Fencing is a competitive sport.  There are age range events for children under 10 years old and for “veteran fencers” over 70 years old with a lot of options in between.  There are local, national and international competitions. At RFA we pride ourselves on the quality of our competitive program.  Our students are successful competitors earning gold medals at all levels of competition from local to national events.

 

Our philosophy, is to first find the students who really enjoy the process of learning fencing and love the sport. Then worry about  competition level training.  Being correctly prepared for competition is a long term process that requires an enjoyment of the process.

 

Fencing uses a unique stance and style of motion.  It can take a couple of years  of training until the movement is natural enough to consider competing.  A number of  people who come to fencing wanting to compete don't have the patience and discipline to master these skills on a competitive level and thus never compete.

 

On the other hand we have a lot of competitors who had no desire to compete when they signed up for their beginning course.  They just wanted to try something new.   They ended up enjoying the challenge of learning fencing and mastered the basics.  When they wanted the next challenge -- they started competing.

 

As a general rule, it take two years of fencing more than once a week to become a competent entry level competitive fencer.

Yes!!!  Fencing uses a unique set of muscles and skills not found in most other mainstream sports.  We find that kids are able to do things in fencing even though they have problems doing things like catching or hitting balls.  Physical coordination is always very helpful if you want to be a top fencer but you can still have fun fencing without it.

It is an extra challenge.  At RFA it is our goal to help develop a child's focus including bringing ADD/ADHD kids up to the high standard of focus that we demand for safety reasons. We will not lower our standard for an ADD/ADHD child.  However, we have no problem doing the extra work they require, which includes time outs as needed for them to refocus.  When the child and family are in agreement with our approach, then we have had much success in working with ADD/ADHD children.

You will fit right into RFA's adult program.  We have many middle aged (in fencing terms – veteran) fencers.  Many of our Veteran fencers have never fenced before and start in our beginning program   while others are coming back to the sport after a multiple decade hiatus.  On a competitive basis we have one of the best programs in the Nation.  Routinely our RFA members and teams bring back  national medals in the Vet 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's age ranges.

Fencing footwork is one of the most important elements to being a fencer.  The footwork is taught in the first couple of classes, and can be a challenge to make up especially with larger class sizes.  We will consider allowing registration within a week or two from the class's start date.  After two weeks we feel that students are put at enough of a disadvantage that they would be best served by waiting until the next session.