The Finer Points of Fencing

Faizah Loskor is a sophomore at Teaneck High School. For two years now, she has been devoted to fencing. She enjoys the atmosphere of her fencing team. Ever since she has been first introduced to the sport, she admired the positive outlook her teammates had. She was surprised especially by how her teammates supported her, regardless of not knowing her. Additionally, she loves fencing because of the extensive use of logic during practices and competitions.

The typical schedule for a fencer is a meeting throughout the week afterschool. Sometimes these meetings take place on Saturdays. The fencing team practices their warmups in the small gym. Home meetings are held in Thomas Jefferson Middle School. The fencing team offers teams and individuals awards for outstanding achievement.

The school provides fencing equipment, even shoes, but this choice is optional. If you wish to buy the school branded fencing equipment, you would have to pay extra. In fencing, Faizah mentions how the sport uses different types of swords. “I’m foil. The difference are the weapons that are used. There are heavier ones and larger ones. The target area for epee is the full body, saber is just the top half of the body, and foil is the torso. Saber is faster, epee is the slowest, and foil is average. There are differences in the strategy process during the bouts and rules as well.” Faizah wasn’t always a foil though. “I started epee for like a few minutes but as I was doing it, I just didn’t feel comfortable. And I knew that saber wasn’t for me, so I asked to be switched to foil and I’m glad I did.”

For post-competitions, Faizah says that she has to wake up very early. “We go to other schools for competitions and we wake up around 4-5 and if we’re lucky, 6.” On the way to the competition, the drive ranges from half an hour to one. Usually, her team changes into their uniforms when they get to their location. Now, fencing games have started since. Says her team had a competition against schools like Bergen Tech.