By: Min Qiao <[email protected]>

How long have you been fencing?
I’ve been fencing for about five and a half years.

What got you interested in fencing?
I kinda knew about this sport and I just thought that it would be a cool sport to try because I thought, “Hey, here’s a sport where you can go and hit people and not really lose an eye or anything.”

I heard that there are several different types of fencing. What style of fencing do you do?
In fencing there are three different types of weapons. Sabre, which is the one I do, Foil and Épée. The weapons are different and are designed differently, but another big difference between these weapons is the target areas on the body. With Sabre fencing, the target is anywhere from the waist up, excluding the hand. The unique thing about Sabre fencing is that it is the only type of fencing that you can score points by slashing or cutting, which is how the majority of the points are scored. That is the main difference between (Sabre fencing and the other styles). Other then that, visually, the styles (of fencing) are very different. Sabre is very fast and very aggressive fencing, whereas Epee is really cautious and they really take their time to pick their shots. And Foil is a little bit in between.

How does a Fencing season work? How does it progress?
Well, Fencing is pretty much a year-round sport. There are local competitions that are held pretty consistently throughout the year. National competitions are held also evenly spaced-out throughout the year, but you have to qualify to go to those. The big national competitions are Summer Nationals and that is held at the beginning of July.

How much do you practice a week?
I have (practice) three days during the week and then one on Saturday. Practices are usually about two to two and a half hours long.

What keeps you motivated throughout a season?
When you have a good tournament, that’s always good. I really like the sport, so there is never a day, unless I am really feeling bad, where I dread going to practice. It is a year-round sport, so it kinda requires you to keep doing this over and over, but I really do like fencing.

Describe a typical tournament.
During a typical tournament, the first thing you do is to sign in. Then you get all your equipment checked and that includes your mask, the electrical jacket for scoring and the cords for scoring. They wait to test your actual weapons in the fencing area, not at the check-in. Then after that, you basically warm-up, start jogging and find a few people to start fencing with. It is usually best, especially at national tournaments, to find the really good people to warm-up with. After warm-up, you go through rounds and fence with people in your pool to five points. Then based on how everyone does in the pool, they will go to a direct elimination tournament and then keep doing direct elimination until you get a winner.

What are your accomplishments so far in fencing?
The last National tournament I went to, I place(d) 11 out of 116 fencers. As far as the national point standing for my age group, I am currently 19th, and for the age group above me, I am tied for 49th.

What is the best part about fencing?
The best part about fencing is when you are going through a really tough bout, as you are both fencing really well, really strong. You’re both yelling and screaming, trying to convince the director to give you the point. It just feels good when you are fencing on the top of your game.

What are your future goals for fencing?
I’d like to medal at a national competition. Actually, the top eight places medal, so I’m pretty close as of now. As for the future, it is a sport that is in the Olympics, but I’m not sure I am at that level. The people who are a year older, in the age group ahead of us, as of now, there are some really high caliber of fencers there. Those would probably be the next generation of fencers. Olympics, if I ever get good enough, yeah, it would be cool to go. As far as doing it in college, that would really depend on the college and how the fencing team is. Then after college, it would depend on what I do as a job, where I end up living, if they have a fencing club in that area, if the coaches there are good. So, it’s not a for sure thing, if I am going to end up doing it after high school. College, probably I’ll end up doing it. But it’s not really for sure. It’s one of the sports where it is an amateur sport and you don’t really make much money off of it. You hear about Peyton Manning and stuff, but you never hear about famous fencers.

What is your best memory as a fencer?
Each year, our club holds a school championship, where basically depending on where you finish, you get points for your school, and the school with the most points wins. So the two oldest high school fencers at our club both go to University High School, and majority of the time, they’re the best. I knew I could beat them because it did happen frequently enough, but they’re pretty tough. So in this school tournament, I faced one of them in order to get into the final two, and that was a tough bout that I won. Then I beat the other one in the finals in a controversial call that I felt I won, as did my coach and one of the guys who came from Ohio. And I did officially win the tournament, but we watched it on tape later and it wasn’t so clear cut. But that was my best memory because they were expecting to dominate and I beat them both, and I was so into it that I had some yells that are still jokingly quoted at our club from time to time. Yelling is a common thing in fencing, but these ones were especially unique. So that was a good memory, and Carmel High School ended up placing third, school-wise, with (sophomore) Kaethan Bysani and I as the only fencers from Carmel.