Upper Valley Fencing Club

Tomorrow, Monday the 26th is the last of our 2025 summer sessions.

We've seen some growth over the summer and I'm hoping to see continued growth this year. Also, tentatively myself and one other coach at UVFC will be going to another coaching clinic to improve our coaching skills sometime this coming October.

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September is looking to be a busy month:
Sept 7-8: Neal Lazar RYC/RJCC Newtown CT Open registration closes in 3 days

Sept. 14 and 15th: Premiere Regional Open Circuit in Suffern NY. Registration is open.

Sept. 21st: September Skirmish, 50 Monkton Rd., Vergennes, VT. Foil and Epee, Cadet and Senior level events. This is the opening event for Green Mountain Division (open to all). This event counts towards the Champlain Cup. Its my understanding that GMD events this year will all be on Fencing Time Live (so, results will show up on Fencing Tracker

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We've been getting a lot of views, probably due to the publicity generated by the Olympics.

The US has earned multiple medals in Fencing at the Olympic competitions this year. The past few years, the US has become a much stronger nation with regard to it's international fencing results.

So, why fence?

It's a sport that can last a lifetime for one. It's not just a physical sport, but one where fast thinking, fast reflexes and problem solving are part of the game (and don't think the high performers in the sport started with all these things, they are developed over time with practice).

It builds strength, improves fitness, and hand/eye coordination.

It builds mental skills too; fortitude, grit, toughness, focus and resiliency.

There is variety in fencing. Everyone develops their own personal style within a broader framework or "school" of fencing. The Italian School is more athletic, with strong actions on the blade, the French school is more nuanced, with more focus on nuance, the German school is more focused on the right moment to go, with pre-planned second and 'safety' actions and so on.

Fencing at its most fundamental level is the art and science of touching your opponent without being touched; it is the only sport where it is better to give than to a receive (a touch). Compared to fencing, all other sports are "pointless" (100% true for foil and epee where points are only scored with the point of the weapon...for saber, its still somewhat true, but the saber represents an edged weapon so most points in saber are made with the edge of the blade).

Simple but complex, this is why fencing is sometimes referred to as physical chess.

Come pay us a visit if you're in the area and see for yourself!

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Congratulations to Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scrugs on winning Gold and Silver in Womens Foil at the Olympics!

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If you're considering trying fencing out, the summer is a good time to do so. We're running 4 weeks per payment, so the cost for a session is 1/2 what it would be during the school year. We loan equipment, (you can turn it in at the end of each session). We're meeting on Monday nights, and most of our current members are away on family vacations, so you'll get more attention on teaching you to fence then you would get most weeks during the school year as well.

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The first summer session will be July 8th from 6:15 to 8:15. Sign up is through the Hanover NH Park and Rec Dept. website (youth sports, or adult enhancement options). Please come and check us out and see if fencing is a good fit for you before spending the money though. Our goal is to make the initial expense of getting into fencing as low as possible.

We start out with a warmup period, then have group footwork. Group lessons and then the second half of the session is open bouting/practice.

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Another season for Green Mountain Division has drawn to a close. For a very small club, we've 'punched above our weight' in terms of event results. We will be open through the summer, but only Monday nights from 6:15 to 8:15.

I'm hoping to see a few more adults sign up. We're now a mix of youth and adults, and this is a very good thing, with just a little more 'strength' in numbers I'm hoping we'll be able to start sponsoring events again.

We have a new Coach...John, who has attended a US Fencing Coaching clinic, and will be going through the USA Fencing requirements for coaching in July.

I'm looking forward to seeing the club grow this next season.

Best wishes to all the fencers that follow this page, for a successful 2024-2025 season as well.

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Upper Valley Fencing Club will be closed for Memorial Day this coming Monday.

This Saturday there are 3 of us competing in the last Green Mountain Division event of the year, at Ft. Ticonderoga.

An interesting milestone, we have 199 people that are following this page.

Here we go again....I think someday about to get stabbed. 😁. Why do I keep hearing Hans Solo saying, " I've got a bad feeling ab
out this.". Just sayin..

Since I haven't posted it for a while, Upper Valley Fencing Club meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:15 to 8:15 at the RW Black general use room on the first floor. Foot work starts at 6:30. We welcome beginners of all ages, and current fencers of all skill levels. We're primarily a foil and epee club, but we do offer some limited saber training as well.

