Tactics and Strategy Clinic

STRATEGY AND TACTICS SESSION with coaches Tobias (Toby) Lee, Andrew Lee, and possibly Aaron Page for competitive epee and foil fencers: finding solutions to challenging opponents.

SCHEDULE: December 7 (Saturday) at Metro Tacoma Fencing Club (tacomafencing.com): 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM Strategy and Tactics Clinic. 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM optional practice opportunity with a round robin included in the cost of the clinic if interested. Please sign-up for the round robin on the tournament page if you are interested in being included to make it easier to set up pools and so others will know if we have enough interest in the different weapons https://www.askfred.net/tournaments/f5eed0bb-a0d0-452c-976a-b31af0acc630. Coaches will stay until 5 PM for those who want to practice new skills, work on drills they can do at home, and get any other tips or advice even if they do not want to participate in the practice session.

DETAILS: Do you want to work on improving your fencing? Are you itching to earn your E rating? Are you an E and think you are more awesome than your rating reflects? Or are you a C rated fencer and struggling to earn your A or B? We will work on analyzing your opponents to take advantage of their weaknesses, strategies to maximize your strengths, tricks to manage distance, methods to help reduce the effectiveness of your opponent's best moves, the mental game, preparation, home drills, and strip coaching. We assume that you and your opponents all know how to attack and parry. But how can you beat them with better strategy or tactics? This clinic will be geared towards the fencer who is rated C or below including unrated fencers of any age. It will focus on epee and foil--saber not so much. You do not need to be a fencer to join this clinic as we will focus on the mental aspect of fencing including strip coaching. So parents and supporters are encouraged to join for the coaching aspect particuarly if you find yourself fencing without your club coach. Coach Toby's pool sheets will be given to each participant. Please pre-register everyone who will attend on AskFRED so we have enough materials for everyone. This is the same material as covered in the Strategy and Tactics session from 2023.

COST: Cost is $50 for the first fencer in a family and $20 for each additional fencers/support in the same family. The cost includes the optional practice session from 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM (please sign up for that as well). CASH VERY MUCH PREFERRED. Checks accepted. We WILL NOT be able to take credit cards for this clinic (we don't have access to the credit card reader). If you did not pre-register and show up you are welcome to attend the session but may not get the pool sheets and course outline if we run out of materials.

ABOUT THE COACHES

COACH TOBY: Toby (Master in epee and Prevot in foil) was on the Harvard varsity fencing team from 1991-1994. He has ratings of A2024 in epee and B2022 in foil. He is currently ranked first in the 50-59 year old age group (Vet 50) for men's epee in the United States and 8th in the world after earning a bronze medal at the 2024 Veteran Fencing World Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He was ranked 8th in foil in the United States points list for veteran 50 men's foil in 2022. He currently holds a referee rating of R1 in foil and R2 in epee. He has been an invited coach at the University of Puget Sound fencing club. Toby's children are also successful fencers incorporating some of these strategies to be shared at this session. Among the three kids, notable achievements include: Benjamin earning an E in foil as a Y10 fencer (one of eight nationally), Christopher earning a D in foil as a Y12 fencer (one of 15 nationally), Andrew and Benjanin competing in the European Cadet Circuit competitions, Benjamin competing in Junior and Senior World Cup competitions, and Andrew qualifying for the NCAA championship while fencing for Harvard. Toby is the current president of Metro Tacoma Fencing Club, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. Additional information about Coach Toby can be found at http://tobylee.com/fencing.

COACH ANDREW: Andrew (Assistant Moniteur) was on the Harvard varsity fencing team from 2018-2021. He has a rating of A2024 in epee and C2016 in foil (currently D2021 since he so rarely does foil events). He has earned national points consistently when he was competing nationally including in division 1 points. He is Toby's coach and was instrumental in the bronze medal earned at the 2024 Veteran Fencing World Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in the men's epee 50-59 year old division.

COACH AARON: Aaron (Assistant Moniteur) is checking his schedule to see if he is available. Aaron began fencing in 1993 and was involved in the development of the fencing clubs at Tacoma Community College and later at Central Washington University. He was the Inland Empire Division Champion in Foil in 1997. He has competed in foil fencing in North American Cup events as well as Summer Nationals. He was coach, armorer, and board member at Metro Tacoma Fencing Club before he moved north for work. He and Toby ran the first Tactics and Strategy session in 2017 together which was successful. If he can make the session it will be double extra fun.