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Fencing Finds Friends | |
By IRA DREYFUSS WASHINGTON - Peter Westbrook remembers the days when his fellow New Yorkers misunderstood what he was doing in fencing. Westbrook had to explain that he wasn't buying and selling stolen goods. And that wasn't all. "Twenty years ago, you would walk down the street with a fencing bag, and they would say, 'What kind of fences do you put up?' " said the six-time member of the U.S. Olympic fencing team. Things are different now, Westbrook said. "Now they say, 'What kind of weapon do you fence with? Sabre or epee?' " Westbrook, who claimed a bronze medal in the 1984 Summer Games and two golds in the Pan American games, uses the sabre, which is larger and heavier than the flexible epee. Fencing is getting more attention these days - partly because of Olympic coverage - and more people are taking it up, Westbrook said. It's hard, however, to tell exactly how many. The USFA, the sport's governing body, lists about 10,000 members who can compete in sanctioned events. No one knows how many more fence but don't take part in those tournaments. Neither of the two leading organizations that track sports participation, American Sports Data Inc. and the National Sporting Goods Association, include fencing participation among their survey questions. However, schools are opening around the nation and equipment sales are up. Fencers say their sport has a lot to offer. Fencing requires "a certain amount of intelligence," said Sherry Posthumus, women's fencing coach at Stanford University and vice president of the U.S. Fencing Association. "It's not a grunt sport. You have to outthink your opponents all by yourself." Parents enroll their children in fencing classes because the sport teaches discipline and the ability to follow rules, Posthumus said. But children don't need much encouragement to try fencing. "All kids like to pick up sticks or those long rolls left over from Christmas wrapping and start fencing," said Westbrook. "The joy and the fun they get out of fencing is unbelievable." Westbrook runs a foundation that promotes fencing among inner-city young people in New York City. They learn that success in fencing builds self-esteem and perseverance that carries over into other areas, he said. Fencing is not as expensive as, say, skiing. But it does require purchases of equipment. A mask, weapon, glove and jacket could cost up to $230. And judging from equipment sales, fencing is having a slow but steady growth, said Matthew Porter, owner and manager of American Fencing Supply in San Francisco. The company, which does most of its business in mail order, has more than $1 million in gross sales per year, and is growing at "a few percent a year," he said. That's far from the skyrocketing growth of sports such as in-line skating, but Porter sees a limiting factor. "I've always thought it was because fencing requires effort to learn," he said. Copyright 1996 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | |