My daughter has been fencing foil at CFA for the past 3 years. She started in the beginner’s class and now is on the national team. She loves it! What I love about CFA is that they made it fun for beginners (while teaching clever listening skills), developed focus/technique for intermediates, and shaped champions at the national level. The women’s youth 12 foil national champion in 2013 was from CFA.
What I particularly like about CFA has been their approach to teaching respect and control. Everything from when you get onto the strip, to the salute, to recovering from a missed point, to the handshake at the end is about respecting your opponent, the director, the sport, and the coach. There are tremendous life lessons here.
Both Ania and Dan are great coaches. They have very different styles. Ania tends to teach more of the advanced girls and focus on technique. Dan teaches more the advanced boys and focuses on tactics. The combination is good as they build on one another’s lessons.
While not everyone will want to progress to national level, if you do, be prepared for a time commitment. In my daughter’s case, she started at 2 hrs/week in beginners, then 4 hrs/wk at intermediate and now is at ~10 hr/week. She loved it at all stages.
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