Fencing

[GeneChing]

I wish I had planned my weekend better and could attend this. Alexander Massialas is the son of Greg Massialas, one of my former NCAA teammates. Actually, he was on the SJSU team a few years prior to me, but he'd come by every once in a while and whup all our butts, just to show us who's still boss. I've not spoken with Greg in years so he probably doesn't remember me (I was an epeeist, not a foilist) and I've never met Alexander.

Men’s Foil World Cup Comes to San Francisco This Weekend

(San Francisco, Calif.) – The 2014-15 Senior World Cup season kick off this weekend with the San Francisco Men’s Foil World Cup at Kezar Pavilion.

Nearly 200 of the world’s best foil fencers from more than 35 nations will compete in the three-day tournament that begins on Friday and concludes on Sunday.

Preliminary individual competition will take place on Friday and will be followed by direct elimination and final round action for the top 64 fencers on Saturday. The semifinal and final rounds will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night. Team competition will take place on Sunday.

Click here for the complete schedule.

Tickets start at $20 per session. Click the following links to purchase:

Individual Tickets
Two-Day Pass
Three-Day Pass
Three-Day VIP Pass

The U.S. delegation will feature approximately 30 fencers, including all four members of the squad that placed fourth at the 2012 Olympic Games and won silver at the 2013 Senior World Championships.

For San Francisco natives Gerek Meinhardt and Alexander Massialas, the World Cup will be a rare opportunity to fence in front of a home crowd as U.S. athletes travel to an average of 10 countries each year.

Both Meinhardt, a two-time Olympian who won bronze at the 2010 Senior World Championships, and Massialas, his London Olympic teammate, grew up fencing in San Francisco and competed in regional events at the historic Kezar Pavilion during their youth fencing days.

A graduate student at Notre Dame, Meinhardt is now ranked No. 4 in the world after winning two individual medals on the World Cup circuit last season. Ranked seventh in the world, Massialas is a junior at Stanford who also won two individual World Cup medals this year and placed second behind Meinhardt at the Pan American Championships in June.

Meinhardt and Massialas’s teammates, 2012 Olympians Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.), will be among the top candidates for podium finishes in San Francisco.

Ranked 10th in the world, Imboden finished third at the 2014 Tokyo Grand Prix as part of a 1-2-3 U.S. finish with Meinhardt and Massialas and won the silver medal at the Seoul World Cup in May.

Chamley-Watson made history in 2013 as the first U.S. man to win an individual Senior World Championship title in fencing and took silver that same year with Meinhardt, Massialas and Imboden in the team event.

In the team event, the Americans were ranked No. 1 in the world earlier this year and are hoping to build on a season that included three podium appearances last spring.

The international field features the top foil fencers in the world, including:

2014 Senior World Individual Champion Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS)
2013 Senior World Individual Champion Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)
2012 Olympic Individual Champion Sheng Lei (CHN)
2014 Senior World Team Champions Enzo Lefort (FRA), Erwann Le Pechoux (FRA), Julien Mertine (FRA) and Vincent Simon (FRA)
2013 Senior World and 2012 Olympic Champions Giorgio Avola (ITA), Andrea Baldini (ITA) and Andrea Cassara (ITA)

Click here to view the entrants list.

Team USA’s entrant list is as follows (Note: additional athletes may be added on Thursday afternoon to complete pools):

San Francisco Men’s Foil World Cup U.S. Entrants

Aaron Ahn (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Aiden Ahn (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Max Blitzer (Staten Island, N.Y.)
Matthew Branman (Villanova, Pa.)
Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.)
Turner Caldwell (San Francisco, Calif.)
Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)
Jerry Chang (Mountain View, Calif.)
Raymond Chen (Dallas, Texas)
Kurt Getz (New York City, N.Y.)
Jarred Gou (Saratoga, Calif.)
David Hadler (San Francisco, Calif.)
George Haglund (Califon, N.J.)
Brian Howard (Petaluma, Calif.)
Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Brian Kaneshige (Maplewood, N.J.)
Axel Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
Julian Knodt (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.)
Michael Li (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Jan Maceczek (Marlboro, N.J.)
Stephen Mageras (Darien, Conn.)
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Adam Mathieu (Union City, N.Y.)
Darren Mei (Redwood City, Calif.)
Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
Samuel Moelis (Hewlett, N.Y.)
Lucas Orts (Burlingame, Calif.)
James Sands (New York, N.Y.)
Nolen Scruggs (Ozone Park, N.Y.)
Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.)
William Upbin (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
David Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)
Michael Woo (Wayne, N.J.)

