Why don’t more people fence? Here are 5 reasons why you should.

That’s a question Emery asked me a couple of weeks ago. Actually, his statement might have been more along the lines of “I wish more people fenced.” That’s a question I’ve been thinking about as I wish more people were fencing.

Emery started fencing when he was nine. We had been through the usual sports—swimming, karate, soccer, none of them were keeping him interested in enough to continue longer than a season. Our local YMCA had a Saturday morning fencing class and I figured “Why not?”

I think I had a lot of misconceptions of fencing. To me, it was a sport for (and forgive me for my stereotyping) upper class people like lacrosse and polo.

But, it’s not. Soon after we started fencing at the Y, the teacher moved to another city. But he recommend a local fencing school and a few months later, we gave it a try.  Four years later, Emery is still fencing.

And, here are my top five reasons why you should seek out your local fencing school:

1.    Exercise. The point is, they probably don’t understand how much exercise they are getting. I doubted the amount of exercise until I started watching practices, and it’s a full body sport that focuses on strategy, strength, and balance.

2.    It’s not a team sport. Not all kids are suited to team sports. And, if you’re kid thrives on creativity and theatrics; this is their sport. Oh, and boys and girls compete against each other.

3.    There’s not a crazy crowd and it doesn’t have to be competitive. I was surprised at our first fencing tournament. First, there were not many parents there and no shouting or even applauding during bouts. Even now, I’ve seen overbearing parents chastised by their children or carefully encouraged by event managers not to interfere.Again, fencers have the opportunity to compete in our fencing school at a level with which they are comfortable. Emery doesn’t have to compete, but if he does it’s always a good experience.

4.    There are opportunities to interact with other age groups. At Emery’s fencing school, fencers of all ages fence and encourage each other. Emery fences 8 years olds and 40 something year olds.

5.    If you find the right fencing school, it’s really not that expensive. Our coach has equipment that he loans out to students. The tuition is minimal.

And for those of us in the warmer parts of the country—fencing is a year-round, INDOOR sport. That’s right, no sun.

I think perhaps given its scarcity as a school sport (at least where we live), many people are unaware of it. And, I can’t even think of the name of a famous fencer, while I can name a golfer, basketball player, football player, and ice skater, so there are not many role models for kids to want to become someday. And, I’ve never heard of a fencing mom.

What I really want to convey in this post is that there are so many sports for kids these days and I think it’s important for them to find one that promotes a life-long relationship with personal fitness. For me, it was swimming. For Emery, it’s fencing. What’s yours?

Emery’s note: I agree with most of these statements, but when did we do soccer? But I would defiantly rather learn fencing then those other sports. Its a lot more fun to me, involving a lot of thinking ahead, like chess.