What Every Fencing Parent Should Know About … Working with the Coach to Learn from the NAC Experience

Fencing Thought of the Day: I have yet to see a post-bout talk between a fencer and a coach after a loss that didn’t resolve around some variation of: “If you had only done what I told you to do, then you would have won.”

So, the NAC is over. Hopefully, the EPA hasn’t come by to ask about the foul smell coming from the fencing bag that you didn’t unpack for a few days after your return, and you found a sale on Lysol at your local supermarket. And now that the excitement of the NAC is over, you are probably wondering whether you need to join me in the twelve-step fencing parent NAC recovery program. So to help, here are the Top Ten Signs You Are a NAC-Obsessed Fencing Parent:

1. Your primary considerations when looking at a new car are: (1) how easy is it to load a fencing bag; (2) safety; and (3) price – in that order.
2. You create a color-coded NAC calendar every August and not only religiously update it, but actually look forward to doing so.
3. Your credit card company no longer flags fencing-related expenses, no matter how strange, frequent, or exorbitant.
4. You have the contact information for at least three NAC armorists and can type in the email address for Rob Patton at GroupHousing without looking it up.
5. 93% of your phone storage is dedicated to fencing videos, including the pool bouts at the Y-10 Jedi Joust, because you never know if your child might come across those fencers again at his next Junior NAC.
6. You speak NAC the way attendees at Comic-Con speak Klingon and Wookie: You sprinkle in things like DE tableau, parry, corps-à-corps, and fleche into your ordinary conversations, confusing your coworkers who only understand basketball and soccer references.
7. Your calendar revolves around NACs. Family vacations? Weddings? No chance if there’s a NAC that weekend. (“Sorry, Grandma, we can’t come by next month, there’s a tournament in Milwaukee. Any chance you can reschedule your 90th birthday?”)
8. You have a favorite brand of fencing socks. Special points if you not only have a favorite brand, but also have argued with other parents over it.
9. You can go a month (or more) wearing just USA Fencing shirts – without repeating.
10. You know, without checking, where the over-sized luggage pickup is at the Salt Lake City, Kansas City, and Columbus airports.

After a NAC, your coach’s observations are invaluable to your child’s development as a fencer. While you and your child may have thoughts regarding how your child performed, your coach will bring a unique perspective that’s focused on the technical, strategic, and mental aspects of your child’s fencing. In light of that, here are a few ways that you as a parent can be a resource after a NAC while also encouraging your child to work with his or her coach to take full advantage of coaching feedback:

Be Encouraging and Positive. Your role as a parent is to provide emotional and logistical support. Encourage your fencer to share his or her feelings about the NAC and listen without judgment. If they’re disappointed, help them reframe the experience as a stepping stone rather than a setback. If you’re disappointed, refrain from sharing this with your fencer. Focus on positive takeaways from the tournament and how best to use the learning from the NAC to prepare for the next one. Your fencer can’t redo a completed NAC, but can be prepared better for the next one.

Celebrate Effort, Not Just Results. Whether your fencer earns a medal or exits in the first round, acknowledge the effort they put into competing at a NAC. Share in their successes and help them process their challenges. Coaches appreciate parents who emphasize effort and improvement rather than focusing solely on outcomes.

Invest in the Relationship. Building a strong relationship with your fencer’s coach benefits everyone. Regular communication, mutual respect, and shared goals create a positive environment that fosters growth. Coaches are more effective when they feel supported by parents, and fencers thrive when they see their team working together.

Share Match Videos. If you recorded bouts, share them with your coach. Watching matches allows the coach to provide detailed feedback on tactics, decision-making, and technique. It’s also an opportunity for the coach to discuss the mental aspects of performance, such as focus and resilience under pressure.

After the tournament, schedule time for a debrief with the coach. This conversation should cover such things as strengths your fencer demonstrated during the NAC, specific areas for improvement, and how the experience fits into long-term development plans.

Detailed Breakdown. Encourage your child to sit down with his or her coach to review specific bouts – especially those that were challenging. The coach will likely be able to point out small technical flaws or strategic missteps that the fencer might not have noticed in the heat of the moment.

