In this sport, glamour is beside the point
No one, least of all those people who actually know what an epee is, thinks Mariel Zagunis's gold medal will suddenly make fencing fashionable in the United States.
"We're not expecting a mad rush on sabers," said Syd Fadner, executive director of the venerable Boston Fencing Club, which has been teaching would-be d'Artagnans to feint and flick for a century and a half. "But we do expect participation to increase, and we're already getting calls and inquiries."
Before Zagunis's thrilling win -- thrilling because it was the first fencing gold for the United States in 100 years, and the first fencing medal ever for an American woman -- few people paid any attention to the sport. The centuries-old pastime is generally viewed as elitist -- an avocation of the wealthy or, worse, the Europeans. In a country not famous for its love of language, it also doesn't help that fencing, like ballet, has an elaborate lexicon for its many moves and movements: riposte, counter-riposte, and flying parry.
But then maybe that's the appeal of the sport. Sometimes called "physical chess," fencing is acutely unglamorous. As they square off on the long, narrow strip -- the piste -- that serves as the field of play, competitors' identities are completely concealed by their beekeeper masks. Back and forth they frantically parry, gaining or losing ground until someone registers a "touch." Then it begins again.
"It's more akin to boxing than ballet," said Fadner, "but you don't have to worry about getting your nose broken."
Christina Morra, a sophomore at Brandeis University who's been fencing since she was in ninth grade, said she was immediately drawn to the sport because it demands not just brawn but brains, not just aggression but intellect.
"The people I've met fencing are such an eclectic group, it's really awesome," Morra said. "It's not that we're weird or geeky, but we're definitely goofy. When we're not fencing, we're talking about fencing."
Morra, who has competed against Zagunis at the Junior Olympics and other national competitions, said she watched the gold-medal match on Italian TV, which she managed to dial up on the Internet. (OK, maybe a little geeky.)
"We were all talking online, like, `Did you see that touch?' " Morra said. "It was so great, and hopefully it'll get more people into the sport."
The old college try It's not an easy sport to get the hang of. As a student at Bates College, I tried fencing, primarily to satisfy a physical-education requirement. But I also thought that for what my parents were paying in tuition, I should not only read about Rob Roy but learn to swashbuckle like the Highland hero.
Forget it. After a couple of semesters, I still could not master the fancy footwork or memorize the glossary of terms. (" `Displacement' is a dodge, but what's a `deception?' ") If Errol Flynn was the archetype, I was Touché Turtle.
But even before Zagunis's dramatic win, the sport was growing in popularity in this country, fencing enthusiasts insist. They point out that the US Fencing Association has 10,000 registered members, which is up sharply from 10 years ago. And the New England division of the USFA, which includes only a portion of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, boasts 1,500 members. (One of those is 1992 Lexington High School graduate Greg Chang, a member of the US men's Olympic team, who took his first lesson with Fadner at the Boston Fencing Club when he was in eighth grade.)
"Because it doesn't generate a great deal of income, fencing is not something TV is all that interested in," said the new secretary of the USFA, Linda Merritt of Billerica. "Still, there's a very thriving subculture out there that continues to grow every year without coverage."
The success of the women's Olympic team, in particular -- the men lost the bronze to Russia -- will undoubtedly spur interest in fencing, but it's unlikely the sport will ever rival soccer, lacrosse, or even field hockey in popularity.
But that's not to say there aren't already fencing moms.
Consider Morra's mother, Marie Stoeckel, who picked up a saber a few years ago to see what her daughter was doing.
"I'm not unique. A number of my friends also became curious about what their kids were involved in, and what this was all about," she said. "And you know what? I learned that I like a little bit of competition. I learned I liked to fence."