[GeneChing]

Tragic story.

Kamara James Dies At 29: ‘Mental Illness’ Was Her ‘Most Unrelenting Adversary’



Olympic fencer Kamara James has died at the age of 29, according to a report released by The Grio.

According to the report, the former Team USA Olympic athlete passed away in Modesto, California. A story from the Modesto Bee reveals her death was reported on September 20.

Don Anthony, president of USA Fencing, released a statement on the organization’s official website in response to the confirmed announcement of her death.

“Kamara James was one of the brightest, precocious, self-assured young people I ever met. From her time as a very young fencer at the Peter Westbrook Foundation to her years at Princeton as an accomplished Olympian she remained warm, caring and confident. Kamara’s untimely passing leaves our fencing community very saddened and her spirit, charm and wit will be dearly missed.”

As of right now, it is still not clear as to how Kamara James died. However, a report released by Eric Rosenberg with Fencing.net confirmed that Kamara battled with “mental illness” as her “most unrelenting adversary.”

“Unfortunately, mental illness proved Kamara’s most unrelenting adversary. Still, just prior to her death, she had resumed a stable drug regimen, was living comfortably and had begun thinking about the future.”

At the young age of 19, Kamara James was a member of Team USA at the 2004 Olympic Games. James was the only women’s epee fencer from the United States that qualified for the event.

Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Kamara James moved with her family to Queens, NY at the age of 10. Even with such a difficult transition at such a young age, James thrived academically in school – receiving a full scholarship to The Dwight School. Her high grades and SAT scores also earned Kamara a scholarship to attend Princeton University.

Even though she did not have the financial backing and support of many of her Olympic competitors when it came to training for the Games, Kamara James did not allow that to stop her from reaching her goal of competing. According to USA Fencing, James developed a business plan and generated over $50,000 in donations that allowed her to turn her dream into a reality.

Keeth Smart, 2009 Olympic silver medalist, competed against Kamara James in Athens but also trained alongside her for more than ten years when they studied together at the Peter Westbrook Foundation. In a recent statement, Keeth stated that Kamara James was “one of the smartest people” he knew, especially when it came to developing that business plan.

“She was really grounded in terms of knowing how to take the steps she would need to reach any goal… Bar none, Kamara was one of the smartest people I’ve ever come across. Sometimes the strongest and fastest win, but to have a great career in fencing, you have to be one of the smartest and she definitely was it.”

As of now, no announcement has been made in regards to a memorial service for Kamara James.

[Vajramusti]

Tragic story.

That is sad.

[GeneChing]

George Kolombatovich, Fencing Coach at Columbia and the Met, Dies at 72


George Kolombatovich in 1984. He spent 32 years as the head coach or co-head coach of the Columbia University fencing team.CreditCreditLarry C. Morris/The New York Times

By Richard Sandomir
Sept. 30, 2018

George Kolombatovich, who coached Columbia University fencers to five N.C.A.A. championships and taught sword fighting to cast members of “Otello,” “Carmen” and “Don Giovanni” at the Metropolitan Opera, died on Sept. 19 in a hospital in Sarasota, Fla. He was 72.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, principally acute respiratory distress syndrome, his family said.

Mr. Kolombatovich — whose first lessons came from his father — spent 32 years as the head coach or co-head coach of the Columbia fencing team, many of them with Aladar Kogler. During that time, Columbia’s program became one of the country’s strongest: About 150 of its fencers became All-Americans, 17 won N.C.A.A. titles and several qualified for the Olympics, including Erinn Smart.

The Columbia fencers thrived in New York City, long an epicenter of the sport in the United States.

