Woody Cavenaugh

If you have ever participated in sport as either a parent on the sidelines or as a player, you know that each sport has its own idiosyncrasies that must be dealt with. In soccer you know you are going to spend all day outside. Ice hockey translates into expensive equipment and matches at all hours of the day and night, bring a warm jacket.

Fencing has its own special set of idiosyncrasies such as the fact that though the tournament takes all day you and your child will spend most of it waiting to fence. Bring a book and a comfortable chair because typically tournaments never have enough seating and not everyone is cut out for sitting on the floor for eight hours.

Food is another important consideration. In this respect we are more like soccer than high school volleyball. Don't expect a snack bar. Don't even count on a vending machine. Best bet, bring a smallish cooler with bottled water and healthy snacks. The best choices are things like string cheese, trail mix, and the like, the obviously problem with this is the best foods seem to be the ones most kids are allergic to. Do you best to pick stuff you and your child enjoy that also have good nutrition without being loaded with sugar. Protein and carbohydrates are key. A sandwich would work nicely. Don't get carried away with cooler size, the fencing spaces are usually space starved, and the first space to go is always the one meant for you.

Here's probably the best place to talk about shoes for fencing. Yes, there are fencing shoes, they are expensive, and specific. Football and soccer have cleats, which if your child has ever played you know because you probably have several pairs of fairly new cleats in your closet that they have outgrown and can' t really be worn anywhere else. So it is with fencing shoes. My suggestion, get some much less expensive shoe that could be worn everyday, good choices would include indoor soccer shoes, cheerleading shoes, or just general athletic shoes. Avoid running shoes and basketball shoes. Because of the ways that we use our feet in fencing, basketball and running shoes are more likely to cause injury to the ankle due to their shape. Hightops just won't work. If you see a high top fencing shoe, make sure that you look at both shoes together. Freaky huh. The off weapon shoe is low top, the weapon side shoe is high top. I did say they were pretty specific to fencing.

It is funny, I have seen parents with fencers go into the fencing space looking like a day at the beach, chairs, coolers, books, the whole deal. They set up on a half acre of floor space and then head over to the registration table to check in only to then realize that the fencer's USFA card is missing in action. We start with the "I thought you had it honey" conversation, and ends with mom emptying her purse on the counter. Always know where your USFA card is, you will definitely need it. If you aren't asked to show it, you will probably be disappointed with how the rest of the tournament is run, if you are new to the USFA a faxback receipt from the USFA works fine too.

So the card thing finally gets sorted out. Money changes hands and you begin your first waiting period for the event to start. Probably a good time to get dressed and get your mask, lame, and bodycords inspected at the armory. Ummmm....body-what? "Mom, where are my socks?"

We highly recommend having three things:

Thing one, a carry on style bag where 2 pairs of socks, 2 T-shirts, knickers, jacket, gender specific hard plastic protection (how's that for politically correct), underarm protector, mask, glove, etc.

Thing two, a fencing bag or other creative container (hard golf cases, PVC tube contraptions, etc) that holds the weapons, of which there must be two for each weapon fenced. You could store body cords here or in the carry on bag. Note the "s", there must be at least two bodycords and they must both work! Also if you are fencing saber don't forget the overglove and mask cords (yes two of them), these must be inspected at the armory as well. The idea here is to separate things that are going to be wet from things that should stay dry.

Thing three is really only necessary if you fence foil or saber and that's a heavy duty plastic hanger for holding the lame. Lames are metallic fibre items that cover valid target area. They are hand wash only, and are very fragile. Nothing kills a lame faster than to be folded and crammed into a mask. On the other hand, kept hung up and dry you can expect your child to outgrow it before having to replace it.

The next difficult thing to keep up with in fencing is where exactly you will fence and when. Sooner or later someone on the other side of a crowded gym will shout across the six or more crowded and active fencing strips something that sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. That may or may not have been the bout committee calling your child to strip. My best advice is to know when the registration for the event ends. Usually the fencing of that event begins soon after the close of registration. Make sure that by the close of registration your child is dressed up, inspected and ready to fence. If they announce that they are running late, then you can perhaps remove the lame only and return it to the hanger. Being late to strip is a penalty that leads to points against the fencer, really late could mean your child is dropped from the event. No one is going to let you get away with the "We didn't hear you call" defense.

When your child gets called first it is often an announcement of who is in what pool and when they will start. Medium sized events that are understaffed will often have to fence half of the pools first and the other half second. If so, its going to be a long day for everyone. A "pool" is a group of fencers who will fence each other. The score sheet keeps up with wins, loses, touches scored, and touches received. At the end of the pool the referee does math and comes up with a places in the pool for each fencer. Wins count first, indicators count also. The "indicator" is the total number of points your child made minus the number of touches they received. The number could be positive if they are doing well, negative if they are doing less well. When all of the pools in their event is finished the wins and the indicators are used to place the fencers into one big direct elimination bracket. Your child is typically finished with the event as soon as they are defeated. Unless of course there is repechage then they have to lose twice.

USFA Website for Parents: