Wheelchair Fencing Programs?

[Greybeard]

Hi:

I was wondering how many of you have wheelchair programs at your clubs? Right now we have a decent, but small program, and we want to expand it.

I am contacting the Brain Injury Association, Hospital Stroke Rehab centers and the local Adaptive Sports Federation, none of which offer wheelchair fencing.

How do you go about advertising your program? Do you work with insurance companies for a slice of the pie for physical therapy?

Do you place flyers? Do demos? I would love to hear from you as I am catching the fire now and really want to develop this program. I am headed to the chair myself as I am just not recovering from my stroke and subsequent surgeries as well as I had hoped. I am to be rated at an upcoming tournament.

Thanks for any tips.

[fencerX]

I am contacting the Brain Injury Association, Hospital Stroke Rehab centers and the local Adaptive Sports Federation, none of which offer wheelchair fencing.

What about VA hospitals? There are potential competitors there and maybe even some federal funds.

Note the VA has annual wheelchair games but fencing isn't included.

http://www1.va.gov/vetevent/nvwg/2008/default.cfm

[Greybeard]

Thanks!! We have a big VA hospital here in town.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Talk to Jon Moss. He's enamoured of wheelchair fencing, and still has some level of national exposure.

He's even nice to people for the first few years he knows you!

[KD5MDK]

Talk to Michael D'Asaro, he's closer.

[LTranter]

Our Coach and I were talking about this. How would you even go about starting the program?

L

[Philistine]

A couple of things--one immediate, one potential in the future, from some other threads.

The Paralympics are being held in a couple of weeks, with the Fencing taking place from 9/14 through 9/17. This Thread gives you the websites where it will be broadcast. Results and/or videos might help in getting interest.

More long term (and not decided yet), the Agenda for the upcoming Board of Directors Meeting has this proposed motion:

1. Motion (Mr. Rodgers): to amend the Operations Manual, Chapter 3, Section 4, to add Mixed Wheelchair events. The added section would read:

Mixed Wheelchair
A mixed wheelchair competition is a competition in which members, both able-bodied and disabled may compete. Mixed wheelchair competitions are not permitted in competitions used to determine qualifiers to the National Championships competitions. In a mixed wheelchair competition an able-bodied fencer who drew a wheelchair fencer would fence the wheelchair fencer on a wheelchair piste, able-bodied fencers would fence other able-bodied fencers in the normal manner. It is the responsibility of the wheelchair fencer desiring to fence in a mixed wheelchair event to ensure that the proper wheelchair fencing piste is available for use. Classifications can be earned at mixed wheelchair competitions, simply comparing the classifications of all fencers relative to the rules for earning a new classifications. See Chapter 6.

Rationale: The number of wheelchair fencers in the country is small. New fencers currently have no opportunity to gain tournament experience before attending a national or international event. This motion would enable organizers who wish to have a mixed event with wheelchair fencers to do so. Thus enabling the wheelchair fencers to gain the necessary tournament experience at a local and club level before moving up to national and international level competitions. It will also enable fencers of all abilities to gain experience against different styles of fencing.

If that passed, I think that'd be a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate wheelchair fencing by using mixed-wheelchair tournaments. Be interesting for non-wheelchair fencers to see it and get used to it as well.

--Philistine

[Greybeard]

One problem that I have seen is that when a NAC or nationals is posted, I look at the event sign up and there are 3-4 fencers. Do they still hold the event? I would hate to make the trip to learn the event had been cancelled.

I am just going to be starting wheelchair since we figure I have reached my plateau of recovery and I just cannot with able bodied fencers. Fortunately my club has Scott Rodgers as our coach. I want to expand the program.

[KD5MDK]

Scott should be able to answer all of your questions once he gets back.

Sometimes the events are cancelled (well in advance), sometimes they are held. I don't know what the distinguishing criteria are.

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!


My club has applied for funds (about 10K USD) from the Swedish Fencing Federation, in order to start a wheelchair program. Our town is home to one of the 4 national high schools for those who have locomotion handicaps, and one of our club board members works there. There is also a school/camp for people with all sorts of handicaps close by. The federation will decide soon on the issue. If the response is positive, they would be channeling funds from the Swedish Sports Federation which are earmarked for handicap sports.

