Fencing in the News

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Olympics-Fencing safety aided by death in the family
By Daniel Bases
Reuters/New York
June 26, 2012

in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/26/oly-fenc-safety-idINL5E8HN0DN20120626

Almost 30 years ago, the tight-knit sport of fencing suffered a tragic accident with the horrific death of world and Olympic champion Vladimir Smirnov.

While the Soviet fencer's death at the Rome World Championships in 1982 shocked the sport to its core, the fatal accident proved to be a turning point in making fencing safer.

Smirnov was fencing West Germany's Matthias Behr in Rome. Both stood over six feet tall and were described by coaches and team mates as massively strong and fast, their attacks akin to an oncoming locomotive.

They attacked each other simultaneously in an attempt to establish an advantage, or what is known in fencing as the "right of way", Smirnov's former coach Alexander Perekalsky, 87, told Reuters in a recent telephone interview from Moscow.

"Smirnov tried to block Behr's blade with an upward parry, that Behr avoided. Both collided and Behr's blade broke on Smirnov's chest and by inertia he continued forward.

"The broken blade hits a brand new mask and goes through, hitting him above the left eye and into his brain," he added.

Smirnov died some 10 days later after being taken off life support, his death mourned by the entire fencing world.

Behr left fencing in the aftermath of the accident but returned to win the foil silver at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and headed Germany's national fencing training center in Tauberbischofsheim.

Ioan Pop, the international technical director for fencing's governing body (FIE), said the current standard of safety in the sport owed much to the accident 30 years ago.

"It was absolutely the accident and the death of Smirnov in 1982, in Rome," said Romanian Pop, who won two Olympic team bronze medals in saber.


SAFETY PARAMOUNT

Pop is responsible for making sure fencing at the London Olympics is both safe as well as enjoyable to watch.

While safety is paramount, the real challenge is to make sure spectators can see the action, no easy task given the tip of a fencing blade is believed to be the second-fastest moving object at the Olympics after the marksman's bullet.

Massive floor lights wrapping around the fencing area will flash when the wireless electronic scoring equipment is set off by a touch either on or off the valid target.

Slow-motion instant replay for judges, and new for Olympic spectators this year, makes decisions more transparent. That is a big improvement from the past when national interests very often hid behind the subjective reasoning of the referee.

And in foil, the lightest of the three weapons that include epee and saber, the bib or area below the chin, is now a valid target, increasing the pace of a bout.

In an era of Ballistic grade fabric for uniforms, stronger steel, more rigid masks that stand up to 12kg punch tests, the banning of the running attack in saber, safety has improved and injuries severe enough to knock a competitor out of competition remain low.

Despite the dramatic images of blistering clashes with swooping metal weapons and ear piercing screams of aggression, the sport is significantly safer than American football, soccer or basketball, according to a five-year study by the United States Fencing Association published in 2008.

When compared with a database of collegiate sports injuries, the USFA study led by chief medical officer Peter Harmer found injury rates 50 times greater in soccer than in fencing.

Between 1995 and 2005, fatal injuries due to participation in U.S. high school and collegiate football reached 143, 63 deaths for basketball and 20 for soccer.

In the last 100 years there have been no reported deaths in U.S. fencing. Worldwide since Smirnov, Harmer said there are just seven confirmed fatalities in competition or practice. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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Bellaire, the center of the fencing universe? Olympians quietly train in our midst, drawn by Rice guru
By Whitney Radley
CultureMap Houston
06.29.12

houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/06-29-12-bellaire-the-center-of-the-fencing-universe-olympians-quietly-train-in-our-midst/

On a recent weekday morning, the scene inside of Bellaire's Salle Mauro Fencing Academy was a tangle of foils, epees, masks and gloves, children and pre-teens in various stages of undress from starched white jackets and stiff lamés.

The annual Camp Victory drew dozens of fencers from all over the country to train with top trainers and international competitors — including highly-ranked Italian Olympic qualifier Valerio Aspromonte, and Dallas-based brother-sister duo Zain and Mona Shaito, who will represent Lebanon in the Summer Olympics in London.


More than 60 fencers lined the pistes at Salle Mauro Fencing Academy this week.
Photo by Karen Burd

"When you teach something, it helps you learn it," Dan Gorman, a full-time coach at Salle Mauro, tells CultureMap.

The Olympic competitors will continue with their footwork and conditioning in the weeks leading up to the London games. Doling out individual tips and sparring with amateur competitors represents just another facet of that training.

Another draw for the Olympic athletes and coaches is Mauro Hamza, owner of Salle Mauro, fencing coordinator for Rice University and the U.S. national coach for men's foil fencing. As a former Egyptian fencer and a longtime coach, Hamza is well known and respected in the international fencing circuit.

All of that expertise attracted a far-reaching crowd of fencers to the five-day Camp Victory in anticipation of the 2012 U.S.A. Fencing National Championships, which began in Anaheim, Calif. on Friday.


Photo by Karen Burd

"The caliber is very high here," says Hamza, who pointed out competitive young fencers (including his own son, 10-year-old prodigy Mohamed Hamza), many of whom will compete in the national championships this weekend.

In preparation, students spent the fifth and final day of camp in simulation of the bracket-style competition that they will see at the championships, strings of body cord keeping tally of each hit and causing a complicated web of wires along the pistes.

Gorman says that the gym isn't quite so hectic on a regular week, when the staff at Salle Mauro offers classes and private lessons to adults and children, beginners and swashbucklers.

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UIW breaks ground on Fencing & International Sports Center
SAN ANTONIO, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- "En Garde" - Prepare to Fence

www.marketwatch.com/story/uiw-breaks-ground-on-fencing-international-sports-center-2012-06-28

Poised to become the place where Olympic dreams are made the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) recently broke ground on a multi-million dollar Fencing and International Sports Center.

The facility, made possible by a $2 million contribution from the Bexar County Venue Tax, will be the premier fencing facility in the region and will be built on the St. Anthony Catholic High School campus in San Antonio, Texas, which is owned and operated by UIW. Incarnate Word will fund an additional $1 million toward the facility, bringing the estimated cost to $3 million.

