Fencing Club Comes to Oxford
(Originally published around Sept 2005.)
Oxford is ready for its next Zorro! The newly formed Oxford Fencer's Club is finishing renovations on a state-of-the-art training center in East Oxford. The new facility will feature six Olympic-sized fencing strips, introductory classes for children and adults, and electric fencing.
Dr. John “Doc” Matthews, Oxford's head fencing coach since 1995, is building the "salle d'armes" to promote interest in fencing and to accommodate Oxford's growing number of competitors. "We have excellent instructors and some very driven athletes," says Matthews. "We have fencers who are aiming for national results and college scholarships."
Modern fencing doesn't involve sliding down bannisters and swinging from chandeliers, as new club members soon learn. To win a match, fencers must combine bladework, footwork, and tactics to score points on an opponent.
Fencing teaches good sportsmanship, discipline, and grace under pressure. It develops muscle, poise and endurance, and enhances cardio-vascular fitness. Fencing is one of only four sports to be included in every Olympics, starting in 1896. Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games, was a fencer.
The tip of the fencing weapon is the second fastest moving object in the sports world, the fastest being the marksman's bullet. Nevertheless, as club coach Walter Flaschka says, fencing is one of the safest sports: "Some parents hear 'sword' and 'children' and think deeply for a few minutes. Fencing doesn't involve physical contact, and safety is rigorously monitored. Fencing is a tremendously interesting individual sport that is quite unique."
Flaschka says parents soon realize how safe fencing is. The National Athletic Trainers' Association places the low injury rate for fencing as comparable to tennis, golf and rowing, and far below soccer, basketball and football.
Fencing in Oxford began with the formation of the Ole Miss Fencer's Club in 1989. The Oxford Parks Commission added fencing classes in 1998, introducing the sport to over a hundred children aged 8-18. Since then, Oxford fencers have been winning titles throughout the South.
Oxford Fencer's Club is in the Imo F. Matthews Building at 606 McLarty Road. Fencing classes for new and returning fencers begin August 26th.
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