Fencing camps

[Xante]

fencing camp do you find that they have really helped your game and are really worth your money or are they a waste of money that dont help your game. im curently looking into one but im not sure if i dont have the right amout of experience to attend one.

[whiteandbluefencer]

I find them useful because they make you fence all day... when you've done a four day camp, fencing five hours each of those days, you find that you no longer tire at tournaments. Plus; they're great because you'll get the chance to fence new people! I'm sure there are lots of other good reasons, but here are a few to start with!

[catwood1]

Theres a post Darius made a while back that I'm too lazy to find.

Summarizing:

If you go to tournaments to get quality bouts against other people, then you should consider camps. At a good camp you are getting more competitive touches per dollar against good fencers than you do at tournaments.

/summary.

Thats a really good point, that even if you don't consider the quality of teaching at camps. By a sheer competitive phrases standpoint, its a very good choice.

[Phrogger]

Well, if you hate fencing, hanging out with great new people and learning killer moves, then yes, camp would be a waste of your time.

But seriously, there are beginner camps and camps for every level. You just have to find the right one for you.

[Greg]

It really depends on the camp. If its well structured, there are good private lessons, and a good mix of people, yes. Some universities and clubs run camps mainly to make money. I have been to a couple of these that were not much to brag about.

[darius]

I'd argue that even if the camp is just run to make money, and all the coaches have you do is run and bout, you're still getting more competitive touches per dollar against unfamiliar opponents than pretty much any tournament. (And they usually include one of those anyway.)

We don't do private lessons at camps; occasionally we'll do assessment-type lessons, but skill development can't be done in one day, so it's better to work in small-medium sized groups.

darius

[bjacobs]

It depends.

It may be "worth it" in that it's fun to get to spend all day training for a week or two with new people. Whether you can afford it is up to you.

It may be worth it if the coaches and some of athletes are vastly better than the coaches and athletes you have access to. It's not necessarily the best situation in which to pick up new technique, since you won't have reinforcement in lessons after the camp, but it's a good place to learn drills and methods of training. You might get to see how some good coaches run a class, and take some of that back with you.

It might be worth it if you're a high school fencer that wants to fence in college. There are some camps where a lot of the coaches are college coaches. Scout out who will be there, this is a good way to get to know them, and more importantly, for them to get to know you.

[fatfencer]

I have to say the camp run by Mike Marx when I went 2-3 yrs ago was fabulous.

I was so out of shape. I was in much better shape when I left. Plus I had some great tools.

My club bouts were very much one sided and in my favor for a long time.

However, I would have gotten MUCH more out of it if I had been in shape prior to attending.

Camps are very worth it.

FF

PS: Reaction time drills and controlling reaction drills were very useful to me.

[DangerMouse]

I'd argue that even if the camp is just run to make money, and all the coaches have you do is run and bout, you're still getting more competitive touches per dollar against unfamiliar opponents than pretty much any tournament. (And they usually include one of those anyway.)

We don't do private lessons at camps; occasionally we'll do assessment-type lessons, but skill development can't be done in one day, so it's better to work in small-medium sized groups.

darius

This is also dependent on your own ability level and experience. I went to the Solti - Szabo camp in Hungary a few years ago. I had worked with 6-7 high level coaches before attending this camp and I found 2-3 lessons with a good coach of a different style can be of immense value. One of my friends who also went had only worked with one coach prior to the camp and he got significantly less out of the individual lessons than I did. Simply having the experience of learning from coaches who use different cues and needing to adapt your action choice to those coaches can really influence how much you can get out of a camp.

[Xante]

thanks for the help guys. right now im looking at one down in mass. and from what iv read from it it looks really cool its only a 3 day camp but i think the price they are asking is fair. maybe ill see some of you there