The goal of UIW's facility is to attract and rebuild the local fencing and modern pentathlon community and to build an NCAA sanctioned collegiate varsity fencing team. The center will also be home to a 200-member fencing club which will provide sustaining funds for operations and programs.

"We're pleased to provide new opportunities for students interested in pursuing fencing at both the collegiate and high school levels with what will be the finest fencing center in Texas," said UIW President Dr. Louis J. Agnese, Jr.

Dr. Timothy Henrich, UIW professor of sports management and kinesiology, said San Antonio has historically been home to many successful Olympic and international caliber fencers. "We hope a central facility will bring fencers and coaches together for large scale competitive practices and major tournaments," said Henrich.

The 18,000 square-foot fencing and international sports facility will include a minimum of 12 fencing strips, several practice strips, spectator and exercise areas, an armory, men's and women's lockers as well as office and storage areas.

With the development and completion of the new fencing center and the addition of a full-time fencing instructor and master, UIW will also offer a new fencing curriculum within the undergraduate and graduate degree programs at the beginner and advanced levels for each of three weapons including foil, epee, and sabre.

The facility is set to open in 2013.

The University of the Incarnate Word is a private liberal arts university with a 130-year tradition of educating diverse populations throughout the world within the context of faith. UIW is the largest Catholic University in the state and the fourth largest private university in Texas.

Media Contact: Margaret Garcia, UIW associate director of public relations, [phone], [e-mail]

SOURCE University of the Incarnate Word

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Olympics 2012 : Italian legend seeks record sixth fencing gold
Daily Times (Pakistan)
July 05, 2012

www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C07%5C05%5Cstory_5-7-2012_pg2_3

LONDON: Italian veteran Valentina Vezzali will seek to bring the curtain down on her career at the London Games by claiming a record sixth fencing gold. If the 38-year-old pulls it off, she will also extend her country’s gold medal dominance of the sport which has featured at every modern Olympics since 1896. Vezzali is as close to a superstar that fencing can boast. She is married to a footballer – Domenico Giuliano – and is the first fencer to have won five Olympic golds in the Foil event. The mother of one has also collected 13 world championship golds and nine at the European level. Vezzali is nothing if not determined. In 2005, after taking time out to start a family, she returned to the sport just four months after son Pietro was born and retained her world title.



“Fencing is a mental sport and you must know how to manage when you are ahead but also when you are behind,” she said. Highly-rated American fencer Mariel Zagumis is tipped to dominate the Sabre category. Zagunis won gold in Athens in 2004, when she was just 19, only after being called into the tournament as a last-minute replacement and defended her title in Beijing four years later. The win in Greece was America’s first gold in the event for 100 years. The 27-year-old from Oregon has the Olympics in her blood - her parents were rowers, who met at the 1976 Olympic trials and competed at the Montreal Games. “I love fencing. I love training. I love competing. I don’t want to stop. How many people can say they get up in the morning and love going to work and working out, and have this great feeling of working toward a goal?,” she said. “The Olympic goal is something that comes every four years. But you’re always working to beat a certain opponent, to win a certain competition, to improve yourself. There is so much that goes into it.”

Other names to look out for in London are China’s Lei Sheng, the men’s world champion in the Foil. But he is expected to face stiff competition from Japan’s Yuki Ota who won silver in Beijing, his country’s first Olympic medal in the discipline. Italy, France and Hungary have been the dominant powers in Olympic fencing with a return of 45, 41 and 34 golds respectively. Hosts Great Britain are not expected to upset the balance of power. In fact, as in taekwondo, the country’s fencing authorities have been mired in another selection controversy with Scottish fencer Keith Cook claiming he was passed over for the men’s foil in favour of Husayn Rosowsky.

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New York City fencers heading to London
By LOIS ELFMAN
New York Amsterdam News
July 5, 2012

www.amsterdamnews.com/sports/new-york-city-fencers-heading-to-london/article_bcc10c74-c6d4-11e1-a4a8-0019bb2963f4.html

“There’s a huge Olympic fencing tradition in New York,” said Daryl Homer, a saber fencer from the Bronx who is on the U.S. Olympic team.

One of those fencers, 2008 silver medalist Tim Morehouse, who grew up in Washington Heights and the Bronx, created Fencing Masters, an Olympic preview held on June 26 at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The event featured members of the U.S. Olympic fencing team, a group of world all-stars and future stars. The event concluded with Team USA defeating the World All-Stars 40-32. The sold-out event was televised, giving fencing some much-needed exposure. Proceeds from Fencing Masters will support Morehouse’s Fencing-in-the-Schools program, which will bring the sport to underserved communities.

“It’s really great that we’re showing fencing to the world,” said Homer, 21, a two-time NCAA champion who will return to St. John’s this fall for his senior year. Homer began fencing at age 11 with the Peter Westbrook Foundation. He was soon paired with renowned coach Yury Gelman, who is also the Olympic coach. “I’ve grown up with a lot of the people here,” Homer said, adding that the New York fencing community is very competitive, but there’s also “a lot of heart here.”

Part of the heart and enthusiasm of Fencing Masters was generated by the future stars, young fencers who qualified to take part in the event. Among those was Ayyub Ibrahim from the Bronx, a recent graduate of the Dwight School, who earned his spot just hours before the event began.

“Everyone here is so good. I feel special to be part of it,” said Ibrahim, who also began at the Peter Westbrook Foundation and now trains at the Fencers Club on West 28th Street. “I feel blessed. I’m honored to fence before such a great crowd. The crowd’s huge. It’s a great atmosphere.”

Other New York-New Jersey area fencers headed to the Olympics are Maya Lawrence, Miles Chamley-Watson, Race Imboden, Nzingha Prescod and Nicole Ross.

Homer’s mother and sister will accompany him to London. “It’s something amazing,” said Homer, who qualified for the Olympic team in February based on international results. “I’m really looking forward to the camaraderie of the games, being around some amazing athletes and spending time there with my teammates and my coach. I think it’s going to be a really great experience.”

“There’s a huge Olympic fencing tradition in New York,” said Daryl Homer, a saber fencer from the Bronx who is on the U.S. Olympic team.

