Post by LongBlade on Jun 19, 2008 20:59:03 GMT -6
Clinton man coaches wheelchair fencing team
The Clinton News
Clinton, Mississippi
June 19, 2008
www.clintonnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/NEWS/80619002
Captain Jack Sparrow has crossed swords on catwalks, in caves and on the high seas.
But the movie pirate has yet to encounter the challenges facing the Jackson Blade Rollers fencing team. They fight their battles from the seat of a wheelchair.
The team, coached by Clinton’s Richard Jones, will be in the spotlight this Sunday when the State Games of Mississippi Wheelchair Fencing Competition begins at noon at Olde Towne Middle School in Ridgeland.
The sport is suitable for amputees and paraplegics and can be adapted for some quadriplegics.
“Whoever wins can say: 'I'm the state champion,' ” says Commissioner of Fencing David Williams of Ridgeland.
Spectators can expect a heated contest between the five Blade Roller teammates who are registered for the bout: DeJuan Surrell and Sonia Fogal of Jackson, Joey Brinson of Brandon, Robert Donerson of Vaughn and Randy Lavender of Tupelo.
“In your face,” is how Brinson describes the sport. “You can't run anywhere,” he says.
Ginny Boydston, therapeutic recreation director for Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson, said wheelchair fencers lock their chairs into metal frames to avoid tipping over, and they're expected to stay seated and keep their feet on the footrest during competition.
“In some ways, wheelchair fencing is faster and more intense,” says Jones, one of the coaches for the Blade Rollers.
“Able-bodied fencers use their feet to gain distance from an attack, while wheelchair fencers are confined in a chair within reach of their opponents. It's more like a close in-fighting position and that ups the intensity.”
That intensity appeals to Brinson, but he says he also has come to appreciate the intellectual nature of the sport. “Physical chess is a good way to explain it,” he says. “It requires a lot of thinking and strategy. It makes you use your brain.”
Boydston said funding from Methodist Rehab, Ameristar Casino Vicksburg and the Clinton-based Mississippi Paralysis Association made it possible to purchase the wheelchair frames, swords, scoring equipment and uniforms necessary for the sport.
And she says the team is also fortunate to have coaches like Williams and Jones, who are from the Clinton Fencing Club.
The Clinton News
Clinton, Mississippi
June 19, 2008
www.clintonnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/NEWS/80619002
Captain Jack Sparrow has crossed swords on catwalks, in caves and on the high seas.
But the movie pirate has yet to encounter the challenges facing the Jackson Blade Rollers fencing team. They fight their battles from the seat of a wheelchair.
The team, coached by Clinton’s Richard Jones, will be in the spotlight this Sunday when the State Games of Mississippi Wheelchair Fencing Competition begins at noon at Olde Towne Middle School in Ridgeland.
The sport is suitable for amputees and paraplegics and can be adapted for some quadriplegics.
“Whoever wins can say: 'I'm the state champion,' ” says Commissioner of Fencing David Williams of Ridgeland.
Spectators can expect a heated contest between the five Blade Roller teammates who are registered for the bout: DeJuan Surrell and Sonia Fogal of Jackson, Joey Brinson of Brandon, Robert Donerson of Vaughn and Randy Lavender of Tupelo.
“In your face,” is how Brinson describes the sport. “You can't run anywhere,” he says.
Ginny Boydston, therapeutic recreation director for Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson, said wheelchair fencers lock their chairs into metal frames to avoid tipping over, and they're expected to stay seated and keep their feet on the footrest during competition.
“In some ways, wheelchair fencing is faster and more intense,” says Jones, one of the coaches for the Blade Rollers.
“Able-bodied fencers use their feet to gain distance from an attack, while wheelchair fencers are confined in a chair within reach of their opponents. It's more like a close in-fighting position and that ups the intensity.”
That intensity appeals to Brinson, but he says he also has come to appreciate the intellectual nature of the sport. “Physical chess is a good way to explain it,” he says. “It requires a lot of thinking and strategy. It makes you use your brain.”
Boydston said funding from Methodist Rehab, Ameristar Casino Vicksburg and the Clinton-based Mississippi Paralysis Association made it possible to purchase the wheelchair frames, swords, scoring equipment and uniforms necessary for the sport.
And she says the team is also fortunate to have coaches like Williams and Jones, who are from the Clinton Fencing Club.