The fencing season has begun, and the Lambert club had their first tournament on Nov. 3, 2025. Lambert took home three medals for Boys and two medals for Girls, and the team is continuing to work hard to dominate the coming season.
Fencing is a sport that is played by people all around the country, but is very different from other sports such as football, basketball or cheerleading. Fencing requires different training than other sports such as focusing more on specific stretches like torso twists and timing for different moves for their upcoming tournaments. The team practices at school and outside of school to make sure they stay in top condition.
“We train outside of the school practice at the Olympic Fencers Club,” Fencer Aiden Hwang explained. “It’s more intense than the school practice and more thorough.”
During tournaments, fencers undergo three different three minute periods of fencing at a time where they are trying to achieve points. They go against their opponents individually and have to be in a good state of mind to do well.
“The nine minutes you are on the strip, if you mess up once you’re kind of at a disadvantage,” Hwang stated. “So people are moving fast and a lot of energy is put into those three minutes so I’d say that it’s more intense than people think.”
Fencing requires you to work both individually and as a team.
“You work to improve yourself individually, but you also lean very heavily on my teammates for feedback,” Fencer Prisha Karani explained. “They’re the ones that are telling me, ‘Hey you’re doing this wrong.’, and ‘You should fix this!’.”
Many people believe that fencing is not a sport because it is not as physically demanding. However, athletes such as Karani and Hwang believe quite the opposite.
“You’re actively moving your body around the strip and towards your opponent,” Karani stated. “So since you’re moving your body, it’s considered a sport.”
Fencing requires you to both work out physically and mentally in practice and tournaments. Over time, athletes learn and strengthen both these parts of themselves. They are able to grow and become better athletes within their sport.
“Since I’ve started fencing, physically, I’ve felt at my strongest,” Karani explained. “But also mentally, I feel like I have a lot more of a block towards negative people.”
Overall, fencing is in a completely different realm than other sports at Lambert, but is just one of the amazing programs that Lambert has to offer. With the training that these athletes are receiving, they ready to continue to work hard and improve with their next tournament being on Dec. 13, 2025. The team is confidently ready to dominate the rest of the season and conquer the strip.