One of those fencers, 2008 silver medalist Tim Morehouse, who grew up in Washington Heights and the Bronx, created Fencing Masters, an Olympic preview held on June 26 at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The event featured members of the U.S. Olympic fencing team, a group of world all-stars and future stars. The event concluded with Team USA defeating the World All-Stars 40-32. The sold-out event was televised, giving fencing some much-needed exposure. Proceeds from Fencing Masters will support Morehouse’s Fencing-in-the-Schools program, which will bring the sport to underserved communities.

“It’s really great that we’re showing fencing to the world,” said Homer, 21, a two-time NCAA champion who will return to St. John’s this fall for his senior year. Homer began fencing at age 11 with the Peter Westbrook Foundation. He was soon paired with renowned coach Yury Gelman, who is also the Olympic coach. “I’ve grown up with a lot of the people here,” Homer said, adding that the New York fencing community is very competitive, but there’s also “a lot of heart here.”

Part of the heart and enthusiasm of Fencing Masters was generated by the future stars, young fencers who qualified to take part in the event. Among those was Ayyub Ibrahim from the Bronx, a recent graduate of the Dwight School, who earned his spot just hours before the event began.

“Everyone here is so good. I feel special to be part of it,” said Ibrahim, who also began at the Peter Westbrook Foundation and now trains at the Fencers Club on West 28th Street. “I feel blessed. I’m honored to fence before such a great crowd. The crowd’s huge. It’s a great atmosphere.”

Other New York-New Jersey area fencers headed to the Olympics are Maya Lawrence, Miles Chamley-Watson, Race Imboden, Nzingha Prescod and Nicole Ross.

Homer’s mother and sister will accompany him to London. “It’s something amazing,” said Homer, who qualified for the Olympic team in February based on international results. “I’m really looking forward to the camaraderie of the games, being around some amazing athletes and spending time there with my teammates and my coach. I think it’s going to be a really great experience.”

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What it’s Like to be an Olympic Fencer: A Chat with Tim Morehouse, Team USA
by Dave Eisenberg
BostInno (Boston)
July 6th, 2012

bostinno.com/2012/07/06/tim-morehouse-london-olympics-burst-fencing/

Going forward as you read these posts tagged “What it’s like to work in,” think of me as a less cool writerly version of Mike Rowe. The host of “Dirty Jobs” on the Discovery Channel gets knee deep in the stink of some of the most insanely disgusting jobs to offer us a sneak peek inside what it’s like to work in some of the industries that keep the societal wheels a-spinnin’. That’s what I’m going to do, too. Except not as gross.

And what better way to kick off this series than with an Olympic fencer?


Mayor Menino and Tim Morehouse square off
in a duel at the Prudential Center (via AP)

Tim Morehouse will for the third time represent the US Olympic Fencing team, this time in the 2012 summer games in London. During his last trip in 2008, he earned a silver medal in the men’s sabre in Beijing. A graduate of Brandeis University, founder of the non-profit Fencing-in-the-Schools Foundation and now officially an author, Morehouse appeared yesterday alongside Mayor Thomas Menino and local startup Burst at the Prudential Center to announce “Burst From Behind the Scenes in London,” a collaborative effort to help fans follow Morehouse’s Olympic experiences through photos and video. Yep. It’s a busy time for Mr. Morehouse. Yesterday he was able to Zorro-swipe a big letter B in his day planner and set aside some time to have a chat with BostInno.

So what’s it like training for the Olympics?

“We’ve been training for the last four years. Obviously right now there’s more media attention around the games, but for an Olympian, it’s really a four year process, three and a half of which are done sort of in complete obscurity. As you get closer to the spotlight, it shines brighter and brighter,” he said. “The Olympic experience is very surreal.”

Before swinging swords brought him to the highest level of sport, he was working full time as a teacher. Though shifting his career focus to fencing has provided the opportunity to do many things not typically afforded to the average nine-to-fiver.

“After we won our medal, I spent the last four years trying to promote the sport. I wrote a book called ‘American Fencer‘… I taught President Obama how to fence at the White House, which was a very surreal experience. I also put on the largest fencing spectator tournament in the country called the Fencing Masters.”

Not to mention endorsements that come with being an athlete, Sabra hummus (“I love hummus.”), Technogym and BistroMD among them. It’s just one of those jobs that come with, well, multiple other jobs.

But if you’re wondering how you can train for the Olympics and write a book at the same time, so was I.

“I’ve always had to balance it as a small sport athlete,” he said. “The only life I’ve known is being an athlete but also having to work to support that passion. A lot of Olympians, we don’t make millions of dollars. We’re kind of everyday Americans. I think that’s also the great part of the Olympics.”

His work with Fencing-in-the-Schools and Fencing Masters as a means to bring the sport to new people and help it grow does seem to be paying off as well. For most athletes, there is an inherent passion for their chosen sport. For Morehouse, part of the job description seems to be getting others interested as well.

“There’s a lot more visibility and awareness about fencing. I remember the media summit for the Olympics in ’04, you know, fencing had a table and really no one was coming over to us,” he said. “This past year, we had a full table, people were asking us really specific questions.”

But it’s not all hummus and the Olympic stage.

“Like anything, it’s a grind if you want to make an Olympic team. You’ve got to do your homework, right? We have to do an hour of that work everyday. Those parts I don’t necessarily love, but there a means to an end.”

But alas, Morehouse added, “I love it. It’s my passion. I feel very fortunate to have a thing that I love that I’ve been doing for twenty years.”

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Julie Jag, Out There: Getting to the Point -- Staying sharp key to Olympic fencing
By Julie Jag
Santa Cruz Sentinel
07/06/2012

www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_21017609/julie-jag-out-there-ow-my-eye-my

Mom raised me right. In our house, we were taught the universal rules of sharp objects: Don't run with scissors, don't angle the point of a steak knife up when shuttling it to the dinner table and don't hit people with sticks. We did not want to poke somebody's eye out.

Over years of reinforcement, these rules embedded themselves in my psyche. I obeyed them without question...

Until I tried fencing.

Halfway through my first lesson with instructor Robin Phillips, in one corner of the downtrodden gym inside Garfield Park Christian Church, he asked me to take the long, thin, triangular blade of my sword and whack him on the head.

