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The foxtrot of sword play
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - May 07, 2008)
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Staff Photo by Roy Caratozzolo
“Partners in crime” Wes Hauptman and Jared Warsoff exchange blows during their sabre fencing lesson with instructor Robert Kovacs.
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In an age when kids are constantly bombarded with high tech media and spending hours a day glued to the TV set, mindlessly fingering a video game controller, one man is doing his part to get kids off the couch and engage them in a bit of old-fashioned sword-fighting.
That’s right, sword fighting.
But before you run screaming from the room to lock little Timmy in a closet, consider the fact that this is not hazardous, devil-may-care slicing and dicing we’re talking about. This is a centuries-old sport of grace, tactics and agility. This is “physical chess.” This is sabre fencing.
The Bergen County YJCC in
Washington
Township has been offering fencing classes for a number of years, but only recently introduced the sport of sabre fencing to its roster. Teaching the class is Robert Kovacs, a Hungarian born resident of the Township who has been fencing since age 10. As a child in , Robert participated in junior tournaments and received national ranking. He came to the at 18 and was part of the NYU Varsity Fencing Team as they consistently placed in the top eight in the NCAA. Now a commodities trader, he shares his love of fencing, and his expertise, with a small group of students at the YJCC.
There are three types of modern fencing:
Foil fencing (the best known of the styles) uses a light thrusting weapon with a rectangular cross-section and high flexibility; to score a point in foil fencing, the fencer must strike the opponent with the tip of the foil anywhere above the waste.
Epee involves a heavy thrusting weapon with a triangular cross section; points are scored when the point of the epee touches the opponent anywhere on the body.
The sabre used in sabre fencing is a light cutting and thrusting weapon. Unlike foil and the epee fencing, when fencing with a sabre, it is possible to score points using both the tip and the edge of the blade. Robert calls the sabre “the fastest of all weapons.” To put it in dancing terms, if epee is a waltz, sabre is a foxtrot. “Epee is the slowest in terms of scoring; people don’t jump at each other. The foil is a little faster, and the sabre is the most dynamic of all,” he says.
A ‘point’ of honor
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Fun with fencing terms
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En Garde - Position taken before fencing commences.
Feint - A false attack intended to get a defensive reaction from the opposing fencer, thus creating the opportunity for a genuine attack
Guard - Part of the weapon between the blade and handle; protects the hand (also: "bell-guard")
Parry, Counter-Parry - Defensive action in which a fencer blocks his opponent’s blade.
Piste - French term for the fencing strip.
Riposte - Defender’s offensive action immediately after parrying their opponent's attack.
Stop Hit, Stop Cut - A counter-action made at the moment of an opponent's hesitation, feint, or poorly executed attack.
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Wes Hauptman, a 13-year old from
Ridgewood , and Jared Warsoff, a 13-year-old from Hillsdale, have been taking the sabre fencing class together since the fall. Both previously trained in foil fencing for a number of years before adding sabre to their fencing repertoires. The two boys do not live in the same town and are not even in the same grade (Jared is in seventh and Wes in eighth), but they have bonded so much in the course of their training that “they are soul brothers,” says Wes’s mom, Cindy.
The two teens prefer the name “partners in crime,” and it’s easy to see how the sport has brought them together, as they repeatedly pause to pose next to one another, swords raised toward the sky, like twin Zorros.
But before you start to think that sabre fencing is all fun and games, keep in mind that there is a weapon involved. Although the edge of the sabre is not sharp enough to slice through clothing, a match goes very quickly, and the blade moves fast enough to inflict bruises when it connects with the arms, torso, or in rare, excruciating cases, exposed fingers.
But as is typical for athletes, Wes and Jared take the pain in stride, and proudly recount stories of vivid round bruises caused by jabs, long purple blade welts, and the occasional minor cut.
