5 Essential Tips to Ensure You're Always Ready for Your Next Fencing Tournament
It is heartbreaking to arrive at a competition and realise you forgot an essential piece of equipment. It costs money and time to borrow or buy something you already own, and you may have travelled far for an event that matters to your career. Even at a local tournament, a missed opportunity to compete is a missed chance to grow. Here are five tips to make sure that never happens to you.
Write and follow a packing list
The first step is a packing list for all your equipment, even for a local event. Include the gear you plan to use, plus clothes and shoes to change into afterwards. Travelling by air or out of state? Add your ID or passport, toiletries and enough spare clothes, along with all your fencing equipment and any extras you can bring.
Keep a tool kit in your bag
A tool kit lets you make quick repairs between pool bouts when there is no time to find an armourer. Learn to fix basic issues with your blades and tips yourself. A good kit includes tip screws, a screwdriver, springs, super glue, tape and a wrench. You may also want body tape, topical creams and pain relief for aches.
Put your essential equipment in your carry-on
If you fly, pack everything except your blades in your carry-on so you can still compete if a checked bag is lost. That means your mask, glove, electric jacket, Azza 15/14 shoes, socks, chest protector if needed and everything else but the blades.
Test your equipment before you leave
Test your weapons, electric jackets, masks and body cords before leaving. Arrive with working, complete gear, because you may not find someone to fix it on the day, and showing up with broken equipment risks cards during your bouts.
Pack snacks and electrolytes
Bring the snacks and electrolytes that reliably fuel you, and follow a routine you have already tested. You may not find your usual options near the venue, and trying something new on the day can affect your performance.
Prepare well and you remove the avoidable stresses, leaving you free to focus on fencing. For more on the demands of competitive fencing, read 4 reasons fencing is one of the most challenging sports.