Parent's Guide

A practical guide for parents with young sabre fencers who are interested in competing

Introduction

Whilst it is not obligatory to compete, most fencers will want to refine the hard earned skills & technique they’ve worked on at club sessions by competing at events where they will get the chance to test themselves against other fencers. It can all seem a bit mystifying – especially for non-fencing parents so we’ve made a guide that you can download (see button below) that we hope will help!

This is a practical guide for parents who have young sabre fencers who are interested in competing. Do read the book ‘From Last to First’, by our Head Coach Jon Salfield and fencing mum and author Daniela Norris, for detailed info about the develop of young fencers. This guide has some practical stuff relevant to getting started in youth competition in the UK.

If your young fencer wants to compete, speak to the coaches. They will help plan the fencer’s training and competitions. A fencer who is doing competitions should be having individual lessons. Speak to the coaches to organise this with them.

  • Parents need to manage the logistics of booking into competitions and the travel and accommodation arrangements for your fencer. Club admin can advise where coaches are staying if you’d like to stay in the same accommodation and can also help with other tips in the early days of competing. 
  • Parent Tip : if your young fencer gets bitten by the fencing bug and wants to progress onto the Elite Fencing Programme, it helps if you understand well in advance what the different competitions are and when they are so you can book them into your family calendar and plan around these accordingly. It also saves money to book accommodation early. It is a lot of planning and commitment but so well worth it when you see your youngster developing and hopefully getting selected for England and GBR.

The perfect starting point for all parents and young fencers. This book covers everything that someone starting out in club or competitive fencing would need to know, and more, whilst presenting it in a concise and easy to understand format. With endorsements from some of the biggest names in fencing along with 10% of the proceeds going to charity, this is the new must have fencing book.

Written by GB Sabre Coach Jon Salfield and fencing parent Daniela Norris

£10.83 EX VAT