Divide & Conquer

So I've been doing research all morning long to determine distances to fencing tournaments I WANT the club to go to versus tournaments we CAN go to. There is an equation I am trying to formulate between the value of experience (in each event) of a given tournament, the distance needed to travel to said tournament, and whether said tournament is scheduled conveniently. The cool thing about going the distance is that other clubs LOVE to see new fencers at their club and will remember you if they make a good impression, and possibly reciprocate by driving to your tournaments. However, Their is a limit to how far people are willing to drive. For example, If me and 10 other fencers travelled to Ames, IA for a tournament, we would never see any Iowa fencers pop out here for the Zombie invitational in October. And we wouldn't expect any. The reason logistics are important is that I have a huge say in what tournaments MFA is attending and not attending. This year I want to go to fewer & better tournaments. To convince parents that it's important to leave Montana to get some out of state experience, I am forced to cut the cord with other tournaments in the division. This understandably makes me less popular within the division, and I would feel bad about it except that Missoula is the only club trying to pull in the youth and thereby trying to secure our own future. I don't care that we aren't the best club in Montana, as I'm sure other coaches in the division are thinking when they hear of Missoula. We have the weakest skillbase out of all of the clubs, but the population gulf between us and everyone else is mighty. That combined with the average age of an MFA club member being half that of the divisional average, I am optimistic about how much longer we will last.

Here's a small data set of distances between Missoula and a few fencing cities I am mulling over:

Missoula MT-Sandy UT: 8 1/2 hours
Missoula MT-Seattle WA: 8 hours
Missoula MT-Denver CO: 14 hours
Missoula MT-Bozeman MT: 3 hours
Missoula MT-Billings MT: 5 hours
Missoula MT-Spokane WA: 3 1/2 hours (2 1/2 with the time zone change)

The overall quality of fencing in Seattle is incredibly high due to population
The overall quality of fencing in Denver is high due to population and proximity to USFA headquarters, but not as high as Seattle
The overall quality of fencing in Utah is decent largely due to proximity of better clubs outside of Utah.
The overall quality of fencing in the Bozeman is low due largely to population. If I took my students there, we would comprise 70% of the competitors, despite Bozeman taking away the most medals.
The overall quality of Billings is incredibly low, mostly because their beginners never travel, low population, and isolation from the division
The overall quality of Spokane is mediocre outside of Epee, and mostly absent when it comes to Saber.

Other variables:

Missoula has an excellent relationship with one of the Seattle clubs to the point where we don't pay lodging fees & they are even starting to send fencers east to Missoula.
Missoula has no relationship with any club in Colorado or Utah.
Utah has several youth events, as does Colorado.
Missoula has a positive relationship with Bozeman. Despite their being so few fencers at Bozeman, those that are their are very experienced.
Spokane is most attractive only when it comes to ratings. If 15 people show up for Epee, it is a C1 event everytime. Foil never rises above a D1, but at least has population. Saber consists of one guy and no students. They do have youth events in foil and are within 3 hours.

Conclusions and goals for this season:

Seattle: Continue to build upon previous relationships with Seattle based clubs by attending as many Seattle tournaments as possible. They are the best balance of distance and incentive to attend tournaments.

Denver: Begin pursuing tournaments in the spring if at all. The largest pull here is from the quality of Saber, but the distance is daunting for the parents that are super dedicated. More discussion and research is needed.

Utah: The distance is pretty far for a fairly low population. Apparently their was a dramatic incident that resulted in several coaches and fencers messing with the division. As a result, I will attempt to travel here next year when things die down a bit. When that happens I will likely encourage competitors in foil and epee to make the trip south, as saber looks pretty bleak.

Bozeman: Given the proximity and relationship to Bozeman and how many fencers we plan to send to tournaments here this year is criminal. My entire saber section will likely not be traveling unless they host a youth or unrated event. Like the rest of the Inland Empire (including Missoula) 10 people per event is tiresome and a little lame in comparison to 30 rated fencers in Seattle. Next year I will encourage new competitors of all blades to compete in Bozeman if they remain stable.

Billings: For all intents and purposes, Billings is not a practical venue for fencers from Missoula. It is too little fencing experience too far away for any MFA students to be travelling. If the coach in Billings is successful in creating a High School league, then matters change entirely, but until then I will be telling parents to spend their money elsewhere.

Spokane: Spokane is an excellent nearby venue to send young new competitors in foil and epee, and therefore most of our new competitors in those blades will be sent here for beginning and continuing competition experience. However, their future looks bleak as they believe in pulling in revenue for tournaments as opposed to active recruiting (which they are now ideally equipped to do). Spokane is currently enjoying a boost in confidence as several fencers earned high ratings this last spring.

Missoula: We will use tournaments @ the University as recruiting engines for MFA parents who have children who are still fairly new. We will continue our progress in recruiting and building a competitive team separate from the University. Depending on how well fall recruitment goes, we will form Montana's first high school fencing league within Missoula.