Earliest age to start

[sleepsheep]

Hello,

I am wondering what you all think is a good age to start somebody in fencing. My husband used to fence in high school, but could not realistically entertain any competitive hopes because he started so late (age14). My son is a very tall and athletic 3.5 year old, and I am wondering whether I should start looking for a fencing program for him. He has been taking Karate classes for a year, which mostly focus on balance, coordination, strength training and form. While he is doing well, I think that the art of fencing would suit him better, and I am eager to enroll him in a program. However, our local club in New York, the Brooklyn Fencing Club, doesn't start kids before the age of 7, which sounds a bit late to me. I know that Empire United has a program for 4 year olds, and I am wondering whether anybody has any experience, and can tell me what those classes are like.

Any advice that you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Phincer]

Seven is about right-and when you do start, keep it light and fun for a few years. If a club won't start earlier than that, there is a good reason. Let him do his martial arts and maybe let him do a little ballet or dance. All great background for fencing.

Three and a half is a little too young for anything but a foam sword and the Princess Bride DVD.

[sleepsheep]

Thank you for your reply, Phincer. It IS a very expensive sport, and I wanted to know whether there was any sense to starting so young. I imagine at that age, it's all about concentration and balance, and with that in mind, I rather keep him in Karate for another few years (since it's more affordable, and significantly closer to our house). Anybody out there with a different opinion?

[lovesabre]

I think 8 or 9 is a good age to start. My daughter started at age 10 and that was the perfect age for her. It seems like all the kids who start out younger than 8 end up quitting, at least that is my experience.

[rustica]

Wasn't Sada Jacobson 15 or 16 when she started?

What are your competitive plans for your little guy? College? Olympics? Jr. Olympics?

My oldest started at 10, my middle wasn't interested and my youngest at about 15. No, he won't be on a national team, but so far as recreation and the occasional NAC, he's doing well enough and having a great time. And more time for other interests.

Please don't rush or push your child too soon.

[Fencergrl]

I wondered about the statement of "14 being too old" as well. Many elite fencers started later than 14.

I see 14 as being a good age to begin fencing rather than being too old. Kids that are 7-11 really struggle with having the fine motor skills for the sport.

[wahrman]

I must have mis-read that. You are thinking of looking for a fencing program that will accept a 3.5 year old?!!?!?

[Allen Evans]

I believe that Arndt Schmidt (past Olympic Champion) didn't start until he was 11 or 12.

Three-and-a-half is VERY YOUNG to begin fencing. I would be very hesitant to take on someone that young. Dominion Fencing (my club) usually do not take anyone younger than 8 or so... depending on the child.

You have a LOT of time left before your child's Olympic hopes are dashed.

Allen Evans

[Mr.MightyMouse]

David Abramovich Tyshler recommends 12-13 due to maturity level of psychological well being necessary, to accept instant defeats and victories.
Pozdniakov started at 13, a lot of other Champions even later;
I beleive Boisse pere' did not introduce Eric until 13-14?
There are current members of US Olympic team which never made the World Championship Cadet ones; IMHO it takes 10 years to become a complete fencer.

[NNR]

The legend about Dan Keller is that he was 13 when he started and managed to be an Olympian. My child began at 9 1/2 and has so far been on two National teams. 3 1/2 is out of the question too young to begin. I think that the clubs that start at 7, especially for boys who tend not to have much of an attention span at that age, are also pushing it.

[fencerwallet]

Most clubs (should) require, at a minimum, that students be toilet-trained, because tasks such as lunging do not lend themselves to Huggies.

[rustica]

Originally Posted by fencerwallet

Most clubs (should) require, at a minimum, that students be toilet-trained, because tasks such as lunging do not lend themselves to Huggies.

So much for the --insert college name here-- team

[MdA]

I have three sons who are fencers. Two are now collegiate varsity. They all started around five with different levels of interest and attention span. Since I was their coach, we kept it a fun family activity in the first few years.

They played other sports like soccer, baseball, roller hockey. Since I was the coach, lesson time was flexible...in the garage...on the back patio...and I would knock it off when they got bored.

They would hang out at club when I was coaching....stab the practice dummy. When they would spend a half hour on the dummy I increased the lesson time....I figured if they could stab the dummy for a half hour, they could put up with Dad.

It is a lot to expect a coach who is not the parent to work with 5-year-olds. It takes a lot of patiences.

I suggest you take this on as a family project. If you husband was a fencer, he could take the next couple years to get some basic coaching experience....and then start working with him at 5. It will also help your husband stay in shape....or you could be the coach. You can't do much damage at 5 or 6.

Check out the http://www.usfca.org
for coaching clinics in your area. In a couple years you could be ready to coach your son yourself....have some good family time....and save all that money on expensive lessons.

If you haven't ruined him by 12 you can turn him over to a professional.

Having three helped me keep them all involved and we re-cycled a lot of those expensive clothes and equipment.

My oldest son fenced in his first Jr. Olympics at 6. He was very competitive and loved fencing at an early age. He won the U-10 and U-12 National Championship. The other two developed at a slower pace but both are Jr. Olympic finalists.

