Not just those who transitioned from middle school to high school, but also those who transitioned from high school into college.

I thought back to the conversations I’ve had with our students over the years and their families. Her question made me reflect on all of the competitive fencers that I’ve seen do this dance in the past decade.

“How can they combine competitive fencing, with the training, competing, and traveling, and the rigorous demands of high school?” “How do all of these fencers succeed?” she asked me. Like any parent, she’s invested in his success and concerned about how he’ll fare when he makes the big transition in the fall. Her son is in the eighth grade, getting ready to start high school in just a few weeks. I recently had an interesting discussion with a fencing mom in our club. What they do during those years will determine which college they’ll get into, which will determine so much of their future. What it really boils down to is that there are real consequences for the choices that young people make when they get into high school. College and choices are coming, and teenagers are just dipping their toes into making some of those huge decisions. Young people suddenly feel the weight of adulthood coming for them, and the world itself gets more real than it ever has been before. High school is no walk in the park for anyone. For almost everyone who’s lived through the ups and downs of high school, it’s a challenging time. The camaraderie, even with the person on the other side of the strip, is a great boost for a fencer’s mood. Though this is an individual sport, it’s also in direct competition with an opponent. The highs and lows aren’t so drastic, but they are still exciting enough to engage us.īeyond those, there’s also the mood boost from the social nature of the sport. This isn’t just about the physical benefits that fuel mood improvement, it’s also how the highly competitive nature of fencing gives us a regular mood boost. It gives you a consistent sense of being in that middle, even as you are excited and ready to go. Point, point, point – sometimes for the opponent and sometimes for yourself. Regular fencing gives you an additional mood boost because of the constant competitive nature. Physical activity of any kind releases brain chemicals that relax our minds and even our moods. Both can be disruptive to our mood and throw our life off course.īeing relaxed allows you to be present in the moment, without worrying too much about the future or fretting too much about the past. The trouble with the low lows is of course that they bring us down. This keeps us from being able to live in the present, as we’re always thinking about how great it felt to have that big experience. The trouble with the high highs is that, if we become too attached to them, we can spend too much time chasing them. The low lows can help us to learn resilience, and the high highs can of course boost us tremendously. What we want is to stay in the middle somewhere for the most part. Mood happens on a spectrum, from being far down in the dumps to being elated and excited. Though fencing in particular and sports in general are well known for how they benefit us physically, there are also a huge number of ways that they boost mental health. Mental health is just as important as physical health.

Years of academy training wasted