“Wesley was disappointed when one of his injuries didn’t turn into a scar because he wanted to say he had a fencing scar,” says Cindy with a subtle roll of the eye. “The first sabre match he went to, he came home, and his legs were unbelievable,” she recalls “He had two slices and somebody’s point… and he just kept hoping against hope for a scar.”
For Wes, there seems to be something romantic about wearing the mark of the blade. “It’s a point of honor,” says Cindy.
Preparing to begin their practice, Wes and Jared suit up in their jackets, which are made of a heavy canvas and slightly padded. Then Robert sends them out to run warm up laps. Asked what it’s like to run around encased in the equivalent of a bomber jacket, Wes says, “If you can get used to getting stabbed, you can get used to running in three layers.”
Enough said. The formal fencing regalia also includes a helmet and mask made of tough steel mesh, and short tight pants. Today the boys will practice in just their jackets and helmets. “If they had known you were coming, they would have worn their knickers,” says Cindy with a smile.
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Staff Photo by Roy Caratozzolo
Wes Hauptman and Jared Warsoff pose before beginning their weekly sabre fencing lesson with instructor Robert Kovacs.
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Enhancing the senses
After practicing their footwork as a group, Robert takes Wes and Jared one at a time and fences with each of them. He points out that in most fencing schools, this kind of personal attention is very rare. “When you go to a club,” he clarifies, “lessons are very hard to come by because the coach has like 20, 30 kids. He’s not going to spend 20 minutes per kid.” But when it’s just the master and two students, there is an intimacy, a concentration that allows the students to grow rapidly. Case in point, when Robert brought Wes and Jared to their first competition in December, they lost every match, and came in last place. But by February, both boys had advanced quite a bit, taking seventh place in their second tournament.
It’s easy to see why the students are able to develop their skills so quickly when they are practically vibrating with enthusiasm for the sport. After spending four and a half years learning and perfecting his foil fencing technique, Jared says he is now a sabre fencing convert. “I like fencing in general but sabre is more exciting,” he says “It fits my pace.”
But the sport is much more to Jared than just an excuse to heroically wield a sword and play-fight with his best friend. There is a serious element of calculation, a balletic sort of dance that goes on in the seconds between when a bout starts and ends. In that time, says Jared, the fencer’s senses are hyper-elevated. The process has served to develop his reflexes. “It heightens reaction time,” he says, “ and enhances the senses.”
Preparing for the future
Robert points out that there is something very important for people to realize about fencing – because it is not the kind of sport that every kid takes up and it’s not generally taught in school, kids who fence stand out against their peers. “I’m one of the very, very few kids in the school that do it,” says Jared, who attends
George
G.
White
School . “Not many kids know what it is.” With college admissions becoming increasingly competitive, Robert believes that fencing can make an applicant more attractive.
“What I have been hammering away for my family members and the kids around here,” says Robert, “is that it is a very good way of getting into college.” He doesn’t mean to reduce the sport to a nice bullet point on a college application, but he does think it is important for young people to consider their futures when choosing an extracurricular activity.
“You have 10 million people competing for the 500 football scholarships, and everybody is dreaming of being a basketball star and whatnot,” Robert says, “but those are very hard to come by because there are a ton of kids competing for the same thing.” Wes and Jared are unique in many ways, both buoyant, well-spoken and expressive, but when it comes to applying to colleges, what will matter is what’s on their resumes.
“All the Ivy League schools and the bigger schools have NCAA Division I teams,” he says, pointing out that the members of those elite fencing teams have to come from somewhere. Jared’s cousin, his initial inspiration to get involved with the sport, is actually a fencer at
Bradeis
University . Furthermore, says Robert, fencing is a life-long sport. It is a pastime that one can easily carry into adulthood and beyond. Wes interjects that his foil coach at the YJCC is over 70 years old.
While it may be hard for two 13-year-olds to envision what they will be doing at 70, both are adamant that fencing is more to them then just a passing fancy. “I plan on sticking with this for a long time,” says Jared, and it is quite clear that, at least when it comes to fencing, this boy is serious.
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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