Fencing or No Fencing?
When asked about what sport you play, you might say ‘soccer’, ‘football’, ‘basketball’. But how about fencing?
Fencing, a sport that has evolved from winning to survive to winning for exceptional skills. As the New World Encyclopedia online researching site states: “Today, the competitive element has been distilled from its violent origins to create a sport of agility, speed and endurance.”
Even though DRSS doesn’t have sports teams, the school has encouraged students to pursue sports by having wonderful fitness teachers who make students do absolutely torturous workouts! The school also gives students some free time to go outside to play during the day. This is a good start to get students physically fit but what else could the school do to support student’s physical health?
Niels Sondergaard is an 8th grader at DRSS and the sport that he participates in is fencing. Niels feels that DRSS should start a fencing club. While talking to Niels, he expressed that fencing not only focused on strengthening the brawn but also sharpening the brain. He said that fencing uses a lot of ‘strength, speed, and strategy.’ He also said that ‘many characteristics’ are used in combination while fencing. Niels felt that fencing is a good sport for all students, requiring a variety of talents.
Fencing seems to be an interesting sport, so why don’t we have it in our school? Well, a basic requirement for a club is to have a teacher who volunteers for the club. This could be any staff member at our school. It isn’t enough for the staff member just to set an hour out for the fencers, but the staff member has to understand the sport. This could take over a year. The second question is, as no one is going to let you take sharp objects like pencils and start stabbing each other and call it fencing, so what do we do about equipment? There are a lot of fencing equipment to ensure that everyone is safe when participating in the sport. There are 3 different kinds of swords in fencing. They are called, Foil, Épée or Sabre. They are different because each sword has a different length, width, and hand guard size. Scoring points in the game is different for each kind of sword. Épée is used when fighting on foot. you need to touch the other person on any part of their body using the tip of the sword to win a point. You would be dual fighting if you fought with a Foil sword, you would have to hit the other person on the torso with the tip of the sword. Sabre is a sword that is used when horseback fighting. To win a point with this type of sword, you would have to hit the torso, arms, or thighs with the tip or the side of the blade. When fencing, people always have to wear a chest plate, mask, gloves, and a special suit made for fencing that is called a jacket. Beginning equipment is quite affordable and with the right fundraiser the school might be able to afford to pay for each student.
The last question is: How many students are interested in this sport? Fencing is a great sport, but how many people know about it and will be active participants? If it were easy, DRSS would probably have a swimming team, a dancing team, a rowing team. Unfortunately, there are a lot of factors that need to be considered to support so many sports. If there are truly interested kids out there, they can get together and figure out how to overcome this challenge. Maybe they could ask a fitness teacher to volunteer, and create a fundraiser to buy the equipment. Lastly, students who would be interested in entering any regional fencing tournaments would have to become a member of the American Fencing Association of Dayton (AFAD).
DRSS has spent a lot of effort in teaching us our five qualities and here is a great opportunity to use them. So, if there are students interested in fencing, they can get together and collaborate, use inquiry to request teachers if they would be willing to volunteer, be creative when coming up with possible fundraisers, communicate ideas to other students to get more members for the club, and lastly, persist throughout the whole process to complete the task successfully!
After reading this, are you not curious about what fencing is all about? Be sure to visit other sections to read great articles on a wide variety of topics. Check out our Weekly Inquirer Newshow that discusses the top news of the week.
Sources:
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Fencing
http://www.olympic.org/fencing-equipment-and-history
http://blog.nycdatascience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/foil_jump.jpg