He was wearing a protective fencing mask, of course, but it didn't make much difference. He could have been wearing a full coat of armor. My arm wouldn't budge.

He took a step forward and bowed his head a bit, beckoning me to attack. Nope. Nothing.

Another step. Another bow. Another reassurance that it wouldn't hurt me or him.

Clink.

I finally convinced my arm to extend, landing a blow to Phillips' head. I wielded it so forcefully that had I hit a flower, it might not have even shed a petal.

Thwack!

I about soiled my "whites," as the fencing jumpsuit is called. Phillips, a gentle and jovial man, had countered with a hit of his own atop my mask, this one with force of a lumberjack hacking off a tree limb. The blow rattled my nerves as much as my mask, which with its meshed face and lack of peripheral vision, already had me feeling like a claustrophobic beekeeper about to get stung.

I'm sure Phillips meant to demonstrate that hits to the head don't really hurt. Instead, he helped me understand why nearly every fencer I'd come across had, within minutes of our introduction, warned me it's next to impossible to excel at fencing.

"You know how they say chess takes 30 minutes to learn but a lifetime to master?" Robin asked midway through my first lesson in sabre. "Well, fencing isn't like that."

It takes a lifetime to learn and for everyone but the extremely gifted, it would take another lifetime to master.

Phillips knows. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, Phillips, a 30-year student of the sport, opens the gym at the epicenter of Santa Cruz's Circles for fencing classes. There, he teaches children and adults alike the basics of sabre, epee and, his specialty, foil.

He chose to first instruct me on the basics of sabre because, he said, it's the discipline in which Team USA has the best chance of bringing home a medal at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. In Athens in 2004, Mariel Zagunis of Oregon won the women's individual sabre event, becoming the first American in 100 years to win any Olympic fencing medal. Zagunis -- a left-hander and one of those rare specimens who has managed to master the sport in just 18 years -- took gold again and helped the U.S. team claim bronze in Beijing in 2008, raising excitement and expectations for this month's games.

In her Team USA photo, Zagunis looks like she couldn't hurt a spider. I like to think she, too, balked the first time she was instructed to take a stab at an opponent's helmeted dome with her long, thin sword.

In fencing, athletes score points by landing their weapon -- any part of the blade in sabre or just the tip in foil and epee -- on designated areas of their opponent's body. In sabre, the body, arms, back and head are fair territory.

In the name of safety, unlike the fencers in movies like "Pirates of the Carribean" and "Mask of Zorro" who fight to the death in billowy peasant shirts, competitive fencers wear more layers than a Beach Street transient. Women must wear a mandatory chest protector -- basically a hard plastic bra -- over their T-shirt and sports bra. Over that is zipped a long-sleeve jacket. That, in turn, is covered by a impale-preventing silver lame coat woven out of thin strands of copper or steel that could have been made at the hands of a Middle Earth elf. In addition, a long glove worn over the fencing arm prevents scars and the loss of digits. To complete the calf-to-crown beekeeper look, the getup is topped off by a bulbous helmet with a mesh faceplate.

Go a few rounds of the lunge-heavy sport in that outfit, and getting impaled seems less a danger than passing out.

I managed to do neither, though, when, Phillips hooked us both up to the electric fencing apparatus that registers touches and is used in tournaments like the Olympics.

As promised by my peers, I struggled mightily to link my new skills together and test Phillips, who seemed to be able to score at will. The few times I managed to deflect [or parry, in fencing terms] his attack, my survival instincts deserved all the credit.

Finally, though, I decided to take the offensive. I threw mom's advice out the window and lunged wildly toward Phillips. I jabbed and sliced at him with the point of my sabre until it finally skimmed his waist, triggering the machine to make a screeching beep.

To my ears, it was the sound of victory. I'd landed my first blow, and I promised myself that no matter how long it takes, I will land another.

So en guarde, apparently I do want to try to poke someone's eye out. Sorry Mom!

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Ligonier Fencing Club takes silver medal
By Dave Mackall
Pittsburg Tribune
July 7, 2012

triblive.com/sports/2164485-85/fencing-club-ligonier-team-national-medal-silver-based-championships-england

The Ligonier Fencing Club this week traveled to Anaheim, Calif., where it marched to the finals of the Senior Team Men’s Epee Division at the U.S. Fencing National Championships before settling for a silver medal, its highest showing since the club was formed in 1998.

The Westmoreland County-based club, seeded third, defeated four teams to reach the finals before losing to Portland, Ore.-based Northwest Fencing, 45-31, on Tuesday.

“In the past, we were seeded no higher than seventh,” Ligonier Fencing Club coach Norm Flam said. “We had the right participants this time. Hopefully the goal is to always beat the seed that you are, and they did that. You can’t focus on the gold medal or you’ll never get there.”

After a first-round bye, Ligonier Fencing Club defeated Bay State and Boston Fencing, of New England; Fortune Fencing, of Southern California; and Illinois, based in Chicago, setting up a finals match against a Northwest Fencing squad led by U.S. national team coach Cody Mattern.

With Flam remaining behind for a family issue, the Ligonier team proceeded under the direction of team captain Dennis Kraft, a member of Penn State’s 2009 national championship team. Joining Kraft on the Ligonier team were Sam Larsen, Ben Russell and Jesse Wallak.

“The focus is on them,” Flam said. “They were marvelous. Everything just came together. I cannot commend Dennis enough. He really pulled it out. It’s admirable.”

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No one said it would be easy: when hacks get athletic
The Indepedent (London)
July 8, 2012
www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/no-one-said-it-would-be-easy-when-hacks-get-athletic-7920010.html

We expected bruised egos when we challenged five Independent on Sunday writers to try their hands at an Olympic sport. But could our have-a-go heroes really take on Britain's top athletes at their own games?

Fencing by Matthew Bell

According to Wikipedia, Nick Bell is a British fencer who competed at the Olympics in Montreal in 1976 and Los Angeles in 1984. There are clips of his fights on YouTube, and messageboards dedicated to discussing his idiosyncratic technique. As it happens, he is also my father.