Just so you don't think I was completely nuts. In 93 they still had Under-11-year-old at the Jr. Olympics. I wouldn't let him fence cadet....in fact the rules prohibit that unless he has Y-14 national points. We lived in Germany for three years and he continued to fence in Under-10 events over there...which were well attended.

My experience is that it is different for every kid. You know your kid better than anyone else...but 3.5 is a little young...even for me!!!

[lovesabre]

[quote=rustica;698096]Wasn't Sada Jacobson 15 or 16 when she started?

Yes! From what I read she was a competitive swimmer before picking up the sabre, therefore a developed athlete. Her coach, Arkady Burdan, has a couple of other fencers who started in their teens and are doing quite well nationally.

[Nolano]

Judging 14 as "too late" to start and succeed competetively is a little... Uhh..... Well, for example...

Cody Mattern started fencing at 14. He was on the US Epee team at the last olympics, and is going as the alternate this year.

[nufencermom]

My son started karate at 4 (Actually his club did not want to take younger than 5). Now he is 8 and 1/2. When he started fencing last month, I was glad the coach said "karate helps".

I think 3.5 is a little young too. When he just turned 4, he started piano. He could focus only about 20 minutes at that time. If we could start over, I would wait a couple of years, because when he's older, it is much faster, more efficient, and less pressure.

[lauralitz]

My daughter started at 7.5. I was worried that was to young. I talked to a coach who told me that they don't like to start young ones because of the bone plate development in the hand. Not sure if this is valid, but it makes sense.

We took a year off after the start up class and after a whole year a begging I let her start fencing again at 8.5. She still loves it at 12.5.

She is doing quite well. The most important thing to me is that she loves it.

3.5 seems quite young to me. I like the idea of getting dad back into the sport. At your sons age buy him some toys swords, read him great adventure books and let him have a grand time. My daughter used to run around the neighborhood with her wooden sword and a team of boys following as she yelled "Eulalia" (the badger warlord cry from the Redwall books).

LL

[Mo]

Originally Posted by sleepsheep

Hello,

I am wondering what you all think is a good age to start somebody in fencing. My husband used to fence in high school, but could not realistically entertain any competitive hopes because he started so late (age14). My son is a very tall and athletic 3.5 year old, and I am wondering whether I should start looking for a fencing program for him. He has been taking Karate classes for a year, which mostly focus on balance, coordination, strength training and form. While he is doing well, I think that the art of fencing would suit him better, and I am eager to enroll him in a program. However, our local club in New York, the Brooklyn Fencing Club, doesn't start kids before the age of 7, which sounds a bit late to me. I know that Empire United has a program for 4 year olds, and I am wondering whether anybody has any experience, and can tell me what those classes are like.

Any advice that you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

When your children are young even 3.5, it seems like they are a lot older. Everything that they do is new. It is sometimes hard to remember how young they really are.
For a child your son's age, especially a male child, all he really needs to do is play.Take him swimming. Take him to parks. Throw rocks in water.
If you think he needs something more structured let how about a gymnastics class?
There is lots of time. Let him be young.
I would also highly suggest home educating him so he can learn at his own pace.
I read this quote from Carl Sagan when my kids were really young,
Britain has produced a range of remarkably gifted multidisciplinary scientists and scholars who are sometimes described as polymaths. The group included, in recent times, Bertrand Russell, A. N. Whitehead, J. B. S. Haldane, J. D. Bernal, and Jacob Bronowski. Russell commented that the development of such gifted individuals required a childhood period in which there was little or no pressure for conformity, a time in which the child could develop and pursue his or her own interests no matter how unusual or bizzare. Because of the strong pressures for social conformity both by the government and by peer groups in the United States -- and even more so in the Soviet Union, Japan, and the People's Republic of China -- I think that such countries are producing proportionately fewer polymaths ....
Particularly today, when so many difficult and complex problems face the human species, the development of broad and powerful thinking is desperately needed. There should be a way...to encourage, in a humane and caring context, the intellectual development of especially promising youngsters. Instead we find, in the instructional and examination systems of most of these countries, an almost reptilian ritualization of the educational process ....

- Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden (Ballantine, 1977)
My daughter started fencing just before she turned ten. It worked out well for her. She had lots of time for freedom and to develop her own path too as did my son.
It works.
The Momster

[fencerwallet]

Seriously, see my prior post... huggies+lunging=bad idea.

More seriously, my son started at 7, which, while cute, was still probably a little early. True situation, we did this and found fencing only by accident, trying to find an outlet for a kid who thought everything was a sword, to keep him from whacking the dog with our mini-blind wands.

[stritti]

Well normaly it s the age between 6-10 that kids start with school in Germany and in all big clubs in Germany it s also the start age for fencing. I know also some fencers who started earlier, the example Arnd Schmidt was not like that, he also started with arround 6-7 in Heidenheim with foil winning a junior world cup in foil and became later a epee fencer.

In TBB they had an earlier group but thats not so much with fencing just giving a background in gymnastik and games, but they are in the club and the way is not so fare to start fencing after that.

All sports would be good for a later fencer, so it is much easier for a coach to start with a multisporty kid to fence.

So go on with karate, maybe some athletics and swimming ;-)