Le Club Touche

Over the past year, our son has had a positive experience here. I agree with the other reviewer that they’re not always the most organized, but the instructors have been very encouraging and it’s run like a small family business.

I enrolled my two son’s in the beginner’s foil class because they give you a free introductory session which they work one on one with each child. They give you the impression that this is the kind of training they offer to learn how to fence correctly. On the second class the kids were just thrown into bouting without anyone correcting or showing them what to do.
They have too many kids in the beginning session, which is chaotic. The kids are stepping into the other lanes and bumping into other fencers. The equipment is pretty worn out and/​or they don’t have enough for all the kids. My son was using a broken mask and they don’t have enough chest plates for the kids. He told me that his chest hurt when he was hit with the foil while bouting. Bags are strewn all over the floor in front of the benches for parents to sit and watch, causing a tripping hazard.
The first indication of how unprofessional this place was when I had to fill out the paperwork to enroll my kids. I e-​mailed the office manager, Olessia, the previous day and she told me to come in the next morning and she would have the forms available and take care of the enrollment. When I arrived she was in the parking lot leaving to pick up a birthday cake for a kids birthday party and told me to get the forms from the instructor. She said she would be back shortly to finish up the paperwork. I asked the instructor for the forms and she wasn’t sure where they were kept and asked me to wait for the office manager. I asked to find the forms so I could get a head start on filling them out before the end of the session. I waited an hour and a half for the office manager to return to give her the payment and get a receipt.
I showed up to the 3^rd class and found out the time had been changed from the morning to the afternoon. An e-​mail had been sent out to everyone asking if this was okay. I didn’t receive that e-​mail or the e-​mail notifying everyone of the time change.
I’m now going to try Silicon Valley Fencing. I’ve audited their sessions twice and they seem to know what they are doing and have the classes structured so they kids learn proper technique and move them along to the next level. My son had improved a lot by the second session here.
The only accommodation they could make for me is to give me a ¼ refund on the class fee but not the membership fee. They only accept checks or cash which is antiquated.