So I'm the VP of my campus's very tiny fencing club - current member list 6 or 7. (in our defense, our campus is only 1,600) Currently, our bouts are entirely dry (which does have some benefits - people learn a lot about fencing by learning how to Ref a bout), but we are considering the purchase of electric equipment. There are some problems we've encountered though:
1. Current budget $300. We're applying for more funding ($1500 ha ha) but i'm not sure we'll get it.
2. No permanent location. Currently we practice in the field house, but that needs to remain a very free and accessible space for all students.
3. Need to purchase lames and new foils (we do have electric foils, but they've been sitting in an equipment bag being used as dry foils for the past 6 years)
Our other thought is that perhaps we could just purchase the lames so that our fencers can go to tournaments, but with only one of us having fenced with electric equipment before, I'm not sure how beneficial that would be.
Any thoughts? I think opening the door for tournaments would attract people to the club, but I'm not sure that we really have the means or the numbers to purchase the equipment.
I'm a very big believer in using competition both as a means of improvement (both individual and team) and as a means of club growth (both initial recruitment and retention). Whether the best venue for competition is US Fencing or collegiate (or both) depends on the program and availability of those options.
There are a number of collegiate clubs in the Philadelphia area. There's little reason that they can't get together and conduct scrimmages. Eventually meets. And then start expanding outside of the local area.
-B
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"Oh but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!"
I'm the VP of a pretty small campus club in Montana. Roughly 20-25 practicing members.
The biggest thing for us is advertising. More members=bigger segment of the campus population=more money/higher priority in practice space.
Things we have found that work.
1.When you practice, find out if it's okay to post a sign outside the door "______ Fencing Club Practice 7-9 pm" and those little things with your email or something on it so people can tear them off and not feel obligated.
2.It sounds kind of ridiculous, but carry your fencing stuff around with you. People will say "Ohhh, fencing! I always wanted to try that!" And you plug the club.
3.Who is your most experienced member? If they have time, see if the University won't offer a fencing class. If the club loans gear to the class, you can charge "rent" to the University.
4.Like Oiuyt said, try and hook up with some other clubs in the area. Fencers love to support fencing.
This year we advertised like crazy when the freshman were coming in, and we had 30 new people show up to our information session we always hold before the first practice. We didn't have gear for everyone...but, we retained 6 of them, which is great. Retention from past years had been about 3. You really just got to get the word out.
Hope this helps, even a little.
cplmontana
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Sometimes adrenalin is more instructive than meditation. So, in between screaming, try and pay attention.
Ursinus College. We have someone from Temple who comes to our Call to Arms tournament sometimes. Possibly you?
cplemontana - Thanks for the tips! Retention is always our hardest thing too. We have 20 people show up the first day, and if we're lucky, two will stay. We had 3 new members this year, and one of them left because of too much work. Always the same excuse. We should probably hold more competitions - though its dificult with only 7 fencers, most of whom have only just started or who have been fencing for only a year or two.
Any suggestions about how to get involved in local tournaments? (aside from purchasing the equipment) I think we could really improve our retention if we made the club a bit more professional. Unfortunately, its just our president and myself teaching (and neither of us are particularly well qualified), and she's the only one with experience with electric equipment.
It's hard to do any competitions without at least personal electric gear (lamés, weapons, cords). Machines, reels, floor cords are probably owned by whoever you're fencing with.
From pictures I found online it appears the "Call to Arms" is fenced dry. Foil only?
That might be a bit of a hard sell for other people. It's also going to severely limit potential competitive outlets. FEX in Scranton at least used to run some dry foil tournaments. Other than that everything I know of in the area (and most of the rest of the country) is electric.
Probably the best bet is to have people personally purchase lamés. Work on targetted fundraisers to cover the strip equipment. It'll take ~$1,000, so your historic budget won't work for this. There are some ways of reducing that figure (bungie systems, some of the newest ultra-inexpensive scoring machines, etc.). A thread in the Armory section asking for assistance in putting together the cheapest possible set up might help with that. There probably are similar threads that are searchable, but with some new machines out they might be outdated.
Meanwhile I think you should target coming to one or more tournaments. The Temple Open (October 31 for women, November 1 for men this year) is a good choice. Even if no one from Ursinus is planning to compete, it would be a worthwhile trip just to see what electric fencing and a large competition are about. We also have a vendor if people want to make purchases or just check out the equipment in person.
With about 570 fencers competing across two days it represents an experience that isn't easily replicated elsewhere and might help inspire some of your members.
