Fencing

We started a more official allowance for the kids over the summer and M has been enjoying being able to buy all sorts of video games or walk down to the 7-11 for treats. One of the games they bought over the summer was for the VR set and I guess involves swordplay, so after playing a bit of that he told us he wanted to do fencing. This is the first time in ages that he's expressed an interest in an activity, so we immediately looked into options. There were some spots open in a summer camp still, but they were half-day camps and I couldn't figure out how to make that work, so we waited and got him signed up for an intro class in the fall. The ages are nicely split up so he's in a group of 11-15 year olds. The intro class has been once a week, which he has said is not often enough. It's also focused on epee - initially he said he wanted to try sabre, but after a few weeks when given the chance to take another intro class focused on sabre or continue on to beginning epee, he changed his mind and decided to stick with epee for now. When you move to the beginning class you get to have class twice a week and for a little longer, so I think he's happy about that. 

It's been delightful to see him excited about something and having fun with it. Aside from at home, it's probably where he's the most relaxed and willing to engage with others right now. I haven't been able to get any great action shots yet, but here he is getting an actual sword for the first time (in the dark blue shirt) and then connecting to the wire so the scoring system can detect their touches.

So far everyone we've interacted there has been friendly. Of course, at this age you never know how long an interest will last, but it's feeling like a good, positive experience and outlet for him right now - something we've desperately needed - and we'll enjoy it for however long it's something he wants to do.