Precision21

Fencing is an old art of combat invented some time around either the Late Middle Ages or Renaissance. The word fence comes from the Latin word defensio meaning defense.  My first fencing tournament introduced me to the odd realm in which the sport existed. At age ten I flew by myself to Kentucky in order to compete in National Qualifiers. The expo center I was fencing in was shared by a Sci Fi convention, and a home school convention. It was misfit heaven. I found myself walking around the expo center in a thick protective suit behind a questionably masculine female wearing pink fish net stockings, platform heels, and bare butt cheeks. Starring wide eyed at the surprisingly kinky sci-fi regulars was a bunch of home school kids walking in droves with yellow notepads. Interspersed were fencers practicing footwork throughout the hall.

Attraction for the Olympic sport has not quite caught on in the U.S. Perhaps the lack of the sport’s popularity can be attributed to the unusual required skill sets. Successful fencers are a hybrid between a nerdy chess player and an incredibly fast and coordinated athlete. In my experience, there is no cafeteria table for fencers. They are super powered nerds equipped with a jocks body and theatrical costumes. One of my more memorable competitors was a girl that had no eyebrows.