In the Mar 2016 article, Parent’s Corner discussed regional points for fencing. This month, Parent’s Corner is going to give an overview of national points from the point of view
ContinueNow that RFC has finished with its second large event of the fencing year, the Brick ROC (with many thanks to co-host RIT Fencing Club!), the next question on many
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If your fencer competed at the recent SYC here in Rochester as their first major tournament, or has recently travelled to a larger tournament, they may have experienced a formal
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Last month I had the pleasure of attending the Junior Olympics (JOs) fencing competition in Richmond VA with my daughter. This is the end-of-season championship event for Cadet (Under 16)
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A Body Cord Haiku: Fencing Body Cord Necessary Equipment They’re Always Broken OK, so that was corny, but you get the picture. Inevitably as a fencing parent, my daughter will
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Last month we discussed the A through E letter rating system used to classify fencers and tournaments. This month we’ll talk about the types of tournaments available for different age
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March Madness just ended – no, not the March Madness you are thinking of, but rather the 2016 NCAA Fencing Championships were just held at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA,
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USA Fencing maintains both regional and national points lists by age, gender, and weapon. The regional and national points lists are completely independent of each other, and are earned at
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This article was originally written for the September 2014 newsletter, but there’s been lots of exciting growth at RFC recently with many new fencing families, so it seemed like a
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The October and November 2015 Parent’s Corner discussed understanding pools and understanding DEs. There’s one final step – determining a fencer’s finishing placement after DEs. Most fencing competitions don’t do
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Rochester Fencing Club is hosting a Super Youth Circuit (SYC) October 23-25, 2015, and this is an opportunity for all the fencers (and parents) of RFC to be positive role-models
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Last month, Parent’s Corner discussed how to read pool results and how this leads to a seeding for a direct elimination (DE) round of a fencing tournament. This month we’ll
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This post is to help de-mystify the pool results you’ll see online or in event “live result” websites and to understand how they influence the seeding of fencers for the
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Parents’ Corner November 2014: Who’s FRED? Finding fencing tournaments outside of Rochester If your youth fencer has reached a point where he/she would like to try fencing tournaments outside of Rochester with
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January 2015: Summer Nationals Qualification for Y10, Y12, and Y14 We’ve just rolled into January, so it’s time to think of… Summer Nationals?! Now is a good time, because there
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February 2015: Fencing and Social Media A fun short topic for a cold and short month – Fencing and Social Media! Almost everyone reading this probably has Facebook, Instagram and/or
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April 2015 Parent’s Corner: Stenciling of Fencing Gear If your child is relatively new to fencing, you’ve probably noticed some of the older kids have their last name in
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Steps to Successful Goal Setting What is Goal Setting? What sets apart athletes who achieve their dream goal from those who don’t? Most of us have set goals for ourselves
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The Fear of Failure “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” – Babe Ruth As we move full swing into the fencing season, many fencers will
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Footwork, Footwork, Footwork. Regardless of which weapon you fence or what level of competition you compete at, there is one element of fencing that simply cannot be ignored: footwork. Footwork
ContinueMake the Most Out of Every Tournament. Over the course of the season, the average competitive fencer will travel to and compete in several tournaments. From local events, to regional
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The Power of Positive Imagery If you watched the Winter Olympics in Sochi last month you probably saw glimpses of athletes going through some interesting pre-competition routines. You may have
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Rest and Recovery As the Summer National Fencing Championships draw near, it can be tempting for many athletes preparing for competition to train as much as possible in order to
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Practice Against Everyone Throughout your fencing career you will encounter many different opponents varying in skill and experience level. One of the most beneficial forms of practice is bouting. The
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The Referee. As a competitive fencer, you will at some point disagree with the calls the referee makes. As a young competitor, I often found myself infuriated with referees who
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“The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare,” Juma Ikangaa When I was a young student, my coach Hristo would occasionally halt our practice, and have the
ContinueWhether this is your first or fifth season as a member of the RFC’s competitive program, there are a number of things you will need to do to make the
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Fencing Lessons for Life: What else are you walking away with other than getting really good at hitting people with swords? Competitive fencers spend hours upon hours perfecting hits, timing,
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Goal Setting: Outcome verses Process Very few athletes, if any, set out not wanting to win during competition. Everyone wants to do their best, and everyone hopes to win. However,
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Off the Piste: Food, Hydration, and all that stuff that keeps you going. While I’ve spent a lot of time writing about all the things you can do to enhance
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Intensity of Awareness: How to Improve Your Control of the Moment What is intensity? What I mean by intensity isn’t so much related to how much speed and force your
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Practice Bouting: Competitive vs. Skill Enhancement Over the course of your fencing career, you are going to spend a lot of time training with practice bouts; 5 touch, 15
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When I first started fencing at the Sacramento Fencing Club, there was a gangly fencer named James who always came in early, warmed up on his own and started doing
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In practice, we work hard to improve our physical abilities like footwork, bladework, bouting. As competitive athletes we spend hours during the week trying to perfect our skills. But there
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The Ben Gutenberg Memorial Super Youth Circuit in Rochester: Oct 23 – 25, 2015 Rochester Fencing Club will be hosting a Super Youth Circuit (SYC) event this October, and
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