“Every single thing that counts as a disadvantage for Columbia football works in our favor,” Mr. Kolombatovich told The Associated Press in 1988, adding that it was much easier to recruit for fencing than for football at that Ivy League school. (The Columbia Lions have had a long history of futility on the football field.)

“I only need two or three and I have a national championship program,” he said.

Before and during his time at Columbia, Mr. Kolombatovich, an épée specialist (one of three weapons used in fencing), instructed singers at the Met in dueling onstage. With his father, Oscar, a Yugoslavian-born fencing master, and on his own, Mr. Kolombatovich designed the swordplay in numerous operas in the 1970s and ’80s. After his father retired as the Met’s fencing master — a part-time job — his son took over.

“He and his father were the greatest fight experts in the business,” Fabrizio Melano, the stage director, said in a telephone interview.

“Not only was George great at teaching people how to fight but also in how to integrate the fighting into the context of the opera,” added Mr. Melano, who directed “Otello” and “Roméo et Juliette” at the Met, and “Macbeth” at the Cincinnati Opera, with one or both Kolombatovichs on swashbuckling duty. “George and his father knew a lot about stage fighting but always insisted on safety. The swords were blunted but they were still made of steel.”


Mr. Kolombatovich, right, with his brother, Richard, in the mid-1950s. Richard Kolombatovich went on to become the captain of the Harvard fencing team.
Credit Kolombatovich Archive

George Edward Kolombatovich was born in Flushing, Queens, on Aug. 29, 1946. His father was born in Split, in what is now Croatia, and taught fencing at the United States Military Academy at West Point, having been influenced after his immigration to the United States by acrobatic film swordsmen like Douglas Fairbanks Sr. His mother, Joan (Roke) Kolombatovich, was a schoolteacher and principal.

For young George, a life in fencing appears to have been inevitable. Instruction from his father began when he was about 5.

“He taught me only when I asked for lessons and they were very short,” he told Andy Shaw, the historian of USA Fencing, in a video interview in 2010. “After about a year-and-a-half of doing this, probably four or five times a week, he sent me to Giorgio Santelli” — who won a gold medal with the Italian team at the 1920 Olympics.

George became a junior fencing champion on Long Island and a senior champion while in high school in Greenlawn. He attended New York University for two years and continued the sport during his Army service in Europe.

“Even though it hurts my vanity, I must admit that George can beat me,” Oscar Kolombatovich told The New York Times in 1974.

(Mr. Kolombatovich’s brother, Richard, was the captain of the fencing team at Harvard.)

A back injury in a car accident cut short George’s competitive career; he began working at his father’s fencing academy in Centerport, N.Y., and at his small factory nearby in East Northport, which manufactured swords, daggers and armor for collectors, film and theater.

And, in the late 1970s, he started coaching, at Huntington High School on Long Island and then at New York University.

When Columbia hired him as assistant coach in 1978, The Daily News wrote — with his opera background in mind — that he had handled “such grudge matches as Cassio vs. Rodrigo in the Met’s ‘Otello,’ ” so Mr. Kolombatovich “should have little trouble getting the Lion fencers up for the Elis and Crimson.”


Mr. Kolombatovich last year at his induction into the US Fencing Hall of Fame in Salt Lake City.Credit USA Fencing

In addition to coaching the fencing team, Mr. Kolombatovich refereed around the world, including at three Olympics, and served on the officials’ committees of USA Fencing and the International Fencing Federation.

One of his major achievements was to create a new grading system to judge referees in the United States.

“George changed the system that was there, which had been cursory, and made it more complex and better,” Mr. Shaw, who is also a fencer and owner of the US Fencing Hall of Fame. “And he recruited people like me to train referees under the new system.”

Mr. Kolombatovich’s international knowledge helped fencers like Ms. Smart, a graduate of Barnard, which has had a long affiliation with Columbia. She won a silver medal with the women’s foil team at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

“He helped us balance our collegiate and international careers, which is a big part of fencing,” Ms. Smart said in a telephone interview.

