Promoting Your Club During Tokyo 2020

OLYMPIC FENCING & YOUR CLUB: Make the Most of It!

Serge Timacheff with contribution from Jeff Bukantz

USA FENCING CLUB TOOLKIT

USA Fencing is pleased to offer all USA Fencing clubs marketing toolkits to help you take advantage of the excitement around the Games. Attract new members and promote your club before, during and after the Games with a pre- and post-Games toolkit. The first campaign, called “We Make Champions” includes flyers as well as social media graphics. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games are finally upon us, albeit a year later than originally scheduled. Fencing, as it has been since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, will take place beginning the day after the Opening Ceremony on Saturday, July 24 with individual men’s saber and women’s epee and continuing until Sunday, August 1. The Opening Ceremony for the Paralympic Games will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 24 with wheelchair fencing running from Wednesday Aug. 25 through Sunday, Aug. 29.

Simply put, there just is no other event with more prowess, prestige or excitement than the Olympic Games. For most all athletes, it represents the pinnacle of achievement just to be an Olympian, and winning an Olympic medal is, of course the ultimate prize. Team USA includes 24 Olympic and three Paralympic qualifiers, but each will have the ability to serve as an inspiration for millions around the world – from current and former fencers to new fans and those who become inspired to try the sport by the heroes they see on television.

Most notably, this will be the first time in history fencing will have all 12 events represented at the Olympic Games in gold-medal competition, including both men and women fencing epee, foil and saber in individual and team matches. Through several years of lobbying the International Olympic Committee – and perhaps bolstered by the fact that the IOC president, Thomas Bach, is himself an Olympic fencing gold medalist – the International Fencing Federation (FIE) was finally successful in achieving this momentous goal.

For the first time in history, all six individual events will be contested at the Paralympic Games as well with women’s saber making its debut in Tokyo.

The USA is one of only a handful of countries to have qualified a full complement of 18 individual fencers – the maximum allowed – for Tokyo 2020. This, in and of itself, is a remarkable accomplishment. Leading up to when Mariel Zagunis won the first-ever Olympic women’s saber title in Athens 2004, and continuing since that point, the USA has become a veritable force to contend with in fencing as never in its history. Going into Tokyo 2020, we have many athletes capable of medaling, not the least of which is our number-one-ranked men’s foil team.

THE OLYMPIC IMPRESSION. For many athletes, the first encounter they may have had with fencing was the Olympic Games. Certainly, popular movies like The Parent Trap and The Princess Bride have introduced kids to the sport, but the excitement of fencing’s prominence in the Olympic Games always seems to make an impression, which, then equates to a heightened awareness of and interest in it especially among children. What fencer hasn’t dreamed, even for a moment, of what it would be like to win Olympic gold? Every Olympic quadrennium (OK, this time it was five years) presents a unique opportunity for clubs to leverage Olympic fencing to generate excitement and interest, boost numbers in beginning classes, and generally build awareness. Media coverage of fencing has also increased, and the opportunities to watch Olympic fencing on TV and livestreaming are greater than ever before. NBC – the official Olympic broadcaster – is apparently planning more fencing coverage than in the past and already has commentators and reporters for the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) already hard at work honing their fencing knowledge and stats.