Fencing Update
I haven't talked much about fencing on here for a long time, but there has been stuff happening.
My fencing club turns 10 years old at the start of next year.
This year has not exactly gone as planned.
We opted for a change of recruitment strategy. Instead of trying to bring in beginners at the start of the year when it's often too hot to really enjoy fencing, we would focus on consolidating our existing members. Term 2 would be the big recruitment time, with both This Girl Can and Active April campaigns leading into it for us to leverage. We even had some grant funding for veteran-age women's fencing.
Of course the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, and after a couple of weeks of uncertainty we went in to lock-down a week before the first recruitment event was due.
A lot of nothing happened after that, which to be honest was probably a much-needed break for me. 10 years fencing with not a lot of time off was taking its toll. We're calling that my long service leave.
This was also a good year for me to ditch the President role. My replacement got to deal with Return to Sport planning with Fencing Victoria.
Now we are back, at least for the moment. The first few sessions suggest that our work in term 1 is paying off with good retention of members after the break. We also seem to be recruiting a few new people.
The real test will come with the start of term 3, and finding out how many return and if we can accommodate them all under whatever restrictions are in place.
With a number of clubs still unable to train, we've picked up a few "fencing refugees". Could end up being good for our epee group, although I maintain a strict policy of not stealing members from other clubs, which has been in place since first forming the club. (OTOH, I also maintain that fencers are perfectly entitled to change clubs according to their own preferences, clubs and coaches don't own them. I've sent many fencers out into the wider area with my blessing.)
Anyway, enough digression into fencing politics. We'll probably still have about 50 members, including the various coaches and non-fencing volunteers, spread over 3 venues. Not bad given the lack of active recruitment.
As we are still being encouraged to keep and spend our grant money, we are trying again with recruitment in term 3. Watching nervously all the while to see if we should start advertising or wait a couple more weeks in case of another lock-down.
I was hoping (at my most optimistic) that we might finally get past 80 members this year, maybe even crack the 100. Now, I suppose we should be grateful that our set of circumstances means we will likely survive more or less intact.
Meanwhile, one of our venues is being replaced by a shiny new Community Hub further up the road, we're scheduled to move in August. The new centre was not designed with pandemics in mind, so will be interesting to see how things go when they amalgamate what are currently a large number of small separate buildings into one big one.
We would rather stay where we are, but that's not an option. I suspect the site will become a larger carpark for the train station. I was so excited when I found this perfect little 70's stadium within walking distance of my new home. Hard to believe we've been there nearly 10 years.
We were also planning to start our 10 year celebrations around September when the club was conceived in it's current form during David's 40th birthday party (in a kitchen discussion, as one does). That will probably now wait until next year. But who knows, maybe everything will settle down and everyone will be keen for a party excuse by September. (No, I don't really believe that either).
As for my personal fencing, well it has been pretty much all coaching. Eight years ago there was my first baby, 5 years ago the second arrived. There was no space in my life for personal training or travel to competitions.
Last year I entered a couple of state competitions, and promised I would return to the national circuit this year so we could have a veterans women's sabre team. I even ordered a new mask to comply with current requirements. Not sure when I'll get to use it.
Eldest child is very keen on fencing and has accumulated most of his own sabre kit now. I'm trying to walk that fine line, encouraging him to do something we both enjoy, without being the pushy parent living vicariously through him and taking the joy out of the activity. He's doing pretty well, the usual challenges expected of an 8 year old, I'm debating whether to enter him in a U8 at the end of the year to see how he goes against his peers.
Youngest doesn't fence. But she does like to join dad in the epee group for the warm-up and footwork. I still hope to get a sword in her hand in a couple of years time, but it will be up to her.
Having enjoyed some time off, I now find myself with more brain space to take a more active role with my trainee coaches. At this point I'm feeling comfortable enough with my own coaching style and philosophy that I feel competent to start sharing coaching knowledge as well as fencing knowledge.
Who knows, if I do that job well enough I may be able to take some time off more often!
Financially, the coaching gig has been steadily improving. I was doing very well up until the final quarter of the last financial year - so well that I made more income than last year despite missing the last 3 months! (About $24k, once I deduct expenses I probably still won't quite be paying tax... but I'm close! I feel like if I have to pay tax, then it is officially Not A Hobby.)
I imagine it will take a while to ramp up again. Some of that is from coaching at my club, but a lot is from coaching at schools which might be quieter for a while. Certainly I don't have anything lined up at the moment.
