Tara, Welcome to the club! Not sure whether we have met but I will look forward to running into you. I don't have any official role in the club, but I will try to make sure that coach also sees your post about challenges with communication. I think that's something that continued feedback can only help to improve. I agreed to put up some posts in the forum since my son has been fencing for a little while and I noticed pretty early on that the degree to which he can enjoy and succeed in fencing depends on the success and enjoyment of everyone else. Fencing looks like an individual sport, but without a happy and committed team, there's no real way to practice and get better. I think that's the core ethos of the families at NEFC; everyone I have met is eager to share their experience and to help each other progress from wherever they are to wherever they want to be. Hopefully some of these posts willl help. I agree that I was also not sure about the make-up classes days and I found that confusing too. I'll put up a post about equipment in a second. Definitely leave any questions there as I definitely write from my experience but am likely to miss things that I haven't thought about or encountered. Questions can only make the information better.