For the record.

Hello, my name is AJ, and this is my blog. I am 25 years old, and in the process of building a fencing club in Missoula, Montana. I started fencing in Minneapolis in 1998 and fenced for the Minnesota Sword Club for 6 years of my later childhood.

I started this blog because it has become apparent just how much goes into founding a club. I would like to share with others my difficulties and experiences in the hopes that it will be helpful or at least entertaining.

I find it appropriate to start at the beginning, and so I shall:

I graduated in high school in 2003 along with the strongest saber team my club had ever produced. I had remained a low ranked fencer for my entire life largely because my teammates were just that terrifying. I earned my first "B" the summer I graduated and was a "D" up until then. For those not in the know, that means that I was looked upon as little more than a speed bump until that summer, at which point the "B" denotes that someday I might be a decent fencer.

Almost all of my teammates went to college at NCAA schools for fencing. While I got into NYU, Johns Hopkins, and a few other top flight schools, I was given no money to go to them. Instead, I decided I would take a break from national competitions and go to college in Montana. The shock of going from a competitive club that churned out murderers in NCAA to a college club that met in a class room half the size of a regulation strip was intense. I recall showing up expecting to defend where I came from, only to find that I was the only one with any competitive training.

I went to one tournament in the Inland Empire division. A total of 10 points was scored on me throughout my event, and I did what any frustrated young athlete might do. I quit. I took up college Ultimate Frisbee which was WAY more intense and rewarding. Most importantly, I did not quit because I suddenly had no competition. On the contrary, I was more than willing to train students. What I will relate next might be shocking to big city fencers.

I wasn't allowed to train students because Saber was looked upon as an unskilled weapon that anyone could do. Epee was some foul aberration of Foil meant to be fenced standing still, and Foil was the only true blade in the sport of fencing. I recall one of my opponents in my first Montana tournament remarking after a touch, "One light? Saber never has one light touches!" I was ridiculed for refusing to fence foil, which I hated and still hate to this day (As you can guess, I only fence Saber). I would show up to a practice, the one other saber fencer who also fenced all three weapons could stand fencing me for about 5 minutes before stopping and doing foil. No footwork was ever practiced, and drills were some rare form of magic that didn't occur in the natural world.

Obviously, I have some bitterness toward this period of fencing in Montana. Needless to say, I have no urge to continue down the hateway and shall instead refer to the next 4 years that I was uninvolved with fencing as the Dark Ages.

Fast forward to 2008. I graduated college the year before, moved to Eugene, decided I hated Eugene, and promptly moved back to Montana to piece my life together. I tried going back to the Ultimate scene, but found it held none of the good feelings it had in college. I looked in my closet one day and found my dusty fencing stuff in my red & black bag. I talked to an old fencing buddy on the phone about past tournaments, road trips, glorious wins, and being a stupid teenager. I realized that I forgot just how much fun I had as a fencer, buried under those traumatic few months in 2003. So I went down to the University club, 4 years later and older, and fenced a few people. It was awkward at first, but found the conditioning from Ultimate served well to preserve the fast twitch muscles that fencing requires. I encountered the same stupid attitude to fencing, but decided I wouldn't let it bother me. The club was under new management by a young fencer who had started earlier that year and was ridiculously gung-ho about it. Having heard about me as some sort of deific figure in fencing, he asked questions constantly, so I answered them. He came to understand that I was in fact a mid level fencer on the national circuit who just happened to have an amazing coach and a fair understanding of the sport (or at least one that works, as far as I've seen).

He informed me about the local youth club that had been started and was boasting attendance of up to 20 regular kids (FYI: Missoula population approx. 70,000). I taught a small conditioning class of around 5 because someone told the organizer the same thing I was told back in 2003. What could she possibly want with a coach who could only teach one blade? Gradually, I began to garner more attention and even began teaching private lessons. Now there are more kids practicing Saber at the youth club than Epee or Foil combined. It was about now in both this blog post and in my fencing career that I realized that there was more reward in this sport than just winning. 4-5 students of mine began to compete and travel across Montana and Washington. Suddenly, I saw myself as a dorky, long haired, idiot teenager plying the fencing circuits, and these kids doing the exact same thing. These kids were going to have a similar experience to possibly someday share with students of their own. I wasn't just doing this teaching thing as a little extra money on the side, I was in this for keeps. I cancelled going to grad school for my library science degree and have been devoting my time to improving fencing awareness throughout Missoula.

We currently boast an entire gym that we have been using for practice and I will have 5 students taking private lessons from me in the fall. All last year I had at least two students with me at every Inland Empire tournament. This fall, we plan to attend tournaments in Utah, Seattle, and possibly Denver and Portland.

The University of Montana & the local club are interchangeable and remain so to this day. This fall, we are shuffling administration around so that the two can function separately without forcing college kids and middle school kids to practice with each other. This fall will also be the start of club night, where MYFA offers practice 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturday mornings). The University offers practice 3 times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays). We have chosen this schedule to offer as much fencing opportunity as we possibly can to our small population of fanatics and large population of casual fencers.

I think that is quite sufficient for the first blog entry. Subsequent posts will be nowhere near as long.