If you're interested in exploring further options or just want more information, assistance, etc., feel free to PM me and we can arrange times to talk.
-B
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"Oh but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!"
Something else, I'm not sure what kind of environment it's like on the east coast, but around here, if your lame/weapon fails, someone will loan you one. Sounds like other clubs are pretty well established--contact them. See if they have some spare gear you can borrow for the day of the tournament. I know, doesn't really help with getting personal gear, but it will get you to tournaments.
Good luck!
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Sometimes adrenalin is more instructive than meditation. So, in between screaming, try and pay attention.
1. Current budget $300. We're applying for more funding ($1500 ha ha) but i'm not sure we'll get it.
This is the same problem my club has. We need to desperately update our electronic gear. Althought the club had gear when I joined, we are now down to four good reels and our only score box finally bit the dust a few weeks ago.
I would suggest looking at getting one or two lames, parts to repair your current electric foils (new tips, wires, bodycords, and sockets), then purchase a few extra electric foils (or epees/sabres). From there you can assess how much you need for a score box, reels, and floor cords. Check out this thread about a three-weapon score box for under $200. Reels are really going to be the bummer part besides the score box. A decent reel will cost $350-400 (and you'll need two of them).
If you've got the electrical equipment (lames and foils) and can send members to tournaments then it will increase your membership as well as give your university an excuse to give you more money. A determining factor when I requested money from my university was that I had brought home more trophies in the last year than all other members in the club during the last 5 years combined, which put the name of my school out there as a university that offered a decent fencing program. I would also suggest just going to a tournament and watching and talking to other clubs. Let your students see how a real tournament is run.
One final thought is have those members in your club interested in going to tournaments purchase their own electric gear. Blue Gauntlet, Absolute Fencing Gear, and Fencing.net sells some decently priced sets that include weapons, a bag, glove, jacket, mask, knickers, lame, and cords.
We've had the opposite trouble with retention. We get too many, so we've had to buy more and more gear. We are also in Montana (Helena), but a small article in the local paper generated 28 people for our beginners class. Check with the local news stations and see if you can get a story in the paper or on TV.
Right now, we practice at one of the high school gyms three nights per week. We teach two beginners classes per week, plus one night for intermediate and open fencing.
Right now we run an 8 week beginners class and charge $75. This will almost pay for a set of gear for one person, and all the money gets recycled into more equipment After 3 8 week classes, the club now has some 55 Jackets, 40 masks and a huge mix of electric and dry weapons. We just purchased a Syon scoring box and a pair of Favero reels. We have half a dozen club lames.
While some people seem to think fencing is an expensive hobby, a full set of gear costs less than a set of golf clubs are a high quality tennis racquet.
If your sole audience is college students, money will be a problem. The trick is to get parents and their kids involved. Most people with fencing age children are in a better financial position to pay. And the modest fee we charge for regular membership ($30 per moth including equipment rental) is still cheaper than something like a typical martial arts class
Also, we provide a financial record to anyone interested so that they see the money is being spent only on the club (this is a not for profit enterprise).
Finally, you should look at doing some fundraisers.
Thanks for the advice! I think another problem we face is not having an actual coach. At the moment three of us have had pre-college fencing experience, and we're attempting to teach fencing to beginners. Not an ideal situation at all. But...we don't have the budget for a coach, and we're not allowed to hire one with club funds. Isn't that shpadoinkle? Anyone know of coaches willing to coach for free? We'll bake cookies!
Thanks, Bob. It was not a good morning. Tricked into fencing foil, lost a saber bout I really should not have, and then eliminated in epee. The epee didn't go too badly but still...
To bring the thread back on channel...good luck getting a coach. They aren't cheap and are hard to find.
Are you able to contact the other clubs in the area?
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Sometimes adrenalin is more instructive than meditation. So, in between screaming, try and pay attention.
On the scoring stuff, you can get a box for about $200 now. They work rather well, actually. Blade fencing, and one other place, if I remember correctly. Also, you can make a bungee system really easily.
For personal equipment, perhaps making the fencers pony up, at least for now.
You can also make a software-based scoring system from an old laptop PC.
You would still need an adapter (instructions for one are available here). Apparently that has proven more difficult than many people first thought, and even if you do manage to get it right it still doesn't do block whipovers like it's supposed to for saber (apparently there weren't enough buttons available on the gamepad it was built around to work that feature in there).
Word is that the developer of the VSM will soon start selling a ready-to-use adapter which will be more functional than the original build-it-yourself model, but you'll still need to provide the computer.
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