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Program offers youth safe, simplified intro
to hunting
Can you run
long distances without stopping? You're in luck!
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En Garde: Ready, fence |
Young fencers get the point in CPRD class at the
community center |
By Laurent
Bonczijk, Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail Laurent at
lbonczijk@eaglenewspapers.com
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Sabers and pre-teen children can be a
scary mix, but for Anna Angelova-Atanassov it’s business as usual.
As a matter of fact the Bulgarian native finds teaching children
more rewarding than adults. Even if that means
repeating herself over and over again.
The first thing she teaches the kids Monday morning has nothing to
do with fencing in particular. She wants them to be respectful, wash
their hands when they come back from the bathroom, and to be
disciplined. The last one being most essential when practicing a
martial art.
They won’t get to
touch a weapon for another two hours, though. They will have to be
instructed on the rules of safety, to always wear a mask, the basic
foot work, the parts of the saber.
There are three weapons used in fencing: the épée, the foil and the
saber. The class she teaches this week is saber only. It’s a weapon
that require less fine motor skills, says Cathy Zagunis, director of
programs for Oregon Fencing Alliance, the club providing the coach
and the equipment for the Chehalem Parks and Recreation class at the
community center.
Unlike foil and épée, in which points are scored by thrusting only,
in saber the fighters can score points by touching with any part of
the blade, which allows for cutting motions.
The weapons also have different target areas. In epee the whole
body is fair game; in foil touches have to be scored on the torso
between the shoulders and the groin. In saber, as in boxing, the
blows have to be above the belt.
The blades are all blunt and the foil and epee have a small
press-button at their tip to record hits on the opponent’s body.
Besides the obvious helmet, fencers wear a thin Kevlar vest
underneath their jacket in case a blade breaks, Zagunis said.
Reid Dolyniuk, 10, is taking the CPRD class for the second year.
“It’s really fun,” she says of fencing. “I took this camp last
summer; it just made me want to do it again because it’s fun. There
is a little drawback to wearing the protective gear: “It’s hot in
those jackets.” |
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From
Aug. 8, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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