What Every Fencing Parent Should Know About … Learning from the NAC Experience

So, you’ve completed the trip home from the NAC. Survived the glares of the Uber XL driver who discovered he had to load luggage equivalent to what a company of Marines brought to storm the Normandy Beaches. Managed not to knock over any small children while navigating a fencing bag that insisted on flipping onto its side every time it hit the smallest bump. Found the patience to explain to the check-in agent – yet again – that fencing swords are not actually sharp. And, most importantly, survived the smell of the fencing bag when you opened it at home and scurried to find the can of Lysol that you hadn’t used since the last NAC. So now what?

Well, you might be back from the NAC, but that doesn’t mean you are done with the NAC. A NAC is more than just a competitive platform – it’s a learning experience that can shape your child’s fencing journey. Whether your child walked away with a medal, a few wins, or valuable lessons from tough bouts, each NAC provides opportunities to grow as a fencer that go far beyond any medals gained or points earned. Here’s a few tips on how your child can extract meaningful insights and apply them to improve at the next tournament and beyond:

Encourage Your Child To Analyze His or Her Performance

• Celebrate Successes. Encourage your child to focus on the process rather than just the results. Maybe the outcome wasn’t what your child was looking for, but were there other successes? Did your child win a challenging DE bout? Stay composed during a tough pool bout? Do better than expected against a tough fencer? Acknowledge these achievements as they are encouraging achievements that can lead to future good results.
• Identify Areas for Improvement. Encourage your child to review bouts with an honest lens. Where did the fencer struggle? Were there missed opportunities to score due to technical errors or tactical misjudgments? Any systemic issues to work on? Identifying patterns in performance can help set a training focus.
• Watch Videos. Encourage your child to review footage of bouts. There always is another NAC around the corner (usually in Salt Lake City, or at least so it seems), so your child should look for opportunities to correct recurring mistakes, such as telegraphing attacks, weak footwork, or missed parries. Also, note strengths and areas to build on.

Learn from Your Opponents

• Study Fencing Styles. NACs bring together a diverse pool of competitors with varied fencing styles, which offer learning opportunities that generally do not show up for club fencing or local tournaments. Encourage your child to reflect on the bouts where he or she faced challenges from fencing different styles. Did your child struggle against left-handed fencers? Against opponents who fence differently than opponents at the club? Against French grip fencers? Your child can use the diversity of fencers faced at the NAC to help understand areas for future training focus to be prepared for future matches.
• Adaptability Under Pressure. One of the advantages of being at a NAC is that it is possible to observe top fencers and how they handle difficult situations. Encourage your child to adopt a similar mindset and to benefit from seeing these kinds of bouts at the NAC. Videos of the semi-finals and finals are often available online, encourage a review to see how the top fencers navigated the tournament.

Gather Feedback

• Coach Feedback. Encourage your child to discuss his or her performance with the coach after the NAC. Coaches can provide insights into technique, decision-making, and mental approach. Coaches often notice subtle details less experienced fencers might miss. Making them a post-NAC resource extends the value of the NAC into lessons and training long after the tournament is over.
• Peer Observations. Never forget that other fencers at the club are a resource. Encourage your child to talk to teammates about bouts and their own learning experiences at the NAC. Their perspective can help your child identify blind spots or validate strengths.

Adjust Training Plans

• Technical Skills. Based on your NAC experience, it should be possible to determine technical areas that need improvement. For example, if your child struggled with disengages or point control, or against certain types of fencers, then your child can work with his or her coach to incorporate drills to address these skills in ongoing training.
• Tactical Awareness. Encourage your child to practice scenarios that proved problematic at the NAC. Again, your child’s coach can be invaluable in working on a plan for improvement and setting up drills to help remedy errors.
• Physical Fitness. Your child should objectively consider whether fatigue affected his or her performance. If so, conditioning exercises to enhance endurance and consistency over long NAC tournaments can help achieve a better result the next time.
• Mindset Reflections. Encourage your child to think about how he or she handled the mental challenges of the NAC. Did your child feel nervous, overly confident, or easily frustrated? If it appeared that mental issues were hampering performance, analyzing these emotions and working on techniques to manage them, such as visualization, meditation, or pre-bout rituals, may be helpful.

