Health & Fitness
Rockville Swords Compete in National Championships
Twenty-one Rockville Fencing Academy (RFA) fencers ranging from youths to veterans traveled to the 2013 Summer National Championships and July North American Cup competition held in Columbus, Ohio. RFA fencers competed in 19 separate individual and team events in age categories ranging from Youth 10 (born in 2002 through 2005) to Veteran 70 (born 1943 or earlier).
Several RFA competitors are no strangers to winning national championships. Club mates and friends of RFA are particularly excited about the Veteran Team men’s foil event where RFA fencers Don Davis, Levente (Levi) Szego, and Stephen Gross won their fourth gold metal. Their team, East Side Story, won this event the last three years in a row and four-peated that result in Columbus.
Szego was also a repeat gold medalist in the individual event for Veteran men 40 to 49 years old foil. Davis also finished well—fifth place—in the same individual event.
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Other RFA medalist include Badger Merritt (third in Veteran women’s 50 to 59 foil), Bill Schroeder (seventh in Veteran men’s 60 to 69 epee), and Marsha Reichman (sixth in Veteran women’s 60 to 69 foil). Merritt’s result placed her as the first alternative for the National Veteran’s Fencing team who will represent the US at the World Veteran’s Fencing Championship in Varna, Bulgaria in October.
Competing in Summer Nationals is a unique experience requiring hard work and competitive results to get there. I finished respectively near the middle of both my events—Veteran women’s and Division III women’s foil. For my first national level event, I did pretty well.
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RFA teaches the Olympic sport of fencing and provides practice and competitive opportunities for fencers of all levels and ages. Olympic fencing, described as physical chess at 60 miles an hour, evolved from European sword fighting into a fast-paced combat sport. Today’s fencers use three weapons: foil, epee, and sabre, each with specific rules but all sharing the excitement and challenge of individual combat.