I had never Googled him before, though I suppose I always knew he was a minor sporting celebrity. Once, when I mentioned his name to a stranger, they shot back, "Not the Nick Bell?" Then there was the time he was the answer to a Times crossword clue. And every couple of years, he pops up on telly, fencing behind Madonna in a James Bond film.

Chunks of my childhood were spent in sweaty gyms in Cardiff and Birmingham, as he lunged and shouted his way to victory or, occasionally, not (this would mean slightly more shouting). At one time, there was a plan to name me after Vladimir Smirnov, the great Russian fencer who was killed by a foil through the eye at the 1982 World Championships in Rome days before I was born (the plan, for whatever reason, changed).

Despite all that, or probably because of it, I had never picked up a foil until now. So here I am, head-to-toe in whites, in the bowels of the Lansdowne Club, off Berkeley Square in central London, having a lesson with the British men's foil coach, Ziemek Wojciechowski.

The first thing I learn is that fencing is a noble sport. I had always associated it with sweat. In fact, it's all about grace and style. Just standing in my white plastron (jacket) and breeches, I feel like an 18th-century dandy, poised to have it out with a love rival at dawn. At next month's games, the fencers will perform a salute with their blades at the start and finish of every fight.

The next thing you quickly find out is how physically demanding fencing is. It may have a reputation for being effete, a sport played indoors by spindly public-school geeks. My dad always says he took it up to get out of playing rugby. But just standing en guarde, the elegant position in which you prepare to fight, is tough on the knees – bouncing up and down, you dart forwards and back, in a sprightly, crab-like, dance. You do need muscle, just not too much. As Wojciechowski explains, agility is key, and too much bulk will slow you down.

Fencing is also all about strategy; as in chess, you plan several moves ahead. There are subtle codes, signals and set moves, and it's as much about identifying weakness in your opponent as it is about honing your own skills. Elegant on appearance, it is vicious on execution, as the bruises in the changing-room later prove.

Though fencing started in Spain, it was honed by the French, who gave it terms such as "position sixte". That's the classic starting position, sword out in front, other arm curved up behind you. Wojciechowski patiently teaches me how to parry, riposte and lunge – a satisfying move, which would prove fatal if we were using actual swords.

The strange thing is how natural it all feels. After years of not paying attention, those crab-like movements come easily. But I now know that fencing is a skilful, dashing, and demanding sport, which you can play in any weather, with only one other person. And in no time at all, you work up an appetite and a burning thirst. Cold beer has never tasted so good. And did I fence my father? No, but maybe one day. For now, I'll stick to watching him on YouTube.

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At 13, O.C. fencer uses sword to carve a reputation
USA Fencing National Championships includes local teens such as San Clemente’s Francesca Fedorovsky.
By ERIC CARPENTER
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
July 8, 2012

www.ocregister.com/news/fedorovsky-362718-fencers-fencing.html

ANAHEIM – One moment, Francesca Fedorovsky looked like any other teenager, laughing with friends, listening to Katy Perry on her earphones.

The next, she jumped up with her game face on, flipped her mask down and plunged her weapon toward her opponent's chest, letting out a primal scream as she landed the tip of her sword.


Francesca Fedorovsky stares down her opponent Esther Bentolila during a pool bout Sunday at the USA Fencing Championship. Photo: ROD VEAL, THE OC REGISTER

For the past 11 days, some of the nation's best fencers have done battle inside the Anaheim Convention Center, host of this year's USA Fencing National Championships.

The fencing strips have included former Olympians, those that just missed the cut for this year's London Games and young fencers – some from right here in Orange County – that are considered the future of the sport.

Fencers such as Fedorovsky, 13, of San Clemente, who came in to the competition ranked second nationally in her age group. Her main challenger, No. 1-ranked Mary Barnett, grew up in San Clemente but recently moved to Oregon to train under an Olympic coach.

"I think it's just coincidence that we both come from here," Fedorovsky said before competition began. "But it's really exciting to have the nationals right here where I'm from and I really want to do well."

Fedorovsky tried soccer and a few other sports. But when she learned that her father – an immigrant from Ukraine – had been a fencer as a teenager, she asked if she too could pick up a sword. She was just 10.

Three years later, it takes up most of her free time – three practices a week at Salle D'Asaro Fencing Club in Torrance. And at least one competition a month. Next school year, she's likely going to do most of her courses online and with a private tutor, her parents said, so she can spend more time fencing.

Fedorovsky turned 13 in March, which allowed her to compete in the Y12 Division at this year's nationals. Earlier in the week, she competed in the Y14 category – pitting her against fencers as old as 16 – and she finished 15th nationally out of more than 100 top fencers in the older age bracket.

"Fencing is 70 percent mental and 30 percent physical," she said. "Your mind has to be in the right place."

During Sunday's qualifying pool, she faced early challenges. The goal: Be the first to get five touches against her opponents.

Her first bout was tied at 4, before she landed the last touch to win.
In her third bout, she was down, 4-1. Her coach shouted instructions from the sidelines. Fedorovsky struggled to gain her composure.

She signaled to the referee for a timeout to tighten her shoe laces. She bent down, retired her laces and then stood with her sword raised before jumping back into battle.

"Ready ... fence," the referee shouted. Fedorovsky struck back. Then again. And again. Until she battled back to win that bout, 5-4.

"My laces weren't that loose," she said later. "I mean, they were, but I could have lived with it. I just needed a moment to breathe and talk to myself."

With six wins and no losses in the qualifying pools, she advanced to the finals as the eighth seed among 68 fencers. She even beat the tournament's top seed before facing her longtime rival, Barnett, in the finals.

There, Fedorovsky lost, 5-2 and 5-4.

Still, a strong showing. Fedorovsky said she's already thinking ahead to the Olympics.

"Maybe Rio in 2016," she said. "But I might be even better the next Olympics (in 2020). I have time."

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No medals, yet Bob was fencing’s superstar
By Raakesh Natraj
Indian Express
July 09, 2012

www.indianexpress.com/news/no-medals-yet-bob-was-fencings-superstar/971978/

Fencing is one of just five sports that have been continuously represented at the modern Olympics since the first edition in 1896. So, when most fencing forums agree that Olympian Bob Anderson has done more for the popularity of the sport than anybody else, the amateur will be forgiven if he assumes Anderson was probably a fencing phenomenon who picked up medals for fun.

