As a lover of sports, I have played Football, Basketball, and Fútbol. I wrestled, I boxed (my brain works; I can still read good), and of course, I still actively fence. Each sport, though a potpourri of individual and team has provided me with a unique perspective on the virtues of being a good teammate….
Two weeks ago, the FIE Congress passed a series of new non-combativity rules that will bring material changes to Epee, and to a lesser extent, Foil fencing. There’s a lot to track here, so I’ve tried my best to break down the nuances of the rules below. I’d like to qualify this post with a…
Part I – Not in Our Sport Part II – Tales of Sexual Harassment & Assault We now know there is a sexual harassment and abuse problem, so what can we do to fix it? My survey asked for solutions for creating a more positive and safe environment for everyone. Going forward, if you were…
Part I – Not in Our Sport Part of this survey was giving women a safe space to anonymously share what harassment or assault they had experienced. This section of the series has given me the most anguish, for a couple of reasons. One, it was hard to know which stories to share. Harassment and…
Dear Fencing Community, Scandals of sexual abuse have rocked USA Swimming and USA Gymnastics, it’s not a stretch for us to wonder if USA Fencing has a similar problem which should be investigated and addressed. Sexual harassment and assault have become hot topics in the wake of the #MeToo movement, and we can’t assume fencing…
Albert Bandura, the famed psychologist and founder of Social Learning Theory (SLT) posited that our brains go through four mediational processes while learning: Attention: How one is exposed to and processes a behavior. Retention: How one remembers the exposed behavior. Reproduction: How one performs the behavior s/he’s exposed to. Motivation: How one develops the will…
When Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the Modern Olympics, he designed the Olympic Rings to include the colors of every flag of every nation, linked together to symbolize the inclusivity of the games and the idea that national differences could be set aside to engage in the struggle of sport. The Baron was so insistent…
Sometime after I graduated college, I had a quarter-life fencing burnout crisis and decided to take a break from the sport. Boxing, I thought, would be a fun sport to learn. It involves a similar emphasis on footwork, speed, distance control, and strategy, and I loved watching it growing up. When I got into the…
In a previous post, I quipped about “Tales of Epic Black Cards,” which was a collection of horror stories from various referees where they had to resort to pulling out the dreaded black card (my favorite from my friend Kevin Shanahan, who shared with me a scoresheet signed “this ref stinks”). To everyone not named…
