Clashing of Blades

Oliver E

Now Imagine this: You're a comic nerd who gets most of their exercise from walking down the stairs so you can sit and eat breakfast while you binge all 9 seasons of Seinfeld. Now you're being told to get an ACTIVE hobby, more active than playing Sonic mania for the 100th time. What do you choose? When I was in this situation, my choice was to fence. 

In case you don't know, there are three types of fencing: Epe, Foil, and Saber. 

Saber is my favorite, so when I started, that's the one I went with. Now that I knew what I wanted, all I needed was to actually go to my first class. When I finally got to the classroom, I was surprised. 

It felt both really BIG and really small at the same time. The walls were clustered by flags and weapons from video games. My teacher told me to go to my seat. I went to the chair with my name tag next to it, and I noticed a helmet and a glove underneath it. 

 “Those are yours. You’ll get the rest of your stuff later,” my teacher said.

I sat down and waited for class to start. Kids started trickling in and eventually, I ended up sandwiched between two other kids. For the rest of this story, I’ll be calling them Jeff and Joe.

Before I could start talking to anyone, class officially started. It all began with a few simple activities. We finished our workouts and were told to try and mingle. I went back to my seat while everyone was talking, and I stared at the ceiling. Slowly, without me noticing, Jeff started walking up to me.

“Hi. What's your name?” asked jeff. I looked away from the ceiling and sat up.

“I’m Oliver. Who are you?” I responded.

“I’m Jeff. Why are you just staring at the ceiling?” asked Jeff.

“I don't know,” I said. We started to talk. It wasn't anything special; it was just small talk but I could tell he was a good kid. We kept talking until suddenly we all were told to come to the other side of the room. I got there and two older kids were in full outfits. They were wearing metal jackets that I had never seen before. 

They started fencing and we were told to watch carefully. I watched as their blades clashed. I listened to the loud sound of the sensor when someone scored a point. Each bout took just a few seconds, but it felt like I was there for an eternity. When they finally finished we all stood up and did more drills. The day started with the sound of a blade crashing into another but by now, It was all background noise.

The last activity came and went. It was finally time for an actual match. We grabbed these old used blades from the shelf. They were bent and bruised. It looked like they hadn't been cleaned in years. They had the pungent smell of old metal but nobody cared, we were holding real swords.

I got to a long strip of tape and so did my opponent. I didn't know who it was because their face was covered by their helmet. It didn't take long before someone was assigned to be the ref.  We each got into anguard position and then…

“Anguard! Ready! Fence!” exclaimed the Ref. We started to dash forward and we had what felt like the coolest fight ever. We were attacking and blocking every move in what I thought was like in an action movie. It sounded like some weirdo in the woods, trying to scare away bears by banging two frying pans together. That's how I remember it but what probably actually happened looked more like two kids swatting at each other with sticks.

After the dust settled, I lost, and when my opponent took off their helmet. I saw that the person I was fighting was Jeff.

“Good game,” said Jeff.

“Yeah, good game,” I said. I may have said, “Good game,” but I was dead set on winning our next game. This loss won't happen again. (It happened again. Many many times.) The class was over and everyone went to their seats while we waited for our parents to come. Jeff and I walked over and when we got to our seats, and Joe was already there, playing games on his phone. He looked up and saw us with a grin on his face.

“Hi, I’m Joe.” He said.

“I’m Oliver. It’s nice to meet you,” I responded. It seemed as if Joe and Jeff already knew each other, so I quietly sat down while they talked. Eventually, my late parents arrived and I went home.

It continued like that for the rest of the week but I was getting better and better every day

(Even though I was still losing very badly). 

After one or two weeks, (I don’t fully remember), I went to class and wanted to get straight into fencing but first, we just had to sit and CHAT while we waited for more people to arrive. I ended up meeting three more people who I will be calling Bill, Bob, and Bert. Bill was a quiet kid. He had been fencing for a while so it was no wonder why he was better than me. Bob Was a social kid but he was the funniest kid in class. He was new but he got really good fast. Bert was a little irritating but in a friendly way. He was just really fast when he fenced so it was hard to get past him.

I was getting pretty good but so was everyone else. I had become friendly rivals with Jeff and it was fun. Joe was also getting good. I tried to be friends with Joe but he was so obnoxious. So it was hard to keep a conversation with him. 

We finally got to start fencing after waiting forever. I tried to fence Joe and Jeff. I beat Jeff (5/2) and got crushed by Joe (0/5). I was getting better but there was still work to be done. At least I could take Jeff off of the list of people I need to beat. 

I hadn’t been fencing for even a few months but had become a huge part of my identity. I sink a lot of time into it. It’s something I’m proud of. It's a thing that I will always mention when someone asks, “What makes you who you are?”. This is an unsatisfying ending but that's all there is. Right now, even a year later, I’m still trying to get better and I’m still trying to beat Joe, Bill, Bob, and Bert. Sorry if you're disappointed.