Fencer occupations?

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

The "fencing demographics" thread a while back got me thinking. What kinds of jobs are overrepresented among fencers in your country, and what are underrepresented? Any reasons why?

In Sweden, policemen are/were common among sabreurs, while a fair amount of epeeists were/are in the armed forces. The army and airforce more so than the navy, for some reason that I don´t know.

Nowadays, these occupations - while still overrepresented - are less common among fencers. Very many fencers are in jobs which require university level education, and among this group fencers with an education in the natural sciences (doctor, engineer, etc) are considerably more common than those with an education in the humanities - don´t know why.

Does this go for fencers in your country?

Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

PS: many of you msut have crossed your fingers for Thomas, since his operation went surprisingly well.

[swordsen]

hmm I have no hard statistics but on a purely personal level I know a few teachers, many computer types, a couple of policeofficers, one nuclear engineer, a writer (other than Peach),and of course many students. oh yes, a few military types too

[jspierre]

tinker, tailor, soldier, spy....

lawyers, bankers, dot-com'ers, programers, lots of students, professors, writers, medical doctors, printers, musicians, film types, unemployed types, independent business types....

[BugabooX]

I surveyed my club and another in the city and came up with a few trends:
Foil -- Gigolos and car salesmen
Epee -- Heart surgeons and nuclear scientists
Sabre -- Cave men and transients

[Peach]

A couple of teachers (including me), some dentists, a lobbyist, several lawyers, a policeman, engineers, a roofer, a few university professors, a number of manual laborers, a veterinary assistant, a retired school principal, a few professional artists, a couple of professional writers, and an editor.

It's the only place aside from a Star Trek convention where I can have a conversation with someone else with a doctorate who also has no good career reason for getting it. The difference between fencing and a Star Trek convention is that the other person is likely to be well-respected in their actual professional field <grin>.

[Zelda]

Lets see my club back home in Brisbane had...
a doctor as the coach
then we had quite a few nurses, an optical mechanic who is now doing astrophysics, an epidemiologist (me), a couple of optomitrists, a few computer boffins, a couple of lawyers and lots of high school kids.

[achilleus]

Personally, I fit in to any of the following three categories:

1) Ne'er do Well
2) Rogue
or
3) Vagrant

But then again, I hope I'm not representative of the fencing community....

[Sud]

My observations agree with an earlier comment that many fencers have university qualifications.

I also find that a disproportionately high percentage of fencers are science fiction readers/fans. Zero-G fencing on a moebius strip, anyone

[Catlady]

I echo what everyone else said. In my division there are a few physicians, none in my club, but one or two in the division, many computer scientists/programmers of various types, including someone whose actual degree is in physics and material sciences, but who is a pretty mean programmer, a correctional officer who is in the National Guard as well, a few business people of different persuasions, a couple of teachers, again various subjects and levels, at least one graphic designer, a geologist (at least that's what her degree is in, but I don't think she works right now), a few students, and at least one writer. I'm sure I've missed something in there somewhere.

As far as degrees, related or not to what the person does, we have: Computer science, art, communications, English, business, geology, education, and the guy with the physics/material sciences degree. We used to have a theater major too. That's just what I can think off the top of my head. There are quiet a few people who have, or are working on getting, or were only a few credit hours away from getting advanced degrees. Basically, there seem to be two categories: the logical, comp. sci. engineering, natural sciences types (definitely not me), and the whimsical, fantasy prone types,--basically the boho./artistically inclined-- ocasionally with attitude (me!). Basically, I've got the degree in English, working on a masters in communication, and open to getting other degrees later--life, time and money allowing-- with aspirations to a writing career on some scale.

I've noticed there are a lot of sci. fi/fantasy readers, myself included, and no that's not a bad thing--there are good and bad examples in every genre of writing, even the vaunted "literary" type (rant off), and a lot of RPG-ers, again myself included. I think even my clubmates are shocked to find a "girl" who games. Of course the computer guys can get into endless conversations on the minutae of computers, and gaming, which I don't get. When they start talking "geek", I slip unobtrusively--not that they'd notice if I weren't-- away, sit by myself and think happy thoughts until they're done.

[HilandDoug]

I seem to notice there are a lot of engineers in fencing. Is that only common to Michigan, or has anyone else noticed that within their Divisions?

