The Pathway Blog: The Academy Report Card

Helping Parents Track Progress in Youth Fencing

When your child walks through the doors at the Academy, they’re not just learning how to fence—they're developing focus, discipline, physical fitness, and resilience. But as a parent, it’s not always easy to see what’s happening during those fast-paced bouts or training sessions. That’s where constructive feedback becomes essential—not just for fencers, but for parents too.

1. Fencing Is More Than Touches and Wins

Youth fencing isn’t just about who scores the most touches and wins medals. It’s about mastering the foundational skills of footwork, timing, tactics, technique and self-control. A young fencer might not win every bout, but they may be making huge strides in areas like focus, sportsmanship, or consistency—progress that a scoreboard doesn’t always reflect.

That’s why we are launching our new fencer progress reports, helping parents see the whole picture, from technical development to mindset.

2. Feedback Builds the Bridge Between Coach and Parent

Just like a school parent-teacher conference, regular updates allow coaches to share specific observations:

• "Rachel has been working hard on her 4m game, and is also showing more confidence in her attacks."

• "Liam is starting to read his opponents better and see what actions to do, but needs reminders to stay calm under pressure."

We believe improving this communication and kind of insight helps parents support their children more effectively at home—whether it’s practicing discipline, encouraging patience, or simply understanding that progress is happening, even when it’s not always visible.

3. It Reinforces a Growth Mindset

Children grow when they learn that effort matters more than instant results. When parents receive thoughtful, growth-focused feedback, they can echo that message at home:

“Coach said your footwork is getting stronger. That’s great! Keep working on your balance, we can see the improvement!”

This shared language between coach, fencer, and parent builds confidence and resilience in young athletes.

4. Feedback Strengthens Accountability and Motivation

When kids know their progress is being tracked—and that their parents are in the loop—they often become more focused and engaged. They take pride in hearing things like:

• "You’ve really improved your focus during drills."

• "You’re starting to think tactically instead of just reacting."

• “It’s obvious that you’ve put a lot of effort into improving your long attack.”

It’s like a fencing version of a school report card: honest, encouraging, and geared toward long-term development.

5. A Peek Behind the Curtain

As a less common sport in the UK (though we’re working hard to change that!), many of our fencing families have only had exposure to sabre through their children’s journeys at the Academy. We believe that providing some insight into the development trajectories of their fencers and what the broad strokes of the teaching syllabus entail will help foster supportive environments and help parents feel more connected to all the hard work that their children are putting into their fencing journeys.

It also assists the coaches’ own feedback processes, as it gives us an additional opportunity to further assess progress, see what has worked well, and better tailor our approach to the individual student.

The Launch and What to Expect

The first Fencer Report Cards will be launched for the end of this summer term for all fencers receiving 1:1 lessons. After the Pathways team finish collating the reports from the Coaching team, parents will receive an email with the report attached and a more detailed explanation of the language around feedback and the specific development age/stage that the fencer is currently sitting at.

There will be the opportunity to discuss fencer feedback with the Pathway Manager at the end of term as part of the planning process for the upcoming season; but we do want to stress that these reports are not a grade, and our objective is to provide athletes and parents with knowledge that can help create environments that foster growth and fencing success.

We're really excited to share with parents everything that their fencers have been putting in so much effort towards, so stay tuned!