May 1, 2017

Meet David Sach of Boston Fencing Club in Brighton

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Sach.

Thanks for sharing your story with us David. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
BFC is the oldest fencing club in the USA, tracing our roots back to 1858. In 1895 Outing magazine mentioned ‘The outlook at the Boston Fencing Club is brilliant, although more in a social way’. Today we like to think our members would still think us brilliant, with sociable fencers who also compete at the highest levels.

159 years later and we are a non-profit organization with an enthusiastic board of directors, dedicated to ensuring the future of the club is bright. We have fencers of all ages who range from beginners to international medal winners, as well as a growing outreach program. We are excited about achieving another first for Boston this spring, with the launch of Boston’s first wheelchair program.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
One of the major challenges is bringing fencing to a wider audience and making it affordable. Our outreach program is all about giving children access to fencing and allowing them to enjoy all the benefits of a sport that engages co-ordination and problem solving with athleticism. However, like any individual sport there can be higher costs involved and we are working hard to help eliminate those barriers for children in the greater Boston area. We are working hard to build our program and provide more coaching and equipment to young fencers part of this process is to try to establish an endowment which will fund these important programs.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Boston Fencing Club story. Tell us more about the business.
Boston Fencing Club teaches the Olympic sport of fencing to fencers of all ages and abilities. We are unusual that we coach all 3 weapons; foil, epee and saber and we welcome beginners to international athletes. Our team of experienced, professional coaches ensure there is a safe and fun environment to come and train. The first class is always free to try with no commitment, so that anyone with an interest can come and see what we are all about.

We have beginner fencers as young as 5 years old developing co-ordination to adults who are just discovering a sport which keeps them mentally engaged, challenged and in good shape. There are also a growing number of competitive teenagers who are using fencing to boost college applications, with many Ivy League colleges looking to grow their NCAA teams. We have a strong competitive program for fencers who are aiming at college or national team places, giving BFC a true mix of members who come together to enjoy the sport.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
It was great to see the vision of the board become a reality when, less than a year ago, we moved to our beautiful new facility in Brighton. We can now boast being one of the largest fencing clubs in the USA with the ability to host large competitions and expand our in-house programs. Moving a fencing club, with all of the equipment was no small undertaking and the staff and members all pulled together to make it possible. There is a lot of pride in the new space from all our members, and definitely an appreciation of how lucky we are to fence in such a great new facility.

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