He is survived by his wife Henriette (Wilkens) Kolombatovich, who is known as Etta; two daughters, Gail Zelley and Erika Olinger; two sons, George O. and Glenn, and five grandchildren. His marriage to Sally Nygren ended in divorce.

Mr. Kolombatovich retired from Columbia in 2011 but continued to be a referee and assign officials to tournaments. He was sanctioned by USA Fencing in 2015 and 2016 for an incident that involved yelling at a referee — “he had a volatile temper and sometimes blew up,” Mr. Shaw said — but was cleared in time to be inducted into the fencing hall of fame last year.

Two days before the induction ceremony, he had a heart attack, but he showed up to accept the honor.

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 30, 2018, on Page B6 of the New York edition with the headline: George Kolombatovich, 72, a Specialist of Swordplay

I never met Maestro Kolombatovich but I used to sell the swords that his, Maestro Oscar Kolombatovich, used to make when I worked for the Armoury. I still have a dao he made. It's top heavy. I regret never acquiring the jian he made - I had the chance but I didn't move on it.

[GeneChing]

In France, the Force is strong with lightsaber dueling
By JOHN LEICESTER
February 18, 2019


In this Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, photo, competitors battle during a national lightsaber tournament in Beaumont-sur-Oise, north of Paris. In France, it is easier than ever now to act out "Star Wars" fantasies. The fencing federation has officially recognized lightsaber dueling as a competitive sport. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

BEAUMONT-SUR-OISE, France (AP) — Master Yoda, dust off his French, he must.

It’s now easier than ever in France to act out “Star Wars” fantasies, because its fencing federation has borrowed from a galaxy far, far away and officially recognized lightsaber dueling as a competitive sport, granting the iconic weapon from George Lucas’ saga the same status as the foil, epee and sabre, the traditional blades used at the Olympics.

Of course, the LED-lit, rigid polycarbonate lightsaber replicas can’t slice a Sith lord in half. But they look and, with the more expensive sabers equipped with a chip in their hilt that emits a throaty electric rumble, even sound remarkably like the silver screen blades that Yoda and other characters wield in the blockbuster movies .

Plenty realistic, at least, for duelists to work up an impressive sweat slashing, feinting and stabbing in organized, 3-minute bouts. The physicality of lightsaber combat is part of why the French Fencing Federation threw its support behind the sport and is now equipping fencing clubs with lightsabers and training would-be lightsaber instructors. Like virtuous Jedi knights, the French federation sees itself as combatting a Dark Side: The sedentary habits of 21st-century life that are sickening ever-growing numbers of adults and kids .



“With young people today, it’s a real public health issue. They don’t do any sport and only exercise with their thumbs,” says Serge Aubailly, the federation secretary general. “It’s becoming difficult to (persuade them to) do a sport that has no connection with getting out of the sofa and playing with one’s thumbs. That is why we are trying to create a bond between our discipline and modern technologies, so participating in a sport feels natural.”

Embedded video

John Leicester
✔
@johnleicester
Lightsaber dueling: Some basic rules.

48
4:31 AM - Feb 18, 2019
38 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
VIDEO: How-to guide to lightsaber dueling.

In the past, the likes of Zorro, Robin Hood and The Three Musketeers helped lure new practitioners to fencing. Now, joining and even supplanting them are Luke Skywalker , Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader.

“Cape and sword movies have always had a big impact on our federation and its growth,” Aubailly says. ”Lightsaber films have the same impact . Young people want to give it a try.”

And the young at heart.

Police officer Philippe Bondi, 49, practiced fencing for 20 years before switching to lightsaber. When a club started offering classes in Metz, the town in eastern France where he is stationed for the gendarmerie, Bondi says he was immediately drawn by the prospect of living out the love he’s had for the “Star Wars” universe since he saw the first film at age 7, on its release in 1977 .

He fights in the same wire-mesh face mask he used for fencing. He spent about 350 euros ($400) on his protective body armor (sturdy gloves, chest, shoulder and shin pads) and on his federation-approved lightsaber, opting for luminous green “because it’s the Jedi colors, and Yoda is my master.”

“I had to be on the good side, given that my job is upholding the law,” he said.

