The University of Central Missouri Fencing Club is a student organization that teaches members the principles of fencing and three distinct disciplines or types of weapons used in the sport of Olympic fencing: foil, épée and sabre. According to UCM fencing club president Garrett Abel, the club was founded in 1993. Since then, it has grown from a few consistent members to six to eight newcomers each year.
“We have that huge trial period,” said Abel. “And I would say if you’re joining in our fall semester, give it a week. It takes a lot of time to teach. So give it more than a week to really try it out and actually get on the strip and fence and I’m sure they will love it.”
The fencing club is not a university sport, so it cannot participate in the NCAA championships without a coach. However, the club still competes in tournaments within the fencing community. According to Abel, as the budget increases and they reach out to other organizations and people they know in the sport, they’ve been able to support their coaching and help branch out so their fencers can keep fencing after college.
“It’s definitely been a challenge learning time management for everything,” said Abel. “My duties are to come up with the drills and plans for practices. So during all of my schooling, I still have to make time to think, ‘Okay, what drills to do? What are we practicing?”
The members of the fencing club learn the mental and physical challenges of fencing, with a focus on the different types of fencing techniques.
“I guess as far as techniques go, I like the disengage. So that’s where I attack one of their lines, I go under their blade and attack the other line. That’s my favorite technique,” said senior Jesse Mitchem, a fencing club member.
“The mental learning of how to take a bout on the chest and not get emotional about it, and just try to learn what I can improve on, is definitely been the most challenging thing in the sport,” said Mitchem.
According to junior Sophia Jewell, she did not know about the club until a group of friends in class showed her.
“Now that I’m a part of this club, I am so excited to show other people that this club exists,” said Jewell. “It’s really fun. And some people are always hesitant. We have three layers of protection, so it barely hurts most of the time. But regardless, I would love to see more people be involved. And I’d love to see more of our school at our tournaments when we have one here, because we usually have one here in November.”
The club hosts a tournament in November on UCM’s campus. They also travel around Missouri to compete. According to Jesse Mitchem, fencing is a relatively small sport, so the community is tight-knit. Tournament bouts are typically up to 15 points, which is also called 15 touches.
“I think that first tournament really solidifies if you’re going to stay with the sport or not. My first tournament, getting introduced to a community full of people that have been fencing for who knows how long. Even though I’m brand new and I may lose super hard. It’s just really inviting, almost to show you what the fencing scene is like in this,” said Mitchem
