New York, NY — Fencers travel with a lot of gear.
Between weapons, uniforms, cords and required underpinnings, it’s practically a full time job keeping track of what you carry. Add in the stress of competing and traveling to the venue often far from home, and it’s a recipe for losing items.
Because it’s bound to happen, USA Fencing has a designated lost-and-found at national competitions and has developed protocol around it.
“Lost and found goes into two categories,” a USA Fencing spokesperson explained. “Anything small and valuable - wallets, AirPods, iPads, etc. goes back to the USA Fencing national offices if it's unclaimed at the venue. Individuals can contact us to claim.”
Fencing gear is another story, since it’s bigger and bulkier than the valuables. It gets left behind and a local club is designated to reunite gear with fencers.
“The local contact is typically the Divisional Chair or someone with whom we have worked for many years, who has a club in the local area that is willing to hold them,” the USA Fencing rep explained. For example, after the Richmond NAC, Virginia’s Divisional Chair Richard Weiss took the gear to his club, Penta Olympic Fencing Club. After the Charlotte NAC, the designee was Jen Oldham, owner, Forge Fencing Teams in Durham, NC.
What was supposed to be a “lost-and-found” bag, was much more than that, Oldham said. “It was two weapons bags full of gear. There were mostly foils, a mask, a towel, a few sabers, an unzipped lamé with a body and mask cord, a weapons testing kit, medicine and a self-care kit, and random pants,” she detailed. “The medical kit was the weird thing. There was no name on it. “
Connecting the lost items with the, for lack of a better word, losers, became a mission for Oldham. “I got really into it. My husband (fencing coach Jeff Kallio) called me the ‘Patron Saint of Lost Equipment.’”
Once connected with the wayward owners, she was charged with returning the equipment at the owners’ expense. Because shipping costs have exploded, shipping a saber once cost around $40, but now UPS is quoting about $80.
“That was a shocker to me,” Oldham said. So, “instead of shipping the weapons, I’m bringing them to Summer Nationals.”
Actually, the whole process was surprising to Oldham. “I didn’t know that this is something that happened and I’ve been fencing since I was in my 20s,” she said, adding that she’s learned a bit about fencers through this experience.
“There was a disproportionate number of foils,” but no epées. “Epée people are so anal,” she laughed; they don’t let their weapons out of their site. “One person had turned her weapon into the referee because it didn’t work. She didn’t know she was responsible for getting the weapon back after the referee confiscated it.”
There is a time limit for claiming items — 60 days from the end of the event, according to USA Fencing.
And after that? “We will donate the gear to the local high school fencing program,” Oldham said, adding “the bags will go into our community swap meet pile.”
The ultimate lesson in all of this is label your gear with both your name and more importantly, the club you are affiliated with. It is easier to reach out to a club than to try to track down specific fencers, particularly children.
Top lost-and-found photos: Courtesy of Jen Oldham
Bottom lost-and-found photos: Tim Morehouse Fencing Club, Manhattan