Why More People Should Try Fencing?

The lights are bright, the room is filled with noise from over a thousand competitors, parents running around trying to figure out where their fencer needs to be, and coaches giving the final pep talks. Your nerves set in a week before you arrived and have been on overdrive since last night. Pools are called and strips are assigned, you gather your weapons and mask and make your way over to your area. Your name is called to fence first, your heart accelerates and fear washes over you.

As soon as you step on the strip, the metal boundaries we fence on, a calm washes over you. You plug into the scoring machine, grab your weapon, and while pulling your mask down, a smile crawls across your face. “En garde! Prêts? Allez!” The referee starts our bout, the duration of fencing one opponent, in French by saying “On guard! Ready? Fence!” In a flash the dance with your opponent begins.

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You fight for each touché, parrying their attacks while setting up your own. You have your opponent on the retreat when you decide to lunge, ensuring you get the final touché. As soon as it began, the bout comes to end with you as the victor scoring five to three on them. You both walk back to your on guard lines, take off your mask, and shake each others hand. As you leave the strip, your nervous are gone and you recall why your here, that you belong at the Junior Olympics.

You sit down, ready to fight for your spot on the podium. Fencing is single handedly one of the most important aspects of my life. I started fencing in the summer of 2012, a time when I was just starting to mature. I was constantly learning and growing. Through fencing I learned some of my greatest lessons, had my most memorable moments, and made my biggest mistakes. I made lifelong friends, including my best friend, met my first boyfriend, and connected with Olympians.

I traveled from the midwest to the east and west coast and all the way down to Texas. I saw incredible improvements to my physical health, better endurance, stronger muscles, and improved balance just to name a few. Even better than that though, my mental health started to improve. My grades started to get better, analyzing the situations I was in became quicker, and I learned from my mistakes faster than ever before. Most importantly, fencing gave me countless skills that have transfered to other aspects of my life. I learned quickly how to be accountable for myself and my belongings, how to adapt to constant change, and how to present information to others. There are still times when I wonder how I knew to do something and where I developed that skill without realizing it in the moment. Fencing has given me a competitive edge throughout these past six years and I know it will continue to in the future as well. I wish more people could see how much this sport offers and would just give it a try. Even better, I wish more people had the opportunity to try it. I was in the right place at the right time, and took the opportunity I had in front of me. Lots of people never try fencing when they have the chance, I feel like I can help to change that if people knew more about the numerous benefits that come with it. The first benefit anyone will notice when they start fencing is the improvements to their health.

Most new fencers see the physical help it gives before they see realize the mental gains they are also receiving. As soon as you step up and face your opponent you are engaging in a full body workout. Fencing requires you to move your feet and arms in sync with each other, while constantly thinking about your next move. You might not realize it, but according to an article on the health benefits of fencing by Jerzy Kortynski, the president and head coach of PA Fencing Club, each fencing session is a full-body workout and challenges muscles ranging from those in the feet and lower legs all the way up to the neck, shoulders and arms. Fencing improves people's hand-eye coordination. You have to be able to hit a constantly moving target, and depending on what weapon you are fencing with (there is three foil, epee, and saber) the area you can hit and score on changes. Having better hand-eye coordination is good not only while you are fencing, but in your daily life as well. It helps during the application of makeup, pouring drinks, and trying to grab things. The biggest health improvement I noticed when first starting to fence was the major boost to my aerobic fitness.

The first few times I fenced, I was never able to go for a long time. With in the first month my duration quickly doubled and has continued to improve. I noticed it more so when I would ride my bike, walk around at school, or when I went hiking that I was not out of breath and needing to stop near as often as before. That gave me a lot of confidence as well and I started to do more of the things I loved to do, but could not quite keep up with my friends before. Flexibility is another benefit people gain after fencing for a while. When I first started in 2012 the rules were that fencers could not cross their feet, this lead to us standing alongside each other trying to stab one another on the back. That requires major flexibility in the shoulder area. Another thing that happens often is one fencer runs past the other. The fencer who is being ran passed gets one last shot to score a touch on the other, this means they need the flexibility in their torso and shoulders in order to smoothly turn without moving their feet and score the point. Being more flexible has come in use when trying to reach things on the top shelf, zipping up dresses, and dancing. By far the the greatest physical health benefit fencing gives the individual is improved strength and endurance. Fencing is a consistently back and forth battle between you and your opponent.

Every move you make is critical, and depending on what your opponent does you have to change your your plan simultaneously as you move your body. As you are attacking you have to be ready to retreat at the same moment, as you perry to the left you have to be ready to block another atack on your right. This requires an enormous amount of strength and endurance. The calf muscles are one of the most used muscle by a fencer, as well as a the sword arm. Therefore these areas you see firm up first, by using them everyday they continue to grow and get stronger. The better the get the better fencer you become. Having more strength and endurance has helped at home when it comes to moving things around, cleaning the the house, and mowing the grass. Another set of muscles that get used frequently are the core and abdominal muscles. These are mainly responsible for your balance. Having good balance on the strip means the difference between winning and losing the bout. With out balance when a fencer lunges they would never be able recover, they would simply fall down and in turn get stabbed. The shoulders are also hugely important, since the fencer is always throwing their arm forward, pulling in back, and moving it side to side. These muscles tone up very quickly but also tend to be sore more often than not. Having more shoulder and arm strength has shown when having to carry things, cooking at work, and lifting at the gym.

