We may not be rich, but we’re now kinda famous. For their Spring Edition, Baltimore’s Child featured a piece on Baltimore-area fencing. And, funny how things work out, Coach Chris got to plug our Epee Nomads in the piece.
Call Coach Chris if you have questions: 410-790-8033!
- It’s final: Our now former host, Loyola-Blakefield, has canceled the fencing program. We will not return.
- Open Bouting continues on Tuesdays and Fridays for our epee fencers, foil classes continue on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays under the guidance of Coach Austin.
- The Olympic Games may be over, but we’re just getting started: We have an outdoor pop-up epee tournament on 8/14/2021 at 9:30AM at the Towson High School athletic field!
- We’re looking for a venue to expand in the medium term.
We are keeping a close eye on our 2020 Pandemic dueling grounds at Towson High School.
Currently, it looks like there’s a baseball game on almost every afternoon on the upper field, a small Wimbledon on the tennis courts, and either a lacrosse game or some track-and-field event on the football field every afternoon.
But as soon as the parking lot clears out and the weather forecast looks promising, we will move some of our fencing activities outside again, enjoying epee as it was initially meant be, as an outdoor sport!
Meanwhile, attendance at our Tuesday and Thursday epee “Duels at Dawn” has grown by leaps and bounds. Together with Coach Austin Young of Homewood Fencing Club, we’re about to put down a second strip at 733 W. 40th Street.
It’s gonna be tight, but we’re going to give it a try! (We’ve also started to scout for alternate locations for the fall, but don’t tell anyone.)
Like our Epee Nomads, Coach Austin’s youth and competitive foil groups have also grown. We have a steady stream of newbies signing up, some tearful reunions of old BFC/BMFA fencing buddies — and there are plans to move the introductory classes outside very soon.
Any questions about that, please call or text me at 410-790-8033.
We heard that Baltimore Fencing Center‘s Cockeysville location’s doors have closed for good this month.
We take no joy in that — Larbi and I (and a large contingent of our own fencers) started out at BFC and have great memories of the place.
So we extend a cordial invitation to BFC fencers in search for a new competitive home in the northern Baltimore City/Baltimore County area. (BFC Columbia is slated to re-open in June, so there’s always that!)
Youth foil fencers are welcome to join Coach Austin’s foil program, and our Epee Nomads are always open to anyone interested to learn, continue, and compete!
Our venue at this point is still small, so please contact me at 410-790-8033 to co-ordinate!
(If you need weapons and body cords repaired, also give me a call. Coach Larbi regularly picks up non-functioning gear and returns it repaired to our site in a timely fashion!)
Our fencers are looking forward to the end of the official school year: School sports are currently claiming most available outdoor spaces that we were able to use during the pandemic summer of 2020. Soon, we can expand our daily operations from the small space we were generously provided with by the property management of the Rotunda!
Youth Foil Fencing News:
Coach Austin Young is continuing youth and youth competitive classes at 733 W. 40th Street in Baltimore (our Rotunda tempoeary encampment) on
Saturdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with an over-flow day earmarked for Monday afternoons.
He has also just started a youth beginners’ class on Saturdays. As outdoor spaces become available, we may add additional learn-to-fence opportunities at Towson High School’s athletic fields.
For questions and scheduling, please contact Coach Austin directly at 410-340-6269.
Adult and youth Epee
Our epee program continues to gather steam:
- Open Bouting continues every Tuesday and Friday at 6PM (typically until 7:30 or 8PM, depending on the number of fencers. We are now getting lose to maximum capacity so please text Coach Chris if you plan to attend to maximize your fencing time: 410-790-8033. Walk-ons are always welcome, just bring your own gear.
(We are currently exploring adding Saturday afternoons for inveterate competitors.)
- Beginner’s and Remedial Classes: We have Introduction to Epee for Beginners every Monday starting at 7PM, and Remedial Epee for those who like to polish up some skills on Tuesday and Friday 1t 5PM. We’re trying to keep these events small, so please check with Coach Chris for availability.
Like our foil program, we are looking to alternate our open-bouting venue with the great outdoors to accommodate more fencers.
Individual Lessons: Coach Larbi “has sword, will travel”, providing individual lessons at students’ homes, driveways, patios and, on Mondays, at our Rotunda location. Lessons are available for foil and epee, on all levels, beginner to competitive. To make your own arrangements with him, call 443-739-0077. Lessons are also available via Coach Austin.
ANY FENCERS AFFECTED BY RECENT CLUB AND LOCATION CLOSURES WILL AWAYS BE WELCOMED BY ALL OUR COACHES.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Coach Chris Amberger (adult epee program): Call or txt 410-790-8033
Coach Austin Young (youth and competitive foil): Call or txt 410-340-6269
Coach Larbi Soufiane (individual lessons foil and epee): Call or txt 443-739-0077
Every Tuesday and Friday, at 6:00 PM sharp—that’s 1800 hours for you military types—BMFA’s adult epee team meets at the upper athletic field of Towson High School to keep in shape and maintain a steady supply of dime-sized bruises on our arms and chest.
Continue reading “Outdoor fencing continues: It’s your own fault if you’re not fencing!”
If you’re ready to kick the kids out of the house and lock up the violins or oboes that have been making life an acoustic hell for the past 2 weeks of CORVID19 “social isolation,” I have bad news for you:
Looks like schools won’t reopen for another month, making another 4 weeks of “Bah-Bah Black Sheep” scratched out on a tiny violin inevitable.
That also means BMFA will be closed until further notice from our gracious hosts at Loyola Blakefield. Please check in at this page and at our FB pages for notices!
Our gracious host, Loyola-Blakefiled, will go into corona-shutdown mode on 3/15. That means until April 3, 2020, none of our carefully developed safety policies will be necessary, as the venue will be closed:
No fencing classes or lessons until April!
We will alert our members if we decide to organize properly social-isolation open-air work-out meets at a different location. After all, Coach Chris has been ordered to stay out of the office until April 6, and as of next Monday probably won’t know what to do with all the free time.
So stay tuned to this website and our Facebook groups!
Meanwhile, see you at Knott Hall’s performance gym tonight!
Fencing in Baltimore 