Hadley Bodell
Editor-in-Chief
The electrical apparatus reads 12-3.
Breathe, she thinks.
“Advance!” Her opponent’s coach barks from the sideline.
The strip, also known as a piste, stretches out in dark blue steel mesh beneath her feet. Hundreds of other competitors surround this match, engrossed in their own bouts.
Her opponent makes a sudden lurching motion.
BEEP.
Another hit. The apparatus now says 12-4.
Don’t let her catch up.
The blade suddenly feels heavy in her hand. The white gloves and suit feel wet with sweat, her mask hot and muggy.
It’s the tense scene at the USA National Fencing competition where elite fencer Amy McGary challenged one of the top fencers in the nation.
“I ended up winning that match 15-4,” McGary said. “I was more than pleased with that win. Even though I didn’t place, I was proud of myself.”
Most people have heard of fencing; few know the depth, history, and challenge that comes with competing in this artistic sport. It has been around for centuries, the first evidence of sword fights in Egypt dating back to 1190 BCE. The sport evolved from a militaristic training into a modern sport with non-lethal blades.
For the Leavitt family, fencing is a staple of everyday life and a rite of passage as an athlete. Pocatello Fencing Club and Idaho State University Fencing Class instructor Phil Leavitt has three sons, all of whom became decorated fencers.
“There are very few communities who have as robust and established fencing as here in Pocatello,” says Leavitt. “We may not be a well-known sport, but those of us who are in it, we love it.”
Fencing is not for the faint of heart.
“I was very intimidated the first day and honestly still am,” admits Clarissa LePage, an English major who is a student in the Beginner Fencing course. “It’s an overwhelming load of both physical and mental strength, plus I’m the only girl in the class most of the time.”
After years of experience, McGary is now a coach at both the club and the class, trying to inspire others, particularly women like LePage. Her passion for fencing was sparked during her own time at ISU when she signed up for the beginner class.
Thanks to coaches like Leavitt, athletes who have never picked up a blade are taught in 16 short weeks of class how to fence.
“We host a tournament at Pocatello Fencing Club at the end of each semester where the students get to compete,” Leavitt explained. “It gives them something to work towards throughout the course.”
McGary said fencing strategy involves waiting for your opponent to make mistakes. Sometimes, it means playing the long game of advancing and retreating along the strip before the challenger leaves open a vulnerable place on their fencing jacket, also called lames.
McGary recalls using this particular technique during her USA national match.
“I decided at the beginning of the match I was going to let her make the mistakes,” says McGary. “I would wait it out and then suddenly, a vulnerable spot was open on her jacket, and I charged.”
Unlike other sports where you may be focused on yourself or your opponent periodically, fencing takes a shocking mental strength.
“Fencing requires thinking almost four dimensionally about both your and your opponents’ moves,” LePage said. “You can watch the coaches fence in class, but you don’t see the hundreds of thoughts going on in their head that allow them to play so strategically.”
While fencing has significantly increased in popularity over time, with the 2020 Olympic fencing final attracting more viewership than any other fencing event in recent history, several aspects of the sport have remained the same. Fencers still perform a “salute” by raising their blade to their chin at the beginning of a bout. Traditions like these are kept alive by fencing groups like the Pocatello Fencing Club to pay homage to the medieval sport.
Because fencing is a lifelong sport, the magnitude and intensity to which athletes take the sport dramatically varies.
In the Leavitt family, fencing success is truly notable. “Two of my sons have national medals,” Leavitt stated. “Now my granddaughter is a top 20 NCAA fencer and junior Olympian.”
If you’re interested in fencing, the ISU PEAC course is offered in the Fall and Spring semesters. You can also go check out the Pocatello Fencing Club at the First United Methodist Church building, where they hold practices and tournaments.
Whether fencing as a sport continues its upward rise in popularity or not, the fencing scene in Pocatello will remain strong with the passion of its club members and ISU students. It’s obvious the community the sport fosters is tight-knit, and fencers find themselves gaining more out of the artistic hobby than they imagined.
“I will fence forever, up into my old age,” McGary said. “When I make these incredible touches and am able to handle the sword, it makes you feel powerful; it makes you feel confident in who you are. And I wish that every girl and woman could experience that.”