool!" instead of "huh, what's that?"

This kind of program (for adults) also serves a useful niche for people who want to try it out without committing much; in some places, the existing clubs don't offer many (or any) classes that are suitable for interested beginner adults, or make it hard to find out how to learn fencing. Some areas do much better with this, but in others, it's hard to break into fencing unless you already have some experience with it and know you want to do it. So that's a useful function - to break the ice, so to speak.

This is all just my thoughts on the general idea, as I have no experience whatsoever with the actual GuardUp program. I do wonder, though, about the "USFA certified coaches" mentioned - as far as I know, the USFA doesn't certify coaches. Does that mean USFCA-certified, or something else?

[RITFencing]

as far as I know, the USFA doesn't certify coaches. Does that mean USFCA-certified, or something else?

Coaches' College carries a certification with it. There is also the Become a Fencing Instructor (BAFI) program for people with no fencing experience looking to run fencing in a gym class, summer camp or the like. I'd recommend the latter to the GU staff; I spoke with some of the people who took the course and they all had a great time.

[guardup]

The USFA does offer an instructor certification. Some of our instructors are or have attended the USFA Coach's College and received certification.

[guardup]

Slim writes:

<<What you offer could be considered by some martial arts and fencing. To those who have dedicated many years to either, it's a difficult sell and doesnt warrant much respect from the art side.>>

I can see how you may hold this perspective. However, I disagree with it. I personally have 24 years of experience in unarmed martial arts, have obtained more championships than I care to recite, have defended my life using what I know, have trained Navy Seal/FBI/Bouncers/YadaYadaYada.

This is not posted because we don't seek out students who want to become "professional" or who are interested in world competitions. Been there, done that, don't particularly care for the environment and some of the people.

We aren't for you. But we are for others. And they get what they want or they move on. However, I would not toss us off as being less quality just because we don't flaunt our credentials.

But, as you say, there are those who will be snobbish no matter what. That's okay. The ones here who are not are the people we are looking for.

Meghan Gardner
Director
Guard Up Inc.
(781) 271-1491

[Slim]

Slim writes:

I can see how you may hold this perspective. However, I disagree with it. I personally have 24 years of experience in unarmed martial arts, have obtained more championships than I care to recite, have defended my life using what I know, have trained Navy Seal/FBI/Bouncers/YadaYadaYada.

I would suggest that if you really do have these credentials, which I have no reason to doubt, you use them to your advantage and put them on your website. I find it a little interesting that most clubs and dojos trying to build a strong business will sometimes over-tout the accomplishments of their staff rather than chock them up to "been there, done that, Yadda, Yadda, no big deal". But, there nothing wrong with modesty. It just seems counter to your business plan of trying to attract members.

Very few people have actually trained SEALs, and I know I feel very fortunate to have been able to attend a seminar given by someone who has, so I would certainly use this to your advantage in trying to recruit members. Is your bio on the website anywhere? I can't seem to find the credentials of anyone listed.