I want to start a fencing (swordfighting) club at my school. How to go about it?

Question

I know enough about fencing that I could mediate it, make sure everyone participates in a safe manner, and teach at least the beginners. I foresee a lot of problems convincing the school administration that it's safe, though.

Answer 1

The first step I would take is to upgrade my USFA membership to a coach membership. Most importantly, this provides you with general liability coverage that extends to all your fencing and coaching events and activities, both USFA sanctioned and non-sanctioned. This will do a lot to convince the school that you're exercising due diligence. Renew your membership on-line at the USFA site http://www.usfencing.org/usfa/.

Also at the USFA site, you'll find important reference documents covering the rules of fencing, athletes handbook, and so on.

The US Fencing Coaches Association has a web site with useful information such as schedules of coaching clinics.

The USFA hosts a fencing coaches college every summer (except on Olympiad years, no coaches college this year) in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the Olympic Training Center. You should make plans to attend next year. The program is designed to teach you how to be a coach. It is is an excellent program at a good price.

As far as convincing officials, parents and athletes that the sport is safe, have them try to find any instance of an injury more serious than an ankle sprain. I've googled it and haven't found any reliable report in recent years. Contrast that with football, where every Friday night in the fall athletes will be carried off the field with concussions or worse.