En garde!
Fencing, while not a sanctioned Minnesota State High School League sport, still brought plenty of intensity and competitive spirit over the weekend to Myers Field House.
The state’s top high school fencers participated in individual competition on Saturday, with team championships to follow on Sunday. Event co-organizers Heidi and Kamau Wilkins of the Southern Youth Enrichment League Fencing Alliance (SYFA) said 229 fencers will compete over the two-day individual and team championships on the Minnesota State University campus.
And as afternoon elimination matches began, Heidi Wilkins knew what was coming.
“It’s getting pretty intense right now,” she said.
That intensity was on display during a match between freshman Aiden Wojtalewicz of Byron and sophomore Asher Ruby of Minnetonka. Wojtalewicz, part of the Wilkins’ SYFA club team, knew it would be a difficult one, having watched Ruby defeat a club teammate earlier.
Ruby, as part of the Minnetonka Fencing Club, indeed proved to be a difficult match, winning a 15-3 foil competition. Ruby’s only been an active fencer for less than two years but loves the sport.
“There’s a lot of technique and athleticism,” Ruby said. “I love the strategy of it.”
Wojtalewicz needed a little time to compose after the setback but looked forward to Sunday’s team competition. He returned to the sport of fencing three years ago when his family returned to Minnesota from Colorado.
“In second grade, my mom asked me if I wanted to be in any sports and I thought fencing looked interesting,” Wojtalewicz recalled. It wasn’t an option in Colorado; the move back to Byron opened the sport back up for him.
But Saturday’s match started slow for him.
“The first two points (won by Ruby) got me down,” he said. “I try to attack as much as I can, but when that doesn’t work, you have to change strategy.”
Fencers compete in three categories: foil, epee and sabre. This was an elimination match in the foil competition, with weapon touches only allowed from waist to neck, recording points as the weapons’ protective tips record hits.
Senior fencer Chizoro Nwookocha of the Center of Blade Arts club team of South Minneapolis, and Blake High School, loves the epee competition and won her first elimination match Saturday afternoon. In the epee competition, fencers earn points on touches anywhere on an opponent’s protective uniform, which includes specialized meshed helmets.
“I love the strategy,” she said about fencing. “It’s really challenging for my mind.”
Yet, despite the afternoon intensity, Nwookocha stressed the camaraderie of fencing competition, with sportsmanship a key part of the sport.
“People are really friendly together,” she said. “I think it (fencing competition) is the coolest.”
Those are likely appreciative words to the coach in Kamau Wilkins. He’s coached several sports, including track and field, football and basketball. And while “basketball’s my true love,” Wilkins enjoys the chance to mentor young student-athletes. Fencing has been yet another opportunity for him.
Wilkins and his wife Heidi also served as hosts for the third annual “Cupid’s Arrow” Fencing Tournament held Feb. 8 at the Rochester Regional Sports Center, which served as a qualifying event for this weekend’s state championships. While it remains a MSHSL sponsored event, Wilkins remains hopeful the MSHSL will someday sanction fencing. For now, it remains a club activity.
The Wilkins family was also keeping an eye on NCAA fencing competition in which their 20-year-old son, Matto, is a member of the Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, team. Next opponent up for him: The Ohio State University.
Wilkins coaches six Junior Olympics teams and brought about 30 fencers to the weekend tournament. Their SYFA organization is the only USA Fencing sanctioned club in southern Minnesota.
“SYFA is committed to fostering the sport of fencing and promoting camaraderie among young athletes,” he noted in a promotion news release.