Saint Louis University’s Classical Fencing Society will be hosting a nationwide Invitational Classical Fencing Tournament in the Busch Memorial Center’s St. Louis Room on Apr. 8.
Fencers from New York, San Jose, Chicago and other cities will be competing on SLU’s campus.
This will be both a historical and influential day for Classical Fencing in the USA, according to junior Guy Bizek. As president of the fencing society, he invites all members of the SLU and Saint Louis communities to attend this landmark event.
Fencing at Saint Louis University began in November 1997 by instructor and advisor, David Achilleus, in the art of classical fencing. In 1998, the society came under the guidance of Fencing Master Nick Evangelista of Southwest Missouri.
According to Bizek, it is a big honor to be associated with a master since there are only a few in the United States.
The society stresses the development of the virtues of chivalry through the art of fencing. As a result, the Fencing Society strives to not only be a sports club, but also a social organization dedicated to developing individuals who live in the community.
The type of fencing one sees at the Olympics, classical fencing stresses balance and control. It is as much an action of the mind as it is of the body. It requires strategies and defenses much like chess, only much faster. In short, classical fencing is the art of defending oneself with a sword.
The Fencing Society has 30 members. About half those members are SLU students while the remainder are members of the St. Louis community.
Bizek, along with other members of the Classical Fencing Society, started planning for the tournament almost eight months ago.
Bizek has been working strenuously on the event for the past month.
“I hope that this tournament will expose the SLU student community to the Classical Fencing Society,” Bizek said excitedly.
“I would like people to come out and see what classical fencing is all about,” Bizek added.
Alexis LaJoie, a third year student in the law school, is the society’s secretary and one of its founders. He said that Saturday’s event is an opportunity for the society to show the SLU community in an elegant manner what they’ve been doing.
“Hopefully, we’ll make SLU a well-known name in the world of fencing,” LaJoie said.
On Saturday, the fencers will begin to arrive at 10 a.m. and the tournament will officially begin at 11 a.m. The event is expected to last two to three hours.
