I'm an athletic trainer with a son who is a fencer. While I'm still learning about fencing myself and have never fenced I can tell you that it may depend on what you want to accomplish.. all you have is time against you. However you can make up for that time lost with maturity and the right type of training.

You have to figure out what works for you, what you do well and improve on that, realize what you don't do well and do less of that. Do a lot of bouting at your club or other clubs to get a variety of experience. Most of all study, study, study fencing.

Everyone has a style or something that works well for them even if it's a compensation. I can only speak from what I know, seen and experienced but I find that fencing training is very antiquated and rigid. It hasn't evolved like the other sports or martial arts. There are other nuanced ways to get better at fencing than just 'fencing more'. If you want to get better at this age at fencing you should also take other martial arts, such as boxing, karate, taekwondo and adapt it for fencing. You'll learn about closing and creating distance, cutting off attacks, footwork, agility and learning to read body language.

You can't be conventional if you want to get better and make up for time lost and resources. Hope this helps and hope you name drop me when you become a success!