<p>I could use some help. My 15 year old sophomore is looking for a summer camp (2 weeks or so) to work on his fencing. He is new to the sport, but has achieved significantly in it (he is number 2 foil, number one is a senor D/E rated, i think) and his team won the counties and he has made the all county team. </p>
<p>We were looking at Brown’s program as well as Cornell’s, but we really want the BEST program. Any thought? Suggestions? Would be GREATLY appreciated!</p>
<p>Regards and thank you in advance for your help.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s the best, but PSU is one option–</p>
<p>“Emmanuil Kaidanov, camp director, has been a fencing coach for more than forty years and is in his twenty-seventh year at Penn State. He has developed both the men’s and women’s teams into perennial NCAA championship contenders. In addition to winning a tenth national title, twelve team members were named All-Americans during the 2007 season. His coaching accomplishments include ten NCAA combined championships, twenty-two NCAA individual titles, eight Olympians, and 172 All-Americans.”</p>
<p>We live in an area where fencing is popular, and there are a number of schools and clubs, and they run day programs by the week for various age groups including high school. I think one of the things I have noticed about fencing is that the coaching varies greatly from person to person. One coach, who has a great reputation, I thought was less good at teaching my child than another one with lesser status. We do not have a lot of experience with the sport, and the children on my D’s team seem to work all year round with the same school or club. </p>
<p>I think a camp could be beneficial in that the opportunity to fence with a lot of different kids is great for getting better. I have no info on the fencing at Cornell, but it is beautiful in the summer, and the facilities in general are top notch (pools, food, other sports facilities).</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick replies. I should mention that we are in the NY area and would probably like him to be close. Having said this, he is keen on going to a very good camp for foil … thanks again!</p>
The best youth foil program in the country, as measured by competitive results, is the [M-Team[/url</a>] in San Francisco. Their summer camp page is out of date, but they have a two week pre-national camp every June and a one to two week camp every August.</p>
<p>“Best;” now that is a word, no? Your child is new to fencing so perhaps you are looking for a camp which will increase his skill level, not necessarily the “best” program. </p>
<p>Ohio State runs an excellent summer camp, PSU runs a fair camp. Mr. Ma’s club in NJ runs a good camp; UPenn under Coach Mikahnik runs a good camp. Many local clubs in the NYC area run excellent day camps. Excellent foil camps about in both France and Italy too.</p>
<p>If your child is fencing at an “E” or “D” level (beginner), you should be looking for camps where he can fence consistently over a period of one to two weeks, with private lessons from a qualified coach (not another student). Penn State has a great program for the beginning fencer, with plenty of face time with their collegiate coaches, plus a sprinkling of NCAA champs and Olympians. It is run somewhat more professionally than OSU’s.</p>
<p>Sorry for the delay in responding. I thank you all for your GREAT comments and suggestions.</p>
<p>I guess it is true that my son is a beginner in the sense that he just started, but at the same time he has had such great success in such a short time. I am only saying this, because he is eager to have an experience that improves his fencing and is appropriate and aligned with his skills not necessarily his experience (if you understand what I am saying, sorry if it is convoluted). Nonetheless, I am a novice to fencing and have no basis to judge which camp would be most appropriate. One of his friends has enrolled in Brown’s program for the summer and we are debating going there as well.</p>
<p>I am a Cornell Alumni and thought their fencing camp might be good, but am not sure if it is as ‘good’ as Brown’s or PSU.</p>
<p>*** Continued H E L P would be appreciated ***…. (thanks)</p>
<p>Maybe you’ll have to do some investigation,ask them all some questions, to get “best” for your kid. To me, which is “best” might involve:
They “track”: big groups divided into proper-sized pools of kids of similar proficiency.
-smallest student-teacher ratio for the group your kid winds up in.
highly qualified, experienced instructors.
-if sleep-away, pool of similar kids for social purposes, and social side planned out as well.</p>
<p>For example it’s theoretically possible a program could be reputed to be “best”, because elite fencers go there, but is actually terrible for a kid who is “second best” and gets inadequate attention for his needs at his level. My D2 had an experience like that at a ballet program she attended years ago.</p>
<p>We looked at one of these fencing programs for last summer, and it seemed like, when you got right down to it, most of the actual instruction would be by college kids on the university’s fencing team. That part didn’t overly impress. But who knows, it might have been fine. In the end my kid didn’t want to go away so he went to a local intensive day program at his normal club instead.</p>
<p>Thanks very much … .you all have been very helpful. One sort of follow-up (I apologize in advance if this is obvious to many, I am truly uninformed when it comes to fencing). Cornell has a Men’s Fencing Club not a NCAA Team has does their women counterparts, due to title IX. My question is does it matter? and if so, how?</p>