Fencing is a huge stress reliever too. Since it is physically and mentally demanding you have no choice but to focus entirely on it. This means the stress that has been following you around all day slips away. It is a well known fact that any exercise it helpful if stress reduction and relieving your frustration. Fencing might be one of the best forms of exercise for that since it is totally encapsulating. Not only do fencers gain numerous health benefits, but we get some amazing mental benefits as well. Fencing requires you to be alert at all times while you are on the strip. This leads you to develop quick responses and a keen observant eye. When you see your opponent make a move or mistake you have to think very quickly what to do next and then do it. This all happens in less then a second. Fencers therefor become very quick thinkers with in a small amount of time fencing. Being more alert and aware of what is going on around me has been incredible. I have seen this directly help me while hunting, babysitting, and in various public situations where I noticed things happening and thought it was best to leave. In a research experiment conducted by Arthur Kramer, who works in the department of Psychology and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, and his team they wanted to look at how exercise affects the brain. They found that those who had participated in more exercise had more coarse and dense white matter in their brains. White matter is what the signals in the brain uses to transport from one area to another. It also helps with memory and attention. Like every part of the human body, as we age, it starts to deteriorate. Fencing early in life can help fight against various disease of the brain, like White Matter Disease.

Fencing not only gives you amazing health benefits, but some pretty incredible social benefits too. Though fencing you meet new people, make connections, travel, and get to explore various different places. You are always exposed to something new and different therefore you are always learning too. In order to become a better fencer, you must practice against new opponents. The best way to do this is to compete in tournaments. There you get to see how you have improved, what still need some attention, and of course you get to fence people outside of your team and might seem them execute attacks you have never seen before. Fencing in St. Louis, where I fenced at, is not a very popular sport and the local clubs did not host many tournaments, so our team had to travel to compete. With my team I have fenced in Portland, Oregon, Dallas, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, and Richmond, Virginia and various others through out the lower forty-eight states. Going to these different cities showed me a lot early in life. I loved seeing how different communities acted and compared to my hometown. I enjoyed immersing myself in the different lifestyles and cultures they all offered. I am also a huge fan of learning the history of the different cities. While in Dallas I was able to go to The Sixth Floor Museum and in Portland we were able to explore Old Town Chinatown. Traveling is important for everyone to get a sense of how other parts of America lives.

With visiting different cities and competing in numerous tournament around America fencers get to meet a wide variety of people. At larger tournaments you might stumble upon a future or past olympians, head coaches of college teams, and fencing celebrities. The more tournaments you go to the more likely you are to continue to run into these people and make connections with them. Through talking lots of valuable information is exchanged. I once received a fencing lesson from an olympic coach after he watched me fence. Those kind of lessons are priceless and last a lifetime. I have made connections with the CEOs of fencing equipment companies and have heard what's coming before they have official released it and had opportunities to share my ideas with what need improving. Making friends though is by far one of the best things fencing has giving me. I know have lasting friendships with people in different states who I never would have met if it were not for traveling to compete. These friends have led to other connections with in the fencing community. They have also been there for me through some difficult times and have celebrated the good times too. Though these friends might not be physically close to me, I know they are always there for me. Everyone needs connections like this and fencing is a great way to get them. Fencing gives you a sense of community and belong, and people thrive better in life when they feel they have a purpose and a group behind them. Fencing builds skills used on the strip and off. Some of these are noticed right away and you can contribute them to fencing, while others show up later in life and you ponder where you learned that before. To become a good fencer you have to be organized, responsible, and disciplined.

You have to learn how to plan trips, talk to authority figures, and manage your money. If you want success you quickly become determined and work non-stop to improve. All of these skills will come in to play later again in your life and you will have the advantage with them. Pearce Wilson, head coach of the Fencers of the Corn fencing team, wrote a post about why human resources should hire the fencer. In it he says, “The competitive fencer has a single minded obsession with success. She trains non-stop to improve herself.” “The competitive fencer doesn’t quit when the job gets hard. When things don’t go his way, he doubles down on that adversity. He studies his mistakes. Don’t expect him to repeat them. He is prepared to put in long hours with little reward while he builds up his skills until he is ready to be the best.” Fencers have been joked about for a while that we are hard head. We continue to practice attacks tirelessly until we get it down right. Then we keep doing it until it is correct ninety-five percent of the time, and that last five percent drives us crazy. Fencing while in high school can help give you an advantage while applying to colleges. Many admissions offices are looking for students who not only have had academic success but who also apply themselves to other areas.

Irina Chirashnya, the founder of Academy of Fencing Masters, says “...fencing gives the impression that the student is well-rounded on a whole additional level than most sports.” Fencing is commonly referred to as physical chess since it is mental game where you need physical skills to succeed. Since fencers are using both of those skills sets every time they step on the srtip, it does make them well-rounded. Some colleges, like the University of Notre Dame and Stanford University, offer scholarships for fencing. So fencing might not jus help you get in to your top pick, but could help pay for it too! Confidence is improved on the strip and helps improve your life. Fencing can help build confidence by showing kids and adults what they can accomplish when they apply themselves fully to something. Irina Chirashnya has stated “To meet an opponent’s attack, the fencer has to be quick on their feet with their defensive strategy; this means there’s no time for second-guessing oneself. Fencing requires bold moves and self-assuredness both in defense and offense.” While at tournaments, the fencer often finds themselves in a situations where they do not agree with how the referee calls the action or touché. Fencers are allowed to respectfully argue with referee, but they need confidence to speak to the authority figure.

These touchés could be the difference between winning or losing that bout, so it is extremely important to have the confidence to stand up for yourself. Confidence can also affect how you do against another competitor. If you are confident in your skills and practice then you are more likely to have success. On the other hand, if you are not confident in yourself and your abilities then you are most likely going to struggle in your bouts.