[sallearmourer]

I notice alot of my customers are lawyers and Doctors and colleage Professer. I know a least two pastor that fence. Myself I am retired CMS from the army and have a master in PE. My wife is a retired Air Force officer with a Master in Manament. We have a least three Doctors in the Division I know of.


Tim

[PeterGustafsson]

Personally, I am a PhD. in mining technology. (If you have problems with insommnia, I can recommend my Magnum Opus - a 253-page thesis on how magnetite ore flows! )My club has a jeweler, a dentist, and a bunch of jun. high and high school students. Among the present and former Sw. national teams, one can find several people in the health professions (doctor, vet, dentist, physiotherapy student (or at least I think that that is the correct translation!)).

Catlady - you wrote about two types, roughly natural science vs. humanities people if I got you right. In your experience, did these 2 types gravitate to different weapons, or did weapon preference and personality type seem to be uncorrelated? In your experience, what is the relative prevalence of those 2 types?

Have a ncie time!

Peter Gustafsson

[Catlady]

I haven't really noticed a weapon preference correlated to the two categories I mentioned. As for me, I do foil, want to learn sabre and may eventually end up doing epee too. A friend with a degree in communications does foil and epee, with a little interest in sabre. Two of the engineer types are both three weapon guys technically,--incidentally the best fencers in the club imho, though I believe that has more to do with both the length of time they've been at it and athletic ability than with how they think or their profession-- but tend to do mostly foil and sabre lately, although that has to do somewhat with the fact that our current coach isn't terribly fond of epee. Anyway, so no, I don't see a lot of variation.

I do think that both the types I mentioned are attracted to fencing because it's a "thinking person's" sport. I mean that athletic ability will be a great deal of help, but ultimately between two equally matched fencers, it's usually the better thinker/tactician who wins. I know that's part of what attracts me--to foil especially (I don't want to revive the old my weapon is better than yours debate here, it's just that foil lends itself the most, due to its pacing and rules, to "head games". Though that's just my not so humble opinion.)

[DamedEscrime]

Of the adults at Escrime du Lac...there are lawyers, teachers, professors, homemakers, factory workers. Im a teacher!
All of us started on foil and have changed to epee except 2 that do sabre on the side.

[DHCJr]

It is also interesting the occupation of the Armorers who work on your equipment. The majority does not seem to be Engineers as you would expect. Take for example Dan DeChaine, Joe Byrnes and Ted Li, probably the three best Armorers in the world. Dan was a Commercial Artist and Technical Writer, Joe was head of the NYU English Department and Ted is an English Teacher.

These three have always amazed me that they were not engineers.

[DamedEscrime]

Hehe....funny you should say that..Im the armourer too.

[schlager7]

At the Clear Lake Fencing Club we have a number of engineers and aerospace professionals (We are just down the road from NASA's Johnson Space Center). We also have a graphics artist, a silversmith (my wife), a violinist with the Houston Symphony, one rent-a-pig (me), a teacher, etc...

A number of our members are amateur astronomers (see above).

We almost always have at least onemember who is also an archer...must be a swashbuckling thing.

[Gav]

Let's see we have:

A couple of cumputer types (me included).
A statistician (well this is Edinburgh lots of banks and stuff).
An analogue electronic chip designer.
A carpet saleswoman.
A headhunter (no not a tribesman - a hirer and firer).
A 'supposed' bodyguard...
A jeweller (from a famile of jewellers).
A couple of Fencing masters (it's what they do! What can I say?)
a couple of civil servants (one of whom is a visiting Fencing Master)
Oh! An ex-ballerina with a Doctorate in Quantum Mechanics.

[D'Artagnan1673]

As far as education is concerned, my club seems to be a mixed bag. The majority of the people are definately computer oriented. I have an A.A.S. in Computer Information Systems. I am going back to college for the quickest B.S. I can get, Industrial Technology. This has more to do with the fact that if I want my promotion, I need to get a Bachelors ASAP. If I had all the time I wanted, I'd go more for English or History.

[thebigriddle]

Well, my old club was a lot of engineers which started to shift to doctors. We had one for a long time and think all of the younger fencers saw what a great guy he is and thought wow cool I really like to be a doctor. Not sure about it now, we got a lot college students I know that. I think certain personality types plays a role. Fencing is a sport that requires a the use of logic and lot of thinking.