ABOUT NAFA
New Amsterdam Fencing Academy
NAFA is home to various nationally ranked fencers and an exciting and innovative place to develop one’s abilities. Originally established in the year 2000 as Salle Gitane, the club has grown from a handful of students into a constantly expanding, full-time fencing club. NAFA has a distinctive program—modeled after some of the most successful systems in Europe—that emphasizes group training along with individual lessons. For kids, NAFA is a wonderful place to improve fitness, develop mental acuity, and have fun. For adults, it is a great place to learn a new sport; for the experienced competitor, to vastly improve one’s abilities.
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JOHN AND LARISSA GONZÁLEZ
John and Larissa are the founders and owners of New Amsterdam Fencing Academy. Both have been nationally competitive foil fencers and were students of Polish fencing master Marek Wyszynski. Their experience in training young fencers began in 1997 with their work in New York City public and private schools. John and Larissa strive to make NAFA a place where modern pedagogical knowledge is joined with the competitive flair of one of the oldest Olympic sports.
John was a long-time nationally ranked, A-rated, foil fencer. He is also certified by the United States Fencing Coaches Association as a Moniteur in all three weapons. One of his students has, in only one year, recently become nationally ranked in foil, himself. John has been working with children for more than 17 years, and he has been teaching fencing for over 11 years. John is always looking to expand his coaching knowledge and improve NAFA’s program. Even though he is the club’s proprietor, John still makes the development of his students his primary concern.
Larissa has taken part in the United States Fencing Association’s Coaches College. She is also a certified Feldenkrais practitioner. The Coaches College is a program designed to provide professional fencing education to US coaches in order to enhance the quality of fencing training nationwide. The Feldenkrais Method of somatic education is a learning model designed to bring awareness to oneself in action. Larissa has made use of her experience with the Coaches College and her expertise in movement to enhance NAFA’s philosophy and curriculum.
Group classes are the core of the NAFA fencing program. In group classes, students become familiar with the fundamental movements and prerequisites of competitive fencing. The emphasis is on coordination, fitness, and basic fencing skills–a strong foundation upon which to build. In groups, students become friends. As such, they learn more readily and are more eager to continue learning. Group classes are also great fun. The format includes games and challenges that provide opportunity to learn in the spirit of pure play.
NAFA employs a stepwise, progressive curriculum in which students take periodic tests to move to higher levels. NAFA’s unique developmental system uses motivational strategies inspired by French fencing schools and familiar to anyone in the martial arts. Fencers at NAFA earn patches that signify their level within the club. In order to pass form one level to the next, students must pass increasingly demanding tests that assess fencing knowledge and abilities. As they pass into successive levels, fencers are awarded different colored patches. NAFA’s patch system motivates students to achieve more, bolsters their confidence, and better prepares them to eventually compete in the sport.
More competitive students will also choose to include private lessons. The traditional master/apprentice format, the history of which goes back to the earliest days of dueling in REnaissance Europe, continues to provide a critical element of a young fencer’s training. Students are able to further develop fencing techniques introduced in class by working one-on-one with a coach.
The later segments of a group class involve practice bouting. Often, students are given specific constraints or tasks to reinforce the subject of the day’s lesson. Students may continue after the official end of class, or they may come on other days for additional bouting practice. They gain experience and confidence facing a wider range of opponents.
Benefits of Fencing
The sport of fencing is a uniquely classic sport. It has a history, drama, romance, style, and art, plus all of the advantages of an active and physically demanding sport. Mentally, it is mind consuming, not allowing a moment’s break.
There are many benefits to participating in fencing. Fencing develops discipline, balance, coordination, and sportsmanship. Fencing helps children develop quicker reflexes and the ability to make lightning fast analyses of tactical situations.
Through fencing, children learn good sportsmanship and self-discipline. They learn to compete independently as well as for a team. They learn to enjoy winning and profit from defeats, while becoming physically fit and healthy. Most importantly, they learn to make complex decisions, analyze problems, and think fast. These ideals help children reach their potential in many areas other than fencing.
The benefits of fencing extend to the college recruitment process. College coaches are now recruiting fencers with years of competitive experience in the local, national, and international realms. Many of the colleges that recruit experienced fencers are among the nation’s elite: Harvard University, Princeton University, and University of Pennsylvania are some of the many universities that look for top scholar-athletes to join their fencing programs.
The foil is a descendant of the light court sword formally used by nobility to train for duels. The foil has a flexible, rectangular blade, approximately 35 inches in length, and weighs less than one pound. Points are scored with the tip of the blade and must land within the valid target area, which is the torso from the shoulders to the groin in the front and to the waist in the back. It does not include the arms, neck, head and legs. This concept of on-target and off-target evolved from the theory of 18th-century fencing masters, who instructed their pupils to only attack the vital areas of the body. Of course, the head is also a vital area of the body, but attacks to the face were considered unsportsmanlike and therefore discouraged.
The foil fencer’s uniform includes a metallic vest (called a lamé), which covers the valid target area so that a valid touch will register on the scoring machine. The flexible nature of the foil blade permits the modern elite foil fencer to attack an opponent from seemingly impossible angles.
The saber is the modern version of the slashing cavalry sword, and is similar in length and weight to the foil. The major difference is the use of the blade. The saber is a cutting weapon as well as a thrusting weapon. Therefore, saberists can score with the edge of the blade as well as the point. The target area is from the bend of the hips (both front and back), to the top of the head. This simulates the cavalry rider on a horse. The uniform includes a metallic jacket (lamé), which fully covers the target area to register a valid touch on the scoring machine. Because the head is valid target area, the fencer’s mask is also electrically wired.
In saber, the rules of right-of-way strongly favor the fencer who attacks first, and a mere graze by the blade against the lamé registers a touch with the scoring machine. These circumstances naturally make saber a fast, aggressive game, with fencers rushing their opponent from the moment the referee gives the instruction to fence.
The epee (pronounced “EPP-pay,” meaning sword in French), is the descendant of the dueling sword, is similar in length to the foil, but is heavier, weighing approximately 27 ounces, with a larger guard (to protect the hand from a valid hit), and has a much stiffer blade. Touches are scored only with the point of the blade, and the entire body, head-to-toe, is the valid target area, imitating an actual duel.
A full-body target naturally makes epee a competition of careful strategy and patience – wild, rash attacks are quickly punished with solid counter-attacks. Therefore, rather than attacking outright, epeeists often spend several minutes probing their opponent’s defenses and maneuvering for distance before risking an attack. Others choose to stay on the defensive throughout the entire bout.
