Set a course for sector 001...Engage!

So the Intro class may actually happen if Laura conjures up another miracle (which is an all too common occurrence).

I purchased an organizer last week and have been using it ever since. This action is apparently aberrant behavior at the best of times, as most people ask me "What are you 13?" Because most people still equate an organizer from the days when they were 13 and schools gave you one that you had to keep track of so that the teacher could grade you on your ability to organize.

I tended to pepper my organizer with inappropriate profanity at funny moments, make terrible notes about my fellow classmates, and fill it with other inane garbage that probably only reinforced the teacher's vision of me as a complete loser. I did those things because I tend to oppose structure being imposed on my life. I don't mind supplying the structure myself, but that's different than someone else supplying me with a small booklet that supposedly holds my schedule for the rest of the year THAT I MUST ADHERE TO.

I view my newest organizer in a more positive fashion. I read the directions to the organizer before I started using it (I know, that's nerdy even for me). I immediately plunked down events for that week. Then I plunked down events for next week. I started viciously organizing October. I leered aggressively at November but decided that it was too far in advance to do any real planning. I had an event on December 31 2010 that I could have easily imprisoned in my organizer, but decided that it would be rude.

My new organizer tracks stray, wayward events and appointments like any good panopticon. Only the truly esoteric and intelligent events escape the watchful eye of the Organizer Overseer. Even now, it is being spelled with capital letters, empowering itself.

Gee AJ, what are you doing today?
I have 2 private lessons today, and a possible intro class after that. No, don't ask me 'what time?' because some information is better kept from the proletariat. These events will occur when they occur, not before or after in accordance with the Directives of the Patrician and High Council.

Opening Night & an Internal Ranking System

Tonight is the first official night of operation. The 9 & under class is beginning tonight with tomorrow being the first club night. I already have curriculum set up for the homeschool class I am teaching on Friday from 1:30-3:00 and material laid out for the club. This is a huge first step into the unknown, and I am definitely giddy with excitement.

Our intro classes are sadly empty, but this was to be expected for the first month. No demos are scheduled as of yet, but after those I can only see club membership expanding & the intro classes will start to see filler.

I wrote up a ranking system last week which I hope will be approved by the remainder of the club tonight at the meeting. It goes as follows:

Yelllow bar- Beginner skill base
Red bar- Intermediate skill base
Black bar- Advanced skill base
Club Logo- Signifies Theoretical mastery
ARMORER- Signifies that the student is either a certified armorer or is knowledgeable enough in repair that they deserve this patch.
DIRECTOR- Signifies that the student is a rated referee with USFA
VARSITY- Signifies a student involved with the local high school league
CAPTAIN- Signifies a student that has captained with either the club or their respective high school at a competition. In addition, the student must also routinely provide leadership to their teammates on and off the strip.
ASS. COACH- Signifies a student that is capable of offering private lessons to Yellow bar students. Requires a club logo patch, an endorsement from the head coach, and that they pass an exam administered by the head coach. The lesson fee is limited to $10. This patch is removed after the student passes the student coaching exam. Required experience: 1 year of high school league fencing
ST. COACH (Student Coach)- Signifies a student that is capable of offering private lessons to students up to a Red bar, and teaching the minis class. Requires a club logo patch, an endorsement from their coach, and that they pass an exam administered by the head coach. This patch is removed when the next rank is received. The lesson fee is limited to $10. Required experience: 1 year of USFA tournament experience having fenced two C1 events or better
COACH- Signifies an experienced student capable of teaching private lessons to students up to Black Bar, intro classes, mini classes, & outreach. Requires a club logo patch, an endorsement from the head coach, and that they pass an exam administered by the head coach. This patch is removed when the final coach rank is received. The lesson fee is limited to $15. Required experience: 3 years of USFA tournament experience with a national rating of C or better.
HEAD COACH: Only 3 members of MFA may hold the rank of Head Coach at any given time (one for each blade) and can only be given from a prior head coach to another coach who has been fencing for at least 6 years and rated a B. One final written exam will be administered by the former head coach


All of these would represent bars either sewn on the off arm of the jacket, off leg of the knickers, the arms of their warmups, or all three. The Yellow-Club Logo would be on the off arm of the jacket preferrably.

An overview of the ranks and their relative difficulty follows below:

