Fall 2015 Club Spotlight – Fencing

January 26, 2016

Congratulations to Fencing for being named a Club Sport of the Month in the Fall 2015 semester! Club president, Lauren Thompson, was interviewed and offered some great information about the club.

1. When was your club established at Georgia Southern University and what is the tradition your team has?
   • Fencing club was established in 1962, making it one of the oldest clubs on campus. As far as traditions go, we hold a tournament every January that’s been held almost every year for over forty years; this January will be the 43rd (almost) annual Geoff Elder tournament.
2. Why do you like playing club sports at Georgia Southern University?
   • It’s a good way to meet people with similar interests and make friends. Plus, being part of club sports is a good way to stay in shape and be involved in something you’re interested in all at once.
3. What is it like to travel and play different schools?
   • Fencing is a bit different than other sports, because we don’t only compete against other universities; when we host or travel to tournaments, they’re usually open to everyone in the fencing community. You end up facing not only collegiate fencers, but people of many different ages, experience levels, etc. Right now, I’m the only one that has experience traveling to other colleges/ clubs to compete, and I really enjoy it. It can be more time-consuming in some ways, but it’s also a lot of fun to travel as a club.
4. What is your best memory while playing in tournaments/competitions this semester?
   • Watching our new fencers compete in their first competition recently was great.
5. How does someone go about joining your team?
   • Anyone who is interested is welcome to join the club. Simple as that. All they have to do is let us know that they would like to join, pay membership dues, and come to practices. Fencing club practices and competes in both the fall and spring semesters, so there’s not really any point in the school year when it’s “too late” to join.
6. How can they find out more information? Are there tryouts?
   • Our MyInvolvement page provides some background information on the club, but emailing one of the officers (my email is listed on the MyInvolvement page) is one of the best ways to get in touch and let us know you’re interested. We also try to attend as many recruiting events as we can, and when we host tournaments in the RAC, we usually put up signs explaining what our event is, and directing anyone interested to someone who can answer their questions. We don’t have tryouts; most of the time, people join the club without any prior experience.
7. Does your team have any recent special achievements? If so, what are they?
   • We recently hosted our first tournament of the season, something we haven’t done in over a year. The tournament went well, all of our new fencers did a great job competing in their first ever tournament, and one of our fencers took 3rd in both epee events.