Fencing offers its practitioners physical exercise and teaches them the beautiful form of swordplay, but the social culture and fun that comes with it is what keeps UNM Fencing Club members coming back.
Fencing is a unique hobby that is available to UNM students through the Fencing Club, whose aim is to create a fun, social environment where students can try fencing or improve on it while going to school.
Renee Reeves, vice president of the club, said she remembers fencing from growing up in middle school and how fun it was. Coming to UNM and discovering the club was a great surprise because it gave her the ability to continue doing something she really enjoys while creating great friends, she said.
“We all just really enjoy fencing,” Reeves said. “The company and trying to improve yourself is just makes for a great time. It really is friendly company that helps make it so enjoyable.”
The Fencing Club is open to any student interested, novice or experienced, and though people are always more than welcome to bring their own equipment, everything needed to participate is provided through the club.
“We totally welcome new people to come and try it,” Reeves said. “You just need good shoes and long, loose-fitting pants. We have everything else. We have people who have fenced nationally and never fenced before coming.”
After getting the proper equipment on, two individuals sparring each other are hooked up to electronic buzzers that signify who gets touched first. It is in this capacity that fencing really shows how engaging it is as two people try to touch each other with the end of their sword, as everyone else watches and comments on moves or throws out encouragement.
Sonny Christopher Haquani, a political science and international studies double major, recently joined the club after he decided to see what it was all about with a friend.
Haquani said the club is a perfect opportunity to get active and hang out with other people during his busy schedule.
“I am an avid fencer,” Haquani said. “I picked it up last semester and have just been hooked ever since. You got to do something else other than just academia and this is a great way to do that. No one has to know anything about it and it’s extremely safe.”
Haquani said the club is fun and gives him the opportunity to really do what he always pretended to do - and what many others have pretended to do - growing up as a kid, which is to play with swords.
“Fencing is an art form for people to share in,” Haquani said. “It’s a very passionate sport that you can come and practice in and find yourself in a great community. It’s one of those activities that you can really fall in love with.”
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Isaiah Jordan is a culture reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
