Fencing develops into tight-knit community for high school athletes

By: Michael Love
Saturday, February 25, 2023 | 10:48 PM

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Sophomore Jake Burgos scored a big victory in the Allderdice boys fencing team’s 5-4 victory over rival Fox Chapel on Feb. 10 at Allderdice High School.

The defending Pittsburgh Interscholastic Fencing Association champion Dragons clinched a spot in the league playoffs with that win and a victory later in the evening against Shady Side Academy.

“We were looking forward to clinching the match at 5-2 or 5-3, but it went a little longer, and it came down to me,” said Burgos, also a member of Pittsburgh Fencers Club, who has been training and competing for close to eight years after first seeing the sport in a documentary during the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

“I fenced (Fox Chapel senior) Lawrence (Liu) in the last bout. It was a pretty close one. It was pretty fun. Lawrence is a very good fencer.”

Burgos was overcome with excitement at the bout-winning point. He improved to 21-0 on the season with a 6-0 record in the two Feb. 10 matches.

That excitement is a small example, Burgos said, of the overall competitiveness, camaraderie, and friendly atmosphere felt at matches among the eight girls teams and 10 boys teams every Friday during the regular season.

The league playoffs involving the top four boys and top four girls teams from the regular-season standings is 6:30 p.m. Friday at Allderdice.

The Allderdice boys hope to make it two titles in a row, while the Shady Side Academy girls seek their third straight league championship.

“I saw sabre (in the documentary), and I wasn’t familiar with all of the different styles: sabre, foil and epee. I started with foil, but my (high school) coach, Dan (Yu), is a sabre fencer. He’s really good. He’s taught me and my teammates a lot of things like footwork and positioning. Those things help us be successful.”

While Burgos is among a group of young local fencers who has vast experience in the sport through club fencing and now in high school, others on PIFA teams have been involved in the sport for a year or less and continue to finding out their talents.

“Both my brothers had done fencing in high school, and they seemed to really enjoy it,” said Fox Chapel freshman Lil Thomas.

“My parents encouraged me to try it, and I ended up really loving it.”

Thomas picked up the foil, the only one of the three implements used in high school fencing, for the first time in November.

“It was a little bit scary at first, just because the nature of the sport is a little intimidating when you first start. But the further I got into it, the more comfortable I got. I really improved my confidence. When I watch videos of me fencing now, I can see my style is different than before because of my confidence and the way I have increased my skill.”

High school fencing is a ‘club’ sport, meaning it is not sponsored by the school district. Money raised for the teams come from the players, coaches and community volunteers.

Before high school, club programs — Corsair Fencing Club in Etna and the Pittsburgh Fencers Club off of Penn Avenue near Point Breeze are two main clubs in the Pittsburgh area — provide a foundation for success.

Shady Side Academy senior Emily Michaelsen has fenced for more than a decade. Her father, Ken Mai, fenced in college at Stanford.

She placed seventh in her division for foil at the USA Fencing Summer Nationals in Minneapolis, Minn., in July.

“I was in gymnastics right across the street from the club. I saw what they were doing, and I wanted to do it, too,” said Michaelsen, who, along with fellow senior Anya Hammer, make up the small but mighty Bulldogs girls team.

“I started when I was 6, and I have loved it ever since. I think it is really important to find a sport when you are younger and really find a way to stick with it.

“We see teams growing locally at the high school level all the time. The Allderdice teams were pretty small a couple of years ago, and they’ve grown. We (Shady Side) are four people total (two girls, two boys — sophomores Christo Kennedy and Max Kaplan), but we hope to grow in the future.”

The Shady Side teams, despite their numbers, continue to make it work.

Each high school match is played through nine points. The first team to garner at least five points wins the match.

Three-fencer rotations are used for the nine bouts. Shady Side forfeits three of the bouts, so they essentially begin each match down 3-0.

“We can only afford to lose one match,” Michaelsen said.

“It’s a little bit of a disadvantage, but we are able to pull through. It was that way last year, too. It’s a testament to our coach, Iana Dakova, with what she’s been able to teach us and show us how to approach each match.”

The Shady Side girls were 6-0 heading into their final match Friday and had clinched a playoff spot along with the girls from Allderdice (5-1 before Friday). Peters Township, Fox Chapel and Aquinas Academy also were in playoff contention.

Allderdice, at 7-2, was the only boys team to clinch heading into the final week of matches. Shady Side Academy, Peters Township and Fox Chapel all were 5-2, and Pine-Richland was 4-3.

“The longer you fence, the more you get to know the fencers from other teams,” said Liu, who began fencing with Fox Chapel his freshman year.

“It’s competitive, but there is a lot of support between the teams. There is a lot of respect. For me, I’ve improved physically over the four years and also psychologically. Having a good mental approach to each match and putting myself in the moment is what has improved the most. Over time, I’ve really gained a way to control how I feel and what I do.”

Fox Chapel coach Mark Hirsch said more and more kids have joined the club each year.

“We’ve been starting them in middle school, and even though they can’t fence in the league yet, they come to practices and have the chance to grow,” he said.

“We find a lot of times the kids might not have found their calling in another sport or don’t play sports, and they hear about it through a friend or other means and they decide to give it a try. There are times where a fencer starts from nothing and we see them develop into a strong fencer.”

For those who wish to continue in fencing after high school, there are a number of college opportunities, mostly at the club level.

There currently are 45 colleges with NCAA-sanctioned fencing programs — 29 at the Division I level, including Penn State, one at the Division II level, and 15 in Division III.

More than 100 colleges and universities across the country have club fencing programs, including Allegheny College, Carnegie Mellon, Shippensburg, IUP, and Pitt.

The US Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs affords its members the chance to compete in a intercollegiate fencing championship tournament.

The next championship event will be April 1-2 in Fort Wayne, Ind.

“Not only are there opportunities for kids to continue in college, but you can continue after college,” Hirsch said.

“Fencing is something you can do your whole life, whether it’s competing in leagues or tournaments or just for fun.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.