Causality in the popularity of televised fencing.

[Prometheus]

Recently a number of thread have ended up mired in the doldrums of:
"why fencing is not on television"
"how we can make fencing popular for television"
"FIE policy and television"
"sports attitudes and television"
etc.

Perhaps the reason that the world at large would rather watch David Beckham then Ralph Bisdorf is football (soccer) is a sport that an exceptionally large portion of people have played at least recreationally. This discounts those that have parented, dated or been otherwise tied to the sport.

For evidence in the states refer to major league baseball.

I would argue that baseball when viewed objectively is exceptionally boring. It has large amounts of downtime; the vast majority of at bats result in an out and it is relatively non-contact. But as Americans, we grow up participating in little league games, in gym class, going to the field with parents. Baseball has become a cultural institution in this country.

These two, often low scoring sports receive much more media attention, and general interest then "exciting" (fast paced, perhaps violent etc.) sports like hockey, boxing, wakeboarding and Xtreme combat elimination flyfishing that are often relegated to obscure time slots or cable television.

I simply propose that sports that are popular are naturally more "television friendly" because people are already interested in watching them. Thus, to make fencing more "tele-visable," the only option is to get more people involved in the sport to begin with, and, efforts to make fencing more popular by getting it on television are somewhat in vain.

If anything televised sports have become less interesting. That is unless you enjoy sitting in a stadium listening to Jock Rock anthems during the TV time out.

In retrospect I have mixed feelings about starting another thread with this topic. It just distresses me when the FIE proposes rule changes seeming every year to try to woo the networks.

[Wizardly]

I'm inclined to agree that more has to be done at the grassroots level in the US. I know very much how fencing is underappreciated in schools though. My own high school very grudgingly gave fencing sport status while I was there. This is probably another of the paradoxes faced: more people means more support, but people will not join without the support. However, I think it is because the local high school has a fencing team we were able to more easiliy start a junior high school program.

Please let me know: does anyone find it easier to gain park district support to start a program rather than going through, for example, high schools? I ask because, as Prometheus observed, people watch the sports they grew up loving. I think most people also get their first taste of organized sports through park districts which tend to offer little league baseball, soccer, football, and basketball. I'm also inclined to agree with the point of his post which I will distill into a lame metaphore: if you want a tall pyramid, you need a wide base. I imagine if you're willing and can get fencing offered at this level (in my experience, park districts advertise the hell out of their programs because, if for no other reason, it's good politics) more people would do it.

I just think of it like this: originally, basketball was a couple of guys who'd nail wooden baskets atop poles and throw balls into it. Not a lot of people would have known about it and most probably thought it a pretty bizzare activity. A few decades later, we've got the NBA. We've already got the FIE and USFA; we just need to convince people to play our obscure, bizzare sport. I'm also inclined to believe that whatever makes tennis a spectator sport could just as well apply the fencing (except for the short skirts on the women...that holds a lot of appeal, but there's not much we can do about it).

[GrimRiposter]

When we started our club in 1997, we had no support from any organization: school or Parks & Rec. We ended up going it alone, renting space from a Community Center. The majority of school systems wouldn't even rent space to us for tournaments. When the teacher at a local high school asked us to do a demo for her English Lit class (They were doing Hamlet), the principal quickly vetoed the idea since it violated the school's zero tolerance on weapons! I had a meeting with the admin board and got THAT straightened out. We offered an introductary fencing class to 28 different P&R, fitness facilities, schools, etc, free of charge. No one took us up on it or even responded!

We do ok now. We're still not associated with anyone, but we're large enough now that we don't need to be. One of the schools systems took a chance on us (and we had a member who was friends with someone at scheduling) and now we have access to great facilities for our tournaments. We're starting to work on getting a high school/Jr. high program going now, so if anyone has any suggestions on how to do it....

[Bavwaqnip]

I agree. The problem is that Fencing needs to be more accessible. There are entire regions of the United States where there is no where to fence. Nothing. How does it expand?

Children are the secret. As a parent of two sports-aged kids, I know that insane amounts of money gets spent on their sports. Parents will do what it takes to get their kids to be the best at what they do. For example, competitive gymnastics for a 5 year old girl costs $45.00 per month for three hours a week. Private lessons, $15.00 an hour. Embroidered team leotard, $30.00. Entry fees for sanctioned gym meet, $25.00. Coaches fee for said meet, $10.00. Travel expenses for said meet, $50.00 to $150.00, depending on the distance. Watching your little girl pick her nose on the balance beam in front of the judges...priceless.

Parents are suckers for their children. So if you attract more children to fencing, you not only have more athletes, you have more fans. If parents from one sleepy little town hear that kids from another little town are fencing, they will travel for practices so that their kids don't miss out. It will spread. The fact is that if kids don't get started in a sport young, they most likely won't care about it later on.

Obviously, five years old is too young to start fencing. I'll wait. Obviously, it would be difficult for a girl of that age to pick her nose through the mask. You don't know my daughter. The fact is that as soon as they are able, my kids will at least try fencing. I think a push to begin teaching children, at the earliest possible age, would help the sport tremendously.

[DanInMI]

Well...i agree that is ONE factor. If more people fenced, then more people would be interested in watching fencing.
I have never played Hockey, most people haven't, but I am a big Hockey fan none the less. The most popular spectator sport in the world is formula one racing, there are probably fewer people that have ever raced a car on a race track than have fenced.

The reason that anybody ever watches a sport is because there is a drama involved. In any good drama the audience needs to know the players. If the audience does not know the players...they don't have any investment in drama.

An example is baseballl, there are many American's that love baseball, but if you were to sit them in front of a broadcast of a Japanese professional baseball game they would be bored stiff. The reason (mostly) is that they don't know the players. When Sammy Sosa steps up to the plate the spectator knows that Sammy is capable of hitting a homerun. He also knows that he has only 6 homeruns year to date, and that he recently lost a lot of credibility because he was caught using a corked bat.

This is all a big part of that drama. Without knowing the player he is just another guy stepping up to the plate.

One of the biggest success stories in introducing the spectators to the players in recent years has to be the Women's US Soccer team. They did a great job in showing who they are to the American public a few years ago for the Women's World Cup. It went beyond "self promotion." They public felt they really knew something about these athletes, and cared about them. And the result has been that they have been the biggest ambassodores for the sport in the US since Pele` retired.

[a517dogg]

5 isn't too young, a couple people at my club have been fencing since they were conceived.