Adventure Girl
Foiled Again: In Which I Learn to Never Fight an Actual Duel
By Liza Alwes |
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Quick: name the combat sport that's as old as stabbing another person with a sharpened stick, only it turns out they have a stick, too, and they try to stab you back. That's the essence of fencing, though of course it's evolved a lot since the days of sharpened sticks. It's kind of like a cross between stick-fights and chess: a one-on-one game of great strategy and mental nimbleness, played out with long pointed weapons which opponents thrust at each other's stomachs. One recent Sunday, I traveled to the Dublin Sports Fencing Center to be initiated into the world of this ancient art by Dr. Chuck Simonian of the Columbus Fencing Club.
"Fencing is something that if you get hooked on it, you can do it for life," Dr. Simonian tells me as he helps me into my protective garment. The man I've come to fence with is shorter than I, an older gentleman wearing black sweatpants and round wire-rimmed glasses. He's a retired OSU professor, college fencing coach, and writer. He's thin and spry, and just under the surface hums an energy unrivaled in most twenty-year-olds.
Gently, this man who began fencing in 1947 shows the moves to a person who's never held a foil in her life, and who last had a stick fight probably 15 years ago. He guides me into a solid stance, called en garde, or "on guard": legs shoulder-width apart with knees bent, dominant hand holding the weapon steadily, the other hand lifted in the air, limp, waiting to be used as a counterweight for the lunge.
Then he shows me the lunge, a deep step forward powered by the rear leg straightening, and a thrust aimed at the legitimate target area for a foil, which is the torso. He instructs me how the thin, flexible blade must be curved up as the tip presses against its target.
Liza Alwes is standing in for Adventure Girl Megan Burkholder, who is missing.
Photo: Chris Casella
At ease in front of the photographer's camera, he immediately becomes both a performer helping produce the right shot and an instructor calmly running me through a mini-drill of lunges. "You're a quick learner," he comforts me, and I'm almost convinced. He shows me how to parry: a quick twist of the blade to defend myself from a thrust. He allows me to fake stab him several times, working on my offensive form. I practice parrying a few times. Easily I turn away his foil and stab mine into the protective padding of his croissard.
Suddenly he's moving slightly faster, then faster still. This rather diminutive but intense man is actually lunging at me, fleeter than Wilma Rudolph and fiercer than Alexander Hamilton - or so it seems to me, his hapless opponent, the Walter Mitty to his Mike Tyson.
"Parry," he says. "Now riposte."
I'll admit I was a bit terrified, and if you ever get to fence with Dr. Simonian, I think you'll understand.
"Am I open?" he asks, his hands up to show me he is, indeed, open.
"Yes," I sheepishly reply, stabbing forward against his chest.
It's more than a little embarrassing. Hesitantly, I attempt to stand up to Simonian's mildest attack, thinking about how intimidating he must be when he's taking a person seriously. Fortunately, it is about this time that his Sunday afternoon class begins to arrive, and he's drawn away to put his students through their footwork drills.
Simonian no longer fences recreationally outside of the classes he runs on Sundays and Wednesdays. Nonetheless, he stays in fighting shape and maintains his impressive energy through an intensive exercise regimen that includes running, swimming, and lifting weights. He explains the appeal of fencing: it requires great athleticism but, unlike many sports, is entirely individualistic (no teamwork skills required). It is a mentally demanding art, as well, requiring "intense concentration and self-discipline." And it's an activity with a very long and storied history of men cutting each other to bits. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that tradition?
Where can I be Adventure Girl/Boy?
Columbus Fencers Club
Founded in 1989, the club's director and instructor is Dr. Charles Simonian, former head varsity fencing coach and associate professor emeritus at The Ohio State University. The club meets at Dublin Sport Fencing Center (6561 Dublin Center Dr., Dublin). Private lessons are available during evening sessions and group instruction on Sundays. Beginner classes for children and adults are offered on Sunday. Call about classes.
Contact: Dr. Charles Simonian
(614) 488-0572
simonian.1@osu.edu
www.columbusfencing.org/cfc
Originally Published: January 1, 2010