Fencing is a body weight, 'combat' sport that is similar, in terms of strength and conditioning, to Tennis .Tennis is considered to be an Aerobic sport with a strong Anaerobic component, while Fencing is considered to be an Anaerobic sport with a strong Aerobic component.

Fencing is a good sport to take up as it's fun, it also has a strong mental side, and is sometimes referred to as 'mental chess'.

Also, sometimes referred to as electronic tag... :D

The first Green Mountain Division fencing competition will be October 14th at the University of Vermont:
https://www.askfred.net/tournaments/614bd774-4964-4241-beb2-ff41e20dad90

If you were trying to find us to sign up for fencing through Hanover Parks and Rec and saw a message that there website ( the " my.rec") version is inactive, the new website portal is active, they just don't have a redirect to the new site: https:www.hanovernh.org/720/ Programs
If that's not enough and you did find the correct website, they listed us under "Enrichment Programs", but not under ,"Sports". However, you should be able to find us under Sports now.

Programs | Hanover, NH A listing of all our youth, adult, & senior programs

Our first session of the new Fencing Season starts on the 11th of September and runs for 8 weeks. You can sign up at the Hanover NH Park and Recreation site. Note their old site is 'dead', this is the link to the new site (and you have to click on the enrichment link):

Parks and Recreation | Hanover, NH Note that for July and August,Town Hall is open 8am - 4:30pm MondayThursday (half hour earlier), and open on Friday 8am - 1pm (Building closed at 1pm on Friday). 

Given the wide area flooding and chances of flash flooding, I would advise skipping coming to fencing tonight!

Upper Valley Fencing Club is continuing its journey to recovery post covid.

Saturday, May 6th, we hosted our first tournament since the covid lockdown. UVFC also took home 3 of the 8 medals that were awarded.

In Senior Mixed Foil congratulations to:
1st-Cedric Holcomb of Vivo
2nd-Viveka Fox of VFA
3rd-David De Gijsel of UVFC
3rd-Mia Puopolo

In Senior Mixed Epee congratulations to:
1st-Clay Foye of UVFC
2nd-Ray Schuppe of VFA
3rd-Leonard Volchek (who sometimes practices with us)
3rd-Thomas Bush of RIFAC

The "Maple Madness" fencing event sponsored by VFA has been rescheduled due to the winter storm warning (snow up to 1 inch per hour with winds up to 35 mph).

The event is now scheduled for Sunday, May 15th. at the same location Vermont Commons School: South Burlington, VT).

Please use the following link to sign up:

https://askfred.net/Events/whoIsComing.php?tournament_id=52997 #205846

If the event keeps the original list of people and gets a few more plus 1 more A and 1 more B fencer (preferably a couple of each), the event would hit A2 status, so if this Saturday wasn't convenient but you can make a week from this Sunday (March 12th), please sign up!

Maple Madness 2023 (Reschedule) Who Is Coming? :: FRED: Fencing Tournaments

VFA is sponsoring a Fencing Competition on Saturday, March 4th. This event has Open and E and under competitions in Foil and Epee. So far, this has had limited signups. If you have the day open, this would be a good event to consider coming too.

Upper Valley Fencing Club updated their info in the about section.

Thank you to Vermont Fencing Alliance for hosting the Groundhog Open and Youth event on Saturday, February 11th.

Upper Valley had several entries in this event and overall did well:
For top 8 results:
In Y12 Alex took 2nd place, Alona took 5th, and Samara took 6th (3 out of the top 6 places).

In senior Epee, Bill finished 5th, Clay finished 7th,

In senior Foil: David finished 3rd and earned a D2023 rating.
Jesse finished 5th.

Storm coming in around 7 pm may create hazardous driving condition tonight, January 25th.

When the local school districts close due to weather conditions, we will be closed as well. Due to the storm conditions, we will not be meeting for fencing today the 23rd of January.

Hint:
Use the time to watch some videos of fencing on Youtube. See if you can find something being done you would like to do, or see if you can understand why an action developed the way it did. Second Hint: if you have some space, like a hallway, practice your footwork. Stay safe!

Upper Valley Fencing Club updated their business hours.