Calling All Daredevils!

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 Are you an experience coach with results that speak for themselves?  Or are you just a fencer that is obsessed with the sport and secretly yearn to teach it, but don’t feel adequate enough to try?  Then I have a story for you.

My first exposure to fencing was a SWTSU saber PE class taught by Lew Smith in 1979.  I was the only female in the class. From there, I discovered open fencing where tough guys smashed me into the ground.  Then Kyle Maysel (women’s coach) took note of this and encouraged me to take up foil because that’s what girls did at the time.

He built me an electric Frankenstein foil out of left over parts, ordered me extra small knickers, and altered a jacket to fit me.  Then he insisted I sign up for the next foil tournament.  These actions opened up a whole new world for me.  I had no idea how to even hold a foil, but signed up and took 2^nd place with his advice, “Hit with the with the pointy end!”  That day I fell in love with fencing.

As I learned more about the sport, I gained a new confidence in myself.  So, I stuck around and earned both a B.S. and a M.Ed in education at what is now Texas State University just so I could keep fencing. Unfortunately, upon graduation fencing took backseat to much more practical things like a teaching career and raising my children.  Then in 2002, my daughter Megan showed an interest in the sport!

A mountain of obstacles stood in our way.  The closest coaches and clubs were at least 200 miles away, so Oscar Barerra (South Texas Chair) and the late Kyle Maysel (Past South Texas Chair) urged me to start my own in Robstown (Corpus Christi area). I had no idea really what to do, but clumsily took action anyway.

When Kyle and I named my club Coastal Bend Fencing Society, he proclaimed, “Build it and they will come!”  My 2nd fencing coach from SWTSU, John Moreau, even donated some old equipment and stepped up to help host/ referee our first fencing tourney in Corpus Christi.  The tournament made the local paper, and the club began to grow.

Then Kyle started hounding me to attend referee school and USFCA coaching seminars.  His unwavering support made things happen and my daughter and I started competing in South Texas and Gulf Coast Divisions until she injured her knee in track.  Despite performing well in saber, the injury put an end to her fencing days.

By then I was well into my 40s and too committed to quit. I had obtained a Moniteur in foil and saber, found a decent salle, and had already purchased lots of expensive fencing equipment, so I just kept coaching.  Eventually I moved from the Corpus Christi area, and the pandemic put fencing temporarily on hold.  However, once all this passed, I reopened in the Rio Grande Valley as the Valley Fencing Club.  I kept that club running until I moved to Louisiana where I have now started teaching classes in the Northshore area.

Over the past 20 years I’ve taught hundreds of recreational fencers at over a half dozen venues in Texas and Louisiana.   This summer I have plans to continue teaching with the Northshore Vultures (a home school group) and a summer camp on Fridays at Coquille Parks and Recreation in Covington, LA as a newly founded Northshore Fencing Club.  At 66, I have never stopped loving the sport.

Beyond coaching, I have held lots of demonstrations in my surrounding area, hosted referee seminars for Texas fencers, served in the past as a volunteer coach with Texas A&M in Corpus Christi, and held the position of Treasurer of the Southwest Intercollegiate Fencing Association where I’ve refereed tournaments and helped run bout committee. Today I am humbly honored to hold the position as Treasurer of the United States Fencing Coaches Association, AND if someone had of told me in 1979 that any of this would eventually come to pass, I would have had a really good laugh! 

My memory fades some, but I give Lew Smith and John Moreau a lot of credit for exposing me to the sport when I was younger.  I believe it was Lew Smith that registered me into my first fencing class (saber) very well knowing it would be difficult. The male fencers at his registration table knew it, too, and roared with laughter as I signed the paperwork.  I took that as a dare.  See, every single foil class was full.  So, I was basically sneaked into the saber class despite it being considered an advanced weapon that only men fenced with foil being a strict prerequisite.

I am forever thankful the rules were bent for me that day. I like to think they saw grit in my eyes, but they were probably just amused with my perseverance.  However, today Lew is still alive and well, living in Baltimore and is really excited that I never quit loving fencing.  We’ve kept up with each other over the years, and he along with others have encouraged me along the way.  But, USFCA is where I received training and certification to feel more comfortable as a beginner coach in an area of the country that was previously fencing purgatory.

So, for those less experienced fencers, I can easily relate to mixed feelings of not being worthy of becoming a coach. I dare you to try anyway because if I could do it, you can, too.  The USFCA pathway to certification is much more transparent than when I took my first clinic and there are lots of mentors out there that that can help you along your way. USFCA has worked really hard to make this happen, so you should take advantage of it.

And for those very experienced coaches that have tons of success, I dare you to give more encouragement to fencers that may not show as much innate talent, but have true grit.  Take the role that Oscar, John, and Kyle did with me by passing the torch to those that show a sincere interest in the sport.  You never know what they may do in the future.  You are in a position to change people’s lives forever, and as coaches it is our business to promote the sport of fencing- one fencer at a time.

Grace Buchanan

USFCA Treasurer