Well this is a new thing for me.
A young friend of mine is a world competitor in FOIL fencing. He has dual US and Nigerian citizenship. I've known him since he started fencing as a high school kid. But he fences "Foil" and I coach "Saber" which are different. "Tosan" as we call him, is now 22 or 23, a college graduate, he has been an international competitor for several year and competed in several "world" level events representing Nigeria for several seasons.
Tosan and I spend a lot of time together, I consider him more of a friend than a student ... because he has never been one of 'my' students.
For anyone who knows nothing about Olympic fencing, there are 3 weapons. Foil, Epee and Saber. Think of them as Handgun, Rifle and Shotgun. Or Motorcycle, Truck and Sportscar. They all do the same thing, differently.
Me, I know next to nothing about coaching Foil. But he wants to shift to Saber. Hmmm... I'm a Saber coach. He competes as the Captain of the Nigerian National Team in individual Foil competitions. Now he wants to compete in the Saber Team events. He asked me to be his coach. I'm really not qualified to coach a "world" level fencer but I am able to get him started, improve his skills and move him to a better coach. He's already good at Foil. And last night he spent the evening fencing Saber, his first attempt. Made a lot of mistakes. I was coaching him as he was fencing. He won every bout and beat some of my best fencers. So clearly there is potential.
This is a new adventure for both of us. One I am looking forward to starting.
A young friend of mine is a world competitor in FOIL fencing. He has dual US and Nigerian citizenship. I've known him since he started fencing as a high school kid. But he fences "Foil" and I coach "Saber" which are different. "Tosan" as we call him, is now 22 or 23, a college graduate, he has been an international competitor for several year and competed in several "world" level events representing Nigeria for several seasons.
Tosan and I spend a lot of time together, I consider him more of a friend than a student ... because he has never been one of 'my' students.
For anyone who knows nothing about Olympic fencing, there are 3 weapons. Foil, Epee and Saber. Think of them as Handgun, Rifle and Shotgun. Or Motorcycle, Truck and Sportscar. They all do the same thing, differently.
Me, I know next to nothing about coaching Foil. But he wants to shift to Saber. Hmmm... I'm a Saber coach. He competes as the Captain of the Nigerian National Team in individual Foil competitions. Now he wants to compete in the Saber Team events. He asked me to be his coach. I'm really not qualified to coach a "world" level fencer but I am able to get him started, improve his skills and move him to a better coach. He's already good at Foil. And last night he spent the evening fencing Saber, his first attempt. Made a lot of mistakes. I was coaching him as he was fencing. He won every bout and beat some of my best fencers. So clearly there is potential.
This is a new adventure for both of us. One I am looking forward to starting.
