Competitive club fencing at Michigan State University started in the 1920’s. A century later, in the basement gym of IM West, students like Jessica Salinas are trying to keep the club’s tradition alive.
Salinas, a junior Material Science and Engineering major, has been fencing since she was nine. The women’s foil captain admires the mental demands of the sport, comparing it to chess.
“I love the mental game of it. A lot of people don’t realize the mental aspect that does go into fencing,” Salinas said. “It’s commonly called physical chess because of the strategy that goes along with it.”
The fencing club meets Monday through Thursday from 8-10 p.m. at IM West. Four times a week both new and experienced fencers on campus get together and train.
There are three different styles of fencing: foil, epee and sabre. Each has a unique blade and requires its own way of scoring. In foil, the target area is the torso, with strikes from only the tip of the blade. This is the most precise style, because the target area is so small. Epee is different, with the entire body being a target. In sabre, the target is anywhere above the waist and fencers can use both the side and the tip of the blade to touch the opponent.
Salinas started fencing in the sixth grade, and has been hooked ever since. The Grand Rapids Fencing Academy student was thrilled to find out she could continue her passion with MSU’s fencing club.
“I fenced in high school so when I got here I was excited that they had a fencing club. I joined and met so many great people.”
The club isn’t just for experienced fencers like Salinas. It’s for anybody who is willing to give the sport a shot. Mary Fogg-Liedel, a senior Arts and Humanities major, started fencing freshman year. She was inspired by her favorite movie of all time.
“I came to fencing because I’m a huge geek and The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies,” Fogg-Liedel said. “I also wanted a way to keep active that was unconventional and try something new.”
A fencing match begins with the command, “Pret? Allez!”, which is French for “Ready? Go!” After a point is scored, the bout is stopped by saying “Halt.” The first opponent to land five touches, or have the most touches before the end of five minutes, is declared the winner.
Points are tracked using electronic scoring machines. These machines hook up to the padded jackets that fencers wear, and send signals through the forms of lights that indicate if a point was scored. Each bout is also observed by a director, who is responsible for starting and stopping action and ensuring all equipment is safe.
Fencing is unlike most sports because there are no physical advantages. Perhaps the smaller the torso the better, but fencers mainly rely on strategy and film study to win bouts. The sport is so fast-paced that fencers can’t see what they are doing in real time. This is why capturing footage is so important.
“When we go to a tournament, our teammates will be videotaping us on the side and then we go back and watch our videos because fencing is super fast-paced,” said Fogg-Liedel. “The only sport that is faster is shooting. You have to have the video footage otherwise you won’t know what adjustments to make.”
The MSU fencing club travels across the country to compete in both collegiate and USFA tournaments. To cover these costs, they charge members $60 a semester. New members are only required to pay $10. The traveling roster is chosen based on seniority, skill, and captain’s discretion.
In these USFA tournaments, Spartans are not just competing against other college kids, but against grown men and women of all ages. Club members like Fogg-Liedel enjoy when this happens because she believes fencing is a non segregated sport. Just like in chess, fencing requires thinking several steps ahead. It requires anticipating your opponent's moves and responding to them in a split second. It doesn’t test size and physical strength, but rather strategy and mental strength.
“I can fence against men and still have a really good chance,” said Fogg-Liedel. “It’s more of a mental sport than a physical one.”