Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

PittFencer · 01-15-2003, 11:04 PM

Hello,
I'm a Freshman at the University of Pittsburgh, who is, along with several other students, attempting to create a fencing club for the school. On the school side of things, we've been able to handle alot of the paperwork and administration aspects of getting it started, but what I am in need of is advice in terms of equipment, or more specifically, how to get it.

All schools in Pennslyvania are currently in a budget crunch, and Pitt is no exception. Our student activities funds are low, and so I know that I will not be getting the amount of money I actually need to buy the base equipment, and pay an intructor.

What I am looking for is any suggustions on places to go that may be able to provide discounts or help with this kind of situation, or if anyone knows of any programs USFA has for this kind of thing.

Even if no one can help with that, any suggustions on starting up a club would of course be welcome.

Thanks for any help that you can give me.
Tom

DHCJr · 01-16-2003, 01:20 PM

The USFA does have equipment grants, I would check on that. Go to the USFA web site under 'Info for Member and then 'Forms' and you will find applications for Development as well as Equipment Grants. Good luck.

swordsen · 01-17-2003, 12:57 PM

Go ye out and start having fund raisers.
Or do what I did at a the HS I teach at, have a tournament where the entry fee is a donation of either $$$ or usable equipment. I got close to $1000 worth of stuff. (lots of people outther outgrow jackets and knickers, replace masks that are still usable, etc.

Dan H · 01-17-2003, 05:50 PM

Tom,
I'm not sure I can help you with your equipment issues, but since I'm with the CMU Fencing Club right next door to you guys, I thought I should reply here and introduce myself.
We've found that $25 per semester in dues seems reasonable to CMU students; we provide them with equipment and we have a professional coach come in to teach the beginners' group. If you can maintain a membership of even 10 people steadily for the next 2 years at that dues rate, that's $1000 in club income with which you can buy equipment. That's enough to buy at least 10 foils, 10 masks, 10 jackets, and 10 gloves. As for the Student Activities funding, I'd suggest applying for some small amount for next school year - even just a couple hundred dollars, to get your foot in the door - and see if you can get it gradually increased every year. You'll have more leverage if you keep your membership numbers up.
Anyway, if you guys want to scrimmage with us some time, or just want to know where to find out more about the Pittsburgh fencing scene, send us an e-mail at fencing@andrew.cmu.edu.
Good luck and happy fencing,

Dan Hennessy

Dan H · 01-17-2003, 05:56 PM

Oh, and I forgot one critical potential source of income: hosting tournaments. It only costs something like $30 a year to become a USFA member club, and USFA member clubs are eligible to host division tournaments. The division is frequently looking for venues in which they can run local tournaments, and the hosting club gets a cut of the tournament proceeds. It's sometimes a lot of work to make sure everything gets done, but it's a good way to augment your club's funds.
The Western Pennsylvania Division website is at http://trfn.clpgh.org/wpd/ if you want to contact them.

-Dan H

Linkthealmighty · 11-16-2006, 12:56 AM

Tom,
My name's Jordon and three years ago I started a fencing club at Brevard College. We get the vast majority of our funding from our SGA (which isn't an option for you I guess). I would suggest Absolute or Tripplet they both give pretty good discounts, or look for a vendor in your area that sells stuff and talk to them or go by (sometimes that works). I guess my best advice is to get your club to where you can hold tournaments and charge entry fees. That's starting to work for us but it did take a while. Let us know if there's anything else we down here in NC can do to help out.

mrbiggs · 11-16-2006, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linkthealmighty

Tom,
My name's Jordon and three years ago I started a fencing club at Brevard College. We get the vast majority of our funding from our SGA (which isn't an option for you I guess). I would suggest Absolute or Tripplet they both give pretty good discounts, or look for a vendor in your area that sells stuff and talk to them or go by (sometimes that works). I guess my best advice is to get your club to where you can hold tournaments and charge entry fees. That's starting to work for us but it did take a while. Let us know if there's anything else we down here in NC can do to help out.

Assuming Tom was a freshman when he made the thread, he's going to graduate this June. I'm pretty sure that the issue has resolved by now.

gatorjosh · 11-16-2006, 01:58 AM

a 4 year old thread? heh

Linkthealmighty · 11-16-2006, 11:32 AM

Heh heh, wow. Not sure how I found that but I suppose I should have checked the date. I guess since Tom's only had one post to date he's not still around anymore either. Oops

Greg · 11-16-2006, 11:52 AM

There are quite a few steps. You need to recruit lots of beginners (you can expect a 50% drop out rate usually) and then commit to training them to fence - typically with a well structured and fun fencing class. So one or more of the founders of the club needs to be able and willing to take the time to teach. Its fun, but time consuming and challenging. Some people start teaching, then get bored or really just want to fence and start to blow off the teaching. Then the beginners start to leave.

Then you must charge dues to join. You can set them depending on the market at your university. What do the other clubs charge. Our club charges $50 a semester. For this, a new members gets use of a full set of equipment and up to two days of formal training each week of the 15 week semester.

We got the club discount from Absolute which is 20% for registered clubs on their house brand equipment which is fine.

The club needs to be well run. Those who teach need to show up and teach the class properly. Attendance at the USFA Coaches College or a similar program helps alot to learn how to do it properly. Being a good fencers does not always mean that you are a good teacher.

Then you need to give them a reason for training. Our club has inter-club meets each semester with awards and also attends USFA meets.

You will need a practice venue and a place to store equipment that is secure. You will also need an armorer and a treasurer to order equipment and manage the money. Someone also has to be willing to wash stinky beginner jackets and gloves.

Equipment is less of an issue that it seems. With dues at $40 or $50 a person for a full semester of training, you can buy enough dry gear to get people started. People are willing to pay $80 or $90 for a ten week park district fencing class so offering them a full semester of two day a week lessons is a great deal. New people usually don't object to sharing equipment. Many will buy their own if they stay with the sport.

You may have to pass the hat around the founding members at the beginning to buy a bunch of foils, masks, jackets and gloves to get things going. Students will generally be leary of paying dues until they try things out for a couple of weeks so it helps to have some equipment ready at the beginning. But once they pay, you can pay yourselves back and buy the new stuff. It took our club about three years before we were full equiped with 15 sets of equipment plus several sets of electrical foil sets and a scoring maching.