Daily workout. Classes twice a week. Private lessons according to an agreed schedule. "Anyone coming to the club can start fencing right away since they have fencing uniforms ready to be used by beginners."

If you leave your country you can offer your availability, talent, and attitude in many different realities and at the same time learn another language, culture, and customs.

Roberta Ravasi, National Instructor, feeling the need to improve her English, went to Houston, TX.

After an initial contact with Dr. Antonio Fiore and our friend gram and the generous hospitality of our American friends, Roberta did improve her English and experience the fencing methods in US while bringing there her experience and knowledge acquired on the strips of Dr Lodetti's club in Milan.

In the video interview with maestro Giancarlo Toran Roberta tells us about her adventure in Texas.

(video interview in Italian)

I wanted also to ask Roberta Ravasi few questions of my own.

Hi there, Roberta! Could you describe in general terms for your Italian colleagues the working at the club you saw in Houston?

Gladly! At the club where I was a guest, they start with maximum 15-20 minutes of warm-up consisting of running, games...and stretching all together. When I was given the role to conduct the warm-up class I did it for 30 minutes because in my opinion it is very important to have a thorough and long muscle warm-up followed by stretching especially when you have a range of students of various ages, from kids to adults all together.

Then, twice a week they have what they call the "group lesson." This consists of one hour with a lot of footwork followed by fencing drills in pairs. Then just like in any fencing salle they have fencing practice and private/individual lessons.

Once a week a mega round robin simulating a fencing tournament.

Are there some teaching/coaching aspects/techniques which you saw -- especially as far as technique -- which you will now adopt with your students in Italy?

The head coach and owner of the club, Andrey Geva, is Russian and I could notice a great emphais on footwork: they do a lot of it!

Furthermore I could reevaluate the importance/effectiveness of the foot touch, an exclusive characterisitc in USA of the students of this Coach. What surprised me the most is the great phyiscal coordination of the Americans, their physical strength, and their great athletism. All this comes--as it is well known--from the love for sports and the importance sports have in the American culture. All kids in school from kindergarden to high school have one hour of PE every day, not once a week like we have here when we have it.

Could you exchange ideas as to what concerns the promotion of fencing? How do they try to recruit new fencers?

Recruiting is a bit like we do it here, i.e., the best and most effective way is always by word of mouth. They also do promoting in schools but with less success than we have here because Americans have a phobia for the liability of potential injuries [with a "weapon"] therefore school boards and administrations often don't allow fencing in school.

Another initiative is that they use the salle a lot for birthday parties. The birthday kid arrives at the salle with his/her friends and for about one hour they go through the fundamentals of fencing, they try some bouting together, and then pizza and cake!

In general they let fence anyone the momnet he/she shows up at the club. The club has a number of fencing uniforms and gear ready to by used. This can be a good solution for the club's budget because the newbies don't get bored, they have fun fencing right away, and therefore they hang around and sign up. But from the point of view of teaching fencing this is not an ideal situation as all Italian coaches are well aware.

In the video interview you told Gaincarlo Toran that in US fencing coaches give individual lessons which are paid at an hourly rate. You think we could ever get to something similar here in our world?

Exactly. Lessons in an American club are individual and last 20-25 minutes each at around $30 for each lesson. The student pays for each individual lesson.

To answer your question I believe that the right and fair way should be something in between the two. If we were to adopt only the American way we would lose the quality of our teaching because our work would be piecework (which is what I saw there), i.e., the more lessons you give the more you earn. For me personally I felt that I was sharp and could give lessons at high level only for a maximum of 5-6 per day (remember they last 25 minutes each), then I would collapse physically but especially mentally.

On the other hand I think that Maestri in Italy are poorly paid. We are still waiting for a minimum guaranteed hourly rate... who knows if this will remain a chimera in our world!

Do American coaches stress the importance of a healthy life style [diet]?

Well from what I saw, not really! This is hamburger and coke country, and this is what many [fencers and coaches] eat. In Texas they have one of the highest rates of obesity...

How would you describe your American experience in two words?

Absolutely fantastic and more than anything very, very interesting! To see and experience first hand and for a while a different fencing environment makes you appreciate even more where you are coming from and the great and illustrious Italian Fencing School.

Photos: Courtesy of Alliance Fencing Academy (http://www.alliance-fencing-academy.com/)

Translation by gram