Two fencers are hawkishly looking for an opportunity to end their bout. As the fencer observes the opponent, he notices their wrist is exposed, an error too simple to be a mistake. But the fencer is desperate, and his opponent isn’t giving up any other targets. The fencer readies himself to lunge, teasing the opponent’s blade out of the way before lunging for their exposed wrist. In an instant, as if they knew his thoughts, the opponent hides their wrist behind the bell of their foil and strikes him in the chest, causing red to flash across the scene.
This isn’t the scene of a dueling murder, but the events of a fencing match, a regular occurrence at the University of Connecticut Fencing Club. Every Sunday the Fencing Club meets for practice in the Hawley Armory from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to practice. In addition to their Sunday meetings, the club also holds joint practices with Eastern Connecticut State University’s fencing club every Friday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
In fencing there are three weapons with distinct styles: Foil, Sabre and Épée. Foil is a medium-paced style that uses stabbing motions to get points, requiring careful movements to take advantage of right-of-way rules.
Sabre also has right-of-way rules, but this style is different from Foil because it incorporates slashing, making matches more about speed and prediction than in-the-moment precision.
Épée has the same stabbing motion as Foil, but without the right-of-way rules, the matches become more focused on setting up attacks so that your opponent doesn’t get the chance to strike back.
Fencing practice usually starts with basics, where members of all fencing weapons go through general warmups and footwork drills to get warmed up for practice. Afterwards, club members suit up and get ready for open fencing, a part of the practice where members of each blade take turns fencing one another while the coaches for each weapon give advice on how to improve.
The fencing uniform is made up of several protective parts and a few electric components that help with scoring. When putting on fencing gear, you first put on fencing pants, then optionally a plastic chest guard which minimizes potential bruising on the front of your chest. Following that is the shoulder guard, which minimizes bruising on your dominant shoulder, and the fencing jacket, which acts as a general protection for your arms and torso.
“Fencing is chess mixed with any other martial art,” UConn Fencing Club President Matt Pezzino said. “I definitely like the competition and that losing is so central to it because it’s a personal sport, so you need to lose to get better and it teaches you very quickly that if you don’t like losing, you will not like this sport. Because you only have yourself to blame.”
Pezzino has been fencing Épée for five years, and as the club’s president he makes everything run between UConn Fencing and other clubs. Additionally, he works to organize shared practice with Eastern and communicate with the competitive divisions that the club is a part of.
When asked what made him stay with fencing, Pezzino responded, “It’s fun, it’s flashy, and you still feel good because it’s athletic.”
Pezzino is an E-rated fencer, and during his sophomore year, he won first place at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) with UConn’s men’s Épée team.
“It’s like physical chess,” fencing club’s Vice president Dannan Page said. Page is a third semester journalism and ecology and evolutionary biology major. “It’s a physical sport but it involves a lot of strategy, so it’s sort of a mental and physical game.”
Page broke it down further, explaining that “it’s a puzzle where you get on the strip and you’re fencing someone new that you’ve never fenced before and you just have to figure them out and learn what makes them tick and how you can use that to your advantage, and it’s just such a fun puzzle to solve.”
Page started fencing 10 years ago and in 2021 got third place in women’s épée and qualified for the junior Olympics.
“I think that everyone should try it because it’s just so fun and it’s different from a lot of other sports,” Page said. “It really is such a positive environment, everyone I met is so friendly and it’s an honorable sport, so everyone is respectful of each other.”
Although UConn Fencing has a strong competitive past, the club accepts members of all skill levels. Interested students can reach out to UConn Fencing’s email at uconnfencing@gmail.com or through Instagram at @uconnfencing to get started. Showing up to one practice is free, but club dues are $25. Friday practices do require membership, but interested students can show up at the Hawley Armory at 11 a.m. on Sunday to get involved.