the cincinnati fencing club

A place, In cincinnati, for people who fence, to be in a club.


**URGENT NOTIFICATION**

The center in Clifton will be closed

March 18th, 2024 for the primary election.


They will also be closed March 25 - April 22, 2024 for the refinishing of the floors at the center.


Additional Closures and Holidays here.


Monday evening programming

Starting March 25th, 2024, the Clifton Recreation Center gymnasium will be closed for a refinishing of the gym floor. The work is expected to last four weeks.

During this period of maintenance, there will be a suspension of our Beginner Classes.

Through our partnership with NKY Fencing Academy, we will be holding our normal club membership programming (Intermediate and Advanced classes and open fencing) at NKYFA in Ludlow, KY.

This will still be Monday evenings, with class starting at 7:15, allowing extra time to account for the additional travel time.

While NKYFA has a smaller space, it is dedicated to the salle and has permanent electrical strips set up all the time, so getting into fencing is faster, there is no tear down at the end of the night, and we don't have the same strict finish time that we have at Clifton.

Please reach out with any questions, you can reach President Nate Westcott here.

Updates regarding closure will be emailed to members and posted here on the website, please feel free to contact us and check here for updates.

A map/Google Maps link for directions to NKYFA in Ludlow, KY

MASK UPDATE!

Following the guidelines laid out by the USFA and the conventions being used across the country, along with an agreement with our partner club in Northern Kentucky, we are moving to a fully voluntary masking policy.

At this point, masks are not required at any point, though we have them available for any that want them and anyone wanting to use protection is welcome to do so.

FOLLOW MEDICAL ADVICE

With masks going away, we are still encouraging everyone to follow their medical professional's advice regaurding vaccines, risk factors, and preventative measures to preserve health.

If you are feeling unwell in any way, please, take the week off, get better, come back stronger.

KEEP PROPER DISTANCE

This used to be about 6 foot social distancing, now it is once again about fencing!

Distance is the crucial key to the art of fencing. Being in the distance that your game requires while denying your oppenent the same is what the sport is about at a fundamental level.


GROWING THE CLUB

With restrictions falling away as we move forward, we are excited to see numbers returning to the gym floor that rival our attendence prior to the pandemic. 

We are all so very excited to be seeing interest returning to the sport, especially now as our ability to incorporate larger group numbers to our programming.

Our Bluegrass friends

Throughout the pandemic, we have partnered with the fine folks down in Ludlow, KY to help their students get back on the piste and to give our members a place for the serious business of fencing! It has been a fantastic partnership and a testament to the small family that is fencing and the wonderful partnerships that exist between our groups.

Nate Westcott is running floor drills and holding open floor fencing for the members of NKYFA along with those that have membership with the Cincinnati Fencing Club on Thursday nights, doors opening at 7pm and the floor open until everyone is too tired to go on!

Map and directions below.

looking back, wistfully

I've been going back through old files, photos, and the like; riding on waves of nostalgia. I've pulled out some photos going back to 2014 when we were meeting at McKie recreation center while the Clifton rec was being renovated!

These are trying and difficult times for everyone, but it's important that this club has been around for a very, very long time. It is entirely thanks to the people in these photos, the instructors like Kim, Dale, Dick, Adam, and Nate; the officers of the club like Mike; the members of the club, both new to the sport and old to the club. We will bounce back. We will, together, overcome the challenge that is this disease and the necessary hardships that we endure so that we may all endure.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a little look back!

Competetive Fencing and Upcoming Tournaments

If you are excited to learn more about competition fencing, if you are looking for upcoming tournaments, or if you are looking for results from previous tournaments, then it is time to get acquainted with AskFred.net. 

AskFred is a database open to the fencing community to organize tournaments, keep results and data about fencer's careers, and give a unified place for clubs to advertise their upcoming events!

For information on upcoming tournaments follow this link to see all tournaments "near" Cincinnati (AskFred is a little broad in it's definition of near): AskFred.net.

Check out this link for a search of tournaments with a limit of a 100 mile drive.

USFA Rating Chart


Academy of Fencing Masters Blog is a great resource for information by fencers and parents of athletes, talking about all the stuff that we all wonder about. Wonder no longer, start learning today!

The following link will take you to askfred.net for the explanation of how the ratings given out during a tournament are determined. USFA Ratings.


Also, this article goes into all the nitty-gritty of earning your ratings: 

Fencer Ratings Made Simple