Fencing club creates unique community

Newton’s third law can relate to more than just science, and URI’s fencing club is a prime example of equal and opposite reactions.

The law, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction,” applies to the sport as fencing victories rely heavily on the response to one’s opponent. Fencers must advance when their opponent retreats, retreat as they advance and watch for nonverbal cues to determine their next move.

In observing one of the club’s practices, which are held twice a week for three hours, there is high intensity footwork and cardio-based dedication. Each action taken by a competitor in the sport requires an equal and opposite reaction by their opponent, studied and practiced meticulously by URI’s team.

Fencing appears to rely heavily on muscle memory with hours spent lunging forward and back, stepping quickly towards an imaginary opponent and thrusting their fists upwards in attempt to pretend to make a stab pays off when in competition. Their lunges are automatic and their arms are on autopilot as they maneuver through drills. One member of the club was overheard commenting “this is cruel” during the footwork drills led by a graduate student. Joey Barnes, the club’s treasurer, said this level of intensity comes with the sport. Barnes said members of URI’s team are not highly competitive with each other, and that each member is “weird, but in a good way.”

“It’s not even the sport that kept me fencing,” Amy Salerno, Fencing Club secretary, said. “It was the people.”

The club created a sense of community for the few dozen students gathered in Atrium 1 on Monday five minutes before the practice started. Instead of breaking off into separate, smaller groups, the members stood together as a large mass and talked and laughed collectively.

Fencing member Felicia Baker confirmed this sense of community and described the club as “kind of like a family.” This foundation of trust is relied on by the members, as they must let each other thrust a sharp-ended sword in each other’s general direction.

The fencing club is preparing for their biggest meet of the season, taking place on Nov. 7 and facing multiple New England schools. The club’s assistant coach, Phil Kerr, believes that the team could bode well in their bouts, the term used for one-on-one fencing matches, perhaps having a few members rank top-3 in their weapons. The club meets Mondays and Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. in either the Memorial Union Ballroom or Atrium 1.