The British fencer did represent his country at the Helsinki Olympics in ’52, but returned empty handed. Though he was to have an accomplished career as a professional fencer, Anderson’s contribution to the sport came in an entirely different capacity.

It was as a stuntman and later as an action choreographer that Anderson was to achieve cult status. The fencer has orchestrated some of Hollywood’s most spectacular sword-play sequences, in blockbusters such as the Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Mask of Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean and other big hits.

In fact, the light sabre duels in the original Star Wars trilogy proved to be such a huge hit with fans that director George Lucas deliberately played down the role played by Anderson, who was Darth Vader’s body double in all the duelling sequences, so as to not take away from the popularity of the arch villain.

Another block buster, the Bond movie Die Another Day, which involved a lengthy fencing sequence shot under Anderson’s expert supervision, triggered such fan frenzy that fencing equipment manufacturers in the United Kingdom reported increased sales while fencing clubs too reported an all-time high in inquiries and memberships.

While fencing is a sport that isn’t really television friendly — the action is too fast and the movements, hits and scoring considered too nuanced for that — Anderson perhaps chose the right medium to bring the sport closer to a wider audience. Anderson passed away on New Year’s day this year, aged 89.


‘DISONISCHENKO’

At Montreal 1976, Boris Onischenko of the Soviet Union, a silver medallist in pentathlon from the previous edition, was in seemingly unstoppable form, registering hits at will. During his bout against Great Britain’s Jim Fox the board lit up to register an Onischenko hit even as Fox was convinced he had evaded it. On inspection, it was revealed that Onischenko’s sword handle had been wired to register a hit at the press of a button. The British team went on to win gold, with their media dubbing the disqualified athlete ‘Disonischenko.’


Tragic end

Vladimir Smirnov, who won the individual foil event for the Soviet Union at Moscow 1980, was to meet a tragic end just two years later, in the World Championships. During a bout, the opponent’s blade broke, going through Smirnov’s vizer. The Olympian, who was kept on life support for the duration of the event, died nine days later. Several safety changes in the sport, including kevlar vests, more durable head gear and maraging steel blades, were introduced as a direct consequence of the 28-year old’s untimely death.


US vs Them

Fencing is one of the few sports where the US have struggled to have an impact over the years. Countries like Italy, France, Hungary and Russia are the traditional power houses, picking up 147 out of 191 golds on offer over the years. Despite the presence of several promising young fencers the US will again look to Mariel Zagunis, the country’s first fencing gold medalist, to bring it glory in London. Zagunis was the women’s Sabre winner in 2004 and 2008 and will be looking to complete the treble.

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13-year-old Short Hills fencer doesn't let age foil his ambitions
By Eunice Lee
The Star-Ledger (New Jersey)
July 08, 2012

www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/13-year-old_short_hills_fencer.html

MILLBURN — Zohaib Mannan isn’t afraid of being outmatched.

When 14 fencers at the New York Fencers Club line up for group practice, the 13-year-old from Short Hills is the youngest in his group. He’s also the shortest. And the lightest.

At 4-foot-9 and just shy of 90 pounds, Mannan gets paired for a bout with a more experienced 16-year-old fencer who stands a solid head taller.

But Mannan doesn’t bat an eye. As long as he’s got his Belgian pistol grip foil in hand, it’s a fair fight.


Zohaib Mannan, 13, of Short Hills, worksout at the Fencers Club in Manhattan. New York, NY 6/26/12 (John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

"He’s really good compared to his age," said Philip Shin, 16, who has fenced for about four years. Shin’s face is still flushed and perspiring from facing off with Mannan. "He’s also not afraid when I attack. I think he has confidence."

Mannan started fencing just two years ago, but he’s catching on fast. It also helps that he trains with the some of the best at the New York Fencers Club, a storied nonprofit institution established in 1883, and under the tutelage of a former Olympic fencing coach.

What Mannan may lack in experience he seems to more than makes up for with sheer determination, plus a competitive spirit he says has been stoked by the approaching London Summer Olympics. Three fencers from his club will be competing there.

Mannan’s coach, Mikhail Petin, has coached hundreds of fencers during his career — including 2008 Olympic silver medalist Emily Cross. Petin saw a promising student early on when Mannan came to the club about 18 months ago. Mannan fences with foil, a light flexible blade that’s one of three weapons. The other two are épée — a heavier more rigid blade that evolved from a dueling sword, and a slightly curved instrument called a saber, which originated from the old cavalry weapon.

Mannan has attained the skill level of fencers with twice his experience on the strip, his coach said.

"He’s so aggressive, he doesn’t like to lose to anybody. That’s very important in fencing," said Petin, 61, who himself began fencing in Ukraine at age 15.

During his practice bout with Shin, Mannan holds his own. He footwork is neat, his lunges well-timed. The 13-year-old practices patience, waiting for the precise moment to flick or riposte, to advance and attack.

The younger of two children, Mannan is in many ways a typical teen. He likes watching "Modern Family" and "Dragon Ball Z" and starts seventh grade at Millburn Middle School in the fall.

Fencing found Mannan more than he sought it out. Mannan had tried playing baseball, but he wasn’t the strongest player on the team and felt left out. Because his older sister Zara fenced in middle and high school, his parents, Zahid and Rozina, thought a more individualistic sport would help their son succeed.

After six months at the New Jersey Fencing Alliance, Mannan enrolled at the New York club, where he now trains with Petin three times a week.

Mannan and his parents also take academics seriously. He’s taking algebra II classes this summer instead of attending fencing camp. But he still makes time to compete at tournaments like the USA Fencing National Championships in Anaheim, Calif., where he and his parents are this weekend.

He’s already had success at contests such as the Youth International Festival in Cancun, Mexico, where he snagged two gold medals in separate men’s foil events in May.

Zara, 21, says fencing has become a family affair.

"I didn’t take it nearly as seriously as he did," she said of her brother. "He’s living the athlete-half-student life."

