The Rideau Swords Fencing Club and the Carleton University Fencing Team are highly interconnected to encourage community involvement with the team and the fencing community in general.  The club and varsity team usually practice at the same time and share coaching staff.  Our beginners course and fencing club is often a recruitment tool used by the varsity coaches to fill empty places on the varsity roster.  In general there is no specific tryout period for the varsity team instead if you are interested in joining the varsity team then tell the coaches of your interest at the beginning of the season and then it is up to you to show the coaches that you want a spot by showing to as many practices as possible and working hard.  Spots on the varsity team are earned, not given. Varsity team rosters are usually confirmed by December or Early January just in time for our championship in early February.

Expected Varsity team members have mimimum attendance requirements and are required to attend several tournaments throughout the year. 

Required Tournaments:

• Queens Invitational
• Ottawa Shield
• Governor Generals
• RMC
• Ontario Provincials
• Brock Open (Currently optional, might change to a tournament in Montreal)

Some expenses for these tournaments can be covered by the Carleton and/or Club, others are not.  Funding levels vary and will be arranged closer to the dates of the tournament.

Interested in learning how to fence but have never tried it before?  Then our 'Introduction to Fencing' course is exactly what you are looking for!  

We offer an 10 class course (two nights per week) covering the basics of fencing.  By the end of the course you should have enough knowledge and experience that you should know if you want to continue with the sport and if you do you should be able to join the rest of the club in regular training to further improve your skills via group and individual lessons. We have had many students with no prior experience take our course and then join the varsity fencing team and become very successful.  The best way to ensure a good time is to show up, have fun and try hard!

What we expect of you:

Please wear athletic clothing, Contrary to popular believe fencing is quite an athletic sport, you _will_ be sweating so don't wear your best outfit.  For example:

• T-shirt
• Running shoes
• Athletic pants (ie NO jeans or shorts)

Regular attendance (it's ok to miss a class or two because we do review previous skills but if you miss too many it can be difficult to keep up).

What you will learn

• Basic Footwork
• Basic Bladework
• General Fencing Strategies
• Basic Rules and Infractions
• About all three weapon types and be able to try each of them to see which you like

Bonus Features

• If you decide to continue on your fencing journey after the course is over then you are welcome at regular practices, space permitting..
• Free Entry into ApSimon Beginners Tournament
• Free Entry into the Carleton Team Invitational in January 2023

What to expect

The course is run very similar to a regular fencing practice.  With the exception of the very first class which will have an introduction and safety speech each class will consist of a short warm-up followed by being split up into groups (The number groups depends on the number of students and availability of equipment).  Each group will work on a specific skill such as footwork, bladework, agility, reaction-time, strength, timing etc.  After approximately about 20 minutes the groups will rotate between the different skills so that everyone will have a chance to work on the skills being taught in that class.  The class ends with a quick review of the skills that were taught and a preview of the skills for next class.  Each class will approximately be 1 hours depending on the number of students.

When

Next class starts in January!  

Where

Carleton University Athletics, Activity Room 2404!

Register Here!

https://athletics.carleton.ca/cu-fitness/learn-to-fence/