The coaches pored over the names of the hopefuls, the students who had done everything they could to make the team.
Eighty-two kids had tried out.
Thirty-five would have to be cut.
Finally, the lucky 57 were given the news: They had been chosen for New Trier’s fencing team.
Yes, fencing.
The sport has become so big in Winnetka that, because of limited equipment, cuts had to be made for the second consecutive season.
And, since most of the hopefuls had never tried the sport, coach John Blase and assistants Shawn and Joel Smith had to teach the fundamentals of the sport and then determine which 57 students had learned the quickest.
The Trevians will measure their development in two different home meets this weekend. Saturday, they are host to an invitational. But first, New Trier has a dual meet Friday against Culver.
That’s Culver Military Academy. In Culver, Ind. Because there are so few fencing teams in the Midwest, New Trier sometimes travels as much as three hours to meets. Stevenson and Maine West are the only other Illinois high schools with fencing teams.
But though the teams are scarce, high school fencers have managed to develop a tight-knit community. Sure, the opponents are usually from Wisconsin or Indiana, but it’s the same opponents from Wisconsin and Indiana.
The fact that not many people know high school fencing exists has not diminished the Trevians’ enjoyment of the sport.
“It’s like physical chess,” says Leah Tracy, a senior who competes in epee, the heaviest of fencing’s three weapons. “It’s a lot like chess with the thinking about what your opponent is going to do. You don’t have to be that athletic.”
Tracy says she realized the similarities after her father taught her chess two years ago. She already had fenced for one season and decided the sport would take priority over swimming and softball.
“I fell in love with it,” Tracy says. “There is a thinking aspect I have always liked with all my sports.”
Freshman Michael Hennessy gave up basketball to fence this year between soccer and track seasons.
“It’s difficult,” Hennessy says. He added that he practices fencing as vigorously as he does his other sports. “I didn’t come here to do anything easy.”
Not everyone on the team was as enthusiastic when they picked up the sport. When Brian Ng transferred to New Trier from Young last year, he entertained no thoughts of trying out for fencing.
Finally, Ng relented, for an odd reason. Aaron Chen, a friend on the team, coaxed him into trying out. Ng told Chen that not only would he try out, but he would win easily in a match with Chen.
“It was kind of a joke when I first started,” Ng says.
Things got even funnier when Ng actually started to fence. Restraint was not one of his great virtues. Ng’s idea of technique was to point his weapon at his opponent and sprint into him.
“I was just crazy,” he says. “I would just run them off the strip. I was really sloppy.”
Ng eventually gained control of himself, and he has emerged as one of the best fencers on the team. He is one of 16 Trevians to qualify for the U.S. Junior Olympics.
Once in a while, when he has a comfortable lead, Ng will revert to his wild days.
“I might as well have some fun, do some fancy stuff,” he says.
Ng calls his favorite move “Superman,” because he flies at the opponent.
As for his future in the sport, Ng is candid.
“I couldn’t make a life out of fencing,” he says. “You can’t be like, `Oh well, I’m going to be a fencer when I grow up.’ “
Still, some fencers do like to keep up with the sport as long as they can. Smith, one of the assistants, said that his goal is to teach and be a head fencing coach at a high school, preferably New Trier. Captain Bill Walsh says he may continue with the sport in college, but that he has other more important criteria for choosing a school.
For some, like Walsh, fencing is a major part of life. For others, the sport is just a hobby.
For all, it is a cool thing to talk about when meeting strangers. Say you’re a fencer, and folks are impressed.
“It’s kind of unique,” Walsh says. “It is something interesting to say.”
TOUCHE, YOU SAY?
A guide to the terminology and objectives of fencing.
Weapons
Epee: The heaviest of the three weapons used in fencing. Competitors earn a point for touching the point of the epee to any part of their opponent’s body. The epee is used by poking it at the opponent.
Sabre: The lightest of the weapons. The opponent can be slashed with the whole weapon, but only in a marked portion of the upper body. The sabre, like the calvary sword of years past, is used by slashing and thrusting it at the opposing fencer.
Foil: Weighs less than the epee but more than the sabre. It can be used to strike certain marked portions of the chest, back and groin. The foil is used in a poking motion.
Scoring
For each strike in the opponent’s target area, fencers earn a point. In a 4-minute bout, the first fencer to score five points wins. In a bout of three 3-minute rounds, the first to 15 points wins. If there is a tie after regulation, a coin is flipped, and the fencers compete for a minute. If there is still a tie, the winner of the coin flip wins the bout.
Equipment
Fencers wear white clothing including a jacket, breeches, long white socks, a mask (of fine wire mesh that also has a protective “bib”), a glove and, in the case of the foil and sabre events, a metallic overjacket that conducts electricity as part of the scoring system. It is worn over the jacket, covering the valid target area.
A wire leads from this garment to the scoring device and is called the “body wire.” Spectators can see when a hit has been scored because a lamp lights up on the scoring equipment.