Yellow bar- relatively easy: Most students who have been fencing for a year plus will likely earn this bar within the first month if not the first week. Most of the already more advanced students would earn this bar if they tried to test in one day.
Red bar- more difficult: Most students who have been fencing for a year or more will likely test into this within a month. Most of the more advanced students will test into it within a week, with an exceptional few testing into it in one day
Black Bar- Incredibly hard: Nobody will test into this in one day let alone in one month. It will require a test bout with a closely matched student at the club in addition to skill tests. This bar would be challenging for me to achieve without practicing for it for a week. I want this bar to mean something to whoever earns it, possibly meaning more than the club logo.
Club Logo- Incredibly hard: If the Black bar is hard, this will be worse. It will require two test bouts as practicals (one to 5 & one to 15) in which the student will fence their instructor. In addition their will be a written exam in which the fencer is asked essay & multiple choice questions on certain situations, theoretical concepts, & character questions.
Armorer- Difficult without certs: If a student ever gains a reputation for a fix-it wizard, reliable repairs, & innovation, then they should receive this patch.
Director- Fairly difficult: Only awarded to students who have a rating 10 in at least one blade as a director.
Varsity- Easy: All the student need do is participate in a full season of high school league fencing in Missoula
Captain- Difficult: A student has to routinely captain for either the club or his high school at league tournaments for an entire season. In addition, he must also show quality of character, positive motivation of teammates, & sportsmanship. Should probably accompanied by a small gift certificate or other award outside of fencing.
Assistant Coach- Difficult: In addition to the fencer's normal routine, he will have to undergo several tests when it comes to teaching as well as give a free PL as a practical exam. He will available to coach at his high school after receiving this rank
Student Coach- Very hard: In addition to the Assistant Coach, he will have to undergo outreach training as well as public relations & marketing. He will also begin to undergo testing as to managing a fencing club when it comes to internal politics & different personalities of coaches & students.
Coach- Nigh Impossible: The outreach, PR, & marketing are now paramount to this fencer's instruction. They will be tested on theory that even I have trouble grasping at times and their exam will be filled with questions that have no right answer, only damage control. In a pinch, anyone with this rank can substitute one of the head coaches if they are sick or away @ tournaments (thereby facilitating a permanent Saturday), and not bat an eye if someone new comes to the club asking questions. This will likely require a separate course entirely if not done on an individual basis.
Head Coach- Fairly easy by comparison: After 6 years, this test will likely be a breeze as the student in question has already passed as a Coach for 3 years or more at this point. I just wanted the road to this rank to be as comprehensive, rocky, and challenging as possible so that we end up training people who do not replace Chris, Kole, & I, but are better trained, better schooled on the environment, & improve upon our original design. Their role is fairly self explanatory.


This system is preliminary and was posted here to garner feedback. It will also likely be posted on the club's facebook page for more feedback. As for now, testing fees outside of paying for the patch are unlikely. This ranking system was concocted by me because it has become apparent that many parents want a ranking system outside of the USFA one, as those rankings seem incredibly hard to come by. Also, if I was to deal with a ranking system I would rather the system be one that I built rather than someone else. I'm not going to make these ranks much easier to obtain, as any rank should be earned, not given.

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.

My parents are coming!

My parents will be here on Thursday for some vacation & hanging out. I look forward to showing them the fencing club here in Missoula. I am very happy with the progress that the club is making and remain optimistic about the future of fencing in Missoula. The next big step involves recruiting at schools, which will be a whole new challenge. The first & second months will be consumed by intro classes outside the normal class time of the club, which will be chaotic and busy.

Recruiting is a new challenge that I'm not entirely certain how to approach. I want to pull in the nerds who never knew fencing was available, the athletes who want a new challenge, & everyone else who always thought fencing was cool. My overall approach is going to center around pulling in other athletes, as the nerds will likely fall in line because they get to play with swords. The real shock for both of those types of people will be the realization of how much physical fitness is required to succeed at fencing.

I've taught enough intro classes and lessons that I have it down to a science. The biggest challenge for all fencers is to forget about defending yourself with the useless piece of scrap metal in their hand and follow my Golden Rule of Life: If you are not there, you cannot be hit. It is an incredibly simple idea that is very hard to implement. It involves deception & manipulation of the distance on defense and it is the first thing I teach before any type of attack.

In other words, defend like a Brazillian Midfielder. Creativity (Samba) is one of the hardest things to teach & instill in students, but it is necessary for a good attack. And most importantly, If you can't blind your opponent with brilliance, baffle them with bull$(@*#*.

Introspective run

There are a thousand blogs about people getting into shape using running, this is obviously not one of them. However, I am a runner and occasionally benefit from the clarity of mind that pure exhaustion can induce. It has quite a bit in common with fencing from the opposite direction. I can find peace of mind in either the fast paced mentally challenging setting of the fencing strip, and I can find it within the classic runner's high.

Unfortunately for the latter, I tend to have less and less runner's high moments the better I get at running. Zen moments in fencing can strike without warning but can usually be set up if you know what you're doing. Unlike runner's high, which in my experience makes me really happy, Zen moments in fencing are accompanied by a lack of feeling. A properly motivated fencer in zen mode can perform WAY above normal, but it is difficult to achieve that state of mind.

Holy Refinished Floor Batman!

They refinished that floor in the gym, and it is fabulous. My feet are almost bleeding from the grip I got on that floor, but oh my was it amazing. I could change direction on a dime, I could change speed like a shifting NASCAR vehicle, I practiced this & this. My front toenail is now almost entirely gone, exposed to the rigors of violent speed changes and the regular lunge.

Thank you University for making a floor with the grip of sandpaper.

Back from a break

This week the University of Montana refinished the floors in the gym all of us currently practice in. So we all had a forced week off from practice and training. I extended this to include private lessons as well seeing as we just put on a bigger tournament than we are used to.

Over the week I used my spare time to catch up with friends I had lost touch with. I realized that I was fencing somewhere near 12 hours a week. By now, I am looking forward to returning to life on a strip undergoing the mental abuse that is my favorite sport.

In other news, our foil coach Kole produced this gem:


which will become our new club logo.