Bondi awoke well before dawn to make the four-hour drive from Metz to a national lightsaber tournament outside Paris this month that drew 34 competitors. It showcased how far the sport has come in a couple of years but also that it’s still light years from becoming mainstream.

Embedded video

John Leicester
✔
@johnleicester
In France, the Force is strong with lightsaber dueling

6
4:29 AM - Feb 18, 2019
See John Leicester's other Tweets
Twitter Ads info and privacy
PHOTOS: The spectacle of lightsaber dueling.

The crowd was small and a technical glitch prevented the duelers’ photos, combat names and scores from being displayed on a big screen, making bouts tough to follow. But the illuminated swooshes of colored blades looked spectacular in the darkened hall. Fan cosplay as “Star Wars” characters added levity, authenticity and a tickle of bizarre to the proceedings, especially the incongruous sight of Darth Vader buying a ham sandwich and a bag of potato chips at the cafeteria during a break.

In building their sport from the ground up, French organizers produced competition rules intended to make lightsaber dueling both competitive and easy on the eyes.

“We wanted it to be safe, we wanted it to be umpired and, most of all, we wanted it to produce something visual that looks like the movies, because that is what people expect,” said Michel Ortiz, the tournament organizer.


This isn't the car you're looking for: 'Star Wars' fans in cosplay had a ball at the tournament.

Combatants fight inside a circle marked in tape on the floor. Strikes to the head or body are worth 5 points; to the arms or legs, 3 points; on hands, 1 point. The first to 15 points wins or, if they don’t get there quickly, the high scorer after 3 minutes. If both fighters reach 10 points, the bout enters “sudden death,” where the first to land a head- or body-blow wins, a rule to encourage enterprising fighters.

Blows only count if the fighters first point the tip of their saber behind them. That rule prevents the viper-like, tip-first quick forward strikes seen in fencing. Instead, the rule encourages swishier blows that are easier for audiences to see and enjoy, and which are more evocative of the duels in “Star Wars.” Of those, the battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul in “The Phantom Menace” that ends badly for the Sith despite his double-bladed lightsaber is particularly appreciated by aficionados for its swordplay.

Still nascent, counting its paid-up practitioners in France in the hundreds, not thousands, lightsaber dueling has no hope of a place in the Paris Olympics in 2024.

But to hear the thwack of blades and see them cut shapes through the air is to want to give the sport a try.

Or, as Yoda would say: “Try not. Do! Or do not. There is no try.”

THREADS
Fencing
Jedi Academies
Paris Olympics

[GeneChing]

Bon touche?

I don't know these guys. This is way after my time. I stopped fencing decades ago.

Harvard Investigates Head Fencing Coach for Real Estate Transactions Involving Family of Current and Former Student-Athletes


University Hall. Photo: Michael Gritzbach

By Jonah S. Berger and Molly C. McCafferty, Crimson Staff Writers
5 days ago

Harvard is investigating the University’s head fencing coach after he allegedly engaged in real estate and non-profit transactions involving the family of current and former students on the team, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay wrote in an email to FAS affiliates Thursday.

Peter Brand, Harvard’s head men and women’s fencing coach, sold his Needham, Mass. house to iTalk Global Communications, Inc. co-founder Jie Zhao in 2016 for hundreds of thousands of dollars above its valuation, the Boston Globe reported Thursday. Zhao’s younger son, a sop****re, was admitted to Harvard shortly after and is currently a member of the fencing team. His older son, who was also a member of the fencing team, graduated from Harvard in 2018.

Harvard was notified of the allegations against Brand on Monday, according to Gay’s email. The University has since opened an “independent review.”

Zhao told the Globe he decided to buy Brand’s house after he heard Brand complain about his long commute to campus. He denied that Brand sought him out for the purchase, calling it a “good investment.” Zhao never lived in the house, and he sold it at a loss of more than $300,000 just 17 months after first purchasing it.

One week after Zhao purchased Brand’s Needham residence, Brand and his wife allegedly paid $1.3 million for a Cambridge home, roughly $300,000 above its asking price.

