The University of Wyoming is home to many unique clubs and club sports, one of the more unique of these clubs is the fencing club. Fencing has been around since the middle of the 18th century and has continued to grow in popularity.
Modern-day fencing takes three forms; foil, epee and sabre. Each form uses a different type of weapon and has different rules.
A foil is lightweight flexible and has a square cross-section. An epee is the heaviest of the three swords and a sabre which is different from the other types because you can score with the edge of the blade.
The UW Fencing club travels throughout Wyoming and to the Denver area of Colorado to participate in competitions. They even traveled to summer nationals this past summer in Salt Lake City, Utah.
A fencing tournament starts with pool play with matches going to 5 touches. Then it continues to single elimination bracket play with matches going to 15 touches.
President of the UW Fencing club, senior Microbiology major Amanda Markus, has been fencing since her arrival here. She saw the fencing booth at a club fair and instantly fell in love with it after only her first practice. She still carries that same love for fencing with her today.
“I really like the atmosphere, some of my best friends I’ve met through fencing, and it’s just a really, really tight group,” Markus said.
While fencing is a physically demanding sport there is also a very large mental aspect to the competitions. A good fencer must not only keep their body in good shape but also their mind. This is why Markus shows up to competitions early, to get both her body and her mind right for her match.
“A lot of people refer to it (fencing) as physical chess, you’re constantly thinking, you’re keeping your mind active and figuring out what your opponent’s doing and what their patterns are,” Markus said.
Fencing requires a lot of preparation and practice, the club team here at the university practices hours every week with practices Mondays and Fridays from 6-8 p.m. in the education gym, and open fencing bout practices in the Half Acre Gym on Sundays from noon to 2 p.m.
“I’m happy I get to go to a school that offers such unique opportunities such as fencing,” Landen Kilgore, freshman mechanical engineering major, said.
Be sure to keep an eye out for your University of Wyoming club fencing team as they attempt to send more competitors to this year’s national tournament taking place in St. Louis, Missouri in July.
