Post by schlager7 on Aug 31, 2003 8:08:45 GMT -6
Anyone know anything about this group?
ON GUARD / Fencing club at Pin Oak concludes itsfirst year
By ANNETTE BAIRD, Houston Chronicle correspondent
The sport of fencing has found its way into the Pin Oak Middle School, courtesy of fencing enthusiast and science teacher Jamie Scott.
Students at the year-old Bellaire area school had the option of taking fencing twice a week during the last period of the day. While the upstairs commons area doesn't have the same cache as say, the interior of a medieval castle, it did provide an adequate space for the class to practice.
"It takes a lot of concentration," said Miko Tsubai, one of 15 or so students who took fencing classes at Pin Oak last year.
All the students were donned in $135 outfits consisting of a long-sleeved body jacket, mask, one glove and foil - a long, square-sided, metal wand.
A larger-than-life figure in every sense of the word, Scott started the students on stretching exercises in each class, then ordered the line of students to "advance," "retreat," "lunge," "retreat," "advance."
Following a warm-up, students were then divided into sparring groups. While one student directed the two who sparred against each other, four others acted as judges and watched for errors and hits.
The director called the fencers to stand on guard, and when he shouted "fence," the fencers lunged at each other and started their sparring dance. Judges watched for a clean hit to the chest area - the only part of the body that is a target area - or made an error, such as hitting another part of the body or not making a direct hit.
A hand signal from one of the judges was an indication for the director to stop the sparring. It was all over in the swash of a buckle.
The bouts continued until someone made three clean hits (the official number for a match is five hits).
Scott said foil fencing, one of three types of fencing, is not all about waving swords around in the air.
"It's a very rule-oriented sport," he said. "It's not just swashbuckling."
Swashbuckling or not, 13-year-old Andy Sapp previously had a certain romantic notion about fencing. He said he wanted to try the class because he had a long fascination with medieval and Renaissance history and weaponry.
"I thought it would be cool," said the eighth-grader, who with long red hair tied into a loose ponytail looks the part of a medieval swordsman. "I like being able to dominate. There's a certain value in losing, but there's nothing better than standing victorious."
Sapp said he would apply the skills he learned to theater arts, which he is interested in pursuing at high school.
The club at Pin Oak was formed at the beginning of the school year after principal Suzanne Sutherland gave teachers a free hand in creating clubs at the Houston Independent School District campus, 4601 Glenmont.
Scott lobbied for fencing, combining an early love of the sport with his passion for teaching.
Scott's history with the sport goes back to 1983 when he tried it in college and quickly started to beat his teacher. He went on to train for a while at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs under an Olympic fencer .
But the realization he wasn't going to make it to the top and a good job offer in the petroleum industry halted his fencing career. He switched to teaching six years later, piled on 100 pounds and put fencing behind him - until last year.
"I always wanted to start a fencing team," he said. "I know what a thrill it is to fence. I see a value in it."
Perhaps the only kink in his long-range plan to form a fencing team and compete against other schools around the state is the cost of the equipment, which deterred half the interested students from signing up.
Scott said his goal is to generate corporate sponsorship to help more students participate in a sport that is perceived as elitist during the coming school year.
"What would be more cool than having your name associated with a public school fencing team," he said. "Fencing is such a nice sport. It has many great qualities. It offers self-will, self-determination, builds confidence. It's a great way to be aggressive."
Another club in the area and I missed them!
ON GUARD / Fencing club at Pin Oak concludes itsfirst year
By ANNETTE BAIRD, Houston Chronicle correspondent
The sport of fencing has found its way into the Pin Oak Middle School, courtesy of fencing enthusiast and science teacher Jamie Scott.
Students at the year-old Bellaire area school had the option of taking fencing twice a week during the last period of the day. While the upstairs commons area doesn't have the same cache as say, the interior of a medieval castle, it did provide an adequate space for the class to practice.
"It takes a lot of concentration," said Miko Tsubai, one of 15 or so students who took fencing classes at Pin Oak last year.
All the students were donned in $135 outfits consisting of a long-sleeved body jacket, mask, one glove and foil - a long, square-sided, metal wand.
A larger-than-life figure in every sense of the word, Scott started the students on stretching exercises in each class, then ordered the line of students to "advance," "retreat," "lunge," "retreat," "advance."
Following a warm-up, students were then divided into sparring groups. While one student directed the two who sparred against each other, four others acted as judges and watched for errors and hits.
The director called the fencers to stand on guard, and when he shouted "fence," the fencers lunged at each other and started their sparring dance. Judges watched for a clean hit to the chest area - the only part of the body that is a target area - or made an error, such as hitting another part of the body or not making a direct hit.
A hand signal from one of the judges was an indication for the director to stop the sparring. It was all over in the swash of a buckle.
The bouts continued until someone made three clean hits (the official number for a match is five hits).
Scott said foil fencing, one of three types of fencing, is not all about waving swords around in the air.
"It's a very rule-oriented sport," he said. "It's not just swashbuckling."
Swashbuckling or not, 13-year-old Andy Sapp previously had a certain romantic notion about fencing. He said he wanted to try the class because he had a long fascination with medieval and Renaissance history and weaponry.
"I thought it would be cool," said the eighth-grader, who with long red hair tied into a loose ponytail looks the part of a medieval swordsman. "I like being able to dominate. There's a certain value in losing, but there's nothing better than standing victorious."
Sapp said he would apply the skills he learned to theater arts, which he is interested in pursuing at high school.
The club at Pin Oak was formed at the beginning of the school year after principal Suzanne Sutherland gave teachers a free hand in creating clubs at the Houston Independent School District campus, 4601 Glenmont.
Scott lobbied for fencing, combining an early love of the sport with his passion for teaching.
Scott's history with the sport goes back to 1983 when he tried it in college and quickly started to beat his teacher. He went on to train for a while at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs under an Olympic fencer .
But the realization he wasn't going to make it to the top and a good job offer in the petroleum industry halted his fencing career. He switched to teaching six years later, piled on 100 pounds and put fencing behind him - until last year.
"I always wanted to start a fencing team," he said. "I know what a thrill it is to fence. I see a value in it."
Perhaps the only kink in his long-range plan to form a fencing team and compete against other schools around the state is the cost of the equipment, which deterred half the interested students from signing up.
Scott said his goal is to generate corporate sponsorship to help more students participate in a sport that is perceived as elitist during the coming school year.
"What would be more cool than having your name associated with a public school fencing team," he said. "Fencing is such a nice sport. It has many great qualities. It offers self-will, self-determination, builds confidence. It's a great way to be aggressive."
Another club in the area and I missed them!