The SabreCoachKate Blog has moved over to a new site, on https://www.cuttingedgefencing.com/sabrecoachkate-blog! To view this post about ageism at fencing, click here https://www.cuttingedgefencing.com/post/ageism-at-the-fencing-club.
Ageism at the Fencing Club
Published by sabrecoachkate
I am a native Iowan who longed for more than a simple Midwestern life. I went to school in France for two years and fell in love with the people, culture, and language. Since I am a crazy woman I moved to Texas–land of Spanish-speakers–after graduation to teach French in a high school. 13 years in public school taught me a lot and gave me many leadership opportunities. In 2012, my husband, David, and I decided to take a risk and both teach part-time so we could try and build up our fencing club. It was a long, challenging road, full of sacrifice and lots of beans and rice to save money. It paid off as the club grew from 1400 square feet, to 5600, to our third location with 10 metal strips, a workout area, a full armory, and a large parent area. One year in, when we were just starting to break even, Covid came. We offered classes every night on Zoom and worked so hard to keep our tight-knit community together but, as more people had to drop fencing for financial reasons, we had to close CEFC. When quarantine was over, we tried to have a physical location again in a room on the top floor of a hockey center in Euless but it just wasn’t the same. We sold all our equipment to a friend in St. Louis and reluctantly closed the door on that dream. David interviewed for other coaching positions and was hired as the sabre coach at Atlantic Fencing Academy in New Jersey. We packed up everything that would fit into our pickup and moved East. I found a job as an Instructional Designer at Seton Hall University and David also secured the Head Fencing Coach job at Wagner College. We never imagined he’d be a Division 1 NCAA coach, but here we are. I’m a Volunteer Coach there so we still get to travel together to tournaments and keep our joint involvement in the fencing world alive. I was never able to successfully coach and compete at the same time and had given up competition for about five years to focus on the club and our fencers. Now that I no longer have the stress of club ownership, I have once again turned my focus and determination to making the Veteran World Team. Although I still miss the camaraderie of CEFC and being able to train regularly with adult fencers, I find ways of keeping my fencing skills sharp. Although life definitely threw some curve balls, this move has been good for me. I enjoy exploring this new area and relish seeing the Raritan Bay every time I return to our apartment complex, the New York skyline as I venture farther north, and the Atlantic Ocean at Shore Points south. I now have strong opinions about pizza and know how to navigate jug handles. It doesn’t feel yet like “home” but I look forward to the kinds of adventure this new chapter will bring. View more posts
SabreCoachKate 
It’s getting better at my club. Some kids will just make excuses to not fence you. But what I find interesting is if a veteran fencers beats or is with in a point of the kid, they just say I’m not fencing well today. When in fact they just had a great bout and won’t give the veteran fencer any credit for a great bout.
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There is no such problem at my club, a climate of mutual respect and support is always present. But I wonder if there might be a difference in attitude based on which weapon is fenced. As for instance initial speed off the engarde line is so much more important in saber. Not fencing saber myself, I am just throwing that out there.
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Interesting thoughts. I think this is true for not only veteran fencers but some other fencers also- our fencing kid (she’s an older teen) has run into this situation – younger, less fencing experienced kids (grade school aged mostly) won’t fence her because she’s “good” – that’s why Saturday practice at the club is no longer being participated in – why bother when the younger kids won’t fence you or roll their eyes, shy away, not even try – just stand there waiting for her to get the touch, etc (kinda a waste of time in fencing kid’s eyes). I personally think that a lot of kids just like to fence other kids their same age/gender/ability – the group, stick together thing that’s done at school in their circle of friends. It’s a maturational thing – they don’t realize that fencing older and/or better fencers will make them better fencers themselves – hopefully they will learn this as they mature/get older themselves.
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It is all about culture – if you permit a culture of cliques (of age or of any type to grow) you will have a toxic club. And a toxic club eventually drives the good people away from our sport. This starts with club ownership and the coaching staff. It starts with having values that are communicated in writing and in action. It starts with enforcing those values by example, gently, and forcefully if necessary. Anyone who puts on a mask, jacket, and glove and picks up a weapon is a fencer and deserves respect and a fairly fought bout.
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By chance, it’s the second time today I’ve come across this idea of fencers not wanting to fence people who are on a different level/age group/etc. It’s all very new to me (and shocking!). Anyway, my two cents:
1) I’ve been in three clubs and I’ve never seen it happen. It may be because clubs in this country tend to be small and very mixed-ability: we don’t have any sort of “grading system”. Also, once you hit 20 y.o. even at national competitions you can be expected to fence against teenagers wanting experience, 40-year-olds who’ve just come back to the sport or 60 year-old-masters, to name a few. So… it makes little sense not wanting to fence with as many people as possible!
2) The discussion on another forum was along the lines of “when time/space is limited, you NEED to be selective in your bouts”. As I said, I’ve never been in that situation but I think it makes sense when someone is at a very competitive level. Shouldn’t make a difference to us, recreational fencers, IMHO.
That being said… I cannot imagine it being fun for foilists to be using beginners as pincushions all the time, LOL.
Anyway, let’s all be the best sport we can.
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That’s not ageism, that’s just being a jerk.
I have to agree with Walter that it’s a club culture thing, and ultimately is the result of the club organisers (be they coaches, managers, or even the members themselves) allowing self-worth to transform into elitism.
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Most kids at my club are great. Others are wretched, including openly rooting against me at practice. I wonder at the gender dynamic. I’ve been fencing a long time. I am female. The typical ‘problem fencer’ that I come against is the adolescent male. Of significant note, this tends to only happen when the head coach is not present….
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This makes me sad. Sad that you were made to feel “less than”. Sad that the kid knows what he’s doing is wrong and does it anyway. Sad that no one else spoke up. And sad that your learning process was mocked. I most sincerely hope that society in general and sport in particular finds a solution to bullying.
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Forgot to add — a huge problem for me is that at the DIV 1 NACs, young women simply refuse to warm up with me. THAT is a problem!
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This has happened to me too but I realized that certain clubs don’t want their fencers to warm up with fencers from other clubs before competition. Although I do not understand this AT ALL I figure it’s their loss. That doesn’t make the sting hurt any less….
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