School-sanctioned stabbing is happening almost nightly in the tucked-away CrossFit room of the Carpenter Sports Building.
No, this is not a gory scene in the bowels of the Lil Bob. The university club fencing program is practicing.
“The pitch is, ‘We have swords. It’s free to try,’” sophomore team member Henry Leap said.
Leap joined fencing in the fall semester as a freshman, already drawn to the idea of exploring swords more but having no history with fencing.
“And a lot of the people here are in the same boat,” Leap said. “It’s a club sport. It’s very easy to walk on, so a lot of people show up with no experience and just enjoy the time.”
Even for the many participants starting at square one, Leap appreciates how much progress can be made in a debut semester.
“In one semester, you can be good at being a referee,” Leap said. “Within one semester, you can go from not knowing anything to learning the basics to – if you’re enthusiastic and diligent with it – understanding what to do in helping other people learn it.”
Fencing encompasses three disciplines, or blade types, all of which are represented on the university club team. According to Leap, fencers typically specialize in one discipline, but the club includes fighters who compete in two blades and it has one member who likes to do all three.
Among these – the foil, the épée and the sabre – Leap uses the sabre, known for its relatively rapid pace of play due to sabre rules awarding points for touches made with the tip and side of the blade.
“It’s very fast and it’s not very precise,” Leap said. “I’m able to just kind of aim with any part of the blade, which makes it a very fast-paced experience where I can swing and get back up, and take a swing, and then swing again.”
For all the intensity and sudden moves required to compete in a bout, there is more going on than what meets the eye.
“It surprised me how much subtlety there is to it,” Leap said. “With sabre, it’s very fast, but you can break down a second or two of a fight into 10 different decisions, maybe. And even the slower weapons, each few seconds looks very unimportant, but there’s a lot going on there, decision-making and judging your opponent.”
That concentration takes time to develop regardless of the discipline pursued, as club Treasurer Matt Kwiatkowski learned quickly.
“I got here and I lost every bout, and I had so much fun doing it because the people I was with were awesome,” Kwiatkowski said about his early time on the team.
“I love almost every sport, but I think what makes a sport special is the people that you’re with, right?”
Kwiatkowski’s sentiment is reflected by the club’s social dynamics, which are strong with numerous events held outside the practice and competition spaces.
Before the team can enjoy Halloweekend, for instance, its focus is on October’s individual Chaos tournament, which will be hosted by UMBC.
“I feel like a lot of sports that people focus on in high school are team-based, and fencing is team-based in our other tournaments, but the idea of it is kind of daunting when you’re going by yourself for the first time,” club President Caroline Vilinskis said about the individual competition format. “I’m really excited for people to fence in a super competitive environment compared to practices that we have and just to see how they enjoy it.”
Vilinskis had a couple months of fencing in high school before the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted it, making the university fencing experience all the more cherished.
“I think having people who have experienced fencing before, regardless of their age [at the time] or their grade in the school, is really important because everybody can learn from someone else,” Vilinskis said.
At a club practice, various members can lead small group sessions or breakouts that help drill skills and coaching points before moving into scored bouts. From warmups to the time donning the jackets and masks of competition, it is all in the service of being ready for rivals like one service academy down the road.
“I’m sick and tired of losing to Navy every year,” Kwiatkowski said about team tournaments. “I want to beat Navy this year!”
The university fencers participate in five or six tournaments throughout a school year, Vilinskis said, and club dues go toward registration costs for tournaments, whether they are per capita or a flat team rate.
“Funding actually got cut a little bit this year from the school just because budgets are moving around and everything,” Vilinskis said when asked about club finances. “I think all the club sports are suffering from that, actually.”
The president still feels that the group has the necessary resources to support its 20 to 35 regular combatants. Where possible, team members can acquire their own equipment or bring what they already have to free up the club’s supply of equipment for general use by newer athletes.
“My main goal is always just to build an accepting area for people to have fun, but I think also, I want to see my friends do well,” Kwiatkowski said. “We have tournaments coming up. Last year, we had a couple individual winners. I want to see us grow on that.”
