Fencing academy relocating to Vernon Hills retail building, expanding offerings
The fencing command “en garde” will be among the sounds heard in a new business coming to a retail space in Vernon Hills.
Eminence Fencing Academy, located in Lake Forest the past two years, will be changing the corporate name and relocating to a now-vacant retail building at 900 S. Milwaukee Ave., on the south end of town.
It is a coach-supervised athletic training facility offering fencing instruction and strength and conditioning classes, primarily for youth athletes, according to owner and head coach Siarhei Duboiski.
Duboiski also is the head coach of the Vernon Hills High School fencing team. In information presented to the village, he said many of the team’s members train at his facility.
Duboiski said he wanted the academy to be closer to the school so athletes would have better access before and after classes.
In seeking a special-use permit for a specialty school, Duboiski noted the building is significantly larger than his Lake Forest location, with a layout allowing the business to expand its strength and conditioning program. The building in Vernon Hills most recently was occupied by By the Yard, an outdoor furniture store.
Strength and conditioning is a “very popular” part of the program, he added, but capacity is limited in Lake Forest. The new location will have a dedicated turf area separate from the fencing floor to allow for more classes.
The Vernon Hills site will be operated by a new entity called Half Day Athletics LLC rather than Eminence Fencing, but the day-to-day operations will be substantially the same, according to Duboiski.
That’s a coach-supervised, scheduled-class model offering age-appropriate fencing and strength and conditioning programs with an emphasis on structured, supervised training, he added.
Currently, the program has about 70 students with a typical class size of 15 and a staff of three coaches. Every class is scheduled in advance and supervised directly by a coach and does not operate as an open-access or unsupervised gym, Duboiski explained.
Athletes are divided into four ability-based groups — beginner, intermediate, competitive and elite — that train separately to match instruction and supervision to skill levels.
The larger space will allow the operation to modestly increase class sizes and the number of coaches on staff at any given time, Duboiski informed the village.
ThunderCats Fencing is the varsity and junior varsity high school fencing program for Vernon Hills and Libertyville high schools. All Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 students can join regardless of previous fencing experience. The team competes in the Great Lakes High School Fencing Conference.
According to the website, fencing builds speed, focus, confidence, discipline, and resilience and every bout challenges participants to think quickly and stay composed under pressure.
mzawislak@dailyherald.com