Andrews got interested in fencing when she was young. "As a little girl, I read the encyclopedia and encountered fencing. I told my mother that before I died, I wanted to do three things: see the aurora borealis, go scuba diving and learn fencing. She was a very supportive mother, and when I was 14, she found fencing classes."

Andrews is not alone in that desire. Fencing captures the attention of a lot of people. "We had a 75-year-old woman who came from Wyoming once a week because she wanted to learn fencing before she died. It really can be a lifelong sport."

For a lot of people, an introduction to fencing comes cinematically. "It seems like lately there has been a lot of fencing — or sword fighting — in movies," says Andrews. "After each movie comes out, we get an influx of new students."

But, she cautions, true fencing is not at all like the movies. "Have you noticed that Errol Flynn never sweated? Onstage, they try to hit the sword — there's all that chink, chink of the sword blades. Here, you try to hit your opponent. And Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader fighting with their swords above their heads? Why didn't one go whoosh in the chest and end it?"

Yeah, agrees Berryrieser, those movie sword fights are pretty fake. "In fencing, it takes 20 seconds, max, to get a touch. A good fencer could go in and win those fights in a hurry. But it wouldn't be as dramatic."

Like the movies or not, fencing still has a certain cachet, says Hendricks. "There's a special appeal. You talk about swords, and people's eyes light up."

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E-mail: carma@desnews.com