Remembering fencing in 90 degrees heat outdoors last year, with thunder clouds moving in, the setting sun in our face, and biting flies going to town on our ankles, we are still appreciating the relative cool of Salle Nomad at the Rotunda.
Due to the return to normalcy (including having to physically be at the office again for our professionals), we have compacted the schedule and moved up our open bouting to an hour later:
Monday: Novice class at 7:00PM
Tuesday: Improvement Society at 6:00PM
Tuesday: Open Bouting at 7:00PM
Friday: Open Bouting at 7:00PM
Walk-ons welcome! BYOE. (Epee, although we have plenty of those…)
When are we fencing? How many opponents can I reasonably expect?
Please sign up for the various Duels at Dawn events every week on teamsnap.com!
The Pandemic of 2020/21 has taken a toll on local fencing. Two clubs in the region have closed their doors permanently. Those clubs who depend on schools and colleges for their venue found themselves in front of locked doors. Doors that will remain closed until September of 2021…
On the other hand, our adult epee group has been growing by leaps and bounds.
After a 3-month hiatus following the lockdown in March 2020, Vince and Chris started fencing again outdoors, on the athletic fields of Towson High School, soon to be joined by Aidan and Ethan. Using wireless and our prudently sequestered mobile scoring units, we instantly were independent of the regular club set-up. All we needed was a flat surface to fence on!
When the biting flies got too much, we moved from the defunct pole vault track to the pavement under the high school auditorium’s overhang roof. We found another regular in Daniel in the fall, and an A-rated challenge in Sarah. Our friends from the old BFC days, Latif and Hannah, also joined back up.
As the days grew shorter and colder, it became apparent that we’d need an indoor space to continue our bi-weekly Duels at Dusk. Thanks to Vince, we found an unused commercial space at the Rotunda shopping mall in Baltimore City. It was sufficient for a single Leon Paul “Gryptonite” strip. And because we capped occupancy at 6 persons at any given time for the first couple of months, that was more than enough for us. We also invited Homewood Fencing Club — who was in the same predicament as we were — to use the space for foil classes during those days we weren’t fencing.
We fenced close to 1,000 epee bouts in this place. Our group now has around 20 members, including novices and experienced fencers, so each bouting night, you can expect to find between 6 and 12 fencers ready for action.
In October of 2021, the Nomads joined Homewood Fencing Club, located at the Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Campus off University Parkway. We now have six metal strips at our disposal, enough for our continued weekly Tuesday and Friday night bouting.
Experienced fencers, just grab your gear and simply show up at or around 6:00PM every Tuesday and Friday. If you have never fenced before but always wanted to, give Coach Chris a call at 410-790-8033.
We’re now establishing friendly alliances with other local and regional clubs, aimed at keeping Baltimore-area epee fencing alive through what remains of the pandemic.
We’re meeting at 733 W. 40th Street, Baltimore MD 21211, Tue/Fr 6:00PM.
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:
(We are currently exploring adding Saturday afternoons for inveterate competitors.)
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
Our pandemic schedule appears to be extending into its second year.
Foil:
Small youth classes continue to be taught by our friends at Homewood Fencing Club at our Baltimore City location (Rotunda) on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. Contact coach Chris for details.
Epee:
Open bouting continues every Tuesday and Friday at 6:00PM. We have fenced over 400 bouts since December!
NEW:
Small remedial/beginners epee classes on Tuesdays and Fridays at 5:00PM.
For both, contact Coach Chris at 410-790-8033.
All events currently require your own gear: Mask, plastron, jacket, glove. We can help out with weapons and body cords, but shared club gear remains off-limits.
No news, in some cases, may be good news. In our case, it’s merely no news: We have not received any information from our hosts at Loyola-Blakefield if or when the school’s facilities may be available for restarting classes and private lessons…
Fencing in Baltimore 