Important Life Skills Your Kids Learn While Fencing

Are you considering placing your teenager in fencing? It is a great way to improve emotional and physical health. Although the most direct benefit is through exercise, a structured fencing class can also help your child learn, grow, and excel in school, the work environment, and even socialization. It’s not just about fencing; Could not be farther from the truth. Take a look at these six important life skills to see how fencing can benefit your child’s ability to succeed in subtle ways.

Discipline

Like martial arts and other sports that require a high degree of concentration, fencing requires a great deal of discipline. As a life skill, discipline teaches children to follow “a code of order or rules,” and that’s also essentially our society in general. As children progress through middle school and beyond, they, too, must learn to follow the orderly code that is our society; if they break the code (that is, the laws), they will find themselves in trouble. Although the connection may not seem obvious at first, learning discipline through fencing will allow children to adjust to a tougher adult life and difficult times at school because they will have the discipline to persevere.

Patience

Patience is possibly the second most important life skill your child can have after discipline. Any parent going to a toy store with a two-year-old probably knows the struggle; they want toys, and more, they want them right now. But teaching your child that he should wait for the holidays or save his allowance before buying the toy is an excellent life lesson; they will learn patience and that good things come to those who wait. Fencing teaches this same lesson by empowering children to understand when it is best to wait and defend, as well as when it is best to strike the opponent. In fact, an important part of fencing is patiently watching for the right opportunity.

Sportsmanship

In the sport of fencing, you will win some and lose some. That’s just how it is. Of course, everyone likes to win more than they lose. But when your opponent outplays you, you learn to take it in stride and use it as a learning experience instead of letting it get you down. Being able to accept wins and losses gracefully is a critical part of your child’s success, and he’ll get plenty of practice, too. Better yet, he’ll learn to work with a partner or team to solve problems. Great sportsmanship has benefits far beyond the sport; helps children learn to be kind, friendly and respectful to the people they meet throughout their lives.