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An Unusual Sport
Rouse students are posing after a fun day on the first annual leadership retreat for Rouse. The retreat brought Rouse leaders closer and created friendships.
February 24, 2010 • Mikaela Moore
Filed under Opinion, Sports
Most people have played a sport at least once in their life. Usually the sports consist of basketball, football, or maybe soccer, but these are typical sports and played by many. However, my story is a little different. I participate in a sport where swords are used to score points, immense strategy is key, and speed mixed with precision is what we train to achieve. I fence. Fencing is a sport that began thousands of years ago to train knights for battle, but over time became a sport. Fencing became one of the first Olympic sports that still remain in the Games today.
The sport today consists of three different swords, or what we call, weapons, although they are completely harmless. Foil, epee, and saber are the names of the different weapons and each have a different target area which makes the strategy of each weapon very different. Fencers train many hours a day, several days a week, to sharpen the endless skills needed to become a great fencer. We call fencing chess at 100 miles per hour due to its fast pace and strategy needed to defeat your opponent.
Although not many people know how fencing works and aren’t familiar with what the sport looks like in play, it is highly competitive and much more popular in the northern states and Europe. Fencing is a very important sport in my life and provides an easy outlet from school or stress. Because of fencing, I have been able to travel all over the United States and eventually the world.
I don’t know much about Fencing and was surprised to learn they have 3 weapons I always thought it was just a sword. It does sound like a game of chess only with a weapon. I was wondering if you have ever been hurt? Which weapon is your favorite? and why?
[Reply]
Mikaela Moore Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Thanks so much for commenting on my article
Although it may seem otherwise, fencing is one of the safest sports out there. Other than a few bruises here and there and a pulled muscle every once in a while, I’ve never actually been hurt from the sport.
I compete competitively in both foil and epee, but foil is by far my favorite weapon. I find it the most challenging and complex of the three, it comes naturally to me which makes it more fun.
[Reply]
Excellent article, very well done.
I am a 72 year old man that can attest to the validity of the content.
As a young man I went to college at Oklahoma Military Academy at Cleremore, Oklahoma during my first week on the “Hilll” I was exposed to the Art of Fencing. Now as a boy who grew up in very small hamlet in the very southern part of Illinois I was very active in Baseball, Basketball, Football and Track but, I had never had a fencing lesson in my life.
I thought that if I was fast enough and smart enough to play college baseball and football that fencing would be a snap.
How wrong I was, not only does it take speed and coordination almost beyond belief and then you have to “think” even faster. MY deepest admiration to those who fence.
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It is great to see the sport of Fencing being talked about. I am glad Mikaela put this in the paper. She is really a great Fencer. More people should at least give it a try. It is fun and different. Best of all it is indoors so weather is never a problem.
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