BTW: The term in which everyone around here uses to refer to people who are not able-bodied is handicapped, not disabled, differently abled, or some such.

Will keep you posted.


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[Greybeard]

Thanks Peter, please let ,me know how it goes. Since My seizure and week in hospital last week I am now going to the chair for sure. Right now I am waiting for Scott to decompress and in the mean time I am contacting local programs to introduce them to wheelchair fencing.

[stritti]

I am happy to see that the problems all over the world are the same, so I m going back to wheelchairfencing after a period as headcoach of the german fencers from 2003/04 now I m going to start a new group of wheelies with a fencer from swiss.

On the weekend I saw wheelchairfencing in france as a part of the competition of Guebwiller the practise that since last year and I ve to find clubs arround who have the equipment for wheelchairfencing but maybe no fencers to rent the stations ...I think that is the easy way to get that things to run a training.

For informations arround europe and possibilities to make camps or trainings allover the world I would be happy

Stritti

[wheelchairfencer]

I have worked with several different groups and organizations - and over the years these groups and their focus changes, but the bottom line is these are the grassroots conduits through which people with disabilities are first introduced to sports and recreation so if we want them to learn about fencing, then we have to become more involved in the process where these camps and clinics take place and do a fencing demo or clinic there.

Getting plugged into rehab centers and finding out about local charities and organizations that promote health and fitness - disability expos, and yes even working with the VA. I am a vet and while there has never been a wheelchair fencing event at any of the national veterans wheelchair games, (NVWG,) - I have done many, many demos for the VA and related military organizations and in the past few years I finally started doing a fencing clinic at the Winter Sports Clinic that usually takes place in April in Aspen.

The main issue for me doing these kinds of things is it gets expensive personally rather quickly and whether we receive develop funds from US Olympics/Paralympics or raise the money through US Fencing - we have to find the way to raise the funds to be able to get involved at every level if we want to seriously pursue recruiting new fencers.

I noticed you live in San Diego? Have you ever sat down and done any brainstorming with Scott Rodgers, another wheelchair fencer who lives in San Diego. Or Gerard Moreno in LA? I am currently living in Ventura, formerly living just outside of Austin, Texas, but now I've been in California a little over a year and slowly beginning to get more involved locally. I have done some work with D'Asaro, but mostlly I've been focusing on building a new website: www.wheelchairfencer.org (now with video) and working with Alex Beguinet and Coaches College to develop a training program.

Email me or call me if you would like to discuss this further: mario@wheelchairfencer.org and phone numbers: (805)-477-8728 mobile, (805)-652-1037.

Sincerely,

Mario

[wheelchairfencer]

We've been putting on demos and clinics with the VA as far back as 1995 at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Atlanta. Then again in 1997 in San Diego. I believe that was a demo and a mini-clinic. Gerard Moreno, a wheelchair fencer who lives in LA worked with me in San Diego to put on the event. (Invacare, a company I had a close relationship with at the time, sponsored these two events.)

With the help and support from US Fencing and US Paralympics, I think we took an even bigger step doing a clinic and mini-tournament at the first Military Sports Program that took place at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in Sep. 2005.

During that event two of the VAs directors for national sports programs were there to take everything in, Tom Brown, the head of the National Veterans Wheelchair Games and Sandy Trombetta, director for the Winter Sports Clinic.

It was a huge leap forward, in manpower, material, and commitment. With the support and funding of US Fencing and US Paralympics it was like putting on a NAC with all the bells and whistles, having Bill Murphy as armorer to make sure all the technical things worked and continued to function, Gerry Baumgart as head referee and several more accomplished and nationally known coaches and respected referees. The proof for me was to see the smiles on everyone's faces throughout the competition and afterward, Sandy Trombetta invited us to come to Aspen and do a clinic for him.

US Fencing gave us their full support to do WSC2006 and even with that, I still spent far more money than I should have from my personal funds, but my feeling then and still is now, that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we had to do everything we could to ensure we could continue to ride this wave of interest.

