Hello? Intros

Would anyone like to start the ball rolling in this group? Tell us who you are, what type of fencing you like, favorite weapon or system, favorite fencing books or jokes... anything. (-:,

What a great idea! You first.

I figure since I created this group ages ago I should probably pipe in. ;)

I'm in the second (final) year of my second master's degree, this one in information science. I actually haven't fenced for a few years now... I did four years of varsity epee at my undergrad (Div I NCAA), which was great on many levels but ended up burning me out a bit. I'm missing it now, though, and am hoping to be able to get back into the sport once I have money and some free time again. (Both are sadly scarce in grad school...)

I actually did a huge amount of fencing in grad school. (More detailed introductions coming later.) It was my stress relief; the worse life got, the more I fenced. Sure, I ended up giving my fencing master a huge proportion of my take-home income, but that was ok; it was worth it!

I do miss the stress release! I have yet to find anything quite so effective as going to the salle to hit things...

5> Trying to hit someone with a sword is great! Hitting them is absolutely the best stress release ever. Yoga is fine and all, I do it regularly, but nothing compared to fencing.

I took up this sport in middle age and have been fencing nearly 2 years. I fence foil recreationally. There are a lot of veteran competitors in our club and they keep telling me I have to start competing soon but I'm not sure I want to jump in yet. For one thing, I would be up against fencers who have been fencing 30 years against my (not quite) 2. I think they may just want to recruit some cannon fodder for local events.

WildMaggie, I think the point of competition is not to win but rather to learn something. It's good experience to fence new people and experience what it's like to fence when it "matters". I hope you give it a try at least once! There will always be someone better than you, but you can learn a lot from those matches. I have honestly had fun being defeated by a good opponent.

I'm back because I never *did* do my full introduction, did I? I fence in the Classical Italian style (more info here: http://fencingmastersprogram.com/ ). My first love is foil and that is what I am best at; however, I also love sabre very much, I'm just not much good at it yet. I have met a lot of great people through fencing and it is great stress relief and exercise.

7> Good points. I would need some things before I compete (equipment, instruction, practice time) that I can't pull together in the short term. It's on my mind as a possibility for the more distant future. Of course, there are many, many someones better than me at every Wedneday open fencing. So, I get plenty of opportunity to learn.