Consider Better Preparation Habits

• Pre-Tournament Routine. Encourage your child to consider whether preparations before the NAC contributed to success. Were there areas that could have been improved? Did your child feel that training was appropriate leading up to the NAC to best position the fencer for success? Are any changes needed in training before the next NAC?
• Pre-Pools Routine. Focus as well on whether the pre-pools warm-up and routine went well. For example, if your child felt rushed or unprepared during pools, consider adjusting the warm-up routine for future events. If your child felt distracted, consider warming up apart from other people in the fencing club.
• Tournament Day Nutrition. Encourage your child to evaluate how energy levels were during the NAC. If your child struggled with fatigue, consider revisiting the nutritional options at the next NAC to ensure optimal performance.
• Equipment Check. Was all gear in top condition? Were there unexpected failures (well, more than usual)? If your child experienced equipment failures, consider whether more frequent checks of equipment would have been beneficial. Also, if any equipment broke or became intermittent during the NAC, get it fixed right away, rather than having to rush before the next tournament. Often, you can get weapons fixed before you leave the NAC, as armorists often can turn around equipment repairs in a half hour or less.

Get Ready for the Next NAC

• Build On Connections. NACs are a great opportunity to meet other fencers, coaches, referees, and college coaches – both for fencers and for parents. Building relationships within the fencing community can open doors to training opportunities, shared insights, and maybe even future college recruitment. Follow up with any contacts you made at the NAC to cement in relationships that will be beneficial (and fun to maintain!) down the line.
• Short-Term Goals. Based on NAC performance, encourage your child to set specific goals for your next competition. For example, “Win at least three pool bouts” or “Focus on maintaining composure after a touch is scored (or lost).”
• Long-Term Goals. Encourage your child to align the NAC experience with broader objectives, such as improving national ranking, earning a higher letter, or refining a particular skill. Your child can use these goals to guide training and tournament preparation.

Keep Perspective

• Measure Progress, Not Perfection. Fencing improvement is a journey. Instead of fixating on wins and losses, which are heavily influenced by luck factors (who won that touch in priority, whether the fencer drew an easy or a hard path), encourage your child to focus on measurable growth – better execution of techniques, improved stamina, or greater mental composure, and so forth. If your child is improving, the NAC and other tournament results will (eventually) follow.
• Enjoy the Process. NACs are an opportunity to compete, learn, and grow within the sport. Celebrate the experience, regardless of the outcome.

Each NAC offers invaluable lessons that go beyond the results. By encouraging your child to analyze his or her performance, learn from opponents, and apply insights to training, NACs can be a valuable part of the fencing journey. The path to becoming a better fencer is paved with consistent effort, thoughtful reflection, and a willingness to embrace challenges. Because NACs present a recurring and varied test of fencing skills, temperament, and training, encouraging your child to take advantage of the learning from the NAC can be an important steppingstone to ongoing improvement and future success.

Fun Fact Of Interest Only To Me. Although women’s foil was added to the Olympics in 1924, women’s epee and saber were not added until a century after the first modern Olympic games, in 1996 and 2004. Which means that the Olympic sport of “Poodle Clipping” – in which 128 competitors competed to see who could clip the fur of the most poodles in two hours – was featured a century before women were allowed to pick up an epee or a saber for Olympic bouts. The Poodle Clipping gold medal was won by a 37-year-old farmer’s wife from the Auvergne region of France, who clipped a total of 17 poodles before 6000 spectators in the 1900 Paris Olympics. Sadly, like the sport of 200-meter obstacle swimming, the sport did not make it to its second Olympics.

Learn More and Get In Touch

Have more tips to add? Shoot me an email with any questions at usfafencingblog@gmail.com. But don’t send me an email about the Olympic sport of Poodle Clipping – although the existence of Poodle Clipping as an Olympic sport has been reported in hundreds of online articles and in dozens of newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, GQ,  and The Standard, in fact there was no such Olympic event at the 1900 Olympics. The story was made up for an April Fool’s Day article that has been repeated as fact by credulous reporters ever since. Which should have been apparent to all, as the purported winner of the event was “Avril Lafoule.” And since today is April 1^st, if you believed this was really an Olympic event, then happy Avril Lafoule’s day to you as well.

Did you miss any prior posts? It’s not an April Fool’s joke when I say that they are living on the USFA Parents' Fencing Blog Website. For questions about your membership or tournament registrations, or to request that NAC overtime bouts be settled with a poodle-clipping competition rather than a sudden-death point, visit the USA Fencing Contact Us page.