fencing clubs..

[kingfisher]

how does most fencing clubs operate? i'm more used to oriental martial art and their club/schools where the instructor takes full control of the class and everyone is taken care of.. and everything is more or less very well organized.

last few weeks, the fencing club that i have been attending has cancelled classes three times, and last night, since i was only one who showed up, there was no lesson. and i was told to go and just free fence when i only had one or two lessons on blade work.. i'm wondering if that is norm and i need to start bugging other folks to fence with beginner like me. or look for more organized club.. i like the club and the instructors.. but, i'm not sure at all if this is norm among fencing clubs or not..

[Drew42]

From my limited understanding there doesn't seem to be a 'norm' for fencing clubs. The seem to run from one extreme (very formal and rigid) to the other (Very informal, social atmosphere) with no patterns. What type of club you choose should depend on two things:
1) What's available, let's face it, if its the only club in a 200 mile radius its better than not fencing at all , and
2) why you want to fence (competitive, for fun, a mix?)

Having said that, if you're paying for the lessons you have every right to get them on time, it doesn't matter if there are 20 other students or just you!

Best of luck!

Drew

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"Thank God we are neither boxers nor wrestlers." Aldo Nadi

[saberkid]

yeah there isnt much of a norm, my club has about 30 ppl in each class so i dont have to worrey about it and we never cancil classes (unless its a holaday)

[Moonitic]

Our fencing club is at the mercy of the college whose gym we use. It's not fun sometimes. We're cancelled for craft shows & such. They won't give us more than one night a week, even though fencing brings in the most money of all CES classes (so I'm told). We're just now getting organized, & have the largest competitive group in Michigan (so I've been told). We also have a large group of recreational fencers, so there's a good mix.

Being blaize about the whole thing doesn't do a club well...It can be a kiss of death.

[HilandDoug]

I'm pretty lucky in that my club is hosted by the local community college. They do all the marketing and registration as an adult ed or continuing education class. We meet Friday nights, and only get bumped once in a while for setup for college functions. We've got a mix of competitors and social fencers, but we're blessed by having a full time salle, Renaissance Fencing Club, on the other side of town. I encourage my competitive fencers to visit RFC during the week, so they can get better coaching and train with higher ranked fencers. It's not cheap at RFC, but you definately get what you pay for. (Can you believe I'm promoting a rival club?)

[Rapier9mm]

us, we get private lessons ( much better than martial arts style personally) then fight others to practice the odd thing or two, except wed when we have foot work training en mass. its all good. i like it alot. fencing here is quite a social thing. yet still very competitive

[Moonitic]

Doug,

It's ok...I also promote AADS. I forgot to tell you, but at one of their parties, SCFC was made the official "sister" club of the Duelists. I think we're becoming a "sister" club of most of the clubs in the region.

AND last night at the tourney (11-18-00), we were complimented greatly on being such a nice group! Whatever our club is doing, it's working.

[SteveMcDonough]

Even I know that you fence with swords, Not Clubs.

Sorry.

Ours is Mon/Weds/Thurs.
5 Quid per week, or 20 sovs a month. They do DDs, and cash.
Go one night, or all nights, they don't mind.
they have something like 4 strips, all electric, and all the equipment and weapons you will ever need.

I'm not telling you where, because they aren't paying me for the advert. It's in West London.

It's the first and only club i have joined, so I have nothing to compare it to.

As far as I can tell, It's damned informal. When I first joined, I didn't bug anyone to let me fence them. The others invited me. I learned a hell of a lot in the first few weeks thanks to those guys. (If you're reading this any of you)!


That's how our's works.

[This message has been edited by SteveMcDonough (edited 11-28-2000).]