Fencing
A few thoughts on Fencing.....Modern fencing is a wonderful sport for both men and women. It can be particularly rewarding for women, because it is one of only a few sports in which, in their Fencing Club, they compete equally with men – success relies on developing tactics and a sense of distance and timing, rather than strength and force.
Fencing is an ancient form of self-defence, tracing back to the Bronze-age and pre-history. Through the middle ages and particularly during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries fencing became synonymous with honour and chivalry, today perhaps most often represented in the public consciousness by the exploits of Dumas’s musketeers ! Fencing was practised across all European nations – Napoleon, Dickens, Marx, Michaelangelo, Mozart, and Churchill were all good fencers – and its popularity lives on today as an Olympic sport: one of the very few sports to have been included in all the Games of the Modern Era.
Modern fencing codifies this rich heritage, and preserves “the character of a courteous and frank encounter” (F.I.E. article 28). Fast, yet elegant, fencing successfully links the traditions of yesterday with the technology, and expectations, of today.
Fencing expresses respect – for oneself and for one’s opponent. It is blind to gender, colour, and class: one is simply facing the person, in a mask, at the other end of the fencing piste. There’s not too much conversation, and money doesn’t help.
Fencing is among the very safest of sports. Clothing and equipment have to meet rigorous and continually updated standards, and are manufactured using the most modern materials and techniques - such as Kevlar and Maraging steel - making incidents and accidents extremely rare.
About me....Some years ago, an opportunity arose for me to work in the West Indies for two years, and after the usual hesitations, I and my family moved to Barbados. While there, I helped to form the Barbados Fencing Club (first time swords had been used there for about two hundred years !). When eventually we returned, I decided to take coaching qualifications so that I could give something back to the sport that has given me so much pleasure over many years.
Today, I am a qualified, accredited coach with the British Academy of Fencing, Britain's foremost fencing coaching organisation.
I teach fencing to adults, and school students. I teach in fencing clubs, State Primary and Secondary schools in Tower Hamlets and Bromley, both within the curriculum and in "after-school clubs", and I teach in several Independent schools. I also give private lessons to small groups and individuals.
I also still go to my fencing clubs just "to fence" with my friends.
It's a wonderful sport.
CostA bit of a tricky one because it rather depends on whether you have in mind a larger group of students, or a smaller group. Either way, I supply all the equipment, and a venue unless you have a better one.
Incidentally, my fencing lessons include a lot of 1-to-1 work (it's a bit like learning to drive), so I prefer not have more than 12 students. 14 maximum.
For 8 or more students I charge
£5.00 per student per session, which includes the equipment I supply, but does
not include the cost of the venue. For fewer than 8, they must share the burden of
£40.00, but bear in mind that the fewer people, the more of a "private lesson" it becomes.
Best, honestly, to 'phone me (on 020 8295 0626), and we can discuss it. All decisions absolutely yours.
