Suggestions on starting a school "club"

[DonnaP]

I am considering trying to help get a fencing "club" started at my son's school (up here in CT). There is at least one other boy in the school that fences and his parents have also offered to work with me. We have a brand new high school and the principle is open and dedicated to having a wide variety of clubs and activities for the students. I believe he will be very supportive, however, as I prepare a statement of intent, I would like to have considered everything (at least as much as possible) in the preparation process. As a therapist, I am qualified to teach the general conditioning and stretching components and as a fencer could probably do a reasonable job at footwork, I know I will need to enlist assistance of a "real" fencer for the actual "fencing" part. I know I need to look at getting some basic equipment to get started. We have great support from the school booster club for money and fund-raising, and our division will kick in some funds to get new school programs started. Just looking for the trials and pointers of anyone who has gone through this before...... (and yes, I keep saying to myself - why am I doing this???)

[Fencergrl]

What is the age group of the kids you will be coaching?

BTW... A good source of information on coaching can be downloaded from the Canadian Fencing Federation website http://www.fencing.ca/coaching_manuals/manuals.htm

[LeftHanded]

Me and a couple of other people are trying to get a fencing team/club started at my college. We are not looking for something that could grow and compete nation wide against Div 1 schools. We are just looking to get the sport promoted to the point that it may eventually develop into a competitive club.

What we are trying to do is raise awareness for the club through newsletters and fliers. I was actualy thinking about coming to school in full whites and mask and had out fliers in the main hall and campus diner. I don't know how the administration will react.

[oiuyt]

LH- What school?

Most colleges have some form of activities fair. Demos at that can work well.

Postering.

Chalking.

Once you have a club established get into collegiate competition as soon as possible. Retains people and grows a collegiate program faster than a USFA centric approach. Two obvious options are the South Atlantic Conference (SAC), a once/year meeting of schools from FL to PA in February, and the USACFC, a national championships for collegiate club programs.

I would also suggest hooking up with other collegiate club programs in your area (GTech, Emory, Georgia, etc.) and get meets or scrimmages set up with them. Get someone who can reserve a gym, set up a meetdate with as many of the local (or localish) schools as possible. Make it an annual thing.

PM me if you want help with this.

-B

[RITFencing]

You know, you'll honestly be amazed at what you can do for the kids if you get them well motivated and can impart some strong basics. Give them a few days off every week, or excuse them from practices to go fence at one of the local clubs.

You can also hire guest instructors to come in and teach short weekend or one day seminars. Steal from these people shamelessly; they probably learned half of their stuff by doing the same thing.

While you're working with people of any age groups, but especially young beginners, the trick is to keep them motivated, on track, and enjoying things. A surprising amount of my job as a coach has almost nothing to do with fencing.

[LeftHanded]

News Update:

Well, I finally got the ball rolling. We have the minimum number of members and a faculty sponser/ coach. I am going to hand out flyers one day this week. That will be fun. We are still trying to get the details of how we are going to get it run down. The person that is sponsering the club hasn't fenced in 10+ years. She seems to want to run it more like a rec. league than a school team. We got totally different philosophys as far as coaching structure and teaching go.The team at where I fenced a year ago has all but fallen apart. I thinking of seeing if he would like to come and teach and coach every once and a while. Also, one of my present coaches does classes besides those at the club. I may try and get his help as well.

It is going to interesting how it all plays out.

[LeftHanded]

While you're working with people of any age groups, but especially young beginners, the trick is to keep them motivated, on track, and enjoying things. A surprising amount of my job as a coach has almost nothing to do with fencing.

I always find this strange because I see people trying to let people have fun with games and stuff and I never liked this style of teaching. People always say that I should remember to have fun with it. I always liked it when my coach didn't let anything slide but perfection. I learned better that way then when they tried to suger coat the drill.

[mesulater]

One thing we were able to attract new members was new have a member of the olympic team come down and do a demo at the school. Thats one of the reasons I liiked about the fencing program at radford university. We also plan to do a demo for one of the french professors at our school.

So pretty much what I am saying is a good way to attract members is through various demos.

[DonnaP]

Fencergrl, Thanks for the link. I'm looking at mostly high school level - 9 - 12. But have a year to plan this and would want to do it right for the 2008 - 09 year.

[aamct2]

Advertise, advertise, and advertise some more. Hold an interest meeting (or a couple in case not everyone can make the first). The publicize it to the max. Hang posters all over the school, especially in high traffic areas. Have your child bring fliers and hand them out to his/her friends. Get the word out there, and you'll be shocked at just how many come.

Having a demo at the interest meeting(s) would definitely be a great way to get them to come back. Also, have a some practice weapons there that they can hold. How much cooler is it when you get to hold one for the first time? Make sure your interest meeting covers the important facts (where, when, how, etc), but try to keep it as up-beat as possible. Reminders of all the dull essentials can be put on hand-outs. It's the demo, holding the weapons, etc that the kids will be remembering. It's that which will make them bug their parents into letting them joining.

Also, a website can be another great form of advertisement. Find someone with the know-how to build a good looking one for you. Then link it to the school's website. Your school might even be willing to host the website for you. Then get it submitted to all the major search engines. Also try and get it linked to from other major fencing sites (such as this one!). Include the web address on any posters or fliers.

Good luck!

~aamct2

http://www.uwsp.edu/stuorg/fencing/

[RITFencing]

I always find this strange because I see people trying to let people have fun with games and stuff and I never liked this style of teaching. People always say that I should remember to have fun with it. I always liked it when my coach didn't let anything slide but perfection. I learned better that way then when they tried to suger coat the drill.

I didn't say necessarily to use games, I said to keep people motivated. With a group that doesn't like playing games, I would not use them, but rather go right to the drilling.