Fencers cross swords, learn life skills
| Fencers cross swords, learn life skills | ||||
WARREN – The competitors stand in a classic pose, all mental and physical senses alert, looking for that perfect opportunity to attack their opponent. In action that’s nearly too fast to follow, they move forward, attacking with the narrow length of a sword until a point is scored with the point of a blade. Fencing is a martial art with a long and romantic history, practiced in Europe in centuries past. Closer to home, a fencing academy opened in Warren in 1995, in the third floor of a former mill building. Competitors face each other across a large stretch of wooden floor. Arched windows lend natural light as participants learn an ancient art. Alex Ripa, the head coach and owner of the Rhode Island Fencing Academy and Club on Cutler Street in Warren, said the classic definition of fencing is the art of offense and defense with the sword. "That’s where they get the name, from offense and defense." Participants learn how to stand, attack, and parry with long, narrow swords, but the blades are blunted for safety. "Even though we talk about a sword no one’s getting stabbed, there’s no bleeding. " Mr. Ripa said. The head coach said part of the challenge of fencing is in the strategy, learning to plan ahead. "They call fencing all the time ‘physical chess,’ you invite your opponent to make a mistake," he said. Recently, a number of fencers won medals in a national fencing competition held in Sacramento, California, the year-end tournament in the fencing world, called the Summer National Championships. The contestants competed for the first ten days of July in the summer nationals, in a number of skill and age ranges in foil, epee and sabre competitions. "When the dust had settled and we were on our way back home we had 10 individual medals and two team medals," Mr. Ripa said. Award winners on fencing The Sacramento competition awards the top eight competitors, usually from a field of well over 100, in each category and division. The fencing club in Warren carried home over a dozen medals. Kai Itameri Kinter, 18, was recently recruited by Harvard for his skill with the blade. At the recent competition in Sacramento he won a 6th place finish in men’s foil, out of more than a 100 competitors. In September, Kai will be heading out to the ivy league college, and fencing on the Harvard team will be part of his school year. In fencing, he prefers to compete in foil. "I’ve been in fencing about nine years, half my life. Epee is a little too slow and saber a little too fast, foil is a middle ground." James Hawrot, 15, has been involved with the sport for the last six years, and won a second place finish in the youth epee division. "Epee is my favorite. Most epeeists are tall and skinny. The reach is an important factor because it’s whoever hits first," he said. Jacob Pet, 15, of Barrington, has been fencing about six years and won a silver in men’s saber in the Sacramento competition. Sometimes the sport seems to fit a person like a glove, creating a new passion. "I was between sports. I had done soccer and basketball, and I heard Alex Ripa and the program was great, and I came for class and that was it," Jacob said. Honor For some, fencing is more than a physical activity in a style reminiscent of swashbucklers from centuries past. It has the potential to teach life skills. Mr. Ripa said there is a lot of etiquette and sportsmanship involved in fencing. "We’re here to teach people how to fence and how to get better, but there are lots of life lessons; self control, and dignity." Besides the physical and mental training inherent in the concentration needed for the sport, discipline and self control are sometimes learned when certain points of fencing etiquette are enforced. Something as simple as throwing your mask down after a match results in a "black card" resulting in immediately leaving the building for that day. It causes students to think about what they are doing, not to react in anger or even simple carelessness after a match. The students are continually taught to give more attention to improving their skills than focusing solely on the outcome of a match, Mr. Ripa said. Maddy Buxton, 14, said the sport has helped her to learn skills she can apply in other areas of her life, and to learn team skills when working together with team mates on footwork and drilling. "I had a lot of nerves. I had to learn to focus all of my attention into every touch and not on other bouts. I had to learn not to worry so much about the results but just on my performance," she said. Many join the sport of fencing as a casual member, learning the basics, and then some of the finer points of competition, without any plans to give the sport a high priority in terms of time or competitive play. Joining one of two teams, by invitation only, moves a participant beyond the recreational fencer. The first is the pre-team, denoting a serious commitment to the sport, a willingness to put in the time and effort it requires to continue to learn on a competitive level. Charlotte Kinder, 14, of Portsmouth, is considering taking the sport to the next level. She has been invited to join the pre-team, after a year at the fencing academy. Her initial interest was in the romance of the sport, fueled by the classic books and movies. "I saw all the really cool sword fights in movies like Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s the stories that really got me into it. I think it’s really a brilliant sport," she said. The second team an individual can be asked to join is the national team. Maddy Buxton, of Barrington, has been learning the art of fencing since the age of 11. She recently won a 7th place in division III, women’s epee, in the Sacramento competition. Just in the last few weeks, she received her card that validates her membership in the national team. "It shows you’re serious about fencing and willing to make that commitment because there is a lot of time involved. But the friendships are great. You develop friendships with people all over Rhode Island and Massachusetts," she said. Members of the national team generally take private lessons. Maddy currently trains with Jill St. Jacques, a director and coach at the fencing club in Warren. She said both the coaches and fellow participants make the training and competitions something to look forward to. "It’s such a unique sport and there’s such wonderful people involved," Maddy said. Equipment A modern fencer wears a considerable amount of safety equipment, which is one of the reasons why injuries in fencing are rare. Over the ‘weapon arm,’ the right arm for right-handed fencers, and the left for left-handed fencers, the fencer wears an ‘underarm protector’ or ‘under plastron.’ Next, athletes wear chest protection (obligatory for girls and women, optional for men). Over the legs are worn knee-length trousers called ‘knickers.’ Socks that go to the knees complete the protection of the legs. Sneakers, or specific fencing shoes, are worn on the feet. A body cord is used when fencing with the electric scoring apparatus, and this cord is worn through the sleeve of the fencing jacket. A glove is placed over the ‘weapon hand’ and the cuff of the glove is pulled over the sleeve of the jacket to the mid forearm. In sabre and foil, a metallic over-jacket called a ‘lamé’ is worn on top of the fencing jacket. The lamé enables the circuit to activate when it is hit with the weapon. The fencer wears a specialized mask that features a tough, woven mesh of steel and fits snugly on the head. The mask also features a heavy, puncture-proof bib that extends to the collarbone for added protection. Thus equipped, a fencer is prepared to take the strip except for one thing: a weapon! Fencers use weapons with blunt, flexible steel blades called foils, épées , or sabres. Each has a slightly different use. Foils and épée may score points by hitting with the point only, while one can hit with both the edge and the point in sabre. In fencing, athletes compete against opponents in the same weapon; you’d never have one fencer use a foil against another with a sabre. Information excerpted from www.rifac.com Fencing enjoys a unique history While other sports have been developed for recreation, fencing was developed as a training exercise for the very serious business of the duel. The first recorded evidence of what appears to be formalized sport-fencing is a bout or competition featured in an ancient Egyptian carving. In the carving, competitors are shown wearing masks and using swords that have been modified to be non-lethal. Just like a modern fencing competition, officials and spectators are also depicted. The sword has undergone much evolution. Early versions, such as the shorter styles used by the Greeks and Romans, gave way to the shape of the longer weapons more familiar today. During the 16th and 17th centuries, dueling was exceedingly popular, and swords became even lighter and smaller to aid in quickness of the action. By this time, both offense and defense were being made with the sword alone; the small shields or bucklers, daggers and cloaks that had been used with the rapier for defense were no longer popular. Attempts were made to outlaw dueling, but courts were notoriously lenient when the heroic details of the duel were recounted during trial. Historically, two types of duel were fought: One as a way of settling legal disputes; and the other as a way of resolving matters of honor. By the 16th and 17th centuries, the duel of honor was the norm. Fighting in a duel, and especially displaying a dueling scar afterward, was considered fashionable, cultured, and intellectual. The foil emerged in the mid-17th century and was used as a training weapon for the duel. International competitions were organized in Europe, particularly between France and Italy, two great rivals in fencing, and countries with different approaches to swordsmanship. Fencing masters from these countries immigrated to other parts of Europe and brought their knowledge of fencing with them. As the sword fell out of general use, the sport of fencing continued to evolve. Countries developed governing bodies for the sport, and eventually an international governing body of fencing was established to make the rules universally agreeable. In 1896, the first of the modern Olympic Games featured fencing competition. Fencing has also influenced fashion. Men’s shirt buttons leave the right hand free to draw a sword, while the left hand undoes the buttons. When men and women walk arm-in-arm, the woman traditionally takes the man’s left arm to leave his right arm free to draw the sword. And the next time you’re out on a formal occasion look on the back of a modern tuxedo: You’ll still find the buttons which were originally used to hold the sword belt, but are now used for decoration. Information excerpted from www.rifac.com Fencing basics There are minor differences in the blades between foil, epee and sabre, but the larger differences are found in the rules of the individual weapon. Each requires a varying amount of safety equipment. Sabre is the fastest of the three, and requires more protective layers of clothing, including a jacket and a vest. The mask and an "electric jacket" are wired to score a point electronically. Sabre is also the only one of the three that will allow a hit with the edge, rather than only the point, of the blade. Foil involves a "right of way," only the first person to attack gains the priority to make a touch. Only the torso is allowed as a target in foil. In epee, there is no right of way, two opponents may score simultaneously. The whole body is a target in epee. Head coach and owner of the Rhode Island Fencing Academy and Club, Alex Ripa, said the game is as much about mental strategy as it is about physical skill. Fencers face each other on a long, narrow playing field called a "strip," which is about six feet wide and forty-five feet long. This playing field is the field of honor, and retreating all the way off of the back of the strip results in a point being awarded to the opponent. A single encounter of fencing where a score is kept — called a "bout" — is played until a certain number of points has been reached by one of the fencers, or until playing time has expired. A referee who determines when points are awarded monitors fencing bouts. To help the referee follow this lightning-fast game, the fencers are hooked up to an electrical scoring device that activates a signal light any time hits are made. The word "fencing" comes from the words "offense" and "defense" and modern fencing athletes use both to achieve victory. Fencers stand, move, and attack using fencing specific movements, or "footwork." One may attack and block, or parry, with the weapon, while also using footwork to stay at a safe distance. In the modern game, fencing footwork is extremely important and much time is spent perfecting these movements. ___________________________________________________ Rhode Island Fencing Academy winners from the 2005 summer National Fencing Championships held on July 1-10 are listed below. The competition awards medals to the top eight contestants, generally from a field of over 100. * Women’s foil team: gold, Senior team women’s foil : Jess Davis-Heim, Barrington; Jessie Newhall, Falmouth, Mass.; Anna Podolsky, Wellesley, Mass. * Jacob Pet, of Barrington, silver, Division III men’s saber * James Hawrot, of Barrington, silver, Youth 14 men’s epee * Anna Podolsky, of Barrington, bronze, Youth 12, women’s foil * Womens’ foil team: bronze Junior team women’s foil: Jess Davis-Heim, Jessie Newhall, Anna Podolsky * Julian Cardillo, of Bedford, Mass., 6th, Youth 12 men’s foil * Kai Itameri-Kinter, of North Attleboro, 6th, Division IA men’s foil * Maddy Buxton, of Barrington, 7th, Division III women’s epee * Paul Roberti, of East Providence, 4th and 5th, wheelchair men’s foil * Alex Ripa, of Portsmouth, a coaching medal by Cindy VanSchalkwyk cindyv@eastbaynewspapers.com |
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