My Son is a fencer, is a sophomore and has been fencing since 7th grade. We go to a club near New York he is rated E and does well in most cadets, Div 2 and div 3. Didn’t perform well in Nac. My question is should I still have him
Continue the sport it’s a lot of money and commitment and I don’t see him becoming the top 4 kids in the nation? He has a good GPA goes to a prep school in Princeton has only 1 B so far in freshmen year in honors geometry
So what if he isn’t the top 4 in the nation? More important…does your son enjoy fencing, and can you afford to have him continue if he does?
He doesn’t need to be a recruited athlete…but he can continue this because he enjoys it. If you are wondering about fencing and recruitment, read this this thread…but really if he enjoys it, and it’s within your budget, i say…let him continue. Some students actually pursue sports because they enjoy them…not because they are the top in their sport or intend to be a recruited athlete in college.
I agree a 100 percent with you, he enjoys to fence . But I am not able to keep up with the costs as the coach always recommends strip coaching, doing camps over the holidays, travel for tournaments. I am not a millionaire I am a working mom. There is little the kid understands as he wants to keep doing the sport plus the tournament travels and everything. He keeps telling me to
Move him from the private school and keep fencing but I cannot justify that to
Myself !
Checking for clarity…you are paying for private school but don’t have additional funds for all the fencing activities.
Private schools can be a terrific thing for kids. But my opinion is you have to look at the whole package. For your kid, this includes some involvement in fencing. I’m wondering if there is some other less costly forum for the fencing. I would hate to see a kid give up something he truly loves unless all other options have been explored.
You are a working mom…where is the other parent on this issue?
i would love to explore less costly forum. Especially since our options are so limited with the number of clubs that offer this. We tried the referring route too there is only one head ref that works with the high school kids. The others want him to just volunteer.
My youngest fenced, also had an E rating, but we never had the expense you do. Fencing was a $10 a month add-on at the health club! So, I’d say, yeah, look for clubs where the training is a little less costly. Fencing is a great sport. Mine took her college years off and has picked it up again as an adult (and clearly now is not rated). Great exercise. Cost for the club is around $90 a month (in the East Bay). Classes/open fencing are but 2 days a week and competitions are pretty much local only. It’d be huge step down for him in terms of training, but rec club level might be a way to keep him in the sport and you out of the poorhouse.
I love this suggestion . I researched some more came across a good foundation in NY but the wait time is around 2 years
Are you saying that the fencing coach will drop your son if he doesn’t participate in all the camps, events, etc. Have you spoken to the coach and explained that you have a budget. Have you told him there are some activities you can’t afford and that you want to know which ones are essential? I would try to keep your son involved in the sport, especially if he loves what he’s doing.
There are SO many fencing clubs in metro NYC. If your current coach/club cannot or is not willing to allow you to continue competitive fencing and tournament participation at a level you can afford, then you need to find a new club.
We were in a similar situation with fencing several years ago, and now my daughter is collegiate fencer. Like you, we started down the path of going to lots of travel tournaments where the coaching staff traveled as well and paid for additional lessons, coach travel, strip coaching, etc. That gets very expensive very fast. Your son probably knows it’s expensive too, and that pressure of feeling like “we’re paying a lot for me to be here” may actually be counter-productive to performing well.
Thankfully, we were able to make arrangements with her club to scale back the cost. Starting about her sophomore my daughter switched her approach. She did very few NACs and she focused on regional tournaments (ROCs, RJCCs, and large club-sponsored events) instead. These were tournaments we could drive to and the only additional expense was perhaps a single hotel night. She did most of these tournaments with no strip coaching – she had fencing friends that helped each other with strip coaching instead. And without the pressure of the expense and feeling she needed to perform, she started to relax, have more fun at tournaments, and her fencing improved as a result.
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Sorry, I didn’t reply earlier to this. I don’t think the coach would be of any help to us on this issue. I missed 2 Nacs after the one nac I travelled for and he just asked why we did not go I told him the cost is too much and then the performance is not there to which he had nothing to say. I cut down on private lessons also a lot and will re visit my approach in January. Thank you again !