Sabre in/around the DC area

[Welted 24/7]

I ran a search and basically found out that there's a couple of pretty strong foil and epee clubs in the vicinity of DC, but haven't seen anything mentioned about sabre. Any recommendations?

[griffindm]

The NIH club in Bethesda, MD is your best bet. http://www.recgov.org/r&w/nihfence/N...b/Welcome.html

[CvilleFencer]

DCFC (DC Fencers Club) and NIH (National Institutes of Health) have some strong saber fencers and are pretty close to DC. Dominion in Fairfax VA has some saber fencers and a couple of good coaches, but I am not sure how many saber fencers they actually have "on the ground" as it were for practice.

If you don't mind driving a bit VAF (Virginia Academy of Fencing) has probably the strongest saber program with the largest pool of saber fencers to play with in the MD/VA/DC area. They have a lot of younger fencers as well as a good number of strong Senior and Vet saber fencers. For number & quality of fencing, probably your best bet but I have know idea how the work things out for guest/visiting fencers.

[wbowman]

The strongest sabre in the area is probably at Virginia Academy of Fencing in Springfield. There are also some pretty good sabre fencers at the NIH club (National Institutes of Health) in DC.
I think DC Fencers Club in Silver Spring (while perhaps strongest in epee) probably has a few sabre fencers as well.
Check the Capitol Division web site for NIH and DCFC.
http://capdiv.usfencing.org/
The VA Division site for VAF.
http://www.va-usfa.org/

Also on the Virginia side, I've been known to bring sabre gear to practice at Olde Town "just in case."

[seak]

As a psuedo saber fencer who used to be in the DC area, the answer is it depends.

Most saber fencer is probably VAF
Strongest saber fencers (i.e. points list caliber), and most women are DCFC
Vet Saber fencers are NIH

The best saber coach in the area is probably Darius at DCFC, but he can be tough to get in with (I hear)

[Welted 24/7]

Thanks to everyone. Seak- how do you mean? He's really busy, or he's really cranky and doesn't like new students?

[Jason]

Dariusz is a good guy (not cranky... perhaps a bit too zen, if you ask me), but he is in high demand. I would say he's easily the strongest sabre coach in the DC area.

[epeemike81]

Dariusz is a good guy (not cranky... perhaps a bit too zen, if you ask me), but he is in high demand. I would say he's easily the strongest sabre coach in the DC area.

yep. Dariusz is definitely the best option.

-m

[seak]

busy, but it doesn't hurt to ask, really Trojan MD is the best person to talk to on this forum about Dariusz's lesson schedule, who else is coaching there etc.

[Jason]

It probably makes more sense to just call DCFC and ask Dariusz directly.

[seak]

well duh , I just suggested Torjan MD if he didn't want to call them yet, also they're not open at this hour

[sheck]

DCFC is a very strong youth oriented program headed by D. Gillman. At NIH we have a couple of top Vet sabre fencers who were also past Div 1 point list fencers. We lost Vitali Nazlymov as our sabre coach about four years ago and haven't replaced him. VAF has both strong youth and Vet programs. Alex Ryjik is the head sabre coach.

[Welted 24/7]

Again, thanks to everyone for all the information. Seems like I'll be pretty well set regardless of where I go.

Now all I need is a job down there, and life will be spiffy...

[Allen Evans]

I'll agree with all the recomendations on this thread. Dominion does have two qualified saber coaches, but not many saber fencers "on the ground" to fence with -- an important quality when one fences saber.

Keep in mind that commuting in the DC area is very tough. I'm only 20 miles or so away from DCFC, and NEVER go there, because the commute can easily take an hour and a half in rush hour. Where you fence is going to depend very strongly on where you live.

Allen Evans
Dominion Fencing

[oiuyt]

Where you fence is going to depend very strongly on where you live.

Or vice versa. :)

-B

[chefencer]

Just a little shout out from the suburbs from a tiny member-owned club, but depending on where you land or if you're ever in the neighborhood (Allen is quite right about traffic), Dark Horse FC in Fredericksburg can offer a friendly competitive atmosphere and a growing number of sabrists.

[TrojanMD]

Again, thanks to everyone for all the information. Seems like I'll be pretty well set regardless of where I go.

Now all I need is a job down there, and life will be spiffy...

Man, having a job doesn't equal spiffyness - it equals time away from fencing!!!



Anyways, everyone's pretty much covered it as far as fencing in the DC area. I suspect VAF might have a more consistant group of sabre fencers in attendance later on in the evenings, since the average age of a DCFC saber fencer is about 15. (I'm the outlying data point - I actually pay my own entry fees)

However, if you're going to come out to us, give the club a call - they'll give you an idea on the best times to show up. Also, there's a camp every August for a full week that is an awesome way to get ready for a new season.

Good luck!

[Welted 24/7]

Trojan, you actually covered what I was going to ask next. Everyone's given me helpful information, but I'm also seeing a lot of mentions of "really great youth programs". Don't get me wrong, I'll practice with pretty much anybody, but some more people in the "guy in his 20s" program would be good too.

[occasionalfencer]

Before you spend the money for a year membership at any club, make sure you know what your actual commute feels like- work/ home/ fencing- at rush hour. The direction of the commute as well as the distance really matters. D.C. area traffic is not all in D.C., not even most of it. And it is bad.

[seak]

Trojan, you actually covered what I was going to ask next. Everyone's given me helpful information, but I'm also seeing a lot of mentions of "really great youth programs". Don't get me wrong, I'll practice with pretty much anybody, but some more people in the "guy in his 20s" program would be good too.

The whole fencers in their 20's thing is what all of us are angling for

Short answer the only real pack of 20's are some of the epee folks at DCFC, and the UMd fencing team (which has some saber fencers and is a nice bunch, but not real elite fencers)