The sound of steel hitting steel echoes through the high ceilings of the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia. In this long, open room in Wyncote there are no basketball hoops or tracks. Instead, athletes are plugged into the walls by long electric wires. Every time a blade hits a target, a loud electronic beep goes off. For Amit Greene, a junior at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, putting on his heavy mesh mask and getting ready to score is just a part of his daily routine by now.
Sports are massive in Philadelphia, but when people think about sports in Philly they think of the Eagles or the Sixers. Fencing is a lot more niche. Greene didn’t start out fencing, he grew up doing Jiu Jitsu. But when the pandemic hit, a sport that required grappling with people on a mat became impossible. After about a year of being stuck at home, Greene’s parents suggested he try fencing especially because you stay about six feet apart while in a match or practicing and there’s gear covering your face. He started going to the Fencing Academy, which has a few locations around the city. “They started in a little place in West Philly, but they’ve expanded to a place in Wincot,” Greene said. It’s only about a 15 minute drive from SCH, and it eventually became his main sport for the next couple years.
Moving to a high pressure environment like SCH can be a lot to handle. But for Greene, fencing gave him a way to make friends quickly. He already knew a teammate named Nikki who went to the school, this made finding a friend group much easier. At the gym, Greene became part of what he called “tournament crew,” this was a small dedicated group of four fencers at his gym who travel for competitions. He says its a tight group because of how niche the sport is. They all understand the weird positions and awkward moments that only happen in fencing. In a school environment that is mostly about SAT scores and grades, fencing offers a unique opportunity to only focus on scoring against the opponent on the other side of the strip.
Greene calls fencing “3D chess,” because the physical speed is only half of it. You obviously have to be fast, but you also have to be “quicker and more precise” by trying to trick your opponent into moving exactly where you want them. Greene learned how intense that mental game is during a high stakes match that ended in a 14-14 tie. In fencing, the first to 15 wins, and this match went into overtime. If he won it he would gain his first official letter rating an “E.” He said this match was extremely stressful. During the final point, he took a hit to the bicep that was hard enough to draw blood. He fought on, but he ended up losing the final point, 15-14. He missed his rating by a single touch, a loss that stuck with him because of how close he was.
You are extremely isolated when competing alone on the fencing strip. There are no teammates on the strip to pass to. When the games get intense players often let out a scream after winning a point just to release the pressure, and you’ll hear these screams from everyone. It’s also not a cheap hobby, the blades themselves cost around $200, and the gear has to be specifically rated for impact so it doesn’t tear. Between the time and cost it seems like a lot to manage. As Greene’s academic load has increased throughout his time here at SCH, he’s had to slow it down on the fencing side of things. He hasn’t competed as much this year because he wants to focus on school, “Every year my academic load increases,” he explains, “and this year it would have just been too much to add competing on top of that.
As Greene looks towards the end of Upper School, he sees fencing as a way to transition from his childhood martial arts to whatever he decides he wants to do next. It was the sport that got him through the pandemic, the sport where he met his best friend Nikki, and the sport that taught him how to lose with pride. While he may eventually return to jiu Jitsu or try out new types of martial arts in college, the fencing strep has definitely taught its lessons. Fencing in Philadelphia isn’t just about winning the match, it’s about the confidence gained to start new beginnings.
