Fencing Club at Notre Dame Academy recently began its year of practice and competition for the 2015-2016 school year.    

Head coach Steven Stary, who started fencing after taking an elective class at UW Madison, said that his goal this year is to “get more people involved in fencing and have students participate in the upcoming tournaments.”

Currently,16 students participate in Fencing Club for the 2015-2016 school year.

Alex Wasilkoff, a student who has been fencing for two years at Notre Dame, said that “it’s a ton of fun as hitting people so often is, and we also learn many techniques on how to attack and defend ourselves.”

Stary said that he is looking to teach new people how to fence and help others build on their current skills to get them to competition level.

“In a normal practice we usually warm up with some running and skipping around the gym. We then stretch and and work on footwork and work on drills with our sabers. After that Mr. Stary will introduce a new move or concept. We practice that for awhile and then conclude the practice with bouts otherwise known as a fight,” Wasilkoff said.

One of the main activities of the club is traveling to different tournaments around the area to participate in bouts against other fencing clubs.   

Diego Mendoza said, “Fencing is not dangerous if done correctly because we wear canvas jackets, gloves to prevent the sabers from getting inside the sleeves, and a mask made of stiff metal mesh.”  

Stary was the teacher who started the fencing program at Notre Dame.

“I was originally the Drama Club teacher, and some students chose to do a Christmas play that involved a small fencing scene in it. So to make it more realistic, I taught them how to fence. The actors said that they had so much fun that they wanted to do more fencing. Fencing Club became an offshoot of the Drama Club,” Stary said.