Fencing Club Hosts Annual In-House Public Assault

By Tia Porter

The Fencing Club held its annual In-House Public Assault on March 16. This tournament was put together under the leadership of Joanna Perez-Calderon, the president of the club, and required about five months of training and planning.

A fencing bout. (Photo by Leora Hiltzik)

“For us fencing isn’t just about skill and landing a touch on someone,” said senior art history major Perez-Calderon, who has a family history of fencing. “It involves our development as a fencer, so we plan goals for ourselves that will aid us in different parts of our lives; so training can be intense both physically and mentally in that way!”

Located in the gym, the tournament was open to the general public. Family members of fencers in the club, as well as students who may someday be interested in joining, were welcome to attend. The first few hours of the tournament involved foils, which are flexible swords used in traditional fencing. Competitors practiced either Italian or French foil until the second half of the tournament, which was dedicated to saber matches.

“Foil is foil, that’s why they fence against each other,” said Maestro Jared Kirby. As a fencing maestro, he has years of experience and in-depth knowledge when it comes to the sport, which he uses to instruct the club’s members.

The primary purpose of this tournament, apart from giving the club a chance to engage with the community, was to give the fencers more practice for their upcoming tournament in Florida. Members of the club competed against each other as well as against Purchase alumni who are proficient in fencing.

“Mostly it’s a learning experience for both the audience and the fencers,” said Sammie Terpening, a junior creative writing and literature double major. “Finding out what the fencers need to work on and getting more practice in. And for the audience, it’s to show them what classical fencing looks like, and how these formal assaults go. It also allows the alumni of the fencing club to come back and meet the new generation and keep the community around.”

Kirby took a moment in between fencing bouts to answer questions from the audience. He explained early on that it’s often easier for the audience to observe and then ask questions than for him to explain every rule. Fencing has very strict regulations. The slightest mistake can be the deciding factor in a bout; these guidelines are meant to encourage fencers not to repeat their mistakes.

“Because it’s an in-house tournament, we’re adjudicating everything,” Kirby said. “For example, if you go on guard incorrectly, if you approach the piece incorrectly, if your uniform is not complete or correct, all of those are points against. I’ve had assaults happen here before where they never even got on guard and lost their bouts. Only two times, but the point behind that is to reinforce the correctness of everything we do.”

“The advantage of learning through a traditional approach is you are getting information that has been passed down from generation through generation,” Kirby added. “Most of this can’t be passed down through words.”

The audience was primarily made up of friends and family members of the fencers who had come to learn what the club had been working on.

The format of a bout is very straightforward: the maestro calls for both fencers to salute, a process which involves them both raising their foils to the audience and putting their mask on before going on guard, a neutral position that gives fencers the freedom to attack or defend themselves. From there, the maestro will stand back, in view of both fencers, and call out the score if points were deducted for improper conduct, then announce “fence” when it’s time to begin.

“The most important thing is not to get hit,” Kirby said. “There is a clear priority to always defend yourself.”

Fencers saluting the crowd after the tournament. (Photo by Leora Hiltzik)

Because the club practices historical fencing, a bout goes on until one fencer manages to land three hits on the other. Matches can go very fast, typically ending in only a few minutes; every time one fencer is hit, the maestro tells both fencers to halt and then calls out the point before having them go back on guard. When the bout is over, a winner is announced and both fencers salute out, during which they’ll disarm, take off their masks, and shake hands.

“He had to pair people who he thought would be beneficial for them to fight,” said Dale Towns Blount, a senior English major who has been a part of the club for over a year. It was important that every bout allowed fencers to gain something; for this purpose, senior fencers often went against other seniors, with new fencers being paired with each other. Whenever there was an overlap between senior and newer fencers, Kirby clarified that the more experienced side would have a handicap to make the bout more balanced.

“Some fencers need to push themselves,” Kirby explained. “They may have arbitrary rules that apply only to them. If the fencer on my right hits the fencer on my left and the score does not change, it means the fencer did hit but not within the parameter that they have to meet to get the touch awarded to them. This is to help them push their fencing to the next level.”

Both Terpening and Towns Blount agreed the most difficult part of the tournament was maintaining stamina and staying calm throughout. For Terpening, it was their first public assault, so they worked especially hard when competing.

“I was doing a lot of breathing exercises,” Terpening said. “It’s fun, but it’s also stressful.”

With the club’s next big tournament in Florida on Saturday, March 22, the In-House was a necessary step to allow everyone to refine their footwork and techniques. While in Florida, they’ll be competing against more alumni and fencers from Martinez Academy.

“My favorite part was seeing how excited all the club members were during the actual In-House,” Perez-Calderon said. “Especially those who were competing for the first time! It was just really nice to see their excitement after they did well in a bout, and to have them come up to me and be like ‘Joanna I got a touch!’ It was very endearing.”

Perez-Calderon and her team exhibited skill, patience, and precision throughout the tournament, which lasted over four hours. Afterward, the fencers stayed hard at work and continued to practice in the gym. The audience was welcome to stick around, and Kirby emphasized once again that the crowd was part of what made the event so important.

“It is a public in-house assault; without the public, it’s just an assault,” Towns Blount said.