Probably the most significant thing we learned from our involvement at the Military Sports Summit was if we stimulate interest in fencing, then we need to be able to point the new recruits to a fencing coach who lived in their area who would continue to teach them and help them develop their skills. We didn't have any such nnetwork in place and so shortly following, our head coach and national director for wheelchair fencing, Les Stawicki asked me to work with Alex Beguinet to develop a program to address this issue.

I have been working with Alex and Coaches College for two years now, 2006 & 2007, and we skipped 2008 since the USOTC is at its busiest during an Olympic/Paralympic year. Meanwhile I did another WSC2007 and while I didn't have any support from US Fencing on this one, once again I reached into my own finances to make this happen and we made it successfully through another year. Gerard Moreno was my assistant coach and I wouldn't have been able to accomplish what I did without his commitment and support.

I didn't go to WSC2008. I moved from Texas to California and failed to get my team together or turn in the paperwork in time to be considered as an alternate activity. I requested paperwork for WSC2009, but was told other alternate activities would be offered in lieu of fencing. Let me back track a moment to explain an important aspect to this ever unfolding story.

Between 2006 and 2007, I asked Sandy if he could purchase and provide equipment for us to use at these clinics, instead of trying to find what we needed elsewhere. Sandy or WSC bought 3 SG-10s, (I think this is the model without the timer,) masks, jackets, gloves, female protectors, body cords, electric epees; basically everthing we needed to work with our "new students" except fencing frames and once again, I purchased the parts and made the wheelchair floor cords and added that to that to our inventory too.

My plan was (and still is) to have the VA manufacture the wooden fencing frames for us to use, instead of spending large sums of money shipping the metal frames from where ever we could get them to the event.

I am hopeful that we will be invited back to do another clinic in 2010 whether I am there or not, as I would like to try to make the Paris team for the World Championships. I do not know whether there is a schedule conflict?

Basically I've tried to create a situation, call it a lab, a teaching opportunity, or whatever you would like to think of it as where you can go and gain experience working with and develop your coaching skills teaching and working with wheelchair fencers. And if ski, there's an added bonus!

Finally, between working at the WSC and doing two coaches college sessions, I came up with another idea: to iuse the basic fencing coaches program to develop coaches through the VA by encouraging recreational therapists to become certified fencing coaches to work with their patients, TBI (tramatic brain injury, any patient undergoing rehab, whether spinal cord injury or amputee, stroke, and even geriatric patients.) I believe there is so much potential that hasn't been tapped into.

Maybe some of you are not aware of this, but the origins of wheelchair fencing were such that it was used following World War II to rehab vets, to foster self-esteem, help them regain fine and gross motor nerve skills - and get them back on track to living more independent lives.

So as you see, there as many reasons to fence wheelchair beyond merely trying to ensure future elite teams. I would like to see wheelchair fencing grow and develop across the spectrum as it should be, after all, I don't think there is one of us who fences for one reason, rather many, many reasons - and the longer we are invovled, the richer our experience and our knowledge. One of the most important responsibilities I remember belonging to any club, is it is incumbant on each and every one of us to share everything you know with every other member- that's how we all get better. That's how I feel about wheelchair fencing too.

I'm sorry for such a long post, but I feel this is too important not to share with you and maybe you will realize just as I have - some of the potential of our sport beyond merely what we know and recognize today as "sport fencing." Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

Mario Rodriguez

[Phrogger]

To all the clubs out there that think a wheelchair fencing program is out of reach: We conducted a wheelchair clinic recently at an adapted sports event, and found it relatively easy to fence from a sitting position. (That's not to say that seated fencing is easy though!) While many may see the frame as a huge barrier to wheelchair fencing, it really isn't necessary except in competition. Once can practice, do drills and give lessons without the frame at all. Armed with this knowledge, any club should be able to accommodate wheelchair fencing with a minimum of effort.

That said, there are still drawbacks to overcome. One major issue is that there doesn't seem to be any way to hold a competition without the frames, so wheelchair fencers are still going to be extremely limited in tournament opportunities. As for our small club, despite our proximity to military bases, there is not enough of a disabled population in our area to foster an interest in fencing. But it's still important for coaches to be educated and clubs to be ready to serve this community.