Most Upper School students, faculty, and staff have only familiarized themselves with the school’s fencing team through the abundance of equipment dispersed near the gym, but how much is known about the sport and how it fosters a community of its own?
“[Fencing is] a really unique sport among the ones Blake already offers and it’s a bit of a smaller program, but I think it’s just as physically intensive because you still have to do a lot of work and obviously everyone in it is very nice – it’s just a really inviting environment,” as described by Jeffrey Chen ‘26. Fencing at our school has been imperative to forming a new community of people that kneads us closer together. Chen finds that fencing differs from other sports because of the team aspect as well as the pursuit of individual yearnings as illustrated when he says, “[fencing] team members compete for like first place, second place, all of them, but there’s also team events that build, like, I don’t know, friendship among all the teammates and it’s like, it can be both these things at the same time, which I see is kind of unique among all the other sports.” Chen also touches on the contrasts within fencing with an alternative benefit of being able to “get your exercise in at the same time, so it’s still really great.”
In terms of participation, it has been ascertained that participation numbers among the Upper Schoolers as well as Middle School students have dramatically increased. “In past years, we didn’t have that many people. Obviously, I’ve only been in the time for two years, but uh we’ve [the fencing team] actually seen so many people join in the past years, and next year we hope even more that we’re seeing really good participation numbers; we’ve got a ton of middle schoolers joining, we’ve got a ton of freshmen joining, people from the higher grades picking up fencing as they move into like senior year and college,” Chen illustrates vividly. This sudden inclination to join the fencing time doesn’t only help in terms of competitions such as sections and state but also provides a unique and fun environment within the group. “We’ve just got so many new people, it’s just such a fun place to be and you get to talk with so many people that were uh, just having a really good time there,” Chen reflects. Not only do these bonds sustain within practices and the season, but also culminate in the community throughout the year as “when you’re out training during the off-season you kind of lose that aspect of like—- everyone I’m training with right now goes to the same school as me; I talk to these people; I’m in class with these people, so that’s fun when you’re at Blake and you do become friends with the people you fence with during the off-season. I met a lot of really good people and friends. Uh, but it’s just definitely different at Blake where it’s just so much more friendly and you all have that common strand where like, you know, everyone goes to Blake and you all know each other. So I think it’s that sense of Blake pride when you’re fencing here, instead of compared to off-season,” illustrating a deep contrast between how different relationships are cherished inside and outside of the school.
