The Texas A&M Fencing Club is determined to win the Southwest Intercollegiate Fencing Association (SWIFA) championship tournament which will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Student Recreation Center, said Liz Machol, a junior history major and secretary of the club.
"We basically dominate (SWIFA)," she said.
SWIFA has four tournaments per school year: two in the fall and two in the spring. The fourth tournament determines the champions of the school year.
A&M has won all three of this school year's SWIFA tournaments and won the championship tournament last year, Machol said.
"One of the reasons that we do so well is because our club members, by and large, are more competitive than a lot of the people from other schools," she said.
Machol said fencing is the safest sport and that fencers get injured even less frequently than golfers.
"The swords are not sharp at all," she said. "There's a blunt tip."
Machol said the University of Texas-Austin, University of Texas-San Antonio, University of Houston, Baylor University, Texas State University and Gary Job Corps will participate.
Patrick Moore, a freshman computer engineering major and vice president of the A&M Fencing Club, said three types weapons are used in fencing: foil, épée and saber.
He said fencers may develop their skills in one, two or all three weapons. The weapons have different blades and call for different styles of fencing, he said.
Moore said he likes fencing because it is an individual sport.
"It's more dependent upon me," he said. "There isn't a team. If I win, I did it by myself."
Machol said the A&M Fencing Club has 20 to 30 active members. She said any student can join.
Tom Dyson, a senior mechanical engineering major, began fencing when he was a child and is now a member of the A&M Fencing Club.
"My dad had done (fencing) in college," he said. "When me and my friends started going at each other with broomsticks, he suggested that we learn how to actually fence and not just hurt each other with long wooden poles."