Zhao and Brand did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Gay’s announcement about the independent investigation comes in the wake of a nationwide admissions scandal in which 50 people have been charged for participating in a scheme involving bribing university officials and falsifying test scores to earn the children of wealthy entrepreneurs and celebrities entrance to top universities. Harvard was not one of the universities implicated.

Gay wrote in her email that it is the University’s “current understanding” that the allegations against Brand are not related to the scandal and that Harvard has admissions protocols meant to safeguard the process from interference. She noted that all athletes must be interviewed and approved by the College’s roughly 40-person admissions committee.

Zhao and Brand are also tenuously connected through a separate set of non-profit financial transactions that took place around the time his older son, who was also on the fencing team, was admitted to the College. Zhao told the Globe he donated $1 million to the National Fencing Foundation of Washington D.C. in 2013, the largest donation by far that the foundation had ever received. That same year, Brand and his wife formed a non-profit foundation in Delaware which received $100,000 from the National Fencing Foundation.

Zhao’s older son said in an interview with The Crimson that he was unaware of the donations until this week and has not heard from the University or outside counsel about the investigation. He pointed out that he was admitted to the College through the Early Action program in December 2013, months before he says his father’s donation “went through.”

College spokesperson Rachael Dane wrote in an emailed statement that the University is “committed” to upholding the “integrity of our recruitment practices.”

Brand could have violated National Collegiate Athletic Association rules with the acceptance of that donation, depending on how he used it and whether he took the requisite steps to record the contribution, according to Rick Allen, founder of Informed Athlete, which helps prospective college athletes navigate NCAA rules.

“There’s potential there that that could end up being a violation of the rules regarding coaches reporting and accepting outside income if he personally benefited from that money,” he said in an interview with The Crimson. “It would have to depend on whether the money was reported and how it was utilized.”

Though Allen said Zhao’s purchase of the house would likely not constitute an NCAA violation, Zhao’s decision to buy plane tickets for multiple members of the fencing team could run afoul of regulations around “impermissible benefits.”

Allen cautioned, though, that it likely depended on whether the other students on the flights were longtime friends of Zhao’s sons and if the trips were for competition or purely for leisure.

— Staff writer Jonah S. Berger can be reached at jonah.berger@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonahberger98.

—Staff writer Molly C. McCafferty can be reached at molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter at @mollmccaff.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

THREADS
Fencing
Sword hotties

[GeneChing]

Sabrina Cho was the subject of my aforementioned article Kung Fu, Fencing and Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do in our WINTER 2019 issue.

USA Fencing
39 mins ·
The women's foil team won 🥈 on Sunday in Moedling for its third straight Junior World Cup medal!

Congrats to Delphine DeVore, Zander Rhodes, Maia Weintraub, Sabrina Cho and coach Elyssa Kleiner!

[GeneChing]

Fencing, with built-in social distancing, proves ideal sport for coronavirus pandemic
By Allison Ward
The Columbus Dispatch
Posted Jul 20, 2020 at 11:48 AM
Fencers say that the sport might be the ideal activity to do right now as it promotes social distancing.

Like many kids, summer looks a lot different this year for siblings Eleanor and Gavin McClung, who are not allowed to visit public pools, attend large gatherings of friends or go on vacation far from home.

Fortunately, the Upper Arlington sister and brother, 8 and 14 respectively, still have at least one extracurricular activity their parents find safe: fencing.

Masks and gloves are already standard equipment for the sport and some competitors now double up on masks, wearing a cotton one underneath the mesh fencing one, which does not have the same protective effect against COVID-19.

And social distancing? That’s less of a problem for athletes carrying nearly 4-foot-long sabers, epees and foils with the goal of stabbing anyone who comes near them.

“Innately, it’s a little safer,” said the kids’ mother, Becky McClung. “You’re not in each others’ faces all the time and there are those natural barriers.”

In fact, fencing might be one of the safest sports right now, a perk that many clubs across central Ohio and nationwide have touted on social media in recent weeks as they’ve welcomed students back since reopening.

