Good fencers make good neighbors

As the ink dried on the 'Conditions of Participation and Release' form I signed to try my hand at dueling with the IU Fencing Club, I was already ridiculously out of place. Blue corduroys might be the right call if you're trying to score scene points, but they don't fly if you're fencing -- a sport centered on maximizing your agility. \nThe club started out practice with a series of footwork drills. A fencing stance compares to most athletic stances; bent knees and a low center of gravity, but differs in that you turn your feet at a 90-degree angle from each other. It's like standing in a batter's box and pointing your front foot directly at the pitcher -- sort of the "anti-triple threat position." It's about as awkward as walking in on your grandma naked, but in fencing it's the only way to stand if you want to protect your backside from an opponent's attack.\nAny typical fencing injuries?\n"Ankles and knees are susceptible because you're starting and stopping a lot and moving very quickly," said freshman club member Ethan Cirmo.\nThe club practices on the second floor basketball courts at the School of Health Physical Education and Recreation, a place most have only ventured to if all the courts downstairs are full.\nAn even lesser known area of the HPER is where club President Robert Gradeless took me to choose from the foil, epee or saber, the three weapons used in fencing. \nBehind 'The Fort' (that wooden castle-looking structure) on the second floor courts lies a stairway up to another floor. And once up the stairs, a narrow hallway leads to the IU Fencing Club armory. Foils, epees, sabers, helmets and fencing jackets are filed away neatly in a closet. In an attached room, yellowed newspaper clippings of past fencing clubs line the walls and a blank chalkboard rests unused towards the back of the room. \n"Not many people know it's up there," club Vice President Brian Wilson said with a smile. \nNo kidding. It's kind of like finding the door to Narnia in your closet or pulling the candle to reveal the stairway behind the bookcase.\nIn the end, I went with the saber because it had the coolest and toughest name. Each weapon has a different set of rules in regards to where and how you can attack your opponent to score a point.\nThe club is gearing up for the Midwest Fencing Conference team competition this weekend at Purdue. \n"We have an interesting rivalry with Purdue," Wilson said. \nLaw student Matt Bruno cut him off mid-statement. \n"I'm gonna destroy them Saturday," he said. \nIt turns out Bruno fenced for the Purdue club team during his undergrad years. \nIn a weekend filled with various IU vs. Purdue sports matches, it is Bruno who will perhaps get the biggest kick out of sticking it to the Boilermakers.