| Ahhh, the passion of
the duel. I had always wanted to learn to fence.
I had briefly studied Sais (not so good at that) and
wanted to learn sword fighting, so while in France, I
jumped at the chance when it was offered to me. Some
friends and I were treated to the experience at Rudi van
Oeveren's Musée Escrime in Loire. Mr. Van Oeveren is
an Olympic trainer and legend among the fencing society.
His son, already a champion at the young age of 15, a
chance to be taught by Mr. Oeveren, once, much less twice,
was a blessing for me. It only snowballed after that. I
took a break for about a year and could never get it out of
my head. So I took lessons and with my own equipment
(and a few spare sets for guests), I could continue.
Fencing is fabulous exercise, it increases your awareness,
your response time, and for lack of any other reason--it's fun!
I can only hope to get better as time goes on, but for now I
am only an intermediate and use a foil. I have not yet
attempted to wield an épée
or sabre. When guests come over it is something they can
try without getting too incredibly bruised and they have a
lot of fun trying not to! They become very
competitive and sometimes the rules are pretty much a
wash, but we try not to take it so seriously around my
house. But some of us do ;) |
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