Fencing Shouldn’t Be a Pay-to-Play Dream

Youth sports in the U.S. have quietly shifted from school gyms and neighborhood fields to private clubs, travel teams, and year-round training. For many families, that shift has come with a painful reality: if you can’t afford to pay, you often don’t get to play.

In a recent FencingBuddies Podcast episode, our AI hosts unpacked the research paper “Disparities in Youth Sports and Barriers to Participation” by Dr. Nirav Kiritkumar Pandya. The findings are eye-opening for all youth sports — and they hit especially close to home for fencing, a sport that is almost entirely club-based at the competitive level.

From School Teams to Pay-to-Play Clubs

When we talk about fencing becoming “pay-to-play,” we don’t mean the sport should be free. All sports have costs. The issue is that the cost of participation has risen so high that it now acts as a filter — determining who gets to fence based on family income rather than interest or talent. Making fencing accessible isn’t about eliminating cost. It’s about reducing unnecessary barriers so more kids can step onto the strip.

A generation ago, many kids discovered sports through school: low-cost teams, shared buses, and PE classes. Today, much of that has been replaced by club programs that operate like businesses. In fencing, this is the norm: if you want serious training, you join a private club.

Who Gets Left Out?

Studies show that families routinely spend thousands of dollars per year on youth sports between equipment, club fees, private lessons, tournament registrations, and travel. For fencing families, this can include:

Research shows that children from higher-income households are far more likely to participate in organized sports than those from lower-income families. Communities of color are disproportionately affected, creating a participation gap that has nothing to do with interest or ability — and everything to do with resources.

Burnout, Specialization, and the Scholarship Myth

Many families justify the investment with a dream: a college scholarship. But the numbers tell a different story. Only a small percentage of high school athletes play at the college level, and an even smaller fraction receive significant athletic aid.

In fencing, that can look like year-round footwork, repeated lunges and flèches, constant travel, and the pressure of “making it” before you’ve even finished high school. Too often, kids who once loved the sport end up exhausted, injured, or burned out.

Not Everyone Gets the Same Medical Care

Disparities don’t stop at participation. The paper also highlights major gaps in how young athletes are treated when they get hurt. Athletes with public insurance or from lower-resource schools face:

• Longer waits for initial evaluations and MRIs
• More severe injuries by the time they see a specialist
• Fewer physical therapy sessions and less follow-up care

In many schools, access to an athletic trainer is a luxury, not a given. That means concussions may go undiagnosed, ligament tears are caught late, and kids wait longer before they can safely return to their sport — if they return at all.

What This Means for Fencing

Fencing teaches focus, discipline, respect, and resilience. But if our sport is only truly accessible to families who can afford high fees and frequent travel, we are shutting out huge pools of potential talent — and denying many kids the physical and mental benefits that fencing offers.

How Families, Coaches, and Clubs Can Help

The Takeaway

If we want a stronger fencing community, we can’t ignore the inequities built into the current system. We need to:

• Lower the cost of participation wherever possible
• Increase access in under-served communities
• Prioritize long-term health over short-term results
• Support every kid — not just the privileged few