You probably have heard of fencing from the Olympics, but did you know that our school offers it? As a winter sport, there are girls’ and boys’ fencing teams that you can be a part of with no experience. Currently, a good reason to join is that our teams are not nearly as big as our rivals, Wayne Hills, and we are always willing to teach newcomers. Fencing is not just a sport about physical strength, but also endurance, precision, speed, and accuracy. There is much more to fencing than most people know, and everyone on the teams is friendly and welcoming.

A fencing meet is divided into 27 bouts, which are rounds; the winner of each round is the first to five touches, each round worth one point. There are 3 different types of weapons to fence, each gets 9 bouts per meet. First is Sabre, the most common type of weapon. This weapon requires speed and agility. You can use any part of the blade to hit the upper portion of your opponent’s body. These bouts are over quickly, making explosiveness a necessity. Another weapon you could choose is the Foil, where you can only use the tip of the blade to stab your opponent anywhere on their torso. If you hit your opponent outside the target area, such as their mask, arms, or legs, the bout will temporarily pause and reset from the same location. Foil requires lots of quick movements and accuracy to attack and receive the point. The final weapon, my personal favorite, is the Epèe. Epèe fencers stab the tip of the blade in any location on their opponent to obtain the point, including the mask and even the feet. Speed is necessary as you make your move, but defense is key, as you need to protect yourself from all areas.

Fencing is a fun and unique sport with much more work than meets the eye. Everyone on the girls’ and boys’ teams is amiable and would love to have you and more players. By growing the teams, everyone will improve. Please consider joining!