Discuss Decision-Making. In addition to technique, the coach might have insights into decisions your child made throughout the bout. Did the fencer choose the right moments to attack? Retreat at the right times? Sometimes the issue isn’t technique or strategy, but rather the decision-making process. The coach can help analyze the fencer’s strategies and recommend more effective ways to approach future matches.

Discuss Opponent Strategies as Well. The coach might have insights regarding how opponents approached bouts and how those strategies influenced the development of the bout. The coach may be able to help your child understand what worked for or against the fencer, providing valuable insights into adapting to different styles and tactics in future competitions.

Target Weaknesses. Your coach should be able to use the NAC experience to provide feedback, identifying the areas that need the most attention in training. For example, if the coach notes that your child’s footwork was inconsistent or that he or she struggled with countering a specific action, the coach might design drills or a portion of practice sessions to improving these areas. The NAC results can help the coach create or modify a focused plan to better prepare for the next one.

Practice Specific Scenarios. Your child’s coach may be able to identify recurring problems in certain situations (e.g., poor distance control in high-pressure moments), allowing replication of these situations in training. This can help build muscle memory for the right tactical choices when facing similar scenarios in the future.

Focus on Mental Resilience. Your coach may also have insights into your child’s mental approach during the tournament. For instance, did the fencer maintain composure after losing a touch or feeling frustrated? Did your child show signs of mental fatigue or became rattled? The coach may be able to help your child develop mental resilience techniques, such as deep breathing, visualization, or positive self-talk, to keep focused during crucial moments.

Emphasize Emotional Control. Fencing requires not just physical skill, but emotional control as well. Your coach will likely have valuable advice on how to stay calm and composed in stressful situations. Whether it’s about handling frustration or staying positive after a loss, working with your coach on mental strategies can lead to significant improvements in your performance during critical points of a match.

Track Your Progress. Based on the feedback from the NAC experience, your child should be able to work with the coach to set measurable, short-term goals that will directly address weaknesses. These goals could be as specific as “improve timing in attacks” or “complete 10 footwork drills with full intensity every practice.” Short-term goals can help your child maintain focus on incremental improvements.

Create a Long-Term Vision. In addition to the tactical and technical adjustments, your coach can help your child align performance at the NAC with long-term objectives. If your child is aiming for a higher national ranking, to start fencing up, or preparing for an international competition, your child can use feedback from the NAC to adjust and prepare for larger goals. Your coach can help your child strategize how to reach those goals over time and what adjustments need to be made in both training and competition to stay on track.

Collaborate for Solutions. Your child should not hesitate to ask your coach questions about what went wrong or how to fix specific issues. Collaboration with coaches is an ongoing process, with important tournaments like NACs providing important feedback. For example, if your child had trouble maintaining distance in the DEs, your child can work with the coach to ask for additional drills or specific exercises to work on this skill. The more your child engage with the coach about ways to address problems, the more tailored and effective the training plan will become.

Never forget: your child can control his or her attitude, effort, and focus. But not the results, which have a healthy bit of randomness to them. Thus, the focus should be on using the experience to improve, and not just the results. (That being said, it sure is fun to celebrate good results!) The feedback from a NAC tournament, when properly used, can be a powerful tool for improving as a fencer. Encourage your child to work closely with his or her coach to pinpoint both strengths and weaknesses, develop targeted training plans, and refine mental strategies for upcoming tournaments. By applying the lessons learned at a NAC and maintaining an open line of communication with your coach, your child will continue to grow not only as a fencer but also as an athlete who thrives in both competitive and training environments – lifelong lessons that apply even when off the fencing strip.

Fun Fact of Interest Only To Me: Most epee tournaments before World War II were fenced in the open air on gravel paths. Just something to keep in mind the next time you hear a fencer complain about hard floors at NAC venues.

Want to send a request for a future blog topic or have comments on the article? Frustrated that you are stuck on an unsolvable level in Candy Crush and are looking for a distraction? Send me an email at usfafencingblog@gmail.com. And if you missed any prior posts in this growing series, check them out at the USFA Parents' Fencing Blog Website.

For questions about your membership or tournament registrations – or to request that USA Fencing bring back gravel fencing – then visit the USA Fencing Contact Us page. After all, if USA Fencing were to bring back gravel fencing, then you could legitimately brag to your friends that fencing rocks.