Mannan plans to watch the Olympic fencing events on television this summer, but he has grander future ambitions. He said he wants to try to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics in 2016. By then he’ll be 17.

"But right now I’ve just got to train hard, take baby steps, you know," he said. "I just keep on training for every single tournament. Then I try bigger tournaments."

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Olympics-Fencing-U.S.'s Zagunis suffers self-inflicted wound
By Daniel Bases
Reuters
August 1, 2012

www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/oly-fenc-wrap-day-idUSL2E8J1JM720120802

LONDON - In one night of fencing at the London Olympics a mighty champion stumbled from her perch, a nation found redemption in gold and two men went where none of their compatriots had gone before.

The biggest fencing upset of the Games so far was a self-inflicted wound by women's sabre fencer, flag-bearer, and gold medal favorite Mariel Zagunis, 27, of the United States.

In a spectacular collapse Zagunis, who needed just three more touches, or points, to make it into the gold medal match, went from leading South Korea's Kim Jiyeon 12-5 to losing 15-13.

Her attempt to win a third straight individual gold medal was compounded by a loss in the bronze medal match, meaning the world number one came away empty handed.

"She didn't beat me, I beat myself," Zagunis told reporters after her semi-final match with Kim.

"I lost concentration. I probably thought I had it," she said with a sharp edge of disgust in her voice.

Zagunis won gold in Athens after being a last minute entry and repeated that feat in Beijing.

Losing on the Olympic stage is a new experience for the American who, with two world championships to her name, is practically the only fencer to earn a living in what is considered a minor sport in the United States.

For Kim, 24, the medal was completely unexpected as she had never fought back from such a large deficit and converted it to a win before. She was seeded fifth in the competition.

"This is an extraordinary experience. Yes, this is an unexpected win for me," she said while eyeing a group of South Korean reporters waiting for their new national hero to speak.

The triumph was even more poignant given that two nights ago team mate Shin A Lam was caught up in a technical snafu that probably cost her a chance to contest for gold in women's epee.

South Korea's protest left Shin, 25, sitting alone on the dramatically spotlit piste, pristine in her white national uniform but with anguish and desolation written on her face in one of the most indelible images of the Games.

Fencing's governing body on Tuesday offered Shin a consolation medal for sportsmanship, a gesture that all but conceded it was their mistake. Her team mate did not think it was worth much.

"I was there and crying too. It made me want to try even harder to win," said Kim, her sabre gold medal around her neck, having beaten Russia's Sofya Velikaya, 27, the reigning world champion, 15-9.

Olga Kharlan, 21, of Ukraine beat Zagunis for the bronze 15-10. Zagunis said she would now push to make the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.


DROUGHT ENDS

Venezuela's Ruben Limardo Gascon won the nation's first gold in 44 years and their first fencing medal at a Games by beating Bartosz Piasecki of Norway 15-10 in the epee.

"I turn 27 in two days. This is the best birthday gift I could ever had given myself," Limardo Gascon said.

The silver marked Norway's first Olympic fencing medal and for Piasecki, a high school maths teacher who heads back to the classroom in two weeks, an unexpected prize.

"A silver medal is unbelievable. I was 23 on the (seeding) table but I am 47 in the world. Now I am top two in the Olympics," he said, adding that the win had yet to sink in.

"That's sports. The favorites want to win the medals. I was just fencing and I was relaxed all day," Piasecki, 25, said.

The men's epee field had been turned upside down earlier on Wednesday when Seth Kelsey of the United States beat world number one Nikolai Novosjolov convincingly in the early rounds with Estonia Prime Minister Andrus Ansip watching.

However, South Korea came away with their second medal of the night after Jinsun Jung, 29, beat Kelsey.

In the bronze medal match, Kelsey, 27, signalled to his opponent that he would be willing to move directly to sudden death extra time as they were tied at 11 even.

"I asked the guy if he wanted to go one touch and he said yes," Kelsey said, adding: "It's an Olympic medal all in one touch. It's very exciting."

Asked if he was a gambler by nature, the behavioural science major who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, quipped: "I'm too poor." (Reporting by Daniel Bases; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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Mariel Zagunis loses her fencing semifinal bout, and the Olympic spirit
By Mike Wise
The Washington Post
August 1, 2012

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/mariel-zagunis-loses-her-fencing-semifinal-bout-and-the-olympic-spirit/2012/08/01/gJQA714PQX_story.html

LONDON — There goes the emotional sitdown with Costas. The brainless chit-chat in the morning with Matt Lauer and a cereal-box cover are also off the table.

Say buh-bye, America. Mariel Zagunis’s Q-rating just left the building.

Thanks for carrying the Stars and Stripes into the Opening Ceremonies, Miss Flag Bearer. Now pack your swords and go home for four years. We’ll call you before we get to Rio.

This isn’t meant to be unnecessarily mean to Zagunis, who Wednesday night failed to medal in the individual women’s sabre competition in which she’d won gold the past two Olympics. It’s being harshly honest.

Zagunis had all but wrapped up her semifinal bout against South Korea’s Kim Jiyeon, taking a 12-5 lead before allowing a riveting 11-1 scoring run. With that, the former champion was relegated back to obscurity, which makes Zagunis’s apparent inability to enjoy the moments she had the day’s real lament.

“I just handed her the bout,” Zagunis said of Kim after she also lost her bronze-medal bout against Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan.

Zagunis gave Kim the slightest credit for weathering only after being told she hadn’t genuinely congratulated her foe.

“Pretty much all my mistakes cost me the bout,” Zagunis said, adding that any bout she ever lost had less to do with the skill, smarts and perseverance of her opponents than it was “my lack of concentration.

“Congrats to them for winning, [but] in my opinion, if I was completely 100 percent on mentally, then I would have been able to win again. It’s happened to me before.”

Beautiful, Mariel; that’s the Olympic spirit.

This is what happens when you get used to being No. 1, used to winning gold and world championships. You forget when you weren’t even supposed to be in the Olympics eight years ago.

I met Mariel Zagunis in Athens in 2004. Zagunis then was this likable teen with a blond ponytail who did spot-on impersonations of a three-toed sloth because she watched so much Animal Planet. As an alternate on the 2004 Olympic fencing team, she wasn’t even supposed to be in Athens, but the Nigerian team decided to pull out at the last minute, opening a spot for her.