“Fencers try to keep away from each other,” said Stan Prilutsky, head coach at Columbus Fencing & Fitness in Dublin, where the McClungs take lessons. “If you get too close, you’re in trouble.”

Even though the sport boasts built-in barriers to deter the spread of COVID-19 — including that it only involves two athletes — Isabel Alvarez has reopened Profencing in Lewis Center cautiously, following protocols recommended by USA Fencing, the sport’s governing body.

“I have an immune deficiency problem,” she said. “Staying in business, staying well and not getting sick, has been a big effort.”

Finances became extremely tight after nonessential businesses were shut down in the spring, and a slow rebound since it reopened for private lessons has put the academy in jeopardy of shutting its doors for good, Alvarez said. A small Paycheck Protection Program loan and some generous parents who continued paying their children’s fees even when the business was closed have helped her weather the storm so far, she said.

Anyone entering Alvarez’s building is asked to wear a cotton mask, even while fencing, and students aren’t allowed to store their equipment at the facility. She’s taught students how to sanitize their suits — something they should do anyway — and they’ve done away with ceremonial handshakes, following USA Fencing rule changes.

So far, Alvarez said she is only seeing about half her regular students, and many of her summer camps with community centers have been canceled. However, she is still doing a few small camps, starting this month. She hopes to begin offering introductory classes for new students and small-group sessions soon.

“It’s safe to do fencing, and it’s good because the kids need an activity,” Alvarez said. “It challenges the mind and body.”

One of her students, Elise Lemasters of Delaware, who generally prefers bouts with friends and at tournaments, couldn’t wait for her first private class with Alvarez upon returning to the club.

“In the car, I told my dad how excited I was, and I typically don’t like having lessons, but I was looking forward to it,” said the 12-year-old, who is the No. 1 female fencer in Ohio under 13.

Parents at Profencing shared that excitement. Heather Besselman, a mom of four, said she and her two sons who fence, especially 10-year-old Noah, were thrilled when Profencing opened again.

“Noah needed activity,” said Besselman, of Delaware. “It was time, and they’re taking precautions all across the board.”

Her children still haven’t been many places, but she feels they’re safe fencing.

“They’re fully geared up and the chance of saliva going through their mask then through another mask and onto their opponent is slim,” she said.

While wearing two masks is “weird,” Noah said, it’s now “normal.”

Normal is what many of Prilutsky’s students have craved these past few months. About 75% of his 150 or so students are back taking regular private lessons.

While he acknowledged he and other instructors saw some benefits to teaching virtual lessons on Zoom — which focused on technique and footwork — he’s glad to have students back in his 8,000 square-foot facility that boasts 19 fencing strips.

“One student was crying after her first bout because she was so excited to be back,” Prilutsky said. “There’s been an emotional response to getting back to the sport we love.”

Gavin McClung admits he was a bit nervous to come back as he felt out of shape after two months away from the club. But it didn’t take long to fall into a rhythm with familiar faces around him.

“I’ve been excited, too,” the teen said. “There are a lot of people here I haven’t seen in a while.”

award@dispatch.com

@AllisonAWard

threads
Fencing
covid

[Vash]

Not sure where I got this link, but I'm assuming it was from Apoweyn somewhere. But, here you go. I'm not overly interested in fencing, but that is a darn good read.

Oh, ttt.

[Ironwind]

I really didn't know that fencing was that deep.

Suprising.

Just like the division between northern and southern kung fu (the italian and the french).

[apoweyn]

Originally posted by Vash
Not sure where I got this link, but I'm assuming it was from Apoweyn somewhere. But, here you go. I'm not overly interested in fencing, but that is a darn good read.

Oh, ttt.

Not me dude.

[Vash]

Here ya go.

[guroMARV]

I competed in fencing during high school. I would consider this the first Martial Art I ever studied. I was first attracted to it because it involved weapons. Years later, I started training in a JKD school (not because it was JKD, but because it had kickboxing in it- I didn't even know what JKD was at the time). When I learned what JKD was and that Si Jo Bruce trained in Epee style fencing, I was like,"Cool!" because I could already understand not just the footwork but the PIA strategies that I was ALREADY doing in fencing.