A sword slashes through the air, colliding into another with a rousing ring. A parry, some shuffling of feet, and a jab. The man in the mask dodges his opponent’s thrust, and goes in for a stab of his own. He hits, and his adversary cries out in despair, at last defeated.
No, this isn’t a scene from “The Legend of Zorro.” It’s Saturday’s quarterfinal foil match of the Okawa Open, hosted by the UCLA Fencing Club.
It is far from Zorro-esque combat, in fact.
“If someone doesn’t really know what was going on, they’d be really bored,” fourth-year Jordan Sandler said. Sandler has been a member of the Fencing Club team since his first year at UCLA.
How can any sport that involves swords be boring?
“Fencing really isn’t even about the swords,” Sandler said.
An alumnus cuts in, “Except that it has swords, and you use them to score points and defend and win.”
Everyone around this man chuckles. Shawn Hart is a UCLA alumnus, class of 1971. Here is one of the interesting points about this tournament: It is open, so a man of Hart’s age could be seen dueling a 14-year-old for sabre supremacy.
It is all extremely captivating, not at all dull as Sandler warned it might be. With matches occurring throughout the Student Activities Center gym, one could feel the competitive vibes in the room.
Steve VanDeBogart, a member of UCLA’s club team and a graduate student, says that he took up fencing for exercise and a bit of fun.
“Since I’m a grad student, I spend a lot of time sitting around, so I took the introductory class and enjoyed it,” VanDeBogart said. “I’m a little less competitive than the others, just because I do (fencing) for fun.”
Fencing consists of three weapon types: sabre, foil and epee, each with its own set of rules. The Okawa Open is a three-weapon tournament, meaning there are separate contests for each weapon.
Scoring consists of pool play with rounds to five points, and following this, a single-elimination tournament with rounds to 15 points.
In between all of this action, one can’t help but notice a certain sense of chivalry pervading among the competitors. Hands are shaken after a close duel, and some of the combat itself includes “right of way” rules that determine who has the right to gain a point.
Many of the players seem resigned to the fact that fencing is not a sport for the masses.
“The people who start to fence get into it because of the movies,” Hart said. “The people who stay with fencing stay with it because of a pure love for the sport. It’s about concentration, strength, agility and passion.”
It’s that simple.
Fencing may be a sport best appreciated by those who are participants, but on this day, the passion and love with which the combatants pursue their victory makes for a stirring event, even to an outsider.