Her more-accomplished teammate was thought to be the U.S. fencer with the best gold-medal chance. But Sada Jacobson faltered in her semis before winning bronze. Zagunis then stunned the little world of individual women’s sabre, going from alternate to the top of the medal podium the first time the event was held at an Olympics. It was the United States’ first gold in fencing since 1904.

Her mother, an Olympic rower who met Mariel’s father on the U.S. team in Montreal, cried in the stands when her little girl won. Mariel smiled and laughed often, stopped by the mixed zone to educate the media on her sport between two of her matches and said, “Cool” and “Wow” a lot. It was one of those This Is What The Olympics Are About moments.

Contrast that with Wednesday’s unsmiling, hyper-focused, I’m-not-talking-to-anyone-but-my-coach-between-matches ball of stress, who remained in an autopilot daze even after she lost.

“In Athens, it felt completely different,” Zagunis admitted. “I was riding the wave, being on a Cloud 9 type thing. But you do it once, then you do it twice and then you have the gravity of doing it a third time, you start to realize a lot more the significance of it.

“Perhaps that means you have to make yourself focus more and not be bubbly and happy and walking and talking to everybody else.”

Perhaps that means you need to laugh and smile more, because you made it to the Olympics again.

Miss Flag Bearer went down. Hard. Three points away from her third gold-medal match at the Olympic games and she became too aggressive, trying to force the action while Kim patiently counter-attacked and scored.

“I wish I could tell you what I was thinking, but I wasn’t thinking,” she said.

There was one moment I felt for Zagunis. At the very end of her interview session, she said, “The only thing I can really look forward to now is Rio. Now I can enjoy life and the rest of my time in . . . where am I? London.

“I’m in disbelief right now. Ever since I lost that lead to Kim and lost that bout. And now I don’t have a medal. It’s just really strange because I’ve never been in this position before at the Olympics.”

But I felt worse for Dagmara Wozniak, the Polish-born kid from Woodbridge Township, N.J., who lost a tough quarterfinal match. She cried and cried after it was over, realizing the moment had passed, maybe understanding the unwritten Aug. 13 rule.

That is, no one but fencers care about fencing after the Olympics are over. And nothing is as over as when the Olympics are over.

So while they’re going on, niche athletes need to savor the Games and smile more often for those two weeks, give opponents that beat them credit more often — because they really matter to most of us only every four years.

[LongBlade]

Wilmington fencing club has new owners
By Mac McEntire, Wicked Local Wilmington
GateHouse News Service
Sept. 21, 2012

www.wickedlocal.com/wilmington/news/x1851400614/Wilmington-fencing-club-has-new-owners#ixzz2CbkUp2Uo


The Penta Fencing Club in Wilmington has been renamed the Vivo Fencing Club, and its new owners and coaches are world champion fencers.

Owner Arpad Horvath and director Ervin Szucs, both originally from Hungary, offer fencing training for children and adults of all skill levels, for both hobbyists and serious competitors.

The club’s former owner, Vaho Iagorashvili, recently left to take a teaching position at Pennsylvania State University. Taking over for him are Horvath as club owner and coach, and Szucs as club director and fencing master. They renamed the club the Vivo Fencing Club. Szucs said “Vivo” means “fencer” in Hungarian, and “life” in Latin and Italian.

Szucs has grown up with fencing, as his cousins and sister also fence.

“It’s a family thing,” he said. “I started when I was 8.”

Champion coaching

After years of training and competing, Szucs received the sport’s highest coaching certification, a level three weapon fencing master. Two years after coming to the United States, Szucs was selected as the U.S. National Coach for the 2012 Junior and Cadet World Championships in Moscow. Since then, Szucs has devoted his time to coaching from beginning fencers up to the elite level, and he has had many successful students in Hungary and in the U.S.

“I couldn’t just leave the sport, so I started to coach,” he said.

Horvath began fencing in Budapest in 1989, and was a member of the Hungarian National Team for six years. He won the Under 17 World Championship and the Under-20 European Championship, and received a full scholarship from St. John’s University in New York. He went on to become a two-time individual NCAA men’s epee champion. Horvath has been coaching for seven years and has been in Wilmington since 2010.

“I would like to see the national camps come here,” he said.

Joining Horvath and Szucs is Andras Peterdi as coach and fencer.

Peterdi is an elite competitive fencer, ranked ninth on the U.S. Senior Men’s Epee standings. After receiving the Bronze Medal at the European Under-23 championship in 2010, Peterdi came to the U.S. to continue training and to work with Szucs.

“He is a jackpot,” Szucs said about Peterdi. “He teaches and competes.”

Unique

The floor of the club is laid out in long rectangles. Fencers face each other from the ends, and then move into the center to fence.


“It’s a unique sport,” Szucs said. “You can’t play it just anywhere.”

A point is scored when one fencer lands a hit on the other, after which they back up and repeat the process. An electronic device at the center of the space is able to determine when a point is made.

“You have to analyze the situation quickly,” Szucs said. “You have to know what to do in an instant. It develops analytic skills, discipline, and physical training.”

Fencing comes with many traditions, Szucs said, including an emphasis on politeness. Fencers are required to salute their opponents and the judges, and to always shake hands with opponents after each match. Failure to do so penalizes players, he said. Also, swearing is strictly forbidden.

For safety, fencers wear protective masks, chest and arm protectors, and defense jackets. The swords have flat tips, and are not sharp.

“I’ve been teaching for 19 years, and I’ve never seen an accident,” Horvath said.

Vivo counts a broad range of fencers in its membership, ranging from 8-year-olds who fence for fun to nationally and internationally competitive athletes.

The club offers instruction in foil and epee fencing, for all ages and skill levels. Beginning classes for ages 8-14 are held on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m. All equipment is provided.

The club also hosts Friday night get-togethers for all students, featuring music and snacks, so everyone can get to know each other in a casual setting.

“It’s important to have some fun,” Szucs said.


For more:
Vivo Fencing Club
1 Jewel Dr., Wilmington
978-203-0380
[e-mail]
vivofencingclub.com