Decoding the Durkan Program

Saturday May 7th 11am-3pm Decoding the Durkan Program - Coaching Seminar Foil, Epee and Sabre An opportunity for Coaches of All Levels to learn effective training strategies for fencing including: Neurological training (visual, vestibular, proprioceptive) Proper stretching and warm-up (Static and Dynamic), as well as three weapon fencing drills for all levels. The Durkan Program is designed to increase mind-body connection, athletic ability and fencing skills of all participants. The techniques are proven effective in beginners through Olympians. Experience a new an exciting way of training that will take your fencers to the next level! Time: 11am-3pm ($75 for the class) Website: www.durkanfencing.com Location: 60 Saddle River Ave, South Hackensack** NJ 07606 **Shows up in some GPS systems as "Garfiled NJ" -- this is the same place! Entrance is BEHIND the PowerHouse Gym, drive around to the back of the building. We have ample FREE parking. Jed Dupree's Bio Jed began his coaching career in 2007 after seven years as a member of the US Men’s Foil National Team. He co-opened Empire United Fencing in the heart of Manhattan with the goal of creating a program capable of helping fencers realize their full potential and pursue success at a world class level. Jed’s training philosophy is based on his belief that the primary goal of a coach is to continually foster an inquisitive love for the sport in his students. Jed created his training regimen to include elements of yoga, feldenkrais, meditation, mobility flow, functional strength, and periodization techniques. He was introduced to yoga during his preparation for the Olympic Games in 2004 and has been a practicing yogi for ten years and is a certified yoga teacher. Living and training in New York as a competitor during his journey to become an Olympian, Jed sought out and trained with great teachers in a diverse range of disciplines regarding movement practices, dance, breath work, meditation, and strength and conditioning. Jed incorporates practices of mind, body, and breath awareness into his program in order to better prepare an athlete for the physical and mental rigors of competition and long hours of training on the strip. In 2010, after three years of work in the program, Jed’s athletes began to achieve medals at the Cadet and Junior World Cup level, with two of his students Race Imboden and Brian Kaneshige making the Cadet World Team. Race would go on to win the bronze medal at the competition. In the next year increasing numbers of students in the program began to achieve podium performances at Cadet, Junior, and Senior National competitions in addition to medals at Cadet and Junior World Cups. Jed’s approach to footwork, technical progressions, and tactical awareness works in tandem with the incorporation of innovative mind/body training to create a more present, focused, and motivated fencer. Jed’s technical and tactical foundations in the sport came from working with exceptional teachers Joseph Pechinsky, Dr. Aladar Kogler, Buckie Leach, and Simon Gershon. His exposure to such wide-ranging ideas in fencing helped to inspire his drive to create a fencing program that would incorporate the best and most successful elements he had experienced while adding new practices and methods to take his athletes even further. As his students progressed, Jed continually infused the program with more sophisticated coordination drills, movement patterning, and mobility work. When ready with the right foundation, he progressed his students into a specialized strength and conditioning program with the primary emphasis on keeping his athletes healthy and joyful in the way they were able to move their body. He fostered a culture of curiosity and analysis as seen in the coaches and students attention to video and their efforts to stay current with the changes happening at the highest levels of fencing. In the 2010/11 season Race Imboden became Senior National Champion and earned a place on the 2011 Men’s Foil National Team. Jed and Race travelled to the World Championships in Catania, Italy where at 18 years of age Race would place in the top eight of the competition. Returning home to prepare for the Olympic qualification season, Jed placed particular emphasis on using restorative yoga and regenerative techniques in tandem with the strength, plyometric, and mobility work already central to the supplemental training of the club’s students. At the first Senior World Cup of the season in Paris, Race upset 4 time World Champion Peter Joppich and finished with the bronze medal. As the season progressed Race climbed to a ranking of 4th in the world. Race qualified for the Olympic Games several months before the end of the season and Jed became a 2012 Men’s Foil Olympic Coach working with Olympic Coach Greg Massialas and the rest of the Men’s Foil Team. Jed’s inspiration for the design of his training program came from a lifelong love of fencing. His experiences as a fencer have helped to guide him in understanding and creating solutions to the problems and obstacles faced by the athlete in training and at the competition. Jed is currently the Assistant Coach at Harvard University.