LAST SATURDAY AFTERNOON Morton 237 saw a shift from the typical lecturing.
White figures paced around the front of the room. Some were warming up, some were screwing their blades into their hilts, but all were thinking about the next bout. The OU Duello Fencing Club held its first fencing tournament over the weekend in Morton Hall with about 50 people in attendance.
The group has a different style from most modern fencing groups.
What we do is actually a form of historical recreation fencing
explained Fencing Club President Elizabeth Nalepa. We're trying to fence in a way and train people in a way that they would've been trained four to five hundred years ago when this sport first became popular - as a method for killing people.
Where Olympic fencers move in straight lines and are restricted to one hand, members of the OU club are free to move as they wish and have the chance to use a second hand to block or hold a secondary weapon, said Nalepa, a senior studying math and French.
What makes this style of fencing different from Olympic fencing is when a fencer is hit on the arm or leg they cannot use that limb said group adviser Tommy Shaw. If they are hit on the arm
they cannot use that arm. If they are hit in legs
they must sit down.
The club is one of two in the country, Nalepa said, and is modeled after a form of medieval re-enactment done by the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international organization aimed at researching and recreating Middle Ages and Renaissance lifestyles.
Much of the knowledge Shaw brings comes from studying manuals from the 1590s or through his membership with the SCA.
Saturday's events started with a beginners' tier tournament followed by an intermission and then a double-elimination advanced tournament.
I thought there were some people that were really advanced
said Laura Werger, a sophomore and beginners bracket champion.
At the end of the day, Joel Smith was named the champion of advanced bracket after winning a close double-sworded fight with junior Sarah Krause.
A lot of time
who beats who depends on who gets lucky and has a style that can beat someone else's
said Smith, a senior studying physics, who is also the club's safety adviser and a member of the SCA.
While the beginner's bracket was limited to épées, a light triangular blade, bouts in the advanced brackets saw a host of other weapons.
Foam dice were thrown from the audience to determine which weapons would appear in the next match. Challengers could use a single épée or a dagger and depending on the roll, a cloak, a rigid parry or another épée.
Only one weapon, the schlager, was prohibited from Saturday's function. Deriving its name from German for beating stick
the schlager is a much heavier blade put on the handle of an épée, Nalepa said.
If someone hits you wrongly with one of these
it can break a bone
Shaw told the audience beforehand.
All you need to do is sharpen a schlager and it could be battle-ready
