I’ve discovered one of my limits as a fencing coach: when the weapon breaks, I have no idea what to do. Currently, I have about twelve weapons belonging to the team, and maybe another four belonging to team members, which do not work. Sixteen weapons is a substantial investment of time and resources for this team — It’s a spare weapon for every team-member with three extras. If they were working, it would be the difference between going to the Novice tournament this weekend, and not going.
Yeah. Not going. I have six ninth graders who are eligible to compete, and of them — four don’t want to go. They have working weapons. The other two do want to go, but have broken weapons. When do I learn this? During last night’s fencing match. So, I try to order the right weapons today. BUT — I call after the end of their ship cycle for the day. I’ve e-mailed a few of the local fencing clubs to find out about armory services, but mid-season like this, I’m not hopeful.
I’m frankly envious of the other schools I’ve seen — Waterford had twenty novices and a dozen JV and varsity players, and three or four parents deeply interested in the equipment and repairs. The same with St. Bernard’s and some of the other schools. Here, it’s just me.
I did go through all our broken body cords last night, and repaired twelve. That feels good at least. I can fix body cords easily enough. They’re definitely repairable with a few simple tools. The issue of repairing a foil, though, seems to be something I’m going to need a few classes on. Maybe over March break; I’m unlikely to get much slack before then.
