![]() The vests fencers wear contain a cord that will conduct electricity when a hit by a blade is registered, and this will turn a light on. The general gist of the rules of fencing is that competitors work to touch the blade part of their non-dangerous weapon onto part of the other competitor’s body. “It requires agility, it requires strength, it requires enormous mental and physical discipline, emotional resiliency, tactical thinking.” “It’s a combat sport,” BC fencing coach Sydney Fadner said. You’re also considering what your opponent’s strategy may be as well-what are your weaknesses? All of these thoughts are bundled up into about three minutes for one bout, and you need to have multiple touches to win. ![]() You need to think about your physical endurance, but you also are thinking about the best strategy you can use in order to make sure the tip of your blade touches your opponent in the quickest, most efficient way possible. Walking into a fencing bout is like walking into battle. Competing pairs stand on a thin strip of carpet while pointing sword-like weapons at each other.īut there’s so much more to it than meets the eye. She gets why the white uniforms and masks look silly, and why the seemingly random yelling and strange referee calls are confusing. How many people can say that they’re in the top eight in the country for what they do? Not many.īichette gets why people don’t see fencing as a sport. But she ended up all the better-she recently placed seventh at the NCAA Fencing Championships and received All-American honors for her talents, the first woman at BC to do so. She doesn’t like boasting about her accomplishments, partially because of the kids that didn’t understand the sport. “ And I didn’t really appreciate that, so with fencing, I could still be an athlete but rely a lot on my own ability.”īut even though Bichette picked up fencing instead of basketball, a sport she never took a liking to, the preteen angst and cattiness of others caught up to her.Īt school, Bichette says she would get made fun of all the time because of fencing. “It’s who’s the most popular kid on the team, and that’s who we’re going to give the most time to,” Bichette said. And part of the reason that she didn’t develop a liking for team sports was because people only ever picked their friends for teams. Fencing consists of matches between two people, called bouts, so unless you are in a team event where all bout scores are compiled for a total result, you’re on your own. What drew her to fencing as a 7-year-old wasn’t a movie, but the individual nature of the sport. Bichette’s coach runs a private club, at which she was the only girl. Fencing in Florida is nothing like your standard Little League baseball or football camps, and there are no high school teams to play on. In a place like Orlando, most kids start fencing because they watch a movie with sword-fighting, like Pirates of the Caribbean, and their moms search for fencing programs nearby. People don’t get drawn into it because of local interest, but rather because of random piques. Its popularity lies abroad and in metropolitan areas like New York and Texas. ![]() ![]() Her mom thought Bichette would be interested-and like moms usually are, she was right.įencing, however, isn’t very popular or widely known in Florida. The only reason she got into the sport was because of her mom, who worked out at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, a sports and recreational complex located in Disney World, and noticed a fencing tournament there. When you think of Orlando, Fla., you may think of warm temperatures, palm trees, and Disney World.įencing might not be the first thing that comes to mind.īoston College junior Renee Bichette didn’t first think of fencing, either.
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