Having just been in a similar predicament, I can give you some good news. If you keep busting yourself and smashing your head against that wall, people will eventually start to take you seriously. I've found that unmotivated people are fairly easy to trample over when exposed to a high degree of determination & patience, and they will either give in and decide that they care, or hate you for encouraging them to work. Those that fit into the latter category are not worth your time anyway. They should be there to learn to fence well, not just put another extracurricular on that college app.