My fencing club turns 10 years old at the start of next year.
This year has not exactly gone as planned.
We opted for a change of recruitment strategy. Instead of trying to bring in beginners at the start of the year when it's often too hot to really enjoy fencing, we would focus on consolidating our existing members. Term 2 would be the big recruitment time, with both This Girl Can and Active April campaigns leading into it for us to leverage. We even had some grant funding for veteran-age women's fencing.
Of course the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, and after a couple of weeks of uncertainty we went in to lock-down a week before the first recruitment event was due.
A lot of nothing happened after that, which to be honest was probably a much-needed break for me. 10 years fencing with not a lot of time off was taking its toll. We're calling that my long service leave.
This was also a good year for me to ditch the President role. My replacement got to deal with Return to Sport planning with Fencing Victoria.
Now we are back, at least for the moment. The first few sessions suggest that our work in term 1 is paying off with good retention of members after the break. We also seem to be recruiting a few new people.
The real test will come with the start of term 3, and finding out how many return and if we can accommodate them all under whatever restrictions are in place.
With a number of clubs still unable to train, we've picked up a few "fencing refugees". Could end up being good for our epee group, although I maintain a strict policy of not stealing members from other clubs, which has been in place since first forming the club. (OTOH, I also maintain that fencers are perfectly entitled to change clubs according to their own preferences, clubs and coaches don't own them. I've sent many fencers out into the wider area with my blessing.)
Anyway, enough digression into fencing politics. We'll probably still have about 50 members, including the various coaches and non-fencing volunteers, spread over 3 venues. Not bad given the lack of active recruitment.
As we are still being encouraged to keep and spend our grant money, we are trying again with recruitment in term 3. Watching nervously all the while to see if we should start advertising or wait a couple more weeks in case of another lock-down.
I was hoping (at my most optimistic) that we might finally get past 80 members this year, maybe even crack the 100. Now, I suppose we should be grateful that our set of circumstances means we will likely survive more or less intact.
Meanwhile, one of our venues is being replaced by a shiny new Community Hub further up the road, we're scheduled to move in August. The new centre was not designed with pandemics in mind, so will be interesting to see how things go when they amalgamate what are currently a large number of small separate buildings into one big one.
We would rather stay where we are, but that's not an option. I suspect the site will become a larger carpark for the train station. I was so excited when I found this perfect little 70's stadium within walking distance of my new home. Hard to believe we've been there nearly 10 years.
We were also planning to start our 10 year celebrations around September when the club was conceived in it's current form during David's 40th birthday party (in a kitchen discussion, as one does). That will probably now wait until next year. But who knows, maybe everything will settle down and everyone will be keen for a party excuse by September. (No, I don't really believe that either).
As for my personal fencing, well it has been pretty much all coaching. Eight years ago there was my first baby, 5 years ago the second arrived. There was no space in my life for personal training or travel to competitions.
Last year I entered a couple of state competitions, and promised I would return to the national circuit this year so we could have a veterans women's sabre team. I even ordered a new mask to comply with current requirements. Not sure when I'll get to use it.
Eldest child is very keen on fencing and has accumulated most of his own sabre kit now. I'm trying to walk that fine line, encouraging him to do something we both enjoy, without being the pushy parent living vicariously through him and taking the joy out of the activity. He's doing pretty well, the usual challenges expected of an 8 year old, I'm debating whether to enter him in a U8 at the end of the year to see how he goes against his peers.
Youngest doesn't fence. But she does like to join dad in the epee group for the warm-up and footwork. I still hope to get a sword in her hand in a couple of years time, but it will be up to her.
Having enjoyed some time off, I now find myself with more brain space to take a more active role with my trainee coaches. At this point I'm feeling comfortable enough with my own coaching style and philosophy that I feel competent to start sharing coaching knowledge as well as fencing knowledge.
Who knows, if I do that job well enough I may be able to take some time off more often!
Financially, the coaching gig has been steadily improving. I was doing very well up until the final quarter of the last financial year - so well that I made more income than last year despite missing the last 3 months! (About $24k, once I deduct expenses I probably still won't quite be paying tax... but I'm close! I feel like if I have to pay tax, then it is officially Not A Hobby.)
I imagine it will take a while to ramp up again. Some of that is from coaching at my club, but a lot is from coaching at schools which might be quieter for a while. Certainly I don't have anything lined up at the moment.