Why fencing?

[gojujay]

Just an easy discussion here, but, why did you take up fencing instead of some other sport, team or individual? For me, it probably started when I saw The Three Musketeers, the one with Racquel Welch (pant, pant, drool ) and Richard Thomas (John-Boy Walton for those of us just getting into our prime). I wanted to be D'Artagnan, then Robin Hood etc.

Just trying to find motivations

[edew]

The Three Musketeers with Raquel Welch did not also start Richard Thomas. It starred Michael York (who does slightly resemble John-Boy), Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Frank Finlay as the four musketeers; Simon Ward as the Duke of Buckingham, Charlton Heston as Richeliu, Christopher Lee and Faye Dunaway as the two baddies.

[sabreur]

A childhood spent reading fantasy novels--everything from the LOTR to Robert E. Howard.

Glory Road by Heinlein also comes to mind.

Plus I had spent my youth with my head under water (competitive swimmer from age 6 to age 19), and I wanted to do something that:

1) Didn't involve oxygen debt as a prerequisite for success.

2) Involved strategy, tactics and play.

MR

[Hurriranger]

well my dad was in the national epee team when he was young (china). and well i was always into rugby but when i got dropped from the A's i decided to try my hand at fencing. here i am!

[Talyn]

It's the only sport I'd ever even consider because it has everything.

Everything you like about sports is in fencing, discipline, competition, speed, strength ... the mind ( this i believe is almost unique to fencing).

I love all the aspects of fencing, I love the feeling when you beat an opponent, I also love the feeling when you lose and you know that you'll be that little bit better next time you fence.

It's great.


O, and it's fun but who cares about fun these days

[Black Jeebus]

Personally I just liked the idea of stabbing people .

Really I can't quite say what drew me to fencing. I have for most of my life been involved in some form of martial art. As it is I really enjoy fencing more so than any of the others I have tried.

[deadly lefty]

mine was kind of weird. I was watching T.V. and plunk fencing popped into my head. I though that sounds like fun! so i went to the YMCA and here I am too!

[Katman]

I was strolling around the university one day when I noticed a flyer advertising the fencing club. I was lonely and the ad appealed to my narcissism (Mandy Patinkin or however you spell it, from The Princess Bride, pointing his sword at me and asking if I wanted to avenge my father or just learn to fence).

I went to one club meeting and I was intrested. When I began bladework and started bouting, I was hooked.

[GGK]

What gojujay and sabreur say are also true for me, also implying edew's correction. But I had to wear glasses at an early age, ~7 y.o. I didn't like them so I didn't wear them playing sports until I was ~12, when I started to wear them all the time. Athletics suffers when you can't see the ball or the full field of play. And when you wear glasses peripheral vision is bad. When I started to fence everything happened in front of me, so peripheral vision wasn’t necessary. Since it was a new skill for everyone I didn’t start out years behind everyone in the group, as I did in say basketball. But that was just a bonus, like someone handing me 35” of steel and saying hit him, no really hit him, yeah good hit him again.

[Morion]

Initially I tried fencing because the concept of dueling (without actual bloodshed) appealed to me. I am more of an individualist than a team player type so I prefer to be solely responsible for my successes and failures. I have since found that I enjoy the sport. Particularly when I finally manage to overcome something that I was doing wrong. That gives me a sense of accomplishment.

My other motivation is that I am 50 years old and my job is totally sedentary. I do fencing in order to put that first heart attack off as long as possible. Beleive me, that is a strong incentive!

[onesandzeros]

For me it was a combination of the Princess Bride and a (mostly) non-team sport. I liked the idea that you're there, center stage with no shoulders to lean on; wearing that silly white outfit in front of people! That takes guts, or just a few too many epee points to the mask

[AllisonT]

I didn't latch on to fencing until college. It was offered as a PE elective. I ended up taking 2 semesters because it was fun and sexy and I was good at it (then!). I was hooked on medieval history (except for the disease and filth part), but didn't quite fit into the SCA catagory (do they EVER get out of charater?!).

Flash forward 20 years: Now, I like to use my latent aggression for good and get a work-out. I'm at a laboratory bench every day (yes, standing up and not moving a lot counts as sedintary!), so I need the exercise.

[telkanuru]

I needed to do a winter sport at school, and fencing beat out basketball in my mind, so I tried it, and was hooked immidiately. I suppose it could have stopped there (I'm the only one on my HS team that actually goes to non-schoalstic competitions), but I really liked it, and moved up, with the encouragement of my coach.

[pacer]

Way back when I started fencing for the first time (in the 70's) -I started because it was esoteric enough that my mother really didn't know what it was.... so she couldn't think I reason why I couldn't try it...

[Zelda]

I wanted to do it for years, but could never fit it in with Uni classes. When my ex broke up with me my dad paid for a series of 10 lessons at a club that used to be in town. I loved it (legitimate reason to hit someone) and have never stopped (except for injury or illness).

[labouche]

I tried it cause my bro-in-law fenced and quickly realized it is the best sport on earth.
-Elijah

[jeff]

My high school had a strong fencing team, and put up a demonstration in the auditorium; part of an annual recruiting drive. It looked so exciting and real that I signed up immediately.

[Phoenix]

I was looking for a sport to do and a friend of mine told my her dad say a fencing club around where I lived. So I checked it out and I becamed hooked.

[Peach]

My kid started doing it by accident and I couldn't stand just sitting around and watching it any more. Eleven years later, she's still fencing and so am I.

[Lemberg]

I was horrible in everything involving the ball and having read teh aforementioned Dumas books at an early age was considering fencing for a while. In junior high a fencing coach popped into my PE class and inquired if anyone wanted to sign up. At that time I was faking an injury to skip PE, for about a month (just sitting on a sideline in the gym, not being particularly interested in gymnastics) but appeal of fencing overcame the fear of PE teacher's wreath and "injured" me was the first one to sign up. Six years later I'm surfing a fencing website instead of working on assigned university readings (btw I had to do a LOT of extra push-ups to explain my "miraculous recovery" to teh PE teacher.)