Fencing's strategy attracts competitors

ST. LOUIS — Grace Savage and Christopher Slaughter sound like perfect names for fencing. They conjure up images romantic and violent, just like the sport.

But Savage and Slaughter make fencing look and sound smart and civilized, rather than sexy or savage.

The two were among a group of fencers, ranging in age from 7 to 58, sparring at Olympia Fencing Academy in University City, Mo., recently.

"It's a very mental sport," said Savage, 14, of Wildwood, Mo., after finishing a bout. Perspiration dotted her forehead. She was slightly out of breath.

"It's hard physically, too, but you really have to think about it," she said. "You have to get where you don't think about the physical part so you can focus on the strategy."

Slaughter, 36, of St. Louis, was a high-school wrestler who took up fencing to meet a girl he liked. But he ended up falling in love with the sport. After high school, he said, he moved to Kansas City for a while to study under Vladimir Nazlymov, a Russian Olympic coach.

"It's hard to find a sport that's as mental as this," Slaughter said.

Coach Rebecca Schneider said to be competitive, fencers must spend hours doing footwork drills over and over until it's second nature. That way, their minds are free to think about a sport that's often called physical chess.

"Each style of fencing depends on different timing and distance in the way you advance, retreat and lunge," Schneider said. "Just when you're sick of doing drills and you're thinking, 'Oh, come on!' Oh, no. You do more."

THREE DISCIPLINES

There are three fencing disciplines: saber, epee and foil.

Saber is the modern version of the slashing style of cavalry warfare. A point is scored by touching an opponent's torso, arms or head with either the edge of the flexible blade or the point. Body parts below the waist are off-limits, to simulate cavalry riders on horseback.

Epee descends from dueling, so the sword is heavier, thicker and stiffer. Points are scored by touching an opponent anywhere from head to toe with the point of the blade.

In foil, fencers touch the opponent with the sword tip on the torso and only the torso. Foil also has the most strategic rules.

Bouts take place on a strip that measures 15.3 yards long and about 2 yards wide, the dimensions of hallways in medieval castles. Fencing originated in Spain and became an honorable way for high society to settle disputes in Europe. About 8,000 nobles were killed in duels in Paris alone between 1588 and 1608.

Today, fencers wear protective suits made of ballistic material and helmets with masks that protect and obscure the face. Beginner uniforms start at $80, helmets at $45 and swords at $30. Lames, which are vests with metal woven into them to protect the upper body, run $65 and up.

'IN THE FOOTWORK'