My nephew has asked me about fencing. I'm a little out of practice with foil, but it wouldn't take much to get back into it. A few years ago, I considered working with a friend in Tennessee to open up a fencing academy. It didn't happen. I had just moved and it wasn't really a great time. Kind of similar circumstances for him. The majority of my experience is foil. I never did saber and I only did a little epee.
Recently, I've been toying with the idea of becoming an official Moniteur de Foil. I can pass the written test, but I just need a little hands-on practice to get back into the swing of things. I mean, I wouldn't want to look like a dummy during the physical test.
I've been pretty excited about getting back into fencing and teaching it to my nephew. I have a number of drills written out, fencing practice sets (what we do for those days), and even various dryland type days - which have no fencing, but are meant to make you a better fencer. When I fenced, we didn't have dryland practice, it was just all fencing every time. The best fencer on the team had a few days where he drove himself to ballet class. I thought that was pretty cool, but it just wasn't possible with locations and daily schedules. Anyway, my dryland sets focus on either flexibility/footwork, explosive movements, and general strength training.
Taking a quick look at the area's high school websites, I have found that there are no longer high school fencing teams in Fairbanks. It's only up at the university. It would be kind of rad to form a fencing club, but I don't know what level of interest there is for it.
It's not super expensive to get started with fencing, though it's quite possible to really dump some money into it. "Clothing does not make the man." Honestly, you just need basic gear to get started. You can upgrade it if you need to or if you really find yourself getting into it. The only kicker is that you MUST have certain items in order to start fencing.
At one point I was hoping to start up a local quidditch club (because I'm certified to coach), but I couldn't get enough interest.
If anyone is interested in fencing...or quidditch, for that matter...leave me a comment or send me an email.
Very cool!