As a Penn State student it is important to support other Penn State students and explore the different paths people choose to pursue. One of my friends is on Penn State’s fencing team. Today they had a meet and I had never been to one of her fencing meets before. I thought this would be a great opportunity to support her and see her in her element. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have had while I have been at Penn State.

This particular meet featured Columbia, UPenn, Haverford, Duke, UNC, Temple, and Penn State. The match we saw was Penn State versus UPenn. When we entered the gym the teams were just getting warmed up. There were 5 stations set up around the gym. There was a match going on at every station. Two were specifically for guys, and two were for the girls. There was one in the middle that switched from girls to guys every so often.

I had never seen fencing before in general so I was very surprised at how fast the sport is. Each match would only last about 2-3 minutes. The players were so quick on their feet, most of the time you couldn’t even see their sword touching the other player. Most players would do some kind of yell or scream when they got a point. If they lost a point they would put a finger up indicating they got hit. Once one of the players got five points the match would be over. However, since each of the matches is timed if  time runs out the player that gets the most points wins the match.

I noticed that fencers only wear one glove on the hand they are fencing with. The other hand stays by their hip. They also have to have very good form throughout the match. Fencing is a sport that requires a great deal of focus and skill. It was a great experience to be able to support my friend and the entire Penn State fencing team. I was so impressed at how good our team was. I had heard so much about our championships, but it was something else to see it live. I will